Surrounded by Mountains
This great country has so much land and the views out west are incredibly expansive. Thinking about the pioneer days and how patient the travelers must have been is mind blowing as we travel at 80 plus miles per hour on this well paved highway. Where is the drinkable water out here? How did they survive?
Today's drive was long, but we did have a couple of stops planned to break up the 500+ miles. Driving past the Great Salt Lake was not what I expected. We really couldn't see the lake since the land was so flat but we did see expansive white fields of salt and even passed Morton Salt Company.
About 115 miles west of Salt Lake City we stopped at the Bonneville Salt Flats which was conveniently located at a rest area. "The flats are a broad, salt-covered lake bed and one of the flattest areas on earth." The salt flat was bright and white and it was nearly impossible to keep our eyes open without sunglasses. The field was wet and the salt stuck to the bottom of our shoes. We took a couple of photos and were then on our way.
Our next planned stop was at the little town of Lovelock, Nevada. I read about Lovelock on Roadtrippers.com and thought it would be a fun stop. Behind the Pershing County Court House is a little area dedicated to the "locks of love". We purchased our locks at the ice cream shop on the corner by the courthouse and even engraved our names on the locks. Silly, touristy, but fun. Although, the best laugh of the day came when 2 kids from Lovelock nearly wiped out on their skateboard. The skateboard came flying at Cailyn just as she was admiring the lock that her and Heather placed on the chain. It nailed her in the ankle as she exclaimed "What the!!!!!!!?????" The 2 kids retrieved their skateboard swiftly and we headed to the car. Cailyn has quite the bruise on her ankle, but man, did we laugh!!!
After dinner, we drove down N. Virginia Street in Reno, otherwise known as "The Strip". I'm so glad we are not staying downtown...pretty seedy but worth the photo.
This trip has been so much fun! Car game of the day...Headphone Karaoke! Tomorrow we are headed to South Lake Tahoe, then on to San Francisco. California here we come!