“Heavy with photos” post ahead.

Whew! We’ve had an interesting couple of days. I’m not sure where I last left off but we headed up the Pacific Coast Highway as far as Cambria. We would have loved to go further but mudslides have blocked parts of Big Sur and it would have taken too much time to travel in that area. I’ve been to Big Sur before. Don hasn’t. Hopefully, we’ll do that in the future.

Cambria is absolutely charming, filled with Victorian cottages and lovely shops.

Picket fences everywhere, with charming gardens. We happened upon a lovely group of shops. The garden shop made my heart beat faster…lots of creative planting using junk and funky pots and I took lots of photos for inspiration. Here are a few.

I would love to have spent a few hours there, but we were pressed for time. It was amazing.

Lots of antique shops, which I didn’t have time to visit. Sigh. But here we are on the streets of Cambria.

After Cambria we drove east for a few hours until we reached I-5 and we stopped there for the night. It was obviously a big truck stop but there were also a lot of firefighters staying there, as well. We saw smoke from some of the fires, which created a surreal, horrifying, yet beautiful orange haze over the mountains. The smell of smoke was everywhere.

Sunrise from our motel.

Then up the 5 through the Central Valley, with citrus farms as far as the eye can see, until we connected with the 80. East on the 80, which goes through the Sierra mountains. I drove that stretch and the views were awe inspiring. Unbelievably beautiful. We stopped at a vista point that overlooked Donner Lake.

All I could think of, of course, was the infamous Donner Pass incident way back when. In fact, Don said he was feeling a bit ‘peckish.’

The photos don’t do it justice. Stunningly beautiful.

After crossing into Nevada, we stopped in Sparks, thinking we’d buy a couple of t-shirts for Don. No t-shirts. We did have some lunch there. After Don said that the pain in his left leg, which has been a constant since I got here, was getting worse, I suggested we visit an Urgent Care. He had had a swelling behind his knee, which eventually went away, but now his ankle was swollen and his calf hurt a great deal. He agreed to go, so we ended up at an Urgent Care a few blocks away.

The doctor was concerned that it might be a blood clot, as were we. I was on the phone with my sister while I was waiting. My brother-in-law has a history of blood clots in his legs, so I wanted her thoughts on the symptoms.

They did an ultra sound, and even though we were prepared for blood thinners, it turned out there was no clot. Some sort of trauma for sure, whether from body surfing or the repeated up and down, up and down of many sets of stairs backstage during the show’s run, we’re not sure.

By that time, it was 6:30, so I took control of the situation and booked a motel in town for the night. We’re now about a day behind on our planned journey, but it was worth it to make sure that Don was okay.

Sigh. Onward today through Nevada and into Utah.

I’m sorry I haven’t been replying to comments, but there just isn’t time! I’m reading every one of them, I promise.

More soon!

Happy Thursday.