This update will be quick as Darla and I got home from Lake Tahoe about 5:30 this afternoon and I laid down to watch the start of the Monday Night Football game and woke up during halftime. I know if I don't get to this today, it won't get done as I'll be at work tomorrow until about 8:30 getting caught up from a day off of work. The trip was tremendously relaxing and I feel actually pretty relaxed. I have been overly stressed lately, running my desk, the Sacramento office, the Modesto office and an underwriting desk in Modesto. I've really felt the stress in my neck and shoulders as the entire yoke of my body is sore and I've even had some stress headaches lately. I know this sounds like an employee about to put in for a stress related leave of absence, but I wanted to put into context how relaxing this weekend was.
The condo in Tahoe is located in the Tahoe Summit development on the Nevada side of Heavenly Valley Ski Resort, right off the Kingsbury Grade in Stateline, Nevada. The condos are about 28 years old and unfortunately four stories without an elevator. Darla's dad, Earl just turned 70, but is in great shape from cutting wood on the church's wood cutting ministry (they provide firewood for the elderly and those in need of free wood). Darla's Mom, Frances, has a bad knee and the 60 steps that it took us from the parking lot up to the room was starting to wear on her by the time we left. The good news is that the condo has some wonderful views of the Carson Valley and the eastern slopes of Heavenly Valley. The condo has five buildings and the unit we had was a loft unit on the top floor and consists of three bedrooms and can sleep up to eight. We had six Saturday night as Alicia and Don joined Earl , Frances, Darla and I up in Tahoe.
We met Earl and Frances at the Jax by the Trax diner in Truckee on Saturday afternoon. They had stopped for lunch earlier, but came by and had a sweet roll and coffee with us as we finished our lunch. Jax is an old boxcar style diner right next to the railroad tracks in Truckee. From there we drove up to Stateline through Highway 28 around the eastern side of Lake Tahoe. Lake Tahoe is an absolute jewel of a lake with three distinct colors, a golden green near the shore, an emerald color off shore and a deep blue deeper in the lake.
We went out to dinner at the Chart House in Stateline and watched the sun set over Lake Tahoe. Dinner was excellent with a large salad bar, a good (yet thin) clam chowder that had won awards in Boston, and a great New York strip and Coconut prawns dinner that Darla and I split a plate of. We played cards (3-13) Saturday night and tried weakly to get some interest up in going to the casinos. The condos are located on a dark road about 10 miles south of Stateline off the Kingsbury grade and we decided to hit the sack early.
Sunday we got up early and went to Heidi's for breakfast. Heidi's is the breakfast joint in Lake Tahoe that we like and Don and Alicia had eaten there before. The food is great and although we had a bit of a wait, well worth it. Darla and the ladies went out to the outlet mall after breakfast while Earl, Don and I went to the Cool September Days car show at the Horizon. We saw some very nice cars including a $150,000 1967 Shelby Cobra that was the hit of the show. Carroll Shelby actually owned a Ford dealership in Lake Tahoe in 1968 and sold it in the 90's. There were plenty of 1957 Chevy's and some tremendous Apache trucks and even an original first run Harley Davidson motorcycle from the first year of production. The held gravity drags at the back of the casino that were a hoot. A VW beetle beat a custom Freightliner for the title.
Don and Alicia headed home after that and we went back to the condo with Earl and Frances after stopping to show them the Tahoe Beach and Ski club condo that we've stayed at a couple of times. We took some pictures at the beach as you can see above. We went out to dinner at the Lakeside Inn in Stateline and all of us enjoyed the $10.99 Prime Rib dinner. Earl signed up for a Player's Club card and got a free birthday dinner and a cocktail that Darla and Frances drank for him. We headed back to the condo and watched as the Cowboys self destructed in their loss to the Giants 33-31. We then played a couple of hands of 3-13 and headed to bed.
This morning we enjoyed one of Earl's breakfasts. Darla and her folks had pancakes with strawberry preserves and whipped cream. My stomach doesn't do sweet early in the morning and I had eggs and sausage. Darla and I took off a little after ten and stopped at the casinos and got our gambling fix in, only losing about $60 in the process and having a good time. We stopped for lunch in Tahoe City after stopping at the overlook at Emerald Bay where we had our picture taken by some tourists. The drive home after that was the drive from Hell as we hit construction traffic on both Highway 89 ( a half hour wait ) and Highway 80, finally getting home at 5:30.
This is short, but it is late and I want to relax with Darla. I did play golf early Saturday morning and shot 82 to Boyd's 71 and Matt's 72 and we were off to Tahoe after that. I hope you are all doing well and leading lives that we can all be proud of. Be well. Ciao.
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