We are back from Tahoe and I must say that I was ready to come home. Being a mom on vacation is not much different from being a mom at home. We left last Sunday at noon and finally arrived in Truckee, California around 9:30ish. The drive is about 9 hours and we stopped along the way to give you a chance to be out of your car seat and to eat the lunch I had packed. You were so tired by the time we arrived, so I fed you while Chris set up the play pen we had borrowed from Susan. You were off to sleep until about 7:30 the next morning–actually 6:30 local time.
We kept pretty busy throughout the week with little excursions. On Monday we drove down to Lake Tahoe which is about 20-25 minutes away from where we were staying. We stayed in a little town called Truckee which is basically in the middle of a lot of history with the Donner pioneer company. The cabin we stayed at, which is more like a house, is a 7 minute drive up the mountain which is a great ski resort in the winter. The Olympics were once held at Squaw Valley which is about 10 minutes from Truckee. Lake Tahoe is a huge lake and small towns surround the entirety of it. It would probably take at least two hours to drive around it. I would say that it is a great playground of the rich with their humongous house/cabins, SUVs, boats, skis, etc.
On Tuesday, we found a farmer’s market. It moves from place to place each day and this day it was in Truckee. They had purple peppers and any other variety you could think of. They had all kinds of varieties of peaches, nectarines, plums, and watermelon. These people do a lot of cross breeding or whatever you call it and have come up with orange watermelons and white ones. They were rather tasty. We bought some freshly picked peaches, walnuts, blackberries, and a white watermelon or something. Plus we got to sample lots. It was fun. Truckee also has a small outlet mall–no more than 15 stores-but we had fun looking and both Chris and I bought a new shirt. Nothing for you here, but we did buy you some plastic measuring spoons in the small shops downtown. The things that you would least expect to be a toy are sure to be your favorite.
Wednesday was our 3rd anniversary. It is amazing that three years have passed already. Life has changed so much. We spent the day driving around some more and decided to go check out a little town called Sierraville. It was supposed to have a ward there, but we didn’t find one. It was much smaller than Stirling. I think the population was just over 300. On our way back we stopped at a picnic area where part of the Donner company stayed and many lost their lives. They had a built an “interpretive center” of a kind with informative plaques at varying places along a 1/3 mile circular path. We walked past some of the trees where they had set up camp. It snowed so much that year, that the snow was 12 feet deep and many of the trees which are now dead had been chopped down for firewood just above the snow line. The descendants of the Donner family had just planted a new tree on August 6, 2000 to replace one of the trees that had finally fallen over, and placed a new plaque along the path. It is so sad what these people had to endure and I find myself wondering why. The elevation where we were was over 8000 feet and these people had to climb without the aid of nice smooth highways. It must have been terribly disheartening.
Since it was our anniversary, Chris took us out to dinner. Not as romantic with cheerios and booster seats, but it was fun. We went out for Chinese food and you liked the rice, but not so much the sweet and sour sauce that Chris would put on your cheerios. You are a good sport though and will eat most anything. Daddy gave you olives the other day. Sometimes you scrunch up your face and your whole body shudders, but you don’t spit anything out even if you don’t like it. The only thing you ever spit out was a piece of peach that you had bit off that was too big for your mouth.
On Thursday, we drove into Reno and found a Wal-mart. We were able to find some blue, red and yellow sandals for you. We couldn’t find a park anywhere so we stopped outside the airport to have lunch and watch the airplanes come and go. We decided to drive another way back to the cabin through the Sierra Nevada mountains. We reached the highest point of about 8900 feet. The posts along the side of the road were at least 12 feet high. Can you imagine the snow they must get?
You are always glad to get home and out of that darn car seat. You have been uncharacteristically crabby at times this week and when I felt your lower gum I could tell why. Your first tooth had pushed through! That explains all of the drool. You also are not used to your sleeping arrangements and had to be rocked to sleep most nights. (When we arrived home on Monday night, I walked in to your room with you and when you saw your bed, you smiled.)
On Friday, we didn’t do much of anything. Basically we decided to stay home and relax. We had a couple of movies to watch and found ourselves not feeling so wonderful. We both had a headache for most of the day. Unfortunately Chris’ turned into the full-blown stomach flu. We still made it into Sacramento on Saturday, but he was feeling out of sorts for most of the day. I’m surprised he wanted to go in the first place. It was about an hour and a half away. We stopped in Old Sacramento which is a tourist spot comprised of lots of fun little shops, a train depot, restaurants, some museums, horse and carriage rides, etc. We spent a couple of hours there, especially since you had fallen asleep, and we had interrupted your naps enough that we wanted you to keep on sleeping. After we left there, we looked for a park, but weren’t successful in finding one. Chris made a wrong turn that took him back onto the freeway and we decided to head for home. We stopped at Target in a place called Roseville, I think, and bought some diapers, baby food and a toy for you–one of those stacking, multicolored doughnut-shaped things. You like it and though you aren’t into stacking them yet, you are pretty good about throwing them about the room. Some of that you learned on your own, some your dad taught you. We stopped at a Marie Callendar’s for supper but neither Chris nor I were that hungry.
Chris was really sick on Sunday. We had planned to go to church in King’s Beach, or something like that, but Daddy was so sick and didn’t stray to far from the bathroom. He slept all morning and most of the afternoon. Poor guy. What a way to spend your vacation.
We had planned to leave on Monday morning and hoped Chris would be feeling better by then. He was still a bit queasy on Monday, but I think we were all ready to come home. Chris stopped at Rite Aid for some medicine, and we were on our way around 11:30. We stopped a couple of times for lunch and supper and time to just stretch. We didn’t get home until a little after 10 pm. You were so good. I could tell you were tired of being in your seat and you fussed a little but not so much. You is quite a patient little girl. You had a late nap and were then up until 10:30. Poor thing.
Tuesday, after we arrived home, was spent doing some recuperating, though I have done more cleaning and laundry than anything. Chris had today off as well which is good because it has given him a chance to get better fully. We ran errands and worked non-stop for most of the day. Tomorrow it will be nice to get back into a routine and to get back to exercising. I have missed it. I noticed that your other bottom front tooth has poked through today and you continue to have your crabby moments. I often call you “crabby girl”–as a term of endearment mostly because you don’t get crabby often.
