2009-06 Lake Tahoe Part 1

We went to Lake Tahoe for our summer vacation this year. The lake itself straddles the
Nevada/California border. We stayed on the southeast corner of the lake up in the mountains in an area called Tahoe Village, which is near the Heavenly ski resort.

We flew into Reno, and since we couldn't get into our room until after 4PM, we went to downtown Reno for some sightseeing. As luck would have it, there was a BBQ, beer and blues festival going on this weekend. A 3 block length of street was blocked off and various stages were set up for music. Vendors were selling food, crafts and clothing. Dozens of beer vendors were selling beer, either by the glass or a 4 oz. samples. Too many vendors to sample all the various beers though, at least in the time we were going to be there.

We walked through a couple casinos, but didn't stop to make any plays. On the way back to the van, we went to the national bowling stadium, which was busy with a women’s tournament. There are 78 lanes , which seem in continuous use. Above and behind the lanes is seating for 1100 spectators.

After our quick tour of Reno, we drove about an hour south to get to the condo where we would be staying for the next week. In the winter, these are used by skiers who are skiing the nearby Heavenly ski area. The stagecoach express chairlift is only a few hundred yards away.

Sunday we went to explore Stateline, NV and South Lake Tahoe, CA. These are sister cites that straddle the state borders. There were a couple of arts and crafts shows going on this weekend, so we spent some time wondering through the rows of booths. The first was in a casino hotel parking lot, making it pretty warm to walk around. The second was in a park filled with very tall pine trees, making it much more comfortable to look around.

After the craft fairs, we went to the Round Hills Pine beach. The lake is very cold due to the mountain run off and depth. This also helps keep the lake so clear, with the ability to see down over 60 feet. The sand was hot and somewhat course to walk on,

but it felt good to cool off in the lake every 125 minutes or so, but was hard to stay in the lake for any great length of time. A couple of the casinos had cruise boats that docked here, and many boats were tied up on the anchor points out past the swimming area.

The pine trees here are huge, as are their pine cones. Ray found out early that they also have very sharp needles on them. He picked one up and as he grabbed it, felt a sharp pain in his thumb from one of the needles. Another interesting aspect of the pine trees is the pollen they are currently releasing. We had noticed yellow powder on our vehicle and then on the tables when we were eating dinner outside. We found out this was the pollen from the pine trees, and it is in the air for 4-6 weeks each year.

On Monday morning, Ray and LeAnn

took a hike up the ski run and then met up with the Rim Trail, which goes all around the lake. It is 165 miles in length. It was a lot easier to walk the trail than to go up the run since the trail has much smaller changes in elevation. We got a great view of Lake Tahoe at the site of one cache, and some good exercise getting to the top of the hill. We were feeling more acclimated to the elevation each day. We are staying at an elevation of about 7000 feet, and have about 50 stairs to climb from the parking lot to our room.

We then started our tour around the lake. By road it is about 72 miles around the lake (about the same as the 494/694 loop around Minneapolis/St. Paul), sometimes close to shore and other time well away from the shore. You also vary greatly in elevation, from almost at lake level to more than 1000 feet above the lake, so you have some great views. There are many pull-offs along the road allowing you to get some great views and not just see everything a 40mph.

We stopped at Emerald Bay and looked over the

only island in the lake, and also the Viking House. This had been a private residence originally, but was donated along with the owners land to the state of California. We had planned on going down to the Viking House, but the lot was full and we didn't have a good place to park and decided to come back at another time. We would also take a look at Eagle Falls when we come back.

We stopped at DL Bliss state park, which was just

on the other side of Emerald Bay and went swimming and relaxing on the beach for a couple of hours. From there we made our way up to Tahoe City for a late lunch and a walk around town. They have an interesting statue in their lakeside park. It is called the Big Tree and is a segment of a very large tree that originally stood in the middle of the road. When it died, the segment was turned into a large tree sculpture.

Our last stop of the day was at Sand Harbor Beach. This is in the northeast corner of the lake and has very fine sand, multiple beach areas separated by various rock outcroppings, a large boat landing, and a Shakespeare festival stage. Shakespeare’s plays are presented in July and August on the stage.

On Tuesday we headed to the Sanoma Valley region of Northern California. This is a very famous grape growing and wine producing region of the US. We had to go over the mountains on a lot of 2 lane roads with multiple

switchbacks. We saw a very large waterfall as we came around one corner. As we got closer to Sacramento, the land flattened out and we had a much better drive.

We arrived in Sanoma about noon and went to the visitor center to get some suggestions on which wineries to visit. One they recommended was the Benziger winery in the northern portion of the valley. What made this interesting was they are a biodynamic winery, which is a type of organic farming and production specific to the wine industry. They started to produce organically over 20 years ago and have continued to expand their capabilities.

We wondered around town and went into various shops that are around the perimeter of the central plaza. Many offered wine tasting from the various local vineyards. there was a very large tree in the central plaza, wider than four of us standing side by side. We also grabbed a bite to eat in a local restaurant before heading out to the winery.

Benziger produces many types of grapes, and grows varieties based on the soil and topography in various areas of the farm. They also have areas set aside for various types of plants that attract beneficial insects and birds to allow pesticide free farming.

Their grape processing occurs outside in order to save on air conditioning, and they recently built a tunnel into the side of one of their hills to store their wine in barrels at a constant, cool temperature. The tunnel goes deep into the hill and then has various fingers that extend at 90 degree angles out in each direction.

After the winery tour (and of course a taste test), we went over the hills and into Napa. Napa is a much bigger town than Sonoma. The central area was going through a lot changes with many storefronts vacant. It was after 5:00, so the stores that were around were already closed. As we were heading back to Tahoe, we decided to take the long route on the interstate to the north side of the lake before heading south hoping the trip through the mountains would be easier since it would be multi-lane interstate rather than two lane windy roads. There was some construction on the interstates that made them a little narrower than normal, but it still seemed like a better route to take.

2009-05 Mariah Goes to Prom

Eagan High School held their Junior-Senior prom over Memorial Day Weekend. Mariah attended the prom with Mitch Sandman.

Mariah and Mitch were part of a group of 13 couples who were going together as a group. They met in downtown St. Paul for photos, both of the couples and the large group shot. From there they walked over to the Great Hall of the First Trust Center where the grand march was held. Each couple came down a 2 story escalator and then were announced and presented to the audience.

After the grand march, the couples took a limousine ride to dinner at Ciao Bello restaurant in Bloomington.   Then it was off to the prom dance, back at First Trust Center. Once the dance was over, they headed over to one of Mariah's friend's house for the after party.

Late the next morning, many of them met at Schultz Lake beach for some relaxation, sleep and sunburns.

2009-05 Mother's Day and the Race For the Cure

We all spent Mother's Day morning doing the Race for the Cure at the Mall of America. Mariah and Hailey got up early and joined in on the 5K race before joining the rest of the members of Marsha's Milers on the 5K walk. It was estimated that over 50,000 people took part in the various races during the morning.

Hailey and Mariah finished the run together in under 30 minutes, even though they were a ways back from the start and didn't even get to the starting line for a couple of minutes after the clock started

Just to get to the starting line for the walk took over 30 minutes due to the huge crowd of walkers, although we were in no hurry to finish. While on the walk we ran into various people we knew, including some former neighbors who now live in the Detroit area, but come back every year for Mother's Day. We stopped and listened to a drum line who had set up along side the route and were playing some peppy music to keep everyone moving along.

After the walk, everyone came over to our house for Mother's Day lunch. We also got to see newborn baby Leo for the first time as Heidi and Julie brought him over. Leo got to celebrate his birthday with the other relatives with May birthdays--Lois, John, and Jenny.

2009-04 Kara on the golf team

Kara decided that she wanted to try out for the Eagan High School golf team this year. After a series of practice rounds and tryouts, Kara made the JV team. They played most their matches at Parkview, but she also got to play at Emerald Greens and at Apple Valley golf course

She played very consistently during the season, usually shooting in the low 50's. She finished the season with her best round of 48 in the final match of the year. The matches consisted both dual team and multi team events. During dual team events, two members of each team played in a foursome, while at multi team events, there would be just one member of each team. She met and played against a lot of older girls from the other schools.

She will be playing in several Junior PGA tournaments this summer in places like St. Peter, Rochester, and Red Wing.

2009-3-26 to 2009-3-28 Spring Break in Duluth

During Spring break, Kara, Hailey and LeAnn headed to Duluth for a few days. It was just the three of us, as Mariah was enjoying her break down in the Alabama Gulf Shores with some of her friends and Ray was traveling to the Philippines, Taiwan and China for work.

We left on Thursday morning and made a couple of stops along the way. In North Branch there is an outlet mall, so we decided to go into a few stores. We got on the road again and then it was time for lunch, so we stopped at Tobies in Hinkley. They are famous for the delicious caramel rolls, of course, we bought some for later.

The Radisson was our final destination which we found with the help of Ray’s GPS. I can’t go anywhere without it now…what did we do before all of the convenient electronics. Kara and Hailey were impressed by the “sleep number” beds that were in the rooms. They used the remote to get the bed to feel just right.

Hailey and LeAnn went down to the pool and we were the only people swimming and using the hot tub and sauna.

That evening we headed down to Canal Park to find a restaurant for dinner. We had discussed going to Grandma’s, but unfortunately they had a band playing and it was very loud. We wandered down the street to Green Mill for pizza. As we were getting seated, I noticed a familiar face…a Mom that I know from Eagan.

The next day, we headed to the Great Lakes Aquarium and spent a few hours walking around and looking all the exhibits. We watched the river otter feeding and another show where the staff introduced and talked about the green-winged Macaw. We also went through the seahorse exhibit and learned that the female deposits the eggs into the male's small pouch and the male fertilizes the eggs internally. He carries the eggs until they are ready to hatch, then releases fully formed, miniature seahorses into the water. Seahorses are among the only animal species on Earth which the male bears the unborn young.

On Saturday, we checked out of our hotel and made our way to Glensheen, The Historic Congdon Estate. We went on a 2-hour tour of the carriage house and the home with 39 rooms where Chester and Clara raised seven children. The house had many features built in the home that most people didn’t have, such as electricity and the vacuum system. We will have to tour the mansion in the summer just to see the beautifully manicured grounds, gardens and lake view terrace.

We made it back home and were greeted by Mariah as she had gotten home a couple hours before us.

2009-3-26 to 2009-3-28

During Spring break, Kara, Hailey and LeAnn headed to Duluth for a few days. It was just the three of us, as Mariah was enjoying her break down in the Alabama Gulf Shores with some of her friends and Ray was traveling to the Philippines, Taiwan and China for work.

We left on Thursday morning and made a couple of stops along the way. In North Branch there is an outlet mall, so we decided to go into a few stores. We got on the road again and then it was time for lunch, so we stopped at Tobies in Hinkley. They are famous for the delicious caramel rolls, of course, we bought some for later.

The Radisson was our final destination which we found with the help of Ray’s GPS. I can’t go anywhere without it now…what did we do before all of the convenient electronics. Kara and Hailey were impressed by the “sleep number” beds that they had in the rooms. Here they are with the remote in their hand trying to get the bed to feel just right.

Hailey and LeAnn went down to the pool and we were the only people swimming and using the hot tub and sauna.

That evening we headed down to Canal Park to find a restaurant for dinner. We had discussed going to Grandma’s, but unfortunately they had a band playing and it was very loud. We wandered down the street to Green Mill for pizza. As we were getting seated, I noticed a familiar face…a Mom that I know from Eagan.

The next day, we headed to the Great Lakes Aquarium and spent a few hours walking around and looking all the exhibits. We watched the river otter feeding and another show where the staff introduced and talked about the green-winged Macaw.

On Saturday, we checked out of our hotel and made our way to Glensheen, The Historic Congdon Estate. We went on a 2-hour tour of the carriage house and the home with 39 rooms where Chester and Clara raised seven children. The house had many features built in the home that most people didn’t have, such as electricity and the vacuum system. We will have to tour the mansion again just to see the beautifully manicured grounds, gardens and lake view terrace.

We made it back home and were greeted by Mariah as she had gotten home a couple hours before us.

2009-03 Hailey's First Swim Meet

Hailey has joined the school swim team this year. Although she has always loved to swim, she has never swam competitively.

In her first meet, she swam in the 50m freestyle and then the first leg of the 200m freestyle relay. She was hoping to do the breaststroke, but not this time. The coaches will change up the lineup in each meet, so hopefully she will get an opportunity.

The swim team is both boys and girls, although they only swim against kids of the same gender. There are a total of about 45 kids on the team, with about 12 of these on the diving team.

You can watch Hailey swim in the video below, she is in lane 5, second from the top.

2009-02 New Adventures in Asia--Shanghai

After arriving late afternoon, I walked from the hotel to the subway station to take the subway down to the Oriental Pearl Tower. As I got close, I looked across the street to see a reminder of my hometown--a Best Buy store in Shanghai. Luckily it was written in both English and Chinese so I knew what it said. I wandered through the local shopping center and had a bite to eat before heading back.

As I got off the subway to go back to the hotel, it exited to a fashion market, a large series of stands selling all sorts of clothing and gear at inexpensive prices--if you are good at barganing as they start their prices about 3 to 4 times higher than the final price. I did end up getting a Twins and Vikings jersey while I was there. Being an indoor market, it is a different experience than the previous outdoor market that we had gone to.

Around the hotel was nice shopping and eating area with various local restaruants and many food choices including Itialian, American, and Irish. There was also a lot of statues scattered throughout the area.

On the way to the airport, we decided to take the Maglev high speed train. It goes about 20 miles in just 8 minutes. It is a convenient way to get to the airport without any traffic worries. The maglev station is only about 5 minutes from the hotel.