A few weeks ago I moved to Oakland, California. After 10 years living and loving Chicago, it was time for a new adventure. My girlfriend packed up our things in a ZippyShell and a few other things into my car and headed west on a week long road trip of 2335 miles through 7 states.
We spent our first day driving through Illinois and Iowa and rolled into Omaha, NE as the sun was setting. I had only visited Omaha once before for a few days but was impressed by it's charm and culinary offerings. It reminded me a lot of my hometown Milwaukee, WI. We took in sunset at Gene Leahy Mall .
Gene Leahy Mall, Omaha, NE
We then headed to M's Pub for dinner. I ate there during my last visit and loved their black bean cakes so I had to get those again. For my main course, I tried their M's Famous Lahvosh Santa Fe version which is an Armenian cracker with havarti cheese and it was delicious!
M's Pub Omaha, NE
We spent most of our second day driving through Nebraska's mostly flat but slightly rolling terrain passing through Lincoln, NE and into Eastern Colorado. We entered the Denver Metro area around rush hour and encountered a a bit of traffic but made perfect timing meeting our friend Dan for dinner at View House in downtown Littleton. We enjoyed the rooftop view with some brews and burgers!
View House Littleton, CO
Burger at View House Littleton, CO
Our third day was a neck of a drive through the mountains of Western Colorado which was, needless to say, beautiful!
Salt Lake City, one of my favorite places, was our next stop. It happened to my girlfriend's birthday sop we had a wonderful dining at Red Rock Brewing. I suggest the Alaskan Halibut! It was so good!
Alaskan Halibut Fish Fry at Red Rock Brewing, Salt Lake City, UT
It was a lovely evening so we walked around downtown and stopped at the Mormon Temple.
We stopped at the Bonneville Salt Flats right before crossing the state line into Nevada. It's such a cool environment,
Me at the Salt Flats in Utah
As soon as you cross the state line into Nevada there are casinos, literally but then there's a lot of open land.
Utah/Nevada State Line
I’ve always heard that 85% of the land in Nevada is owned by the federal government but driving through made that make sense. There’s a lot of vast open areas of the state where there’s literally no human development. After the casinos at the state line there was nothing for 60 miles.
Somewhere along I-80 in Nevada
We spent most of that day driving across the state and spent the night in Dayton, NV
On our final day of our journey we stopped at a train museum in Carson City, NV and got treated to some live steam trains.
Train Museum in Carson City, NV
Our route took us over the Sierra Nevada mountains and through Lake Tahoe which was cloudy but beautiful. I will definitely have to make a trip back up there. We then descended into the Sacramento Valley and the clouds gave way to sunny skies. It was just a bit more of a drive until we entered the Bay Area in the late afternoon.
It was quite a journey and I can't image the pioneers who made the trek by foot and covered wagon in the days of the old west.