Big Basin Camping - Sleeping in the dirt for 2 nights

It always amazes me how much we love camping.  We go out into the woods, stumble around in the dark putting up a tent, get covered in dust and dirt, sleep on an uncomfortable mattress, eat too much, drink too much, come home stiff, sore and talk about how we can't wait to do it all over again.
Tinker and Fred enjoy a glass of wine after the tent ordeal is over.

 Kate and David got creative about how to listen to music from her iPod.

 On Saturday we hiked part of the skyline to the sea trail.  Weather was the perfect temperature.

 Merie and Heidi enjoying the trail.

 Big Basin was the first state park in California.  Can you believe it almost closed last year due to lack of funding.

 The best part of hiking is the beer back at the campground.

 Fred chose to stay at the campsite and dog sit Sparkey and Whiskey.  I am sure he fitted a nap in somewhere although he strongly denies it.   Even the dog was exhausted from doing nothing.

 Heidi and Kate hanging out by the campfire.

 Heidi the shrine

 Whiskey is taking to the camping thing really well.  Molly would be proud of him

 Exhausted from a day of exploring all the new smells in Big Basin

The food was gourmet, pork lion, rack of lamb, portabello mushrooms.

Summer BBQ

Labor Day weekend marks the last of summer BBQs.  This year we had a big baby theme.

Scott and Heather got a chance to introduce Autumn to some four legged babies.  Of course Whiskey was on best behavior wearing appropriate gang colors.

Alexander Eischen, who no longer qualifies as a baby, came up with a creative way to get some extreme diving in.  Of course, it was dad who came up with the idea and then convinced Alexander to be the guinea pig.

Nate and Adrienne, our neighbors brought Kyle along to taste his first tomatoes.  Our sweet cherry tomatoes were a huge success. 

Papa Scott, Autumn and Uncle Charles enjoying some garderning.

Justyna playing mommy with Whiskey pup

And as always, there was lots of great food to eat.  Derek and Sarah made sure they were first in line.

Summer at Lake Tahoe

Everyone raves about the summer in Lake Tahoe.  We have only gone there during winter ski season, so this year we decided to camp there.  Unfortunately as we do everything last minute, we did not have many options when it came to camping and I was happy to get a place at Donner Lake Memorial park.  Fred and I took Friday off and headed up for an afternoon mountain bike ride.  

 After a severe downpour and lightening storm, we managed to make it back to the campsite only to find that it had not rained there at all.  Nice, given how much we hate wet camping.  Donner Lake was beautiful in the evening.

 The Kellys arrived after dark and Tim and Fred ended up with the lovely job of figuring everything out in near darkness.  Beer helped!

 With the campfire burning, our attention turned to eating.  Summer couldn't wait to make smores by the campfire.  Sheer extacy.

 Summer brought her friends along for the camping trip and had lots of play time at the campground.

 We decided to have a lazy day and headed to the lakefront at Donner.  Fred buried himself in a book.

 Lulu went mountain climbing.  She is quite the outdoor girl.

 Tim and Summer played sand calstles

 and donkey derby

 All in all, it was a very relaxing day for us all.
The following day we got back on the mountain bikes and cycled the 14 mile Flume Trail over Lake Tahoe.
The red line marks the mountain bike trail that we cycled.

The trail started with a nasty climb in sand.  Perfect for separating the amateurs from the pros.  This picture was taken from the top of the trail, once all the killer climbing was over.

 We cycled past Martlett lake, fantastic wilderness.

 And kept climbing......this is not a trail for the faint of heart.  This is the view over Sand Harbor recreation area.  The white dots are boats on the lake

 Perfect trail for mountain bike posing

 The trail has a sheer drop-off in many places, as well as rock slides.  The margin of error was a little too tight for me on a few occasions.

 Finally we arrived back on Terra firma.  This view was taken from the luxurious Hyatt Regency resort where we downed a very expensive two beers.  The mountain in the distance is the climb we just completed