Rejuvenation!

May 17-22, 2017

Reno/Lake Tahoe area

A silly selfie

After the frustration of driving highway 50 (the loneliest road which was so different than I expected) and not finding a place with cell and free boondocking, we were so glad to land somewhere we could spend several days.

Obligatory pic of our camping spot!

As I said, time for relaxing a bit!

Even though it's $17 a night (which seems like a lot when you've been camping free so long), Washoe Lake SP was a great resting place to regroup, catch up on 5 (count 'em 5!) blog posts (because we had great Verizon), do some trip planning and use it as a base to see Lake Tahoe and other highlights of this area.

More bugs accompanied our walk
to the water near our campsite!

On Friday we took a day trip to Lake Tahoe.  We had been there on our honeymoon almost 38 years ago but we're actually not sure where we stayed and what we saw.  Pat thinks we stayed at Harrah's because his Dad would have booked the room.  I don't remember so many tall trees!

We wanted to stop in at the forest service office to pick up maps and advice on where we can boondock for free (generally what they call dispersed camping).  We were told you can't do that anywhere in the Tahoe basin due to too many issues (sad).  And once again, they only cover this specific area, we'd have to stop at 5 different offices as we head north to get information on those areas!  And they wanted $10 per map (which I somewhat understand but I sure wish they'd just publish them in PDF format where the cost isn't as much).  We had stopped at the local BLM office and pretty much got the same answer.  So that wasn't as helpful as we'd hoped in planning future stops as we head north.

Sometimes a meal is just right - good food, great place, no rush!

We also stopped at one of several visitor's centers on the lake and asked about where to eat.  They suggested Beacon Bar & Grill which was right on the water.  We had a GREAT lunch and wonderful time there.  Fish & Chips were PERFECT (both crispy and the fish was moist!).  I tried their specialty rum runner drink which was good but I wasn't actually in the mood for a citrus style drink.  But hey, I like rum!

Driving around Lake Tahoe

After lunch we walked the few steps to the beach and the trees and snow covered mountains and the water were so uplifting!

Pat loved this post office converted to a cafe!  We didn't eat
there though.  It was just down the road from our campsite.

We basically took our time driving around the lake and decided that if we come back, we will probably try to get reservations at one of the state parks.  May seems like the perfect time (not hot, not cold!).  We still can't believe it was all full when school's not even out yet!

The creativity of someone selling(?) his art in the park in Reno!

We're still trying to figure out what to do with our weekends (trying to avoid crowds).  We did try to see Guardians of the Galaxy but apparently everyone buys their tickets online with assigned seating and all that was left was the front row.  We always try to find a church nearby for Sunday and if it's laundry time, we do that. And blogging!  Always behind!  But we did walk the river trail in Reno.  Being by water is always GOOD!

Walk along the river in downtown Reno

Also, the dump station at the place we're at was closed due to high water so we went across the Lake to Davis campground to see if theirs was open to plan for dumping and water before we left the next morning.


All in all, a great spot to relax for awhile and not do a whole lot while we figure out where to go next!

Highlights:  Figured out how to get power to the whole coach!  Finally settled into a campground with 4g, Lake Tahoe (fresh cool air, trees and WATER!).
Lowlights:  Lake Tahoe is another place where you can't camp unless you make reservations 6 months or more in advance (or pay $75 a night), many areas closed because of snow
Things we've learned:  That plugging the coach into the inverter (and unplugging the converter) works to power ALL the plugs.  We just have to know not to run high "cost" appliances (microwave, toaster, etc.) without running the generator.
Things we're wondering:   Can we run the generator while the coach is plugged into the inverter?
How to see National Parks  and other places that are only open in the summer due to snow since we want to be back in the NW for the summer (usually!)   Is there anything we should plan to see in NE CA?  We normally have a destination in mind that determines what route we should take!