Lake Tahoe Here We Come!

The second stop on our whirlwind adventure is Lake Tahoe. The Steele Family has been kind enough to invite us to visit them and intrude on a family wedding they are attending. Basically Berk and I are squatters…not that we mind. We left Yosemite and had a great time driving out. The West side of Yosemite is truly majestic. We of course discovered more waterfalls, stopped to climb a granite rock-face mountain and let Ally go for a swim (too bad the Rangers did not think a swimming Portuguese Water Dog was that cute. We almost got a ticket for swimming – go figure) . All the while my little back seat driver was GLUED to her new Leapster game machine. I am beginning to wonder if she is turning in to a gaming addict.

Mommy, we don't need to take a shower tonight!

Day 1 in Yosemite has come to an end. We have been gone all day and saw a number of waterfalls and even scaled down some rock with Ally to the waters edge. The first one we saw was called Cascade Creek. It was tiny (only 300 ft tall) compared to the others at 1500 feet. There was a bridge / highway going right in front of the drop area and plenty of parking, so we pulled over. We hiked down a small outcropping and were right at the waters edge. The spray coming off of the drop area was very refreshing. Ally of course hopped right in and Berk scurried around gathering huge pine cones for her new collection. I think we have about 20 now. It was beautiful! Towards the end of the adventure Berk announced…”Mommy, we don’t need to take a shower tonight, we are already clean from the waterfalls”.

We powered on until we got to Yosemite Village. Its not what I remember, after having been here only once 15 years ago. It seems so much more spread out. We did the tourist thing, went to Yosemite Falls and and climbed on some more rocks down to the waters edge. This place was absolutely amazing! I know the photos we have taken (and I do mean “we”) will never due this place justice! It’s truly magical. Berk, in her kid-like manner was saying by about 2:00 PM “When can we go back home?” Maybe she did not sleep as well as I had thought. So we started back. We are staying at the Hodgeton Meadows camp ground. Its very nice, and at a higher elevation, so its nice and cool. Oh, and thankfully the bathrooms are very close! Berk has made some friends with a family camping next to us. Its amazing how she can be so fearless in some ways and shy in others. She wants to climb slippery granite rock-faces, but is afraid to say hello to another girl that is staying right next to us. I made a fire and we were playing jump rope and catch with Ally for a while, UNTIL…we took a BIG tumble. We did a great job of skinning our knee and elbow. Blood and drama for more than an hour. I think the neighbors thought she was dying given all the noise coming from that beautiful blond head. After cleanup, band aids and a couple of little chocolate donuts, the world was a better place. She asked me to read her an Jack and Annie book which I happily did. She only lasted about 20 minutes. She fell fast asleep by about 6:30 PM. The noise continues all around us, but nothing is phasing her.

Observation: This camp ground is like the United Nations. We have a family in a rented RV visiting from Germany with their 13 month-old daughter; to the right is a Mexican family from Orange County. They are all runners (like real runners…they all ran 6 miles early this morning and we are at 6000 FT elevation!) Behind us are a bunch of American mountaineers who work for a lumber mill, so they helped us out with some fire wood. Lastly diagonally from us is an Indian family with a very young baby who is not sleeping through the night. We all got up for the 3:00 AM feeding!

Well, that’s the day so far. Its been a long day after a short night. I may try to get some sleep tonight too. Ally keeps wandering all over and has made friends with everyone. Maybe that is why she has been sick all day. She is asleep now as well, hunkered down under the picnic table.

Mom...hold the wheel with two hands!

The drive up took FOREVER...almost 7 hours to be specific. I think I was mentally ignoring how long it could take to get here. We made several stops along the way with lots of “firsts”. We saw our first wildfire, a brush fire to be specific. Berk was quite scared for a few moments and then was fixated on the helicopter being used to fight the fire. We watched is fill up in a creek and spray the water on the fire. So for the next hour I had to not only navigate the driving directions, but I also had to navigate the 1000 questions about helicopters and forest fires. Bottom line, firemen and women are "very brave and will always save us". Our second "first" was going to a drive-in for lunch. We pulled in to a Sonic and ordered food through a microphone. It was brought out on a tray that hooked to the window. That in and of itself was worthe the price of admission! Berk was thrilled and can't wait to go back. She ate an entire foot-long hot dog! The third “first", was that we have done a great job of raising a back-seat driver. The whole way up Berk was giving me driving instructions. Everything from “Mommy, hold the wheel with two hands” to "don't drive so close to the edge". I think she may become a driving instructor when she gets older.

By the time we got to the campsite it was late…after 8:00 and only a few moments of daylight left. Thank goodness for the campers next to us. Two guys ran over and helped with the tent. It was so big you really need two people to put it up. I had forgotten that when we went “glamping” last year. We quickly made some dinner (chicken and some fruit). We were both tired so we went to bed around 10:00, I just wish our neighbors had done so as well. It was well after mid-night when it finally quieted down. We slept fairly well until 4:00 AM when the neighbors who helped out earlier with the tent, decided to get up and hike Half Dome. These guys were serious mountaineers! Berk swears she was up ALL night listing for bears. She said she heard lots of scratching on the bear containers. Oh well, I think she was worried about it. I can tell you though, she slept quite soundly. Even snored a bit, even though she does not believe she ever snores.

We made a new friend, a bluebird Berk named Woodrow. Since our first intruduction in camp, helping Ally finish her dinner, Woodrow has followed us all over, or at least that is what Berk is convinced is happening. "He must really need a new home".