The Trip to Vegas

We left Seattle heading south on I-5 to Vancouver, WA on the north shore of the Columbia River. This park was so nice and so much less expensive than we had been paying, (they took our Escapees card!) that we decided to stay a week. This gave us time to visit Portland, just south of the Columbia and allow the temps to drop a little in Vegas, well we could hope for that anyway.

The park is within walking distance of shopping, a real rarity for RV parks which are usually a little remote. The Seattle park also had shopping close by. Another commonality of the 2 parks; blackberries. I had thorn scratches and insect bites, but also a bunch of great berries to show for my efforts. We are still eating the berries that I froze. We also rode our bikes and walked the river shore and downtown Vancouver.

RV neighbors recommended the downtown farmer's market, a weekly event. On this weekend the area was also the scene of the annual Komuricon convention. Komuricon, we found out, is a group that follows Japanese anime characters, comics and games. The attendees dress as their favorite in colorful and creative costumes. It is a mostly young group, but not exclusively. They were playing games in the park, shopping and posed quickly for cameras. We enjoyed the show, music, shopping and lunch in the festival type atmosphere.

We took a day trip to Portland, OR. Our primary destination, Powell's Books. We enjoyed the shopping and people watching at the largest book store around. We walked several miles through town and decided that Portland is indeed weird. We enjoyed it more the first time we were there. The trip back north was grueling. All roads lead to the single bridge that crosses the river. We bailed out and ate dinner on the south shore.

We continued south on I-5 through Oregon and into California. This is a pretty drive, mostly through rural and suburban areas. Just north of Mount Shasta we turned off  the interstate to cross the northeastern corner of California. this is the shortest way to Reno. The 2-lane road was beautiful connecting 2 volcanoes, Shasta and Lassen. We just caught a glimpse of Lassen, but Shasta was obscured by smoke. There had been a number of fires in the area that were still smoldering. We stopped in Susanville on the eastern side of the mountains.

The second day we entered the desert created by those lush mountains of the previous day. In Reno we picked up the Truckee River and traveled along it for awhile then headed more south to pick up US-95 that takes you to Vegas. We were surprised by Lake Walker. This beautiful oasis is a deep and wide natural lake fed by the Walker River. We passed through the towns of Hawthorne, the largest ammo storage site in the USA. Nellis AFB stretches from Hawthorne to Vegas, it is massive! But the road was long and we kept driving to get to Vegas. We plan to retrace that path in October to actually stop and see a bit more.