Wooden Nickels

Archive for July, 2009

So we went on vacation. A family affair. Camping, enough but not too much road tripping, a variety of bodies of water, quality time at the Dianda’s cabin: it was sweet! This post is chock full of images in the galleries, so when you click on a photo, notice that there is a gallery of photos to scroll through: there were just too many great shots from this trip!

Lunch at Bass Lake

First we went to Bass Lake – just south of Yosemite – to meet up with Emily’s cousins, her brother, and their families. The camping wasn’t exactly au natural, but it was nice and it was shady – which was perfect because it was HOT! The lake water was warm, and we all spent lots of time in the water.

Jack and Livvie

We had a great bunch of kids, and they kept us entertained all afternoon. Everyone seemed to have a play mate and a new friend, kids both young and old, and it was fun to get to know Em’s family a bit better. Nice folks!

Every family pitched in for one meal at camp – which covered the whole weekend – so the chores were light (we made blueberry pancakes with sausages, and the strongest coffee humanly possible), we all had our fill of barbecue and s’mores, and our kids looked like proper camp ragamuffins the whole time. Parents, kids, and dogs all had a famous time at Bass Lake.

Sentinel Rock Beach

Next up was a trip to Yosemite. Words are insufficient to describe it, of course. Damian and Bliss joined us, as well as Sadie’s Mom Tonka – who by the way is the sweetest Rottweiler ever, and built like a big black tank. We had a nice picnic, a trip to the beach, drove around the valley a bit and “ooohed” and “aahhhh-ed” the whole time. We really decided to go to Yosemite as an afterthought on this trip, but after this trip we’re thinking that next year we’ll focus our vacation on Yosemite.

The Zabierek Family at Yosemite

We dropped in at Curry Camp and bought a meal, and after taking advantage of the Half Dome photo op, we parted with Damian and Bliss to head up over 120 towards the Cabin in South Lake Tahoe. I love that drive. Em and the kids had never seen Tenaya Lake or Tuolumne Meadows, and – natch – Route 120 did not disappoint. Just the MOST rad views everwhere you look. Again: I was wishing we’d made more time for Yosemite, and the lesson is now etched in my memory. Emily took some amazing photos – but I was at the helm of the New and Improved World’s Sexiest Minivan, and could not take advantage of the opportunity. I was a great view for the soul though!


Next up was the long slog of a drive – beautiful though it was – from Lee Vining up over Route 88, through Markleeville over Luther Pass to Route 89 and the to South Lake Tahoe and the Dianda’s Cabin. I stocked up on caffeine and pistachios in Lee Vining and stopped to fill the tank at a gas station overlooking Mono Lake. Coming up out of the basin towards Bridgeport the sun went down, and the “HR Pufinstuf” video was FINALLY OVER (that theme song nearly killed me), and the hills began to wind. The kids fell asleep but Em kept me good company. It was rough going, but I stayed awake and kept it on the road, and still had energy to spare for opening up the cabin – turning on the water and hot water heater, killing the spiders and so forth – when we arrived in the late, bright stars of Tahoe.

Bella at the Beach: Lake Tahoe

Upper Truckee

Tahoe was great. The beach – nice and simple. Big lake, cold water, brutal sun, welcome shade, proper picnics. We settled in nicely at the cabin and fired up the grill every night. We spent one fine day right down behind the house – about a ten minute hike with the kids – just hanging out at the Upper Truckee River. We brought along the canopy and lounged around snacking and swimming and made happy cakes and built stick houses and played with boats and crawdads and freshwater clams until nap time, and the girls fell asleep on our shoulders on the walk home. It was a blissful day – perhaps the most relaxing day of the year (thus far) right there!

Home Again

Packing out and closing down the cabin is always a biatch… the experience best left unsaid. But suffice it to say we escaped unscathed and made it home in time for Jack to spend one last night with us before heading to his Mom’s for the weekend. That gave us Thursday through Sunday at home with no real plan nor a need for one! A nice little post-vacation staycation, there. I cleaned out my office and took a bunch of stuff to storage with all of our camping gear and did a few chores. But mostly I hung out with the girls around the yard and took the dog for walks and stuff: very relaxing!

So that’s it: I’m back to the grindstone now. Very grateful to have had the time with Emily and the kids, and I think we took good advantage of our time. Our next trip will hopefully be Back East to see my family, but we have Kirsten and Jonathan’s wedding coming up soon, and all the kids birthdays next month, and Jack’s new year of school to look forward to as well, and… well lots of life to live, yet. At least I’m well rested!