This March we were able to get two weekends in at the lodge. The first included a visit from our cousin, Rita. Jim had planned to work on the foundation that weekend, but I convinced him that we should actually enjoy ourselves and our time with Rita.
Thursday, Rita and I did some light site seeing. We headed up to Hampshire Rocks and Big Bend for some photos. The Yuba River is running - but we will not have a great snowmelt this year due to the lack of a snow pack. We also did the drive from the Summit area to Donner Lake (highway 40) and a drive around Serene Lake for some photos.
Friday, Rita and I took a trip to Truckee to window-shop with an accidental side trip to Reno. Reno came about because we were so busy catching up that I missed the Truckee exit and did not realize it until we were at the border checkpoint.
In Reno, we hit a couple favorite thrift stores, then headed back to Truckee. The Truckee shops were fun to browse and Rita managed to find a heavy doorstop there. We had a nice lunch at Jacks by the Tracks (a Truckee diner), then, after hitting all the stores on Main Street, headed over to our Truckee Ace Hardware (LOVE THAT STORE), then home. For more photos, we walked over to the first little falls on the top of Fulda Creek. Again, water running - but no major blast.
Saturday, Jim, Rita and I headed up the summit again and down 89 to Lake Tahoe. We hiked around Sugar Pine Point. There was still a bit of snow there. From the dock, the water was perfect turquoise from the glacier silt. I believe all the Keep Tahoe Blue bumper stickers are working, because the lake looked perfectly clear and blue.
We hiked over to the old mansion (which was closed for the season) and hiked around the park before heading up to Emerald Bay for more photos. We stopped at the scenic overlook, then headed over to the parking area by the falls. Jim and Rita hiked out to a boulder point to get a better photo there (I opted to hang out at the road since I did not have great shoes). Then off to a nice restaurant across the street from Homewood for lunch. The architecture was nice and the decor very pretty. The restaurant had large picture windows that looked out over the lake.
We hike down Emigrant Gap Road through the snow to look at an old "off the grid" cabin that was recently for sale. Not sure if it sold yet - but there was no for sale sign on it - so assuming it either sold or was pulled off the market. That hike took us through a bit of ice snow and was a challenge to manage.
In all, a very nice weekend. We hope that Rita can make it to the 4th of July with her hubby this summer.
Last weekend, the guys across the street were up. We had a wonderful dinner with them Saturday night. They supplied the chicken enchiladas (yum) and we made the salad and desert.
Also on Saturday, one of Jim's coworkers stopped by with his wife and friends who have a cabin in Blue Canyon. They were up for a ski weekend at Sugar Bowl. We gave them a tour of the lodge, then had lunch and hung out in front of the fireplace chatting. Their kids enjoyed the shuffle board and some of the toys.
Jose was also up, so Jim and he worked on the foundation for the swedish sauna and cleared out some of the construction debris from the basement. On Sunday, I had planned to cut up all the firewood from our downed trees, but the chainsaw would not cooperate. So I gathered and stacked downed branches and did some general property clean up (stacked so of the broken concrete from the swedish sauna area to make a small retaining wall by the creek area and pulled weeds).
Our hope is to get some flowers in this year (shasta daisies?), put in some pine and fir trees that we have rooted and possibly put in a new apple tree. But all of that will have to be on our next visit.
The weather was way too warm for March and we spent most of Sunday working in our shirtsleeves. Quincy had a blast playing in the back with his best buddy, Lucky. our little seasonal creek was running. I spent a lot of time throwing sticks to the dogs to fetch, then picking up the sticks to re-stack on the fire pile.
I am hoping to have the chainsaw operational for our next visit since I have about 4 trees to cut and stack (including a large oak tree that split in half over the winter). I guess we are getting an early start on next seasons firewood with all the downed trees. In the fall, we will take down some of the standing firewood (dead trees) and do the splitting then.
The cedars continue to die off and are being replaced by oak saplings. I am hoping that this change is based on the beetle issue and not global warming. I am also hoping for more rain to avoid a major fire threat this season. We still have to acquire a water tank for the property to allow for firefighting water in the event of an emergency.
Jim and I discussed the new door he is adding to the lower basement area. It will require some steps and possibly a small deck to be accessed. I am hoping he decides to incorporate the decking into the fire escape and give us an option for a deck on the back of the house.
We will keep the other two door entries that are already in place (replacing the actual doors) and we need to add some windows for light. Then, at some point, Jim will add a concrete floor and put his workroom down there. So much to do, so little time.
Anyway, that is it for our March post. Next post - April.
