I had really been looking forward to this leg for a while, I drove through Northern California nearly 15 years ago and always wanted to make this journey again. This time we would pass South of Mount Shasta and connect with 1-5 before an interesting stopover in Wolf Creek, Oregon where we stayed in a haunted hotel also famous for being a favorite of Clark Gable and even Jack London. Finally the last day of travel takes us through wine country before arriving at our new travel base in Washington State.
Leaving Tahoe
South Lake Tahoe is such a beautiful wonderland. It was definitely too soon for us to leave as two days is not enough time to do much of anything here. Our stay at Basecamp was a lot of fun but we won’t miss the high costs of Tahoe. It is super expensive to do nearly anything there. After we packed up the car and checked out we made our way on hwy 50 taking us along the eastern side of Lake Tahoe and back into Nevada for a short while.
Driving Across Northern California
We couldn’t have asked for a better day to be driving across northern California. Our route along hwy 395 had us connect with 36 at Susanville and then we hopped on the Volcanic Legacy Scenic Byway, state route 44, for a breathtaking drive through the Lassen National Forest.
The views kept getting better as we turned onto hwy 89 we made our way along the Southern side of Mt. Shasta. It is really hard to miss the mountain and there were so many sweet views of it as we crept closer. We stopped for some gas and grabbed a couple of photos before continuing along until we connected with interstate 5.
Oregon
It was Michelle’s first time traveling to Oregon. Another new state for her! It was a thrill for me to watch her take in the beautiful scenery for the first time as it had been the case on multiple occasions during this road trip.
In planning the trip we were looking for a place to break up the drive from Tahoe to Gig Harbor Washington, our final destination for this road trip. Originally we were looking at the Klamath falls area which I had driven through nearly 20 years prior and was so impressed with the beauty of the area. When I got onto Hotels.com, my favorite site to get hotels, (link for why we love it here?) I randomly found the Wolf Creek Inn & Tavern located in, well, Wolf Creek, Oregon. It was right off I-5 and the price was pretty sweet as well. $64 for the Night.
Turns out this place has a lot of history since its first opening in 1883 with some famous and notable guests. We would also find out about some “additional” history of the place once we arrived, more on that later