Mike and Denise- the Next Phase: September 2014

Sun. Sept 28, 2014: Road to Newport, OR

This morning we went by the Palms to visit with dad and Connie. Dad was sleeping heavy most of the visit but did wake up at the end to say hello and give us both a big smile.

Nest stop, I-5 north toward Oregon. We stopped for the night at the Pilot truck stop in Weed and say the work of thanks to the firefighters who worked on the bad fire they had here about 10 days ago.

and we parked in the shadow of beautiful Mt Shasta.

Sat. Sept 27, 2014: Auburn errands, Visit with Rich and Dollie

Mike was fortunate to get an appointment with Jessica for a much needed massage this AM, then we went to lunch, storage and Naggiar to pick up wine club selections before a stop at Rich and Dollie's house to visit and hear about Rich's 7055 mile, 13 day journey on the Alaska-Canada Highway. Wow! I hope to do the same some day,but take a whole summer doing it!

Fri. Sept 26, 2014: hair cut!!!!!

Last night we lodged with Laurie and Bob at their house Chatty was getting some tender loving care at B & B RV service in Auburn. I went with Laurie to her bells practice at church after dinner - very nice!

Laurie let me drive her VW Beetle - it was yellow, not blue, but welcomed me with open arms. I love that car! I took it up to Auburn to get my hair cut - here I am with the three braids I amailing of to Locks of Love.

then to a short and sleepy visit with dad before returning the car to Laurie's house to say hello and goodbye to Laurie and Bob

and their basset hound, Buster.

Then Mike and I drove away for now to attend to more client and personal errands, picked up Chatty and moved her to Thunder Valley for overnight parking.

Finally, we had a nice dinner with Dean and Joelle at La Provence in Roseville.

Sept 21 - 25, 2014: - Last week at Martis Creek Lake

SMOKY!!!! the King fire started on Sept 13 and by the 21st, the smoke in the lake Tahoe area was so bad they cancelled the Iron Man triathalon on the 21st.

We drove out to watch the bikers come by, but Eric called fro Kings Beach starting line for swim to tell the race had been cancelled at the very last minute.

On the very smoky days / times of day, we could not even see the surrounding mountains.

but on the sunny times when the smoke was not a factor it was still beautful out. Here we are saying goodby to Ranger Jacqui -

and finally got together with Steve ( we had two dinners at our place planned, but both were cancelled due to smoke so we decided to meet in Truckee for dinner at Best Pies instead - it was still very smoky outside but pleasant indoors.

Here is the pad where we parked for two months - near the ranger office with the campground behind in the forest. It was a great place and we look forward to returning next summer.

When we drove away, we say rain clouds over the Donner Pass summit and we got rained on driving back to Auburn - we got out in the nick of time!

Sept. 14 - 20: Happy Anniversary - #30!!!!!

We took the day off on Sept 15 to celebrate and went for a local hike around Martis Creek Lake

to visit the cave across the dam

Then we had a nice campground gathering and dinner this evening

with some of the friendly campers

and with Ranger Jacqui who was celebrating birthday #60

Sept 7 - 13, 2014: Trip to Auburn, height of harvest season, phone issues

This was one of the weeks we took a trip in to Sacrament and Auburn to visit with dad, family and clients on our off days fro camp hosting. It is good to go down the hill to visit and get some errands done, and it is good to get back to our lovely spot at Martis Creek Lake. This week we picked up another weekly CSA share on our return trip on Thursday and went straight home to make fresh vegetable smoothie.

We have really been enjoying our weekly pickup of vegetables and fruit fro Mountain Bounty Farms CSA progrom. We have no trouble eating the goodies each week and look forward to the pickup day - like Christmas, what will we get this week?

Sat. night we enjoyed another campfire ar dusk - the fall colors are is full swing right now, and the campground is nearly empty, so we feel like we have a pretty easy assignment in a beautiful place. We are grateful and happy that Ranger Jacqui invited us back for next summer, too!

Aug 31 - Sept 6, 2014 - Boone sighting, and a sail on Lake Tahoe

On Labor Day Sunday we took a trip in to Coffee Bar in downtown Truckee to visit with the Boone family who were passing through on their way back home from the Reno BarBQ weekend.

Then on Monday we had the great honor and pleasure to be passengers on a 25 ft sailboat owned by Eric's supervisor Susie and her husband Gene.

They took us out for a sail fro their moorage near Tahoe City, and we even got to swim in the lake!

Aug 24 - Aug 30 2nd visit from Bill and Laverne, Hike with Eric and Claudia

This Sunday we enjoyed a 2nd visit from our fellow camp hosing friends Bill and Laverne, and another nice picnic lunch at the lake with music from the local group Groove Foundry

On Monday evening we took a polenta / veggie casserole to Eric's house and ate it with them for dinner after we had a short hike up to the peak above Cal Neva to see the lake at sunset. Beautiful!

I should mention it is not all fun and games - we work during the day, too. We spend a lot of time at:

and several nice coffee shops in town, Coffee Bar, Tuff Beanz and Dark Horse Coffee, as well as a new venue for us - the Truckee Airport

where we park near the planes.

These jets make a lot of noise when they take off - we can see the runway from our campsite.

Aug 17 - 23 Lake Tahoe entertainment abounds

Sunday we went to Tahoe City Commons Beach to hear and see Dead Winder Carpenters,

We took a picnic and moved four times along the sand at the beach during the afternoon to stay n the sun where it was warm. Not bad view of the lake from the west shore.