Summer'15 - Lava Beds NM and Tahoe

The last stage of our journey took us past the Lava Beds National Monument and Reno to Lake Tahoe.
From Crater Lake we drove South again, after I almost lay awake the entire night, because I couldn't get my feet warm in the sleeping bag. The thought being, it's usually warmer in the South.
We wanted to drive till Reno stay for the night and proceed to Tahoe the next day. But the way got longer and longer and we got more and more desperate in the car. Our legs now trained to walk a couple of miles per day did not feel good in the car and right at the moment when you think you cannot take it anymore something happens. In our case it was a street sign showing the way to the Lava Beds NM. Yeah - off we go, just an hour, maybe a small hike - who knows.
So we took the turn. It needs to be said, that there is literally nothing around in that area and you drive miles without seeing anyone or anything - of course no reception.
The park was a real surprise. You can walk and if you are up to it crawl through miles of Lava tubes. You can rent lamps and equipment to discover the tubes. There is no way for me to take pictures in the tubes which show how amazing they are. It is a one of a kind experience, we enjoyed a lot. We will be back to do the more challenging tubes maybe next year.

Lave beds NM - entrance to one of the caves

Left from the entrance

Boys equipped with their head lamps, ready to go into the cave.

From there, we drove till Susanville, because the one hour stay was more like a 3 hour stay - worth it every minute.
The next day be drove to Reno. I'm not sure what I expected. We ended up in the International Automobil Museum which shows some of the cars formerly collected and restored by Harrah, the same guy who founded the Harrah's casinos. It is a nice collection taking you through the ages of automobile development. We had fun looking at the beautiful restored cars. We had a perfect lunch at Old Station Street Eatery and from there drove on to Tahoe.
I need to mention that it is a rather bad idea to drive to Tahoe during peak season on a Friday - lots of traffic and lots of people. Coming form the more or less wilderness in the North we felt weird with so many people around.

In the Automobile Museum

That's the original!

 Nevertheless, we made the best out of it. We headed out for some shopwindow and town viewing because it rained that day till 6 pm, we weren't really up to hike. We had cocktails and just fun being silly. Paul found his food paradise, a jerky shop - oh man this stuff was really good and we stocked up with buffalo, elk and boar for next days hike.

South Lake Tahoe evening fun.

Jerky? - JERKY!!!!

Paul: That's a food paradise.

 We went up Eagle Lake, but apparently almost everyone else was ging there to. So we followed the Velma lakes trail and enjoyed the beautiful views.

Eagle Lake hike

Jerky break

Big stones

That's the way we like it!

We will be back to Tahoe, but more likely during off-season. Not only are the hotels less expansive and the campgrounds empty, also you have the trails and lakes to yourself.