Bears and Bunnies

Well, we had our first official bear sighting!  Mike and I were driving down Kingsbury Grade which is the mountain pass that our neighborhood is on.  We both happened to look down one of the side streets and saw a big ol' brown bear walking slowly across the road.  Naturally, we turned the car around and went back for a better view!  We've heard a lot about the bears in this area... how they aren't fearful of humans, and how they wander around looking through trash.  But seeing one for the first time (outside of a zoo) was a little surreal.  We sat in the truck and just watched it for a few minutes.  It seemed so cute and innocent... while simultaneously seeming HUGE and scary!  I was very grateful that our first bear sighting was from the comfort of the truck instead of face-to-face on a trail in the backcountry.  

Locals have told us that as long as we don't try to feed a bear or come between a momma bear and her cubs, they usually mind their own business.  I seriously hope that is true.  But if we are out hiking and bear comes between me and my "cub" aka my dog... that bear better watch out because I will probably go into "momma bear" mode.  I don't think this will be an issue because we've heard from lots of people that bears are generally scared of dogs ESPECIALLY if the dog is wearing a loud, "jingly" collar.  Anyway, that was our first bear sighting... but I feel pretty sure it won't be our last. 

On another topic... HAPPY EASTER to all our friends and family!  We hope you all are doing very well and we wish you a very happy Easter holiday. We miss you all! 

Fishing at Indian Creek Reservoir

A few weeks ago, Mike went fishing at this reservoir down the "hill" from our house.  Since that time, he's wanted to go back with his paddleboard.  So, we packed up our boards and his fishing gear on Friday night, woke up at 5:20 am Saturday morning, and headed for the reservoir.  

The sun wasn't even up yet when we arrived... and it was a cool 19 degrees out. 

Me: "Aren't you going to fish from your paddleboard?"
Mike: "Not until the sun comes up."  

Peaceful and beautiful

A man... a fishing pole... and man's best friend.  What could be better than that?  I KNOW!  A supportive wife who sits and watches her husband fish (because SHE hasn't gotten her fishing license for California yet). 

I think Zater was hoping there was a fish on the line.  

Just chillin' and watching the sun come up.  

And since I couldn't participate in all the fishing action, I had to stay warm on the sidelines.  So I bundled up in my sleeping bag and enjoyed the peaceful setting.  

Finally the sun came up!  

Mike got to do a little fishing from his paddleboard! 

It was a really relaxing way to spend a Saturday morning.  You'll notice there are no pictures of fish on this post... that's because he didn't catch any (sorry Mike).  Lots of nibbles, no bites... but this time I was there so I know it's true!  

When we left, we had to make a trip to Walmart for groceries and he picked up some different bait to try!  There's fish in that water.  That we are sure of.  Just gotta catch them so we can have some fresh rainbow trout for dinner!!!  

The Story of Kendall and Blair

Once upon a time, in the summer of 2007, there was a young girl named Blair and an even younger girl named Kendall.  The two of them would "hang out" on a regular basis and they became very good friends!  Kendall thought that Blair was around to help her with some daily needs... getting dressed, eating, etc and Blair thought that Kendall was around to help HER with some daily needs... happiness, fun, courage, a positive attitude, etc.

When you spend time with Kendall, it is IMPOSSIBLE to be ANYTHING but HAPPY.  You can ask any one of her many friends.  She is a complete inspiration.  Her amazing smile will brighten your day.  And her laugh is totally contagious.  I can't possibly remember all the times we laughed hysterically... and I wasn't even sure what we were laughing about in the first place.

Tomorrow Kendall will be undergoing a very long surgery.  She is brave.  And she is tough.  And so is her loving family.  So I wanted to dedicate this blog post to Kendall!  Best of luck to you with surgery tomorrow and I am praying for the FASTEST recovery in the HISTORY OF THE WORLD!!!  Thank you so much for being an awesome inspiration to MANY people, not just me.  You have impacted my life in a lot of ways.  I miss hanging out with you like we used to do, but I have no doubt that we will always keep in touch!  LOVE YOU!

Blessings

I have always felt that I have been truly blessed in my life.

Despite my MANY blessings, I have always been a "worrier."  I get so stressed out about things!  It's ridiculous.  

Since we moved across the country, Mike and I vowed to decrease the stress in our lives!  No more 60 hour work weeks!  He found job that gives him the ultimate flexibility and allows him to set his own hours, working from home.  I found per diem work at the hospital and fortunately, they needed lots of help, so getting hours wasn't really a problem.

But there was always something to worry about.  To make a very long story short, I need full time employment status to meet certain student loan criteria.  Nevertheless, I didn't stress about it.  My per diem hours are covering the bills... it's. all. good.

About a week ago, the director of rehab at the hospital asked to meet with me in his office.  He shuts the door and sits down in his office chair with this hands together, fingertips supporting his chin (as if he's thinking about HOW to tell me something).

Naturally, my worrying self is subconsciously saying: "What the heck have you done? You must have screwed something up pretty bad because he can't even figure out how to begin this conversation!!!"

And so he begins...



... by asking me...



... if I'm interested in a full time position at the hospital.

Obviously, not what I was expecting to hear, so I had to take a moment to realize what he was asking.  I think my response was, "What?  Seriously?  Yes, absolutely I'm interested!"  And today, about a week later, I got my offer for full time from human resources!  YAY!  Thank you GOD!  I kept my faith.  I never worried that He would provide for us if this is what is meant for us... and He provided.

I'm excited to be a full time PT at Barton.  It's a wonderful hospital.  My only worry now: I don't want to work TOO much!  :)

Powder.

Soft, fluffy, fresh, deep powder.  It's something I've heard Mike talk about (often), but I had never really experienced it myself.

Until today.

Last night we rode up the street to snap some shots of the storm rolling in over the mountains...

This morning, we woke up to 3-4 inches of freshly fallen snow at our house.  The ski resort was reporting even more accumulation (they are higher in elevation), and the forecast called for the snow to continue ALL day.

Needless to say, my husband was a little bit excited.

Since we've lived here, we really haven't had any good snow accumulation.  We have gotten a few "storms" that delivered a few inches of snowfall at a time but then the temps quickly warmed up to the high 40's for DAYS afterward, so it would melt quickly.  I was actually excited to get our first real snow storm. I wanted to know what all the fuss is about.

So we got up early... left the house by 6:45 am and headed for Kirkwood Ski Resort.  We drove through Carson Valley to get there, so some of our drive was "snain" = snow + rain.  As we got closer to Kirkwood, it started looking more like this:

The last picture is a little dramatic.  It was definitely windy, and snowy, but overall the visibility was fair (at least I thought it was fair... but Mike was driving so he may have a different opinion).  

Because of the wind, a LOT of the resort was closed this morning.  Winds were gusting up to 45 mph at the base, and according to a Kirkwood employee, ski patrol was having a hard time just standing up on top of the ridge.  They were up there to assess the winds and potentially to set off some "hand-held charges" aka bombs to trigger slides in areas that were potentially hazardous.  

So, because of the limitation of lifts open... I actually got to ski a few runs with Mike.  I'm glad he was there to give me some pointers.  I was skiing his hand-me-down pocket rockets which are longer, wider, and fatter which = harder for me to control.  After all my practice on nicely groomed trails, I was back to beginner status when it came to skiing powder.  I wiped out.  At least 3 times that I can remember.  But it didn't hurt!  Because it was powder.    HOORAY for POWDER!  

When the winds calmed down a little, they started opening other lifts which meant: "Bye Mike.  See you in the lodge for lunch.  Have fun.  Be safe."  I kept skiing my same little lifts, practicing my turns in powder, and even getting some practice skiing trees.  It snowed.  ALL day.  You would take a run, and by the time you were riding up the lift, you could see your tracks getting filled in... slowly disappearing.  It's mother nature's version of "free refills."  

At the end of the day, I was cold and exhausted.  My quads were BURNING because apparently I lean back too far when I ski powder... I'm still working on that.  But I had SO much fun.  All day long I found fresh tracks to ski.  And when my skis would sink below the snow I really felt like I was floating.  It was awesome.  And a little addicting.  While riding the lift I would say: "Ok, one more run and then I'm gonna go warm up in the lodge."  But while skiing down I would think, "This is awesome!  Ok, ONE more run."

So, when we got home... tired and achey from our day of fun... we had approximately 6 inches -1 foot of snow to shovel from our stairs, walkway, and parking pad.  A workout after working out all day.  

So, in a nutshell: Powder is awesome.  I'm not so great at skiing it, but at least it doesn't hurt to fall.  And... I think I NEED more practice so I guess that means I'll HAVE to go skiing again tomorrow.  Oh darn.  

Miss ALL of y'all back east!  Come visit us SOON!  We have powder!

72 miles on a Friday afternoon

The weather has been absolutely beautiful here lately.  Afternoon temperatures are in the upper 40's with the brightest, bluest skies you've ever seen.  Mike and I spent our Friday driving around the lake... which is a total of 72 miles on the roads that circle the lake.

We started with a morning paddleboard session in South Lake Tahoe.

The water was calm when we put our boards in and the winds were minimal.  The water temperature was 42 degrees and the air temp was approximately the same.  Needless to say, we appreciated the calm water to minimize our chances of falling in (fully clothed in winter attire because we don't have wetsuits).

 After paddling down the shoreline, we turned to head back to the dock and immediately noticed the north wind was picking up.  Thankfully it didn't get too rough, but it was a little choppy and some small waves were splashing up onto the decks of the boards (getting Mike's bare feet wet... I'm sure that was "refreshing".... I had on water shoes).

I have never seen my reflection on the bottom of the lake with such clarity ( or at all for that matter). 

At one point, my legs were trembling... partly because I need to build up my stamina for paddling, and partly because I was stabilizing myself against the chop, and partly because I was seeing rocks under the water that seemed SO close, but in reality were MUCH deeper than they appeared.  I was in constant fear of hitting my fin on a rock, losing my balance, and plunging into the icy water.

I really can't explain how amazing it feels to paddle on Lake Tahoe.  With every stroke of the paddle I would stare at the crystal clear water, and the sand beneath it.  It's truly indescribable.  I kept thinking that it felt like I was flying, but on a stand up paddleboard.  

So, from South Lake we headed up to Emerald Bay.  This is a pretty popular tourist spot with amazing views, Vikingsholm (which is this castle type structure on the top of Fannette island), and lots of easily accessible water falls.  We parked on the side of the road an ate our lunch on the tailgate of the truck while overlooking Emerald Bay/Fannette Island/Vikingsholm.  

Fannette Island 

We hiked 1/4 mile from the road to get to Eagle Falls.  During the summer/fall this would be a very easy hike but the soft snow made it slightly more challenging.

The falls are under the bridge

You could see the water running under the snow... headed toward the lake.  

The view from the bridge, looking down at the falls.  

The trail continues into the Desolation Wilderness and according to the map, another 2 miles of hiking would have brought us to Eagle Lake.  As much as I wanted to see Eagle lake, we decided that we will come back when there is less snow, or we will come back with traction cleats for the snow/ice so we don't risk slipping/falling.  So naturally, since we couldn't hike very far, we stretched out the hammocks and took a little siesta by the rushing sound of the waterfall.

On the other side of the road (visible from the main road), you can see another part of Eagle Falls.  This place is truly breathtaking.

After leaving Emerald Bay, we continued heading north along the west side of the lake.  We stopped in Tahoe City to walk around a local ski shop, and to admire the Tahoe City Dam that regulates the water level in the lake.  

The water flowing toward the dam from the lake.  

After passing through the dam it becomes the North Truckee river.  

We made another stop in Kings Beach at a local stand up paddleboard shop... Adrift Tahoe.  We've been searching for booties and/or wetsuits and luckily, they had 7mm booties in stock... in Mike's size... and on sale.  So, no more cold feet for Mikey!  Naturally after purchasing them, he was ready to "try them out" and after one look at the glassy, calm water of the lake, I was ready to go paddling again too.  

We drove down the shoreline to Sand Harbor.  A place that we have always enjoyed visiting because of the large rocks on the shoreline. You can climb out on these rocks and stare at the rocks below the water surface.  I thought it would be the MOST amazing place to paddle.  The truth is, once the boards were in the water, I got SO nervous that I spent most of the time paddling on my knees.  The rocks below the surface are HUGE and so... VERY... VISIBLE!  It really freaked me out.  Some of them were just below the surface of the water and it seemed like they came out of nowhere!  All of a sudden you were headed directly for a WHALE sized rock and you had to use your paddle to push away from it or paddle around it.  It was crazy.  Crazy BEAUTIFUL!  

This place is truly beautiful.  It is one of my favorite places on the entire lake.  And paddling as the sun was setting... I can't even put those feelings into words.  

It was a fabulous Friday to say the very least.  

ONE. MORE. THING......

Want to know what it's like to paddleboard in Sand Harbor???  COME VISIT!  

Until then... here's a video clip.