Alpine vacation

Alpine vacation

Back from our vacation in Arnold with the Lewellyn family. Four glorious days in God\’s country. Annette and Steve had rented a cabin in Blue Lake Springs area of Arnold, up in the Big Trees, Bear Valley, part of Calaveras/Alpine counties . The Cabin was newly remodeled and perfect for all of us. 3 bedroom with a loft. Nice living room and kitchen area, enough beds for all nine of us. Fooseball table in the kids room! Really cool deck with \”forest view\” that wrapped around three sides of the house. Being in Blue Lake Springs enabled us to take advantage of the community pool and recreation area. They had a small lake, nice big pool, shuffleboard, horseshoes, tennis, all fun summer activities! We got up there Wednesday morning and Steve was making pancakes for us as we walked through the door. Good thing too because we were hungry! We unpacked all our stuff (brought the bikes) and checked out the place. There was excitement in the air because the Lewellyn\’s had seen a bear cruise up a path on the side of the cabin earlier that morning. After that it was off the pool to cool down. It was the hottest day on Wednesday and the pool felt GREAT. After hanging out at the pool and taking a beating in shuffleboard, it was back to the cabin to freshen up and go out to dinner. We headed down to Murphys and had dinner at Firewood, a converted firehouse that was now a cool little pizza joint. hand tossed pizza at its finest. Not Toto\’s but still very good. Barb had the Prosciutto and Arugala pizza, I had the spicy sausage. We all shared our different kinds. The place must be very popular because it got packed as we sat there and ate. There were even some CDF firefighters in for dinner. With all the California wildfires recently, these guys are real heros that are really appreciated around these parts. Anyway, the pizza hit the spot thats for sure!

After that we walked around old town Murphys and took in the sites. Had an ice cream cone and found a cool little park that had a stream running through it. A few people were there beating the heat. beautiful small town feel to this place. really really nice. Finished our walk around town and then headed back to the cabin. The cabin was so nice, nestled in the trees. Everyone found a good book to read and either found a place out on the deck or on the nice comfy couch. Down time was was taken up by reading or playing stiffo.Thursday it was off to Alpine lake for some kayaking. But not before Zach and I went on a morning bike ride around the neighborhood. learned real quick that bike riding around the neighborhood meant either climbing up or zooming down hills. Not much flat land around these parts!!. Either way it was still a nice ride. Then it was off to the lake. Arnold\’s elevation is around 4300 feet. Lake Alpine is around 7400 feet. The water was cold cold cold. But in the kayak is was OK. Me and Kelly were in a two man Kayak. Kate and Nicole in another, Steve and Melissa in another double and Zach in a single. We cruised around the lake a bit, raced to the other side of the lake, saw a pair of bald eagle cruising around and feeding. The moms had set up camp on the shore so we kicked back there for a while and had a little picnic. Alpine Lake may have been my favorite part of the trip. On our way home we stopped at Bear Valley and checked the place out. This is a winter ski resort but the shops were opened so we cruised around and had an ice cream. After that it was back to the cabin for Chicken enchilada casserole and Annette\’s cookie, cream cheese and jam dessert, ala mode. Talk about stuffed!!! We went for an after dinner walk in the country. Does it get any better?

Friday morning the men went into town to get some breakfast. We need to carbo load for our big hike at Big Trees. There was a nice little local bakery in Arnold that sold great donuts, cinnamon rolls, bagels, etc… we loaded up on all of the above! After breakfast we caravanned up to Calaveras Big Trees. They got some really big tees up there!! I mean really big trees. The guide up there said some were close to 3000 years old. We walked one of the paths around the park and took in all the sites. After our walking tour we stayed in the park but drove down to the Stanislaus river. We set up a day camp and cooled off in the water. Talk about cold water!! YIKES!! most of us at least tried out the water. we swam, jumped off some rocks and fought the strong current. FUN FUN FUN !! We headed back to Blue Lake Springs and took a swim. Lost again at shuffleboard (darn Lewellyn\’s had been practicing!) We watched Zach and Melissa play innertube water polo. We all headed home and cleaned up then when out to dinner at a hamburger joint in Arnold. Drove down to Pinebrook Lake after dinner and skipped a few rocks. Barb tried to show off her rock skipping skills. Threw it really hard and ended up hitting Kelly right in the leg! Nice going honey! We headed back to the cabin, kicked back and watched the opening ceremonies of the Olympics.

Saturday was the day we were heading home. BUMMER!. Always sad to end a vacation.We did get to meet Barb\’s mom and dad in Angel\’s Camp on our way home. They are RV\’ing their way around the country and were up at Pardee Lake for a few weeks. It was nice to be able to see them. After a nice lunch with Eloise and Willie, we headed back to Fremont. Rested and happy! The Lewellyn family showed us a great time up there. Thanks for the hospitality and showing me a few things on the shuffleboard court.