Flat Williz in Nevada

Dear Otters,

Thank you for letting me take Flat Williz with me when I traveled to Nevada. It was so fun to show him around the town where I grew up and to share some of the beauty of Nevada with him! We had to drive all the way south through Oregon, across part of California, and then into central Nevada to a town called Fallon. The drive took a whole day! We also spent a few days up in the mountains at Lake Tahoe. Here is a map of our journey:

Northern Nevada is in the Great Basin, a giant valley region surrounded by lots of tall mountain ranges. The geography here is considered a “high desert” because there isn’t a lot of rain or water but the elevation is high above sea level. This means it gets really hot and dry in the summers, but very cold and snowy in the winters. The plants are mostly sagebrush and other types of bushes, with very few trees. The evergreen trees are mostly up in the mountain ranges, but they are different from the types of evergreen trees we see in Oregon. Nevada is covered in lots of mountain ranges, and some of the tallest peaks are over 13,000 feet high (taller than Mt. Hood). Below are some photos of the snowy mountains and sagebrush we passed as we drove. This was early in the winter, so they didn’t have a lot of snow yet:

Fallon, NV is the town where I grew up. It is a small farming town, kind of similar to Forest Grove. There are dairy farms, cattle ranches, and fields where they grow alfalfa and corn for feeding cows. They are also known for growing some really yummy Heart O’ Gold cantaloupes. There is a Naval Air Base just outside of town, where pilots are trained to fly really powerful jets in the TOP GUN program. My favorite thing about Fallon are the sunsets! There aren’t too many trees so we always have a nice view of the beautiful sky as the sun sets behind the mountains. Flat Williz got to watch a sunset one night too:

Many of the towns in Nevada have their initial letter painted onto the sides of nearby mountains or hills. Flat Williz was excited to see the ‘F’ for Fallon on Rattlesnake Hill:

There are lots of wild horses that roam the mountains in Northern Nevada. Occasionally they wander into town and munch on the grass in people’s yards! Usually they keep to themselves, though. Flat Williz got to see a small group of wild horses as we drove along the highway:

I used to live in a small town by Lake Tahoe before we moved to Oregon. It was fun to take Flat Williz back to our old home and enjoy the mountains and beautiful lake! We played in the snowy forest and went up to the viewpoint that looks out over the lake. Lake Tahoe is located on the border between Nevada and California, and it is the biggest alpine lake in all of North America (“alpine” means it’s a lake high up in the mountains). It is very big and very deep! The only lake that’s deeper in the United States is Crater Lake here in Oregon, but Lake Tahoe is much wider and longer across.

We took Flat Williz on a short hike down to the water. We went through the evergreen trees and bushes, climbed around on the giant granite boulders, and even touched the icy cold water. Lake Tahoe is so clear that you can see the big boulders deep down at the bottom. The water reflects the color of the sky, so on sunny days the Lake is a gorgeous deep blue color!

Look in the picture below… Can you see Flat Williz way out on that boulder!?!?

After our fun time in Nevada, Flat Williz was tired and ready to come back home to Oregon.

Love, Ms. Susan