Heading Home

13-15 September 2023

Our drive home from Montana took three days. Our first stop was Elko, Nevada. The second stop was Nevada City, California to see cousins Kathy and Leonard. What would be a B+B vacation without seeing cousins!

To recap, in three weeks we drove 3,823 miles, went to a foreign country (Canada), entered two provinces (British Columbia and Alberta), and drove through six states (California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Nevada), seeing varied landscapes and meeting new friends.

From Montana to Elko, Nevada

Henry’s Fork Lodge

At the casting club in Golden Gate Park we had heard about Nelson Ishiyama’s luxurious fishing lodge on the Henry’s Fork river in Idaho, built in 1990. Nelson was on the board of the Exploratorium when Bonnie began to work at the museum, so she first met him there. He is also a member of the casting club in Golden Gate Park so we have seen him at a club event. But we were most surprised to see him twice at dinner in Gore, New Zealand, in March this year. He had booked the same fishing guide we did. Truly one degree of separation in the fly fishing world.

Because our driving route passed close to the lodge, we pulled in for a look. The lodge is beautifully rustic and elegant at the same time. We were startled to discover it was designed by the well-known Bay Area architect Joe Esherick, who taught one of Robert’s early design classes. The online reviews of the lodge rave about the food and the hospitality of the staff. Perhaps a few days here are in our future.

Views and Eats

Enroute from Elko to Nevada City, California

Nevada City Cousins

(Kitty: you can skip ahead.) We love visiting Kathy Butz and Leonard Berardi in Nevada City. Robert and Leonard are second cousins; Leonard’s parents were close throughout Robert’s childhood and they were Robert’s godparents. During our one-night stay in Nevada City, Kathy and Len treated us to spritzes, a home cooked meal, and updates on a vast number of relatives.

Traffic was especially heavy from Reno to Nevada City, disrupted by road construction. In fact, we encountered major road construction projects throughout our road trip and finally realized that Biden’s infrastructure money is at work.