Summer Vacation 2004

This years summer vacation, like the previous ones, was centered around a trip to Lake Tahoe with my friends. My first day took me to St. George, UT, which is a good stopping point on the way to Salt Lake City. My plan was to go for a bike ride to stretch my legs after a long drive, but the temperature was 104 degrees! So I headed to Chili's for dinner. I sat at the bar since I was alone and was happy to see that they sold beer on a Sunday. Utah has some strange alcohol laws. My eyes were tired by the end of the day so my vision was blurry. I looked at the beers on tap and ordered the Mahogany Porter. The bartender said: "Do you mean the Polygamy Porter?". I said "Yes" and the other people at the bar all laughed because they thought I said Monogamy Porter. I let them think that is what I said because it was funnier, since monogamy is the opposite of polygamy. To make a long story short, the beer was great tasting. Back at the Hotel 6, I had nothing to do but watch TV and sleep. Since the sun was setting around 9pm, it was still light outside when I went to bed.

The next day I got up early and drove to my aunt and uncle's house in Salt Lake City. This relatively short drive got me there in the early afternoon. I chatted with my aunt and uncle and then we went to dinner. The next day I decided to go on a bike ride, since I dragged my bike with me. I ended up riding from their house, which is in Emigration Canyon, to the top of the canyon. It was four miles of uphill and took me 45 minutes, but it was worth it. I stopped several times to rest, but knowing that some friends of mine were currently hiking up to the top of Mt. Whitney (which they succeeded in doing), I figured I could finish this little ride. I felt tired but invigorated at the top, and the view was spetacular. After resting for awhile, I rode back down, which only took me 15 minutes.

That afternoon I went with my aunt and uncle to visit two of my other aunts. We ended up going to Chuck'a'Rama for lunch, which is an all-you-can-eat buffet. That evening, an uncle that I hadn't seen in year came to the house with his daughter and visited awhile. He is a crane operator and can't seem to talk about anything but cranes.

The next day I went on a drive through East Canyon, which is the most scenic drive I've been on recently. I would like to ride my bike though that canyon next time, despite some steep hills. On the way, I saw a moose, who stopped in the road and glared at me, as if saying, "what are you doing in my woods?". Since I didn't have a map, I didn't know how long the road was. I ended up way out of the city on Interstate 84.

That afternoon, we went to the Olympic Village at Park City. We took a tour of the village, where they showed the bobsled course, the downhill slope, and the freestyle area. It was kind of interesting to see that they can train all year around, without snow. The surfaces of each slope behave like snow. The day ended with another dinner and I had to get ready for the long drive the next day.

After saying goodbye and thanks to my aunt and uncle, I headed west on I80. With no delays, I made the long 576 mile trek across Nevada to Lake Tahoe in 9 1/2 hours. The only event that I encountered was a large fire in Carson City, which was burning houses and producing thick smoke. Once at the house that my friend rented for the week, I was able to relax with a beer. This house was huge! It was three stories plus a large deck on the roof with a view of Take Tahoe. My room was on the third floor (with the first floor being on the top, and the third floor on the bottom). After a week, my legs were worn out from the walk up and down the stairs.

On Friday we spent some time at the beach at Zephyr Cove. I was the only adult to brave the cold lake waters with a swim. Saturday was the day of the softball tournament. The team won the first game, but lost the next two games to two really good teams. Since this meant elimination, we had all of Sunday free. That ended up being our biking day. We have this route that we always take, and for the first time I got to ride my own bike instead of renting one. We bike to a cafe near Camp Richardson, have lunch, and ride back.

Monday was a good day to go hiking. Only four of us decided to hike. We started at Fallen Leaf Lake and hiked up to Angora Lakes. The trail was steep but we all made it. At the lake, there was all sorts of activity. You can drive to this lake, rent a boat and dive off rocks. We bought some famous lemonade, rested, and headed back down. As usual, my knees were hurting by the end.

My last day in Tahoe was spent on a boat. We rented a pontoon style boat for a half day. We also rented an inner-tube which is easier than waterskiing - at least for the kids. When I tried to get into the tube, I threw my shoulder out of socket - which really hurts - twice. I'm still recovering from that injury. Everyone got a good laugh at my disasterous attempt to go tubing. I had better luck when I swam to the island in the middle of Emerald Bay with the kids. We jumped off some rocks into the lake before swimming back to the boat. We also realize that no one knows how to use an anchor. We amused several onlookers while we struggled for 15 minutes trying to anchor the boat.

On Wednesday I drove home. This time I did encounter a delay - the freeway was closed heading into San Diego due to a chemical spill. That delayed me almost two hours. I got home around 9:30 pm and then had to get ready for the Comic-Con, which you can read about in my previous posts. There is much that happened on this trip that I didn't cover, but I had fun as always. I need to thank Steve and Ann for organizing the trip and renting the house. Trip mileage total: 2000 miles. Average miles per gallon: 26.6. End of story.