Tahoe Days
Tahoe Days
After three days in Washington visiting our oldest son and his family, we headed onto the third leg of this journey. We had such a good time in our visit and although our son was hard at work a lot of time, we maximized our time with him, his wife and our granddaughters. We laughed a lot and were able to talk to our granddaughters and find out much more about their interests. Both are taking Ju-Jitsu classes and the oldest was even in a camp while we were there. We had a great time and realized they are a very busy family and are very happy in being that way. The next phase includes an expedient trip through Oregon to set up seeing the numerous redwood forest groves along the coast of California. This followed by our week in South Lake Tahoe and a wine day in Napa Valley.
We left Washington relaxed, but with our continued aches and pains, although mine are greatly reduced and the numbness in my hands has been reduced. Jen, on the other hand, seems to be getting worse riding in the car. Hopefully our week in Tahoe area will subside the pain before our eventual three trip home later this month. It was awe-inspiring seeing all of the volcano’s of the Pacific Rim. Many times, we saw two at a time. We saw Mount Glacier Peak, Rainier, Adams, Hood, Jefferson, and Newberry. They all stand like sentinels standing watch over the entire northwest. They are majestic snow-covered mountains standing much higher than any other mountains around them. We saw the southern half of Oregon, neither one of us had ever been south of Eugene. The landscape was interesting as it started mixing the wheat-colored grasses in with the lush green forests of Oregon. Very contrasting landscape setting in motion our anticipation for wine country.
We left Medford Oregon backtracking to Grants Pass to catch the Redwood Highway that begins in Oregon and much of the northern coastal area of California. It started with a scattered redwood here and there, turning into huge groves of these titans. Even in some of the areas suffered by wildfire, these trees seemingly get a little scarred on the bark, but present no signs of damage and, in fact, the fires seem to excite the growth of seedlings and new growth from the huge burls lower on the trees that look like warts protruding out up to six feet on some trees. They are magnificent and because there are so many standing, you actually lose sight of just how big they are, that is until you stand at the base of one realize how small you are in comparison. We got some great shots of them, with the funniest being a Japanese woman taking our picture in a way that it stretched our bodies out to look like we are about ten feet tall. After several purchases of much needed sweatshirts in June, cripes its cold and Tahoe highs are anywhere from the fifties to the seventies with lows dipping into the thirties, these Texans are ill-prepared for the cold. We have forgotten what it is like living in mountains and now have fully climatized to sea level heat and humidity. We might go through a container of lotion in one week.
We were able to spend half a day in Napa Valley and at Domaine Carneros setting up tours and tastings for Tuesday and three of our favorites for the Troy and Jess. Pop-Pop has volunteered to stay in Tahoe with the grandkids for a day of spoiling them swimming, eating pizza, ice cream, and a movie. I laughed at the slight worry from our son and wife at my abilities to spend a day with kids. I guess they forgot I did so on a day-to-day basis twenty years ago. Piece of cake should be fun.
Following the first day relaxing from driving, we went to Taylor Creek and walked the trails near there. A beautiful day and lots of amazement as to the clarity of the water. Finished the sightseeing with the Emarald Bay viewpoint. Always a stunning view for first timers. But having been there at least twenty times, it is still one of the most beautiful views there is. We stopped at our favorite pub on the way back to the resort and ate at Cold Water Brewing. Service has always been great, but this time it was like getting stuck in an out-of-sight-out-of-mind kind of service. The food, however, was as good as ever. The day was finished off with swimming and relaxing. Third day, I dropped them off at a trailhead and I headed to the state park they were going to end up in and secured a picnic table and set up the picnic lunch Jen had made. Nevada Beach has one of the most spectacular views of the Sierra Nevada range with the lake in the forefront. Plenty of watching boats and other water sports along with various wildlife.
Middle of the week, we spent riding e-bikes on the trails by Tallac Museum down to Baldwin Beach. It has always been something we do at least once during the week in Tahoe, but the last two years have been via e-bikes. Other than purists, every bike should be an e-bike. The one I had last year could be full battery power, but the one I road this year was an e-assist type bike, so you have to pedal using some percentage of your own strength. Still, much more fun than pedaling up a hill on your own. As you can tell, we aren’t necessarily into the health aspect of riding as we pack a lunch to eat somewhere, the more people the more food we get to take. Our ride is always capped off by stopping at the Camp Richardson ice cream shop. We aren’t alone in this method of bike riding as the line at the ice cream shop sometimes is backed up out the door. After ice cream, we make the final trek back to the rental center and into the comforts of Mr. Fords creation. When you want to make a ten-year-old boy happy, stick him on an e-bike that looks like and drives like a motorcycle. Grandparents are big hits in doing this.
Closing in on the end of the week, we are focused on our customary yacht ride on the lake and making sure we get all of the weeks leftovers eaten up. It’s the last day and the boat ride and dinner were a hit. It is always a fascinating thought trying to see the world through the eyes of kids. Everything looks larger and is certainly more mysterious. It was my granddaughters first boat ride, and she was very nervous. My grandson was just excited, especially when he saw the bow pulpit on the boat. As we entered Emerald Bay, one of the boatsmen offered to take a family photo from the pulpit. He was able to stay there for a Captains expertise of bringing the bow to within feet of the rocks of the island in the bay and my grandson could almost reach out and touch them. We ate at the Marina Grill, which faces the marina departed and docked at. I’m always on Jen about generosity we show to the kids, but who’s monitoring me? I tell her they all make more money than our fixed income and we just need to split costs on these trips, but I don’t listen to my own advice, and we paid for a dinner that was way too much in cost. I guess the price of eggs is still keeping costs of everything up!
The last day is always the hardest day. You spend a week full of activity and something to do dawn to dusk, and then you have a day washing the laundry and packing. You grab a luggage cart and pre-load it the night before even though the resort asks you not too. I suppose that’s because they want bell services to make money too. In Hawaii, we always have the bellman unload and take our luggage to and from the car. But in Tahoe, for some reason, we always do it ourselves. The resort is just as nice, but we feel less in need of being pampered for some reason. Maybe it’s the thousands of dollars of wine and liquor we bring back and want to make sure we handle it, at least on the back end of the trip. Other than a little shopping, doing laundry and reading, we did a little shopping, and I returned to the little liquor store that’s no bigger than my living room, but somehow has every hard-to-get bottle of liquor rationed by the distilleries. Not sure how this happens, but I love the availability, and I can make sure my annual purchases are made in one little shop on the corner.
We left Tahoe after taking our son and family to the airport, said our goodbyes, and back to Tahoe to load up our tuff to head home. But first day was a little different. We headed to LA for one night to load up the top piece to the cabinet we brought home a couple month ago. A great dinner and a good night’s rest and we were off heading home. Two longs days getting home and were met with the fifth of our kids to be seen within three weeks, except this one has permanently moved to Texas. What a big move for them! I hope they find their way and it all works in their favor. It was another successful vacation. Now to get this one paid off so we can go to Hawaii later this year.