We left Winchester Bay, Ore. on Sept. 6 and drove over to Medford, Ore. As you can see by the first two photos it was foggy for the drive over the mountains, although very beautiful.
Medford was a very nice little town. We got there about noon so decided to go out and explore the area. We found several wineries to check out. The first one, Del Rio was very good. Excellent wines, they are known for their red wines but also had a very nice Chardonnay. From there we stopped in to see the Rogue Creamery. They make some excellent cheeses. They even won a world championship for one of there blue cheeses. We had been told about their cheese while visiting some wineries in McMinnville. They are not cheep but are they wonderful. Then we pressed on to the RoxyAnn winery. Their wines were okay, nothing to really write home a
about.The next day, Sept. 7, we were on our way to Susanville, Ca. It was a beautiful drive around Mt. Shasta. As we got closer to Susanville, there seemed to be a great deal of haze in the air. By the time we got to town we could smell the smoke. There was a huge forest fire just south of the area. The air was so heavy with smoke that we decided to continue on to Reno. We heard later that two towns south of Susanville had been evacuated and the people of Susanville were told to try and stay in doors.
We arrived in Reno and the air quality was much better, you could see the smoke from the fire down the mountains to the west. As the Northwest Retired Pilots Assoc. Convention did not begin until Monday the 10th we spent a very relaxing weekend. Got caught up on some reading and the wash.... always chores to do!!!
We went over and checked in to the Circus Circus Hotel and Casino on Monday. We checked in and later that evening there was a cocktail party get together. So many old friends, so many laughs and lots of old stories. Most agreed that we were happy to be retired from Northwest and not going through all the problems that they are having now.On Tuesday morning we all boarded buses and headed over to Virginia City for some sightseeing and lunch. Virginia City is an old mining town. We took a train ride and saw many of the old mine shafts. There was even
an old hangman's gallows there. We had a good lunch, tried some slot machines and then back on the buses to continue over to Carson City, Capitol of Nevada. We got a tour through the old Carson City mint. They no longer mint silver dollars there but they do make commemorative coins. They press to make the coins was still operational. Interesting to see. We then got back on the buses and back to Reno. We had Wednesday morning free, John and I went back over to the coach as the we had discovered that the belt on the car had a crack so it had to be replaced. So we took the car to the Chrysler dealership to be repaired. That night there was a big banquet....more stories and laughs with old friends. We left Reno and headed east. I have to admit that driving across Nevada there is really not much to see. Mostly brown hills and scrub brush. We stopped at Elko, NV for the night. Not much to this small town but they do have casino after casino. Gambling is such a big part of this state, they even offered a free ride to the local casino if you desired!
Friday, Sept 14th we were off again...through the rest of Nevada and into Utah. As we entered Utah you could see the great salt flats. It is so while that it almost looked like snow on the ground. It really sparkles when the sun shines on the salt crystals. Miles and miles of salt flats. We went by the Morton Salt factory, there were huge piles of salt!!!! They we came to the great Salt Lake. The water is down very low. It was difficult to see much of the water from the road. We drove right through Salt Lake City and up the mountain to Park City and around some mountain to the town of Heber. We are staying right near the Jordenelle Dam. We will be here until Tuesday the18 of September.
That is all for now, it is nice to be back on line. We are still having such a wonderful time but I am glad to be heading back home.
Our love to all,
Candy and Johnny
