Large families are quite useful (and fun!) when wandering the country. Darice’s cousin, Rob, offered a resting place from which we could enjoy the marvelous city of Denver, Colorado.

After a late arrival we slept in then lazed about the house for a while…tough life we lead, eh? Once Rob got home from work, we headed out to Watercourse Foods where we enjoyed some outstanding vegan meals and the absolute best chocolate chip cookie dough ‘milk’ shake we’ve ever had. There are no words to describe the tasty dance that took place in our tummies. We were then treated to Denver by car with Rob as our guide.

We passed another restful night and the following afternoon Rob took us on a walking tour of Denver. We ended up at Coors Field, where Casey (Rob’s roomy) met us and we all enjoyed Gnarls Barkley live in concert. Seriously – it was the best concert we’ve been to. Great music, great vibes and a great venue (the company wasn’t all that bad either.) TeeHee! ;)

Once we were through screaming and dancing we headed over to the Falling Rock Tap House (billions of beers on tap), where we enjoyed some local brews with funky names along with a basket-o-fries, perfectly saturated with vinegar and covered with salt. Mmm, good!

A little stroll took us to Sancho’s, a funky ‘hippie’ bar with a great atmosphere and the most psychedelic bathrooms anywhere. (A great quote from one of the stalls: ‘The depth of friendship is not determined by the length of acquaintance.’) We finished our libations and made our way to the bus stop. One transfer later we were walking down the block to Rob’s abode. Public transportation is really marvelous. (Have we mentioned that before?)

All of that craziness was followed by several more days of madness (truly, it got nuttier the longer we stayed) which included: fire-dancing in the park (as spectators – not performers), several self-guided walking tours of the city, fabulous meals at funky restaurants, volunteering time at the new Up With People headquarters (this also included front row seats to their first warehouse performance!), lounging about and soaking up some *gasp* television (we are now more sure than ever that there is absolutely no reason to spend money on such nonsense), fireworks on the 4th and the best darn pancakes we’ve ever had!

At the end of our long visit (we like to really wear our welcome thin…) we said good-bye to Denver and traveled south.

For four days, we literally meandered through the desert looking for a place to settle, but found nothing that felt particularly intriguing. Here’s a quick list of the ‘major’ towns we hit:

Tuesday, June 17th – Bishop, California
“Charming, but literally in the middle of nowhere.”

Wednesday, June 18th – Boron, California
“Great name for a town, eh?”

Thursday, June 19th – Flagstaff, Arizona
“At least there were trees!”

Friday, June 20th – Blanding, Utah
“Thank God for ‘The Peace Tree,’ a juice bar and natural goodies shop in neighboring Monticello, Utah! They have the best carrot juice ever!”

A few nights in those random locations and off to Moab, Utah we went.

Before leaving the Super 8 (which really was super) we asked some nice bikers if Marsh could sit on their Harleys for a picture and they said, “Sure, your duck can sit on our bikes…just not your dog.”* They must like waterfowl.

We wandered around California before our serendipitous discovery of Tahoe City. The Northern end of Lake Tahoe in California is beautiful, relatively untouched and a true bit of eye candy. We found a marvelous campground only a few hundred feet from the end of town, so we were able to give Sam a well deserved rest while we camped there.

The weather patterns were awesome during our stay. We’d wake up in the morning with a light chill in the air (the perfect setting for hot tea and toast), by lunchtime it was nice and hot (perfect for an ice cold drink and some fresh fruit), a slight breeze would start up around two and it would cool back down by dusk (yet another perfect moment to break out the stove and cook a hot meal.) You couldn’t design a better day.

As far as our surroundings go, they were near perfect as well…the campground was small and quaint with the nicest bathhouse/restroom accommodations we’ve seen. Each site had its own picnic table, bear box (for food storage) and parking area as well as shared water spigots. The view from our site – as well as around town – was always beautiful. From the misty waters in the morning right down to the sun setting behind the mountains at night, the lake never failed to impress.

We enjoyed daily strolls around town and took in the views from the many pubic areas that Tahoe City provided. Simple picnics on the lake and window shopping in the little stores lining the main street never got old. In addition to loving the area, we also fell in love with the local pizza parlor, Jimmy’s. There, we ordered a ‘Wall Street’ pizza with no cheese…when we got it we were completely floored. It was brimming with vegetables – including zucchini!

One day, following the recommendation of a new friend, we drove around the entire lake (all 72 miles) and stopped along the way to take in the ever changing views. We were constantly amazed at how diverse the lake shores were. From soft sand to large boulders and everything in between, our eyes were never bored. (If you’re curious, we’ve passed up all opportunities to gamble…the glitz is fun, but the traffic and the people that one must deal with to get to a slot machine seemed a bit too labor intensive in our relaxed state.)

We were fortunate to have enjoyed a couple tours of historic homes** around Lake Tahoe. The care that went into each of the dwellings was a testament to the lake’s profound effect on its visitors. Attention to detail and a respect for nature were evident at each home. We met some really wonderful people during our strolls and had great conversations with our guides which went far beyond the typical “tour speech.”

Emerald Bay was our last view of Lake Tahoe. We both felt a little heart sick leaving our new friends and the beautiful shore, but we promised them (and ourselves) that we would most definitely return.

* For the record, we do not have a dog in tow…we have no idea where that comment came from.
** We could go on and on about the places we saw, but it wouldn’t do them justice. Check out these links for more information if you’re interested: Ed Z’berg – Sugar Pine Point State Park, home of Pine Lodge and Emerald Bay State Park, home of Vikingsholm & Fannette Island.

We decided to push on, and checked out of MacKerricher around lunchtime. Before leaving the area, we decided to see a bit of the charming town of Fort Bragg, so we headed ever so slightly south.

Driving through town, we spotted a sign that said ‘veggie’ in a bistro window. We excitedly parked in the next available spot and charged in. (Okay, it wasn’t that action-packed, but pretty darn close!)

The restaurant we had our eyes on was closed until dinner so we walked through the building and came upon an even better option: Living Light Cuisine To Go. The entire place (not just a large portion here, folks, but the whole eatery) was vegan – and a better portion of their food was raw! Seriously, angels came out and sang a song just for us. ;)

We both enjoyed our sunflower burgers and sampled each others soups. Can you say taste explosion? Once we were through marveling at our meal, we snuck back inside and got a lemon tart to go. To go with what? Coffee of course.

Coffee and tart in hand, we made our way to an ocean side park to enjoy our treats and check email. We consulted the map and plotted our next point of attack, then set off.

We thought we could avoid that very, very windy road by heading North then South, but it turns out that all of the roads in that region are windy. The word ‘corkscrew’ comes to mind. No exaggeration.

After a hot standstill thanks to construction (orange is not our favorite color at the moment) we knew where we wanted to go next, but neither of us wanted to drive straight through. We did the smart thing and got ourselves a cheap room at a Motel 8 (one of the nicest hotels we’ve stayed in, by the way!) We went to a grocery store for some more crunchies and munchies and on the way out saw a riot – well, a small impersonation of a riot…but it was a riot none the less. ;)

After dinner we soaked up some stupidity from the tube and went to bed.

We woke up to a cool, windy day…perfect for a stroll along the beach. While we made our way to the Pacific (less than one half mile), we noted the foliage. Pretty crazy the stuff that’ll grow where nothing else will. ;)

While strolling the seaside, we spotted a few seals that were sticking it out to the very end of their mating season. Too cute for words. After the wind got the better of us, we went back to camp and loafed around. A second campfire then off to bed.