Santa Cruz to Salt Lake City

So we are underway apparently.  

Having a year's worth of clothes and other personal affects stuffed into suitcases and piled into the back of the van was the first big clue that this is actually happening.

Except our first stop was the house of my aunt and cousins in Auburn where we like to come a couple of times a year. So in that respect it was kind of like any other mini-holiday/extended-weekend but with a lot more clothes.  

Auburn is only a four-hour drive from Santa Cruz so you could be justified in asking, "What is wrong with you guys, are you too chicken to go farther and really begin this journey?"

No, not guilty.

This first stop was totally necessary in order to say good-bye to this dear branch of our family who faithfully feed and house us at regular intervals throughout the year, who provide us with a place to escape and relax, a sanctuary where we can commune with nature and recharge our souls, and eat like Union soldiers just released from Andersonville.

And feed us they did, with their usual abundant hospitality.
And once that was done, we were off!
The moment we ignored the 80 West Sacramento sign and turned left to follow the 80 East Reno sign, well, that made it seem real.
Kind of.
It comes incrementally.
Each border crossing reinforces the realness, each mile of as-yet-uncovered terrain, each new town with names not quite foreign but not quite familiar.  Step by step traveling father away from home.
We were determined to photograph each Welcome To ---- state sign.  But somehow we missed Nevada. We didn't miss seeing it, we missed photographing it.  Because we sort of forgot that in order to photograph something, you have to have a camera present.  Not stuffed in a bag under the back seat but, rather, in your hands, lens cap off, finger on the shutter, pointing through the windshield.
Next time.
So, first Nevada:

Do you go to Lovelock, Nevada, pop. 2,000 and NOT eat at the Cowpoke Cafe?  No, you do not.  Unless of course its a Sunday and the place is unfortunately closed in which case you eat at the local pizza joint.

                                   

 Wide open spaces

                                                           

Then on into Utah. (oh, did you think I meant that I would include shots of the Welcome To ---- state signs?  You don't really need to see those, do you? yawn.)  

We commenced with eating our way through Salt Lake City.  First a German place Mihai found that proclaimed it had fantastic sauerkraut.  And they were right.

Then Moochie's Meatballs featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives (yeah Guy Fieri!).  We have set a goal for ourselves: no fast food, no chains.  Not that we're trying to be food snobs (eating at a place called Moochie's Meatballs makes that kind of difficult to achieve) but we're trying to get the broadest swath of new tastes and experiences possible in our rather brief stays.

When we weren't stuffing our face with fried chicken and meatballs, we were walking around exploring Salt Lake City.  It's a very organized place, I must say.  Wide streets, very little traffic, clean. It had a rather secure feeling to it which is a nice way to being your year-long-journey away from home. But it's just about as cold as it looks.  No, it's colder.  Good thing we had our  "Practical German Coats"*

*(see SNL season 34 episode 7 for reference as this will be a running joke)