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Flowering plums, February 28th, Palo Alto, California
Time to smell the flowers one last time, take a walk among the trees...
Plum walk in Palo Alto One of Palo Alto's black squirrels
...say goodbye to the black squirrels...

and hit the road again. An overnight detour through central California's cornucopia for a family visit, and then to the mountains.

The road over Donner Summit was clear and dry, as the Sierras took a breather from a snowy February. Our good-luck chains are still in the shrink-wrap.

Clovis vineyards, at speed

Reno is unchanged in its tawdry sadness. The smoking in public places seems a worse offense than the gambling, though. Our room had a view (and audio!) of the Union Pacific main line, just across the street.

Rollercoaster US95 south of Burns Junction

The morning sky had that flat gray of snow in the distance, and we drove east on I-80 through rain and snow showers. The road had only a few slices of slush, though. Tuning into Winnemucca's weather sounded bad: inches of snow coming this (Friday) afternoon.

Turning north on US 95 came with a break in the weather, though. Beautiful scenery from last night's snow but a clean, dry road.

Up above Jordan Valley, after a pleasant lunch stop at the Old Basque Inn, the scenery kicks into high gear.

Panorama
along US 95 above Marsing

Panorama along US 95 above Marsing

One last photo stop before the big drop into the Snake River valley and civilization. This roadcut through metamorphic rock was pretty cool.

And the view went both up and down from the snowline.

Metamorphic roadcut on US 95, above Marsing.

US95 between Jordan Valley, Ore. and Marsing, Id. US95 between Jordan Valley, Ore. and Marsing, Id.

We got in several hours ahead of plan, and our neighbor ran across the street to tape up this banner when she saw us drive in. (That's Jeanette posing, after the fact.) A
banner from the neighbors

Tom von Alten      tva_∂t_fortboise_⋅_org

http://www.anybrowser.org/

Sunday, 04-Mar-2001 21:13:16 MST
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