Wednesday, July 27, Tahoe Donner

We slept in a separate condo down stairs from Jen's.  I slept really well.  Jen has to work this morning.  She is teaching sailing through the Rec center.  Cali is also in a water sports day camp and so everyone was gone early this morning.  

Rob and I decided to go to Wildflower for breakfast.  It is a favorite in Incline.  As we were headed for the car we ran into Jen and Leila coming back from a walk.  

We had a good breakfast and then Rob left (to walk across the street) for his Dr.s apt.  I still had 30 min before mine so I went by our former Vets office to see if they might be able to fit Bella in to trim her nails.

Justin was there and it was nice seeing each other again.  He trimmed her nails with no problem.

I went to my appointment and all is well with all of us.  We are good for another year.  Actually, Rob is only good for another six months.  He has to have a flight physical every six months.  He routinely gets one elsewhere and then we both come to Tahoe to see our Dr. Koch.  

We went to Raileys to pick up prescriptions and, since we had to wait, got a sandwich from the deli and had lunch.  

After Railey's we went by our old house.  We lived in Incline for 17 years and just sold our house this past November.  We knew they were doing some work on it and wanted to check it out.  

Sadly, the yards were all dead.  No lawn and most of the planters were dead as well.  They changed all the windows.  They removed the garden window from the kitchen, they removed the sliding doors from the downstairs and just put a window in instead.  That seems scary, I didn't see any egress from the downstairs.  They put a sliding door in from the up-stairs master bedroom and are redoing the deck up there to include one from the master.  They added a set of three windows in the living room, on the only solid wall.

While standing on the side of the house looking into the kitchen I realized I could see all the way through to the neighbors roof.  What are they doing on the inside?

Well, I boldly walked up to the front door and looked in.  What I could see was that they have removed all the entry way cabinets and are putting the stairs where the left entry (as you are standing outside at the front door looking in) closets were.  They have removed all the cabinet running along the living room and are closing off the stairway that was there.  They have removed all the rock work of the fireplace.  That's all we could see, we couldn't really see anything to the right.  Obviously no one was there.  Next year, though, I would like to go by again and knock on the door and ask to see all the changes.  

From there we went back to Jen's. We changed into swim wear and waited for everyone to get back.  We fixed some snacks and drinks, loaded up 5 Stand-up paddle boards, paddles, etc and headed to Stampede Reservoir.  It was another hot day.  90 in Tahoe which is crazy hot.

Jen has two inflatable SUB that we were trying out.  One she had already pumped up and so we pumped up the other.  It has to be inflated to 15 psi.  She and I could only get it to 10, so Rob came and pumped it up the rest of the way.  He also finished the other one getting it up to 15 psi as well.  

We put the fins in, put a life vest on Bella and Leila and off we went.

 I started out on my knees just to get used to the board and to help Bella get a little more comfortable.  Eventually I did stand up though.  Rob and I even swapped boards out in the water.  We put her on his board first, then I got on and he switched over to mine.  It went quite smoothly.  I didn't like the board he was on.  It was narrower and pointy so we swapped back.  Bella did a bit of trembling, but eventually she calmed down and sat down.
We all paddled for a bit and tried out the various boards.  Two are hard boards and two are inflatables.  We all really liked the inflatables.  Rob & I are considering getting a couple.  They deflate and the board, fins, pump and paddle all fit into a back pack.  They would be perfect for us to take with us.
We all came in for snacks and then went out again because the wind had died down and the water was really calm.

 That's Jen and Tony

Rob and Jen.
 Bella is barking at them because she doesn't want them in the water any more.

Sadly it was time to pack up and go.  

 Tony and Rob loading three of the SUP 

Jen and Leila

On the way out of Stampede, before reaching I-80, we pulled over at a vista point and watched the International Space Station fly over.  They had never seen it before.  Another couple was there sitting in the back of their pickup waiting to watch the sun set.  They were pretty thrilled to see the Space Station as well.

Afterward we went back to Jen's for a late dinner and finally went to bed at 11 pm.  Yuk!  We have to leave at 5 am for the air port.

It is always fun and adventuresome having out with Jen.  She is wild and crazy and very athletic (she's a fire fighter/paramedic)  We used to mountain bike together, traveled around Mexico together, hiked, etc.  She is my only female friend who I get to do all those things with.  I miss her a lot.  She and Rob have been friends since second grade.