Yosemite Day 7

The last day was seven and a half hours of driving. We stopped in Winnemucca for lunch and Wendover for dinner. Then we made one other stop that was pretty cool. Just west of Elko there is a museum called the California Trail Center. We weren’t planning on stopping for it, but we’d been in the car so long that Dad pulled in anyway.

We were excited that it was free and that it had a Junior Ranger program. The boys immediately got to work learning about the California Trail. One of the major focuses of the museum was the Forty Mile Desert. This is an area out west of Wendover where the Humboldt River disappears into the ground. From that point, there is no water for forty miles, and it took most pioneers two to three days to cross that section. Since there was no good way to carry three days worth of water, especially considering all the people and animals that would be drinking, many people, and even more animals died on this stretch. We also learned about a phrase pioneers would use: Facing the Elephant. This meant facing your most difficult task, or your biggest fear. It had a bunch of quotes from journals using this quote.

There were lots of pioneer games to play.

We explored a big covered wagon.

Seth loves to dress up! 

The boys have collected a lot of Junior Ranger badges this year. 

The museum has some outdoor exhibits, too. We enjoyed our candy sticks next to the wagons.

We had a lot of fun at the California Trails Museum. 

We stopped at a Mexican restaurant for dinner. The food was okay.

Dax thought the salsa was too spicy!

Other than that one fun stop, Dad read books aloud to the boys, and we drove and drove and drove. Though we left Fernley by 10 o’clock, it was after 9 pm when we got in (including the time change). Everybody agreed, though, that this was one of our greatest vacations ever!