2022 Tahoe summer

We knew we had a great trip when Jackson asked: Why didn't you choose a career that allowed us to live in Tahoe? 

The anticipation for this trip was growing before we realized it. It started with longing for time with friends, tending the wanderlust of the family and calling of nature, then escaping Texas heat. Saturday June 25 we left 104 degrees of humid heat behind and came to Tahoe's 70 degree bliss five hours later. (3 hour of air travel + 1 hour of getting on the road + 1 hour drive from Reno) Robby and Marianna started planning our week long getaway early and meticulously. Delicious home meals are planned, camping trips are booked and hiking trails are carefully chosen. There was also a surprise activity at the end of the trip.  

Sunday morning after devouring Robby's home made cinnamon rolls from his sourdough starter, we went to town to get live bait to fish in the Sawmill pond. It was formed during the construction of the local airport and is stocked with fish for kids. Adults are not allowed to fish there. Well, after Norah gave up the hope of fishing, I followed a successful fisherman's advice and covered the hook with more worms. Right after I casted Norah's rod, a trout took the bait!  

In the afternoon, we hiked to a mountain stream with a rocky bottom. The day before when we took a stroll in the state park at the doorstep of Randolph residence, Jackson expressed a strong desire to play in a creek. This destination is on the other side of the neighborhood and chosen for all of us including Buttercup and Berkeley to play in. Buttercup and Berkeley are two of the cutest dogs that filled in our lives during the week. Buttercup is four years old and Berkeley is just one. Jackson associated himself with Berkeley and, interestingly, Buttercup and Norah have certain similarities. 

Monday we packed up for our camping trip. After watching Sing 2, we were getting ready to check into the Fallen Leaf Campground. A brown bear was climbing on the neighbor's car across the street! We watched in awe from the safety of the porch and the bear quickly moved away. The campsite is only 15 minutes away. We marveled at how such a breathtakingly beautiful place is only a short drive away while it takes us at least 12 hours drive from our Dallas home. Our first night campsite is #84 and right across the lake entrance. A peaceful meadow backs up our site. We felt we got the best site in town! 

We had fun at the lake and came back to enjoy Marianna's bean and cheese burrito and cheese quesadilla. And kids were excited to have S'mores around the gas fire ring to mark the end of a camping day. Evie suggested Pop-Tart stories. It's going-around-fire each-person-one-sentence kind of story telling. It's addictively fun. We told our stories about good and evil, solar system annihilation and knight redemption till 10pm quiet time. 

Will woke up early Tuesday morning and took photos of the serene Fallen Leaf Lake. We did more paddle boarding and returned to Site 84 to move to Site 53. We checked out Site 53 the day before and were so happy to find Taylor Creek right next to it. We also found a huge sequoia tree with a hollow trunk that could fit all of us. The time under the sky in perfect weather goes by so quickly. We ended our day with another round of S'mores and Pop-Tart storytelling. 

Wednesday morning the lake was windy from the start. We reluctantly broke camp and got ready for our Truckee River rafting in the afternoon. We drove to the other side of the lake to Tahoe City and hopped on a guideless raft. Will insisted on our own raft and we (me mostly) nervously started floating our way. Gradually my nervousness subsided and I started to enjoy the smooth ride. We stopped at a couple of places and some of us chose to float with the current down the river with freezing water temperature. 

Will enjoyed being a white water rafting captain and I liked being the engine of the raft. I declined his offer of switching roles since I liked the balance. Close to the end of the trip, we came upon a big rock in the middle of a rapid and saw a dog bounce out of the raft in front of us. The rescue mission went fast and it was pulled back to the raft. I was still watching the scene like a movie when our raft went sideways on the rock (perhaps that's why we didn't have enough "engine power" to get to the right side of the rock! - Will). Next thing I knew, I saw Will sitting in the river with a shocked look on his face. Once I saw he was okay, I had a bigger problem at hand. I was suddenly promoted to captain without any training! I jumped to the back and started steering while pretending that all was okay to calm the kids. Luckily the current pushed our raft to a small beach before hitting the next rapid. By that time, Robby's raft rescued Will and dropped him to our raft. We docked safely to the end point of our trip. 

After the adventure we had, we drove to Squaw Valley to roam and have dinner. Squaw Valley had recently changed the name to Palisades. I always enjoy checking out a ski resort in the summer. The base area is much less crowded. Moving around without ski boots on was such a treat! 

Thursday we headed out early to hike to Lake Winnemucca from Carson Pass via Pacific Crest Trail. I loved Bill Bryon's book A Walk In the Woods and fantasized about through-hike Appalachian. And we came across the Continental Divide Trail a few times on our trips to Colorado. The PCT trail, together with the Appalachian Trail and CDT are the triple crown of hiking in the US. We met a few through hikers on our hike. At Carson Pass, there were volunteers serving burgers and brownies for through hikers. They also fed both our kids a brownie. 

Our hike started immediately in the tall mountains with beautiful vista. We stopped by Frog Lake for rock skipping and snow play. About 2.3 miles in we reached Lake Winnemucca. Snow was melting around the lake and waterfalls were forming. the kids found a path to hike to the melting snow field and slide down again and again. We had our lunch at the windy shore. When we headed back, I helped the kids finish a quiz to become junior rangers. We moved from signs to posters, plaque back to signs to find the answers for Carson Pass. Both kids earned their badges and certificates!

In the afternoon, we played tennis in Tahoe Paradise Park while Marianna stayed back to prepare a yummy chicken dinner. Robby was a tennis coach for many years and he coached the kids patiently. Then they started to play King of the Court and Jungle Ball. I had never enjoyed watching tennis so much before. We didn't want to leave the court, but hungry stomachs and a delicious meal changed our minds. 

Friday morning we arrived around 8am at Vikingsholm parking lot, which still had plenty of spots. When we drove by midday earlier in the week, we saw the miles of cars parked illegally north Emerald Bay, so coming early was key. We took turns paddle boarding to Fannette Island. Jackson paddled most of the way with me. After the paddle boarding and sand play, we bought ice cream and hiked to the Lower Eagle Falls.

After we had an early dinner at Lake Tahoe Aleworx, we headed to our surprise activity -- Oliver was starring as the Tinman in the Wizard of Oz at the high school theatre! This production was put together in two weeks with a big number of cast members. The stage design, costume selection and the performance of the summer camp kids were top notch. We all enjoyed watching the theatre show. 

Saturday after a king's breakfast prepared by Marianna, we dragged our feet to the airport and 8.5 hours later, we arrived home.