So after leaving Sacramento, the next stop on our loop back towards home was Yosemite National Park, about 3 hours south east of Sacramento. Wow!!! - that place is amazing! I so wished that we had of had a week to stay there and hike til we could hike no more! The possibilities for outdoor activities in Yosemite are endless. The place is so beautiful and we were blessed with perfect weather. Dogs are very limited as to the places you can take them in Yosemite so we left Tag in the truck and set off for a short 3 hour trip in the park; we rode the free bus to get a basic orientation of the park and then once back at the visitor center, we did a 90 minute round-trip hike to the Yosemite Falls which were flowing good for the time of year and were so pretty. The only downside to our time in Yosemite was the roadworks - they sucked. Yosemite's roads are narrow, very twisty and change in elevation a lot. They were tearing up the roads in the park like crazy. We must have sat in traffic jams for close to 2 hours which really cut into our time there so we decided to stay an extra night in the park and leave early the next morning. 
One thing I loved about Yosemite is that the majority of the larger trees are covered in this fluffy bright green moss which actually makes them look really attractive I thought. It is bizarre - it reminded me of parsley, lol! We visited the Mariposa Grove of Giant Redwoods in the south east corner of the park. For some reason, I find these giant trees quite magical and special and it felt a real treat to be standing among them, craning our necks to be able to look to the tops. They are insanely huge beyond belief. Their barks are weird - very spongy and soft which surprised me somewhat. Wade wanted to bring an acorn home and start one growing in our garden! I love that idea but we'll be long dead before the hundreds of years it takes for these beautiful trees to gain any real size.
The pinecones from the giant redwoods are huge! It shocked the heck out of us the first time we heard one fall from a tree - it makes quite the sound! Tag was obsessed with them and went crazy whenever they would fall from the tree - he loved us throwing them to him so he could catch them and bat them on the floor with his paws. That doggy had a blast at the campgrounds we stayed in Yosemite. Thankfully we didn't see any bears!
When we left Yosemite, it was pouring it down with rain heavy. We were hoping to stay one extra night to break up the 10 hour trip back home but the torrential rain made camping a very unappealing prospect so we just decided to motor on home. It was a long drive! We had so much fun on our roadtrip and saw so many wonderful and exciting things. I can't wait to see what the next adventure holds!
One thing I loved about Yosemite is that the majority of the larger trees are covered in this fluffy bright green moss which actually makes them look really attractive I thought. It is bizarre - it reminded me of parsley, lol! We visited the Mariposa Grove of Giant Redwoods in the south east corner of the park. For some reason, I find these giant trees quite magical and special and it felt a real treat to be standing among them, craning our necks to be able to look to the tops. They are insanely huge beyond belief. Their barks are weird - very spongy and soft which surprised me somewhat. Wade wanted to bring an acorn home and start one growing in our garden! I love that idea but we'll be long dead before the hundreds of years it takes for these beautiful trees to gain any real size. Below - at the yosemite falls. So pretty.
The pinecones from the giant redwoods are huge! It shocked the heck out of us the first time we heard one fall from a tree - it makes quite the sound! Tag was obsessed with them and went crazy whenever they would fall from the tree - he loved us throwing them to him so he could catch them and bat them on the floor with his paws. That doggy had a blast at the campgrounds we stayed in Yosemite. Thankfully we didn't see any bears!When we left Yosemite, it was pouring it down with rain heavy. We were hoping to stay one extra night to break up the 10 hour trip back home but the torrential rain made camping a very unappealing prospect so we just decided to motor on home. It was a long drive! We had so much fun on our roadtrip and saw so many wonderful and exciting things. I can't wait to see what the next adventure holds!
I really liked Sacramento; the downtown area is nice and relatively easy to navigate. The State Capitol building is beautiful, all bright white against the palm trees and hot sun. We walked in the building which is just as beautiful inside as it is out. The building is huge; we got to sit in the part where they make all the important decisions and we also walked by Arnold Schwarzenneggers office which was rather fun.. and no, he wasn't in office on that day, I found out that he doesn't even live in Sacramento, preferring to fly in by private jet every day... alright for some! 
We walked about 15 miles round San Francisco. Contrary to what I previously though, the Golden Gate Bridge is not right there in San Francisco, well it is, but it's not a quick walk away... try a 6 mile walk away! .. we perservered and walked to the middle section of the bridge which was quite an experience. I didn't know the bridge would be so noisy! They have these weird raised things on the bridge to slow the traffic down I guess, but it makes for a very noisy time of it on the bridge. The bridge is also very high and affords the most amazing views of the Bay. Clam Chowder in a sour-dough bread bowl from a fish market vendor for lunch and my San Francisco experience was complete. A long walk back to the boat for the hour ride back home and the perfect end to an awesome day. San Francisco is an amazing city and I can't wait to return there some day soon and explore more of what it has to offer.
A short 90 minute trip from Lehman's Cave bought us to Cave Lake State Park just outside of Ely, NV. The State Park is an oasis in the middle of a whole lot of nothingness! It is a lovely place to spend the night for us and Taggy dog had so much fun on the walks and he even went swimming in the rather frigid lake water! We were very unprepared however for how very cold the weather would be that night - we woke in the morning to a thick layer of ice covering everything - it was cold! When the sun came up however it proved to be a really lovely day and we thoroughly enjoyed our time in Cave Lake.
After thawing out from Cave Lake, we drove a couple hours further down the road, through yet more miles of nothingness (seriously, you can look for miles and miles out of all the car windows and see NOTHING!!!... hard to believe but so true). Seeing the worlds supposedly largest 'shoe tree' was a real treat and quite a wonder in itself. This huge tree looms out of nowhere with hundreds of pairs of shoes thrown high up into its branches. An amazing sight and a beauty in itself, standing there baking in the hot sunshine. It's actually really difficult to get the shoes to stay in the tree. There are hundreds of pairs laying on the ground that have fallen off the tree, so there's plenty of opportunity to try and get a pair thrown up in the tree. Wade did really well and threw 2 pairs up there... me, it took about 10 tries but i finally made a pair stay!
A few more miles of nothingness and we arrive at the Middlegate Pony Express Station.. the only bar, sat in the middle of nowhere for hundreds of miles. This place has so much charm. It's a smallish dingy little establishment full of people passing through Highway 50 on their way to wherever. The beer was surprisingly very cheap and it was a realy nice place to spend an hour or so. The ceiling of the bar was covered full of dollar bills that people had written their name and date on. It was kinda cool.
Back on the road through more miles of nothingness and all of a sudden, out of nowhere looms this huge sand dune among all the scrub and bare mountain. It is quite the sight! 
Finally at the end of Highway 50 we come to beautiful Lake Tahoe on the California / Nevada border. It is so beautiful; the campground we chose was gorgeous and had it's own dog beach so Tag was well happy to splash in the water and get long walks on the beach. The weather was beautiful and I wish we had of had longer to enjoy Lake Tahoe. I can't wait to go back some day. I was sad to be at the end of Highway 50, it was a far more enjoyable experience than I had been led to believe it would be. Depsite the hundreds of miles of nothingness, there were so many wonders to be seen and I am pleased I saw everything that we did. Next leg of the roadtrip takes us into California to Sacramento!
