From the heat of the desert back to the cold rain and thunderstorms of the Sierras.

Leaving the desert behind, arguing about if we were going to drive that rather crazy and a bit dangerously looking road winding up the mountains while driving through Dresslerville and then just praying while turning onto that exact road in Mottsville, we got onto the last stretch of our way to Valhalla.

Well. I should be more careful with the choice of words here – no, we did not die and I am not writing this from the north-mythology place for brave warriors while surrounded by fine men.

But you could think so if you saw the beautiful views of the valley below us. I could probably show you some pictures if my tiny camera didn’t mess up. Hopefully at least the video will be fine.

Driving through an Alpine-like terrain and flora, I started to miss home a bit. I remembered all-year-round-beautiful Livigno, where we used to go with my dad and sister over and over again.

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Arriving at the Tallac Historic site – what a surprise! – a thunderstorm started to boil right above us. But decided not to give up again, we walked through the woods with raindrops and thunder trying to drive us out from there.

Valhalla? Closed. Actually, thanks to the weather, the whole site was completely empty. With no people but for us, the boiling thunderstorm clouds floating so low that it felt like if they came there to make us disappear from the world, we got a bit creeped out. So you can’t blame us for what happened after.

A Run for Our Lives

The rain got worse so we decided to hide on the porch of Valhalla Estate. Thinking we were safe from lightning and the eerie clouds, we walked around one corner… Then another one… And then, A SURPRISE ATTACK FROM A MONSTER ABLE TO EAT OUR SOULS CAME!

No, I’m just exaggerating now. But according to Ella’s reaction, you would think this is exactly what has happened.

At the exact moment when she saw this innocent ball of fur hiding away from the rain, she bolted away from the porch, out into the rain. Being struck by a lightning was probably a much safer choice than sharing the shelter with this wild beast called raccoon.

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I’m not saying it wasn’t a shock, in her defence, even I got a bit scared. None of us expected to meet Mr Raccoon so closely.

And while Ella ran away, I slowly backed up and took a picture. With the exact same camera that didn’t work, so I have none to show you. But if the video worked, I’m going to put a link here.

And Mr Raccoon did something I didn’t expect it to do; it started to walk slowly towards me. Like if I switched my role with it. Like if it was a human being trying to come closer to a scared animal (me).

Well, I was told before that raccoons can be very, very dangerous (after I got out from a car at night because I wanted to see one closely) and I didn’t intend to try to disprove this thesis right there right then, so I backed up. And so it continued until I was forced to join Ella in the rain.

But it didn’t stop there, oh no. The raccoon was fully engaged in following us.

At last, after about five minutes of a pretty spry walking through the site, the raccoon was nowhere to be seen anymore. I still feel really bad for running away from it. Maybe it just needed friends. And we ran away. Poor lonely raccoon with its sad eyes. Even now, after a few weeks, I still feel like the worst person under the sun for running away.

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I’m pretty sure that in summer or when there’s something going on, the site is more exciting – with people walking around or with historically accurate costumes in Valhalla, it must be pretty cool.

For us, shivering in the cold rain, walking among all the houses where the rich folks used to go for their vacation, and being jump-scared by dog-barking in the kitchens played as loudly as possible whenever a sensor sensed your movements (yes, I wrote it like that on purpose), it was just… nice. Not great or perfect, just nice.

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Stopping for dinner at Taco Bell (because it’s cheap), we drove back to Nevada (literally just a few hundred yards) and after entering California again (it took us only about an hour or less), we made it to our hostel.

Excited about hot shower and the fact that we weren’t going to have to build our tent in the rain and then just pray for the tent to be in a better shape than the night before, we spread our sleeping bags on the floor to make them dry properly (if you remember, we didn’t take them out in the desert) and played some games before falling into the deep, deep sleep (which I had to wake up from at three in the morning to switch our electronics and power banks so it would all get charged properly before Lassen).

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The previous Our-Little-Road-Trip article is HERE.

The following one is HERE.

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