Day 10 and 11- Nevada, Tahoe, and Crossing the Border...

Sorry for the delay folks! We stayed in our new fave regional hotel chain in Elko, Nevada (The Shilo Inn... we stayed at one in Twin Falls the night prior and it was _really_ nice and not overpriced). The town had a funny smell- I thought it smelled like pesticides but James thought it smelled like chocolate. We got ready-to-eat ribs at the grocery store, along with a side of instant mashed potatoes and a bag salad. We had a nice time chowing down back at the hotel (which thankfully had a microwave so we could prepare this delectable meal). Next morning we were up with the sun and had breakfast at the nearby greasy spoon diner, which was probably the best breakfast we'd had the whole trip, aside from Mama and Dean's eggs and beef bacon from the farmer's market of course, and also aside from the Perkins the day before in Twin Falls... the Shilo Inns give you a breakfast voucher to use at a local restaurant, which is super awesome.

We drove the four hours to Lake Tahoe- on the California side- to stay in my cousin Steve's condo in Squaw Valley. And now the moment you've all been waiting for... the big border crossing into California...!!!

The video doesn't give it any justice... Tahoe was absolutely GORGEOUS but we were so exhausted we just stayed in all night and watched tv and enjoyed the beautiful view and scenery (sorry, no photos! We were sooo tired!). We had some fantastic pizza in the village and watched several episodes of House and Law and Order until we fell asleep.

Squaw Valley hosted the 1960 winter Olympics so there is a whole village there still and cable cars to the top. In the morning, James hiked up the mountain to the terminal of the first ski lift (which was WAY up there), while I took a luxurious bath and got in my last TV-watching for a while. We have no tv anymore- we left it in MD with Bryan to donate to his summer camp.

After another great breakfast (I had the best biscuits and gravy of my life and James really enjoyed a huge plate of tasty huevos rancheros at this place called Rosie's Cafe in Tahoe City), James dropped off his last post cards to Chase and Daisy (daughters of friends on either coast who he'd been sending cards to in every state on our way across), and we hit the road for Oakland...