Christof's Blog: Road Trip Part 1 / SF - Lake Tahoe

The last eleven days have been exciting, diverse and very entertaining. I have seen some incredibly beautiful places and Joe and I have driven almost 2600 kilometers across California and Nevada. Thus, I will split up my the journey in three parts - this is part 1.

We started our road trip quickly - no time for TGIF, no time for dinner, as we had to pick up the camper van that would be our mode of transportation as well as our temporary home for the next days, before the rental company closed.

We made it - and after throwing way to many bags into our home on four wheels, we were off across the Bay Bridge towards our first stop - Lake Tahoe. The drive was easy and pretty uneventful, we filled up our ice box and were there quick enough to have a good nights sleep - well, after we found a place to park. This would be our biggest concern for the trip: Where can we park for free and still be secure? Most of the time, we would end up somewhere on the side of the road with loud traffic making it hard to sleep. Our first night was filled with exactly this, which made us get up early in the morning.

And the view over the still tranquil Lake Tahoe was worth a sleep deprived night. After shooting our first pictures, we decided to enjoy the view over the Lake from Heavenly - a Mountain Top with a ski resort - and yes, there was still snow - even in the Californian summer. It is quite odd to go from 30 degrees to snowy mountains - the only place I had experienced that so far was New Zealand.

After a quick stroll through South Lake Tahoe - including the Hard Rock Café, to contribute to Joe's pin collection - we made our way towards Mono Lake from where we would start our Yosemite adventure. After a boozy evening on another road side sleeping place - this time with a great view, just outside the National Park, we were up for the (yep, anticlimax is coming) highlight of our trip. Yosemite is absolutely stunning and definitely in my top places to see again. We spend the first day just driving from picture spot to picture spot and walking to the countless waterfalls. Our second day was probably the best hike I have ever done: The Mist Trail! It is hard to describe the outstanding natural beauty and the views along this track, so see for yourself in my pictures.

And off we were for an overnight drive...

Lake Tahoe early morning 1