We left around 4:30 p.m. on the 16th. We have found in our past travels that splitting long drives into 2 chunks makes it so much more bearable for everyone. Our goal was to make it to Reno, where we had a hotel booked. It took us a good 9 hours of driving with all our pit stops (including ice cream and a stop at WalMart in Elko)!!
Loaded up and ready to go!
Lots and lots of nothing!! I think we were lucky to have seen a dozen cars on this stretch of highway.
We did get to see the pretty sunset though.
I think it was around 1 a.m. local time when we rolled in. We were pretty beat. After a good (not long enough) rest and some breakfast, we got moving again. But not before a few minutes of awesome TV that we never see at home because we don’t have cable or satellite!
About 30 minutes into our drive, we crossed the border into California!!
The stretch of drive between Reno and Sacramento was my favorite. Such pretty country! And it helped that it was daylight. And there was more to look at than a handful of vehicles, sagebrush and cows!
Our first view of the Bay, after about 3 hours of driving.
Jared drove us around Richmond, one of the areas he served in while on his mission. This is the church he went to while in this area.
After seeing the area and stopping for lunch, we headed into San Francisco! This is the first bridge we crossed – the Bay Bridge. It is longer than the Golden Gate Bridge, but the suspended sections are not nearly as long. Jared said the first part of the bridge was completely different than when he was there 16 years ago. We had to pay a toll to cross (I think it was $4).
A view of the Golden Gate Bridge from atop the Bay Bridge. It was a hazy day, but you still can’t miss it!
After driving around the city for a little while, and driving past the houses from Full House, we made a stop at the California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park. It had a big enclosed dome that was home to all sorts of animals, from creepy crawlies to jellyfish and butterflies.
He was a trooper, but less than thrilled with the heat and humidity inside the dome.
The aquarium level was much more enjoyable!
Jellyfish!! So much fun to watch!
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We also experienced a simulated earthquake and learned all about the earthquakes of 1906 and 1989. Amazing!! And ironically enough, it was only a few hours before this that there was a small earthquake back home! So we went to California and missed an earthquake!!
After we did some more driving and found a place to eat, we set out to find our hotel. One of these days we’re going to have to get smart phones so we can look up a map when we forget to print what we need. We ended up stopping for directions AGAIN (we had to stop for directions in Reno as well). Thank goodness the gas station workers were nice enough to look up the information on THEIR phones. (But seriously, have things changed so much that no one can function without their phones anymore?!?!?)
Day 2 coming soon…
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