California: Eagle Lake

Once we finally wrapped up all of our errands in Reno, we headed North and a wee bit west which found us striking out into Northern California in our pursuit onwards and up. Naturally, upon entering California, we hit some of the worst traffic throughout the entire duration of our trip thus far, leading to the necessary "California traffic" jokes we more or less feel obligated to make after being their neighbors for way too long. There's nothing inherently wrong with California- it's a beautiful state with a lot of coastlines and a lot of people. Like, a lot of people. In 2016 there were an estimated 252 residents per square mile, whereas Nevada has an average of about 26 people per square mile...quite a contrast there, right? This is going to change in time, however, especially now that the Raiders are moving to Las Vegas and bringing the state their first professional football team, ever. For now, the cost of living in Las Vegas is a fair bit below anything you're likely going to find in any part of California, but as people begin to relocate this may change. 

All that population density, though, seems to fall away when you're in a natural park like this. Most of our drive through northern Nevada into Northern California and Southern Oregon lead us through winding national park trails, past many lakes and water bodies, and most of it felt quite secluded. Sure, we'd get the occasional long-haul trucker pulling out from a rest stop  in some small town and trailing us for a while, or the impatient SUV driver who takes the first opportunity to swerve around us at break-neck speeds, but for the vast majority of the drive it felt like just the two of us making our way through these lost lands. When we found our way to Eagle lake and saw all the cows milling around by the water, we couldn't help but to stop and take a moment to absorb it all. There may or may not have been some shouts of love and "aren't you a pretty moo-cow", too. 

After catching our breathes and sufficiently satisfying ourselves with our adoration of the distant cows, we resumed our trek. You've got to stop and smell the flowers, or in this case admire the bovine, every once in a while, right?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Until next time, thanks for visiting!

💗

XOXO,

NAU