California is Dreamy; Some Wild Wyoming
Overcast drive from SFO to Sac.
We arrived in SFO a little bit before midnight after an uneventful flight from Panama. We had to fly coach with Sebastian and were thus excluded from the adult drinks service on Copa. Also, there was no gluten free meal option available for this particular route. Fortunately for Shani, there is a rotisserie place in the Panama airport that is tasty and affordable; most other options are priced through the roof in that airport. Adding insult to injury, there was just one working drinking fountain to fill our reusable bottles. Not my favorite airport!
The spot next to the rotisserie joint has the most affordable beer in the airport.
You can imagine we were a bit cranky and tired and a little peckish. Fortunately for us we had done all of our customs clearance via the CBP MPC app which creates a QR code for the customs officer to scan. We had our own line at Customs/Immigration for people using the app and there was just one person in front of us. That guy was having some troubles explaining a few things to the agent and was told to take a seat and we were let through, easy peasy.
Our plan this time around in Sacramento was to try and have a bit more fun. As well as catching up with family and friends, we had some hiking, paddle boarding and bouldering on the agenda. We also decided on gym memberships for some regular exercise and training for rock climbing. Coordinating schedules was sometimes a challenge for everyone involved but it all worked out.
My ‘overlander’ hair style. (This is the “before haircut” pict in Uruguay.)
One of my top priorities was getting a way overdue haircut. I had the ‘I’ve been overlanding in South America’ hair style going on which wasn’t a good look. Shout out to Nate at Barber Blues. The dude grabbed me a beer and then spent about an hour shaping up and fine tuning my hair cut.
Cleaned up and presentable.
As we were about 5 minutes from Lake Natoma and the Nimbus Flats recreation area there was some paddleboarding to be done. We had our soft surf racks from Costa Rica in the storage unit and we managed to fit them on the Forrester to haul the SUPs back and forth. We were able to get out on the water a few times and even paddled up to Folsom prison (almost).
We were also quite keen to get some hiking in. One of the planned hikes was to a popular waterfall in the Icehouse region of Eldorado National Forest. This turned out to be a little too popular and so we opted for a different trail that actually led to a fire lookout and a little cabin called Robbs Mountain Hut. It turns out you can rent the cabin for $75 a night and it comes with firewood, solar power and a propane cooking stove. There was also the cleanest pit toilet in the world up there. Seems like a pretty idyllic spot.
We also did a nice hike near Truckee to Lower Lola Montez Lake along the Hole in the Ground mountain bike trail with our friends Staci and Josh. That one was a little bit arduous as Sebastian has decided that he no longer likes to hike when it’s hot out. This leads to me carrying him in the backpack. It was quite hot out but there was still a lot of snow on the ground from the massive amount Truckee had over the winter. He was like a dog possessed once we got to the snow; he was on fire loving every minute of it!
Speaking of snow, man there was still a lot of it in June and July! We went bouldering with our buddy Dave and part of that trip involved driving around to some of the many bouldering spots around Tahoe. The guide book for the bouldering is a series of 6 or 7 books, that’s a lot of boulder problems. As we drove from spot to spot we were amazed at the amount of snow.
On that bouldering trip we were warming up at a place called Christmas Valley and I had just been telling Dave about some climbing friends from our SoCal days and low and behold who shows up but Bridget and Ian, the very same people we were just talking about. How random and awesome was that!
Our California adventure wasn’t all fun and games. There were plenty of chores to take care of at the Sac house that cut into play time. And just like that, it was time for a road trip to Colorado and then a flight to Paris. This time around we decided on a route from Sacramento to Colorado Springs via Wyoming.
Wyoming was a complete surprise to us. What lovely landscapes! We stayed in a tiny town called Saratoga that Shani chose mostly at random. We did a nice hike at Mirror Lake that was cut a little short due to a menacing looking storm rolling in. A local advised us to be off the trail before 3 due to the probability of lightning strikes. We were off the trail well before that.
On our way to Saratoga we made a pit stop at a rest area/ info center/ museum/ bison ranch and were treated to the sight of albino buffalos. That was a first. We weren’t able to get as up close and personal as the ones outside of Konstance but they were still really cool to see.
We had a week in Colorado to catch up with the family and then the three of us were off to Paris for a few days and then back to RV life. Stay tuned as we have some motorhome fails, slow travel heading south in France and spend a month in Spain before we fly back to South America to resume our 4Runner road trip.
