Our goal for the day is to wander through the mountains and wind up in Lake Tahoe. Along this route we travel through Lassen Volcanic National Park and get to see an active volcano up close.

Mount Lassen is the southernmost volcano in the cascade range. The last time this volcano erupted was actually a series of eruptions between 1914 and 1917, with the worst one coming may 22, 1915. These eruptions were the last for any volcano in the cascade range until Mt St. Helens erupted in 1980.
For more info check out Mt. Lassen eruptions.

All through these mountains you will find not only cold clear alpine lakes like here at Mirror Lake but highly active thermal hot spots.

All along the road through this national park you will find a lot of informative displays about the dynamics of this constantly changing landscape.

Us at Mirror Lake.

View from top of the mountain.

Take your time exploring this unusual National Park there is a lot to lean about the volcanic process.

You can learn more at: https://www.nps.gov/lavo/index.htm

If there is any doubt whether or not Mount Lassen is still active, you only need look at his gurgling mud pit close to the top of the mountain.

After several hours of exploring this fantastic place we were off to Tahoe and the drive through the mountains was as beauiful as could be. The several hours it took to drive from Mt. Lassen to Lake Tahoe went by far too fast. Since we were coming in from the north the first place of note is the Donner Memorial and Donners pass.

This memorial is dedicated to one of the worst tragedies in American history. The donner party was a group of 87 people on their way to California from Missouri who decided to try a new route and instead got trapped by an early snow storm here in the Sierra Nevada mountains. Their provisions ran out and they were forced to turn to cannibalism.

NOT FUN!

You can lean more here: Fate of the Donners

The drive from Truckee to Lake Tahoe was every bit as beautiful as the rest of the days drive. Since it was getting late in the afternoon we decided that we would chek into the hotel have a great meal and good nights sleep. And the plan for tomorrow was to drive all the way around the lake before heading towards yosemite and our last night in Mariposa. Little did we know what the night held in store for us.

All of you longtime visitors might notice that on this trip I have not mentioned any of the hotels by name. We usually use a hotels in the choice hotel chain and we usually mention them and this trip we again stayed primarily in choice brand hotels. This trip however all that changed and the tale I am about to tell you is what happened.

We stayed at the Rodeway Inn in South Tahoe. Many of the older hotels do not have elevators and as you know I am disabled so I often request a disabled access room and that was the case here. The room was basically 2 of the parking spaces that had been converted into the room. No matter Rodeway inns are their cheaper brand so the fact that the room was substandard was not really a surprise. What was a surprise was the bed. Absolutley positivily the all time worst bed I have ever laid down in. Any hotel that would rent a bed like that to anyone let alone a disabled persom should not only be ashamed of themselves but should be put out of business. It wasn't even close to flat and for 2 people to sleep in it was sooo uncomfortable that by midnight I had to get out and complain so we gathered our things and went to the front office expecting to be given another room. The no vacancy sign was not lit and I had to wait for the night manager to check in a couple of guest so there were still rooms available. Now for me to complain about a room it has to be bad. It is not what I usually do. Come on I am the Roaddog! As long as Miss Lynn is happy I am happy and for Lynn to complain takes a lot. I explained to the night manager the problem and that it was impossible to sleep on that bed. His attitude was basically tough shit. Didn't offer another room, an apology for the state of the bed or any form of sympathy, empathy whatsoever! All he gave me was basically, take it up with management in the morning. Needless to say I was pissed! Back in the olden days treatment like this might have got this guys ass beat but I have mellowd in my old age and figured I would let his manager and Choice Hotels handle it.

So there we were middle of the night, no hotel room and just a few hours from when we normally get up and on the road for the new day.

We opted to head out into the night towards Yosemite. So while Miss Lynn slept I drove, stopping for cat naps along the way.