Beautiful Deep Blue "Da ow"

We began our stay in Verdi, NV, about 10 miles west of Reno, with a trip to Lake Tahoe. The lake was originally named “Dao w a ga” by a Washoe tribe of Native Americans. Pioneers who arrived later mispronounced the name as “Da ow,” which eventually evolved into Tahoe. “Dao w a ga” originally meant Edge of Lake.

Just south of Reno, we picked up Nevada 341 for the 24-mile journey to Incline Village on the eastern shore of Lake Tahoe.



From Reno, at an elevation of about 4500', Highway 341 followed a winding route to the Mount Rose Summit of 8900'.

Signs along this highway state that it is the highest summit open year round in the Sierra Nevada mountain range. Judging from the height of this pole (estimated to be 15' tall) used to guide snow removal equipment, keeping the road open year round is no mean feat.

"Serpentine" would certainly be an apt description of portions of this highway. Coming around one of the later curves in our drive, we missed one of the overlooks. We debated turning around, but a glimpse of the view convinced us to retrace our drive.

We were glad we did, because we were rewarded with the views shown in the next several photo-graphs. From the Mount Rose Scenic Overlook we had a view of Incline Village (and its champion-ship golf course, lower left quadrant in the photo on the right), Lake Tahoe, and the Sierra Mountains.

We both marvelled at the deep blue color of the lake and the brilliant blue sky. At times, the mountains seemed to be suspended in a deep blue film.

"North Lake Tahoe’s singular greatness draws not only pleasure-seeking visitors from the world’s nations, but also some of the planet’s foremost scientists and policy makers. Respec-tively, they journey to this only-of-its-kind place to understand its incredible blueness and to ensure that Lake Tahoe remains an icon of pure alpine perfection" (visitinglaketahoe.com).

From the shore of Lake Tahoe just south of Incline Village, we had these views. A couple of facts about Lake Tahoe: it is the highest altitude lake of its size in the US and

is the second deepest lake (behind Crater Lake in Oregon) in the US with a depth of 1,645 feet.

Kayakers and swimmers were enjoying the lake "close-up", but we were satisfied with views from land as our first exposure to Lake Tahoe.



Along with the grand views come other views of equally marvelous subjects--just on a smaller scale.
















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While writing about the beauty of Lake Tahoe, our thoughts are on Hurrican Irene and on our friends and relatives from Tilghman Island, MD, to Philadelphia and its suburbs. We pray that they are well and safe and that their homes--and our home--are secure and free from wind and flood damage.

Bouncing Along I-80

We continue our journey from Salt Lake City to Verdi, NV, via I-80 by covering the segment from west of Wells, NV, to Verdi.

Our study of a Nevada map showed this 350-mile section of the interstate as meandering through sparsely populated portions of the state.

This charac-teristic of the highway is further described:
"Drivers along Interstate 80 tend to become fatigued from the long, tedious drive across the State of Nevada. As a result, some tired drivers have been involved with accidents. To alleviate this concern, the Nevada Department of Transpor-tation (DOT) is installing rumble strips in the shoulder that are ½" deep. The vibrations and noise should wake up any errant drivers. The road (like Interstate 15) is mostly concrete, which also adds to road noise" (aaroads.com/west/i-080_nv).

Well, the Nevada DOT has achieved its goal by going one step further. A significant amount of I-80 is in need of repair--major repair. The bouncing was severe in places, so much so that even slowing to 40 mph did nothing to reduce the jarring effect of the bouncing.

The map also showed that I-80 followed (roughly) the California Dunphy National Historic Trail, which
"...traces the route taken by farmers, settlers, gold miners, and others who forged their way from Missouri to the Pacific Coast during the California Gold Rush.

"The trail winds 2,000 miles from Missouri, through Kansas,
...Utah, Nevada, Oregon, to central California" (npca.org/ parks/california-national-historic-trail).

At times, we felt as though we had re-discovered the historic trail itself.

When we saw this design (right) in a hillside along the highway, we imagined some ancient astronauts leaving this design. (Our imagination took our mind off the bouncing for awhile.)

A smooth section of the highway made it possible to take a few photos.

Although the colors of the grasses and hills showed little variation during the 350 miles (which we drove in two days), we looked for these slight differences.







When we arrived in Verdi, we were grateful for the chance to rest.

Salt Lake to Salt Flats

The night before we left Salt Lake City we witnessed this moonrise over the Uinta Mountain Range a portion of which lies within the Wasatch-Cache National Forest. The setting sun brought out the deep orange in the mountains, making for a stark contrast with the sky's light blue of twilight.

The next morning we headed west on I-80 along the southern shore of Great Salt Lake. It was interesting to learn that Salt Lake City experiences lake-effect snow off Great Salt Lake in much the same manner as cities east of Lake Michigan and Lake Erie.

The Great Salt Lake is a remnant of a much larger prehistoric lake called Lake Bonneville which, at its peak surface area, was roughly ten times the area of the Great Salt Lake.

We passed several solar evaporation ponds at the edge of the lake. Food-grade salt is not produced from the lake, but salt used in water softeners and salt licks for livestock and for highway applica-tions to melt ice is produced.

There was some history associated with this area just west of SLC: A five-mile section near the airport holds the distinction of being the final link of I-80 to be completed.

It was also noted that this was only 50 miles from Promontory Summit, where the golden spike of the United States First Transcon-tinental Railroad was laid.

About 25 miles east of the Utah-Nevada border on the barren Bonneville Salt Flats, we came upon this abstract artistic sculpture called Metaphor: The Tree of Utah, sometimes called the Tree of Life.

The 87-foot sculpture, created by the Swedish artist Karl Momen in the 1980s, is constructed mainly of concrete and consists of a squarish
'trunk' holding up six spheres. There are also several hollow sphere segments on the ground around the base.

It has been said that Momen was moved to create the tree after having a vision of a tree while driving across the desolate Bonneville Salt Flats.

He financed the project himself to bring bold color and beauty to the stark, flat, salty landscape.

The location is interesting because the harsh environment here hindered many travelers in pioneer times. Members of the ill-fated Donner Party were tragically delayed in this area before their awful demise in the Sierra Nevada mountains. During WWII, the crew of the Enola Gay practiced bombing runs over the Great Salt Lake Desert before proceeding to Hiroshima to end the war.

We noticed some travelers had taken time to walk out onto the salt flats, and some left messages, spelled out with black rocks.

Interstate 80 is the second-longest Interstate Highway (following Interstate 90). I-80 most closely approximates the route of the historic Lincoln Highway, the first road across America.

I must admit that the roadwork provided a little color to the landscape and a little variety to the driving challenge.

The highway roughly traces historically significant travel routes in the Western United States: the Oregon Trail across Wyoming and Nebraska, the California Trail across most of Nevada and California, and except in the Great Salt Lake area, the entire route of the First Transcon-tinental Railroad.









We spent one night in Wells, NV, and then resumed our travels--west on I-80.