Sep 2, 2012 Last updated: 9/8/12 2:00pm PT
Day 2 started with a short drive over the Oregon/California border to Tulelake and Newell. The Tule Lake Segregation Center was the largest of the Japanese relocation/concentration camps in the US during World War II. This was made a national monument in 2008. I expected there to be some remnants of the camp. There is nothing here. There are some new buildings and people live here, but we did not see anything left from the old WWII camp. In the town of Tulelake, there are artifacts at the museum, which unfortunately was closed when we arrived.
Below are pictures of items outside the museum. (This area was behind a chain link fence).
Next stop, Lava Beds National Monument. We did not spend enough time researching this stop. This is a place for serious cavers (to explore the lava tubes). Hard hats, gloves, knee pads and flashlights are needed. Serious flashlights. I brought a pen-light. It seemed to light up our kitchen OK, but it was no match for the darkness of the cave.
There was one lava tube that was accessible to city-folk like us.
A short (3 hour) drive later, Lassen Volcanic National Park. Lassen erupted in 1915, and was the last eruption in the Cascades prior to Mount St. Helens in 1980. It threw big rocks great distances.
This road was closed by a forest fire up until a few days before we arrived.
The park has active hydrothermal areas. Pictures below are from the Bumpass Hell Trail. While not as impressive as Yellowstone, just as smelly.
After another 3-4 hours of driving, we arrived in Carson City, NV for the night. We drove through Reno at night, didn’t stop, and we did not see Lake Tahoe at all.