So rather than spend the day trying to get a space among thousands to watch 20 minutes of fireworks, I grabbed a buddy of mine and we hit the road. Dinner at Lake Tahoe was the goal, and we decided to take the path less taken. We drove California Highway 4 from one end to the other. It begins near my house in Hercules California, and ends in the eastern Sierra Nevada mountains at the junction of Highway 89, which runs up the western side of the Lake Tahoe. Here is the route we took in the X1. The photos mostly come from the area between Arnold and Lake Tahoe.
4th Road Trip Map by
lennycarl08, on Flickr
Please note that the car started off fairly clean, but crossing the central valley through the delta, I picked up approximately 1 billion bugs. As we started climbing it seemed to get a bit less buggy. Soon the heat of the valley was replaced by cool mountain air after we started climbing out after Angels Camp (Where Mark Twain wrote about the frog jumping contest).
20130704-IMG_7832 by
lennycarl08, on Flickr
This rode is not open in the winter, and you can see the snow marker poles here.
20130704-IMG_7833 by
lennycarl08, on Flickr
The road narrows to less than two full lanes for a quite a distance. It's a fun road, but not one to go bonsai on as there is NO room for error.
20130704-IMG_7906 by
lennycarl08, on Flickr
But what a view!
20130704-IMG_7835 by
lennycarl08, on Flickr
20130704-IMG_7825 by
lennycarl08, on Flickr
20130704-IMG_7842 by
lennycarl08, on Flickr
20130704-IMG_7840 by
lennycarl08, on Flickr
20130704-IMG_7862 by
lennycarl08, on Flickr
20130704-AQ4E9111 by
lennycarl08, on Flickr
Watch out for wandering milk cows!
20130704-IMG_7882 by
lennycarl08, on Flickr
The sign used to say 7,080 FT.
20130704-IMG_7875 by
lennycarl08, on Flickr
20130704-IMG_7889 by
lennycarl08, on Flickr
20130704-IMG_7911 by
lennycarl08, on Flickr
20130704-IMG_7978 by
lennycarl08, on Flickr
20130704-IMG_7974 by
lennycarl08, on Flickr
20130704-IMG_7940 by
lennycarl08, on Flickr
Got a little off road in at the location of a long gone mining boomtown from 1864. Used to be 3000 people here.
20130704-IMG_7996 by
lennycarl08, on Flickr
You can see how dirty my poor baby is here!
20130704-IMG_8003 by
lennycarl08, on Flickr
One last pit stop
20130704-IMG_8030 by
lennycarl08, on Flickr
It was getting late when we hit Highway 89, so it was time to let the turbo do its work for a bit on the way to Tahoe.
20130704-AQ4E9137 by
lennycarl08, on Flickr
The lake was packed with people celebrating the 4th. It was a bit slow going through the tourist areas, but we made it.
20130704-IMG_8086 by
lennycarl08, on Flickr
Ended up eating at Alpine Village, then it was a short blast to Truckee and the freeway home. We ended up seeing a lot of fireworks from the interstate as we went through the Sacramento area, and I was ready for bed when I got home. After all, Friday was another day, and I had another trip planned. This time toward the coast and Fort Bragg. I will have pics of that journey as well.
Hope you enjoyed the photos and hope everyone in the US had a nice 4th.