Category: hike

It was a long time coming. On the calendar for months, teasing us. We were all getting together for a week in Tahoe. Timeshare trade put us up in the Ridge Tahoe on Kingsbury grade. Kate, Frank and Parker arrived Thursday night at SFO. Long day and late night for the North Carolina crew. Up Friday morning to pack the car and truck and head to the hills.  Kelly flew into Sacramento airport around lunchtime. We picked her up and went to lunch in El Dorado Hills before we headed over the hill and to the lake.  Stopped and shopped at the Stateline Raley’s before we headed up the grade for our late afternoon check in. LET THE VACATION BEGIN!!

Its always a bit of a gamble when you are checking into a timeshare.  Especially when you are checking into a place you have never been before. We were not disappointed. The units at the Ridge were perfect for us. Nice big two bedroom unit with great kitchen and super balcony with views of the Carson Valley way down below.  The unit was recently upgraded with new furniture,  flat screen TVs and kitchen appliances. Gas fireplace too!    There were 6 units in our building.  Each building had a roof top hot tub. The views from the roof were awesome. Kelly and Barb even did a sunrise hot tub one morning and Kate took some great pictures up there.

I hate to let Kelly and Kate and Frank know this, but the vacation was all about Parker. We miss everyone of course. But only being able to see Parker a few times a year is hard for Barb and I.  When we do get our “Parker time” we want to take full advantage and enjoy every minute (every second!) of that little guy. Needless to say, Parker melts our hearts.  At  two and a half years of age, he is coming into his own, with his own little personality and everything.  Parker is a wonderful kid. Full of love, and all boy. Parker and I spent some quality time together and I loved every second of it. Whether it was looking through the “noculars” on the balcony, or digging in the dirt with his toy trucks, it was fun for Parker and it was fun for me. We took tons of pictures and videos (Go Pro too)  and shared them with each other along the way. We even hooked up the laptop to the TV so we could watch our vacation videos real time!! 

In addition to Parker time, it was also a Fit Bit vacation. We all had fit bits and have been working together to provide encouragement  to meet our daily goal of 10,000 steps a day.  We were always comparing “stats” and encouraging each other.  In addition to steps, the fit bit also tracks calories burned, stairs (or flights of stairs) and active minutes.  In addition to fit bitting, we were also eating healthy this trip. No bags of chips and cookies and Ice creams. We cooked most of our meals in the condo.  We cooked a big turkey breast and after eating off that a couple of days made a nice turkey soup.  We brought the crock pot and made chili verde. Also did a good pot of turkey chili.  I even made a frittata. That wasn’t too healthy but it sure was good!! 

We did a lot of walking and hiking this trip. Since we were up on the Ridge, I had checked and found that there were dozens of trails up there where we could literally take off from our front door and hit two legs of the Tahoe Rim Trail and many other. And we did!  We even rented an “all terrain” stroller from some guy so we could take Parker and not have to carry him when he got tired.  And, fyi, he rarely got tired.

Our first hike was Frank, Parker and I heading to Castle Rock. The Girls woke up with a bit of jet lag and elevation headaces so for this hike it was men only.  There was a Tahoe Rim Trail (Kingsbury North to Spooner Lake) trailhead  just one block down Kingsbury grade. We drove to that one and set off on a nice 5 mile round trip. The perfect distance for Parker.  We were there early enough so we were pretty much the only people on the trail.  About half way to Castle Rock, we did run into a lady with her dog coming the other way, but other than that it was just us in nature.  Peace and quiet. Ahh. I pushed the empty stroller most of the way while Parker either walked (and ran!) with us or got carried by his dad.  I parked the stroller at the castle rock junction and we all hiked the final leg to “the rock”.  The cool thing about Castle Rock is that you can see it from almost anywhere in south Lake Tahoe. So for the rest of the trip we were always eyeballing for Castle Rock, not only for landmark status but to be able to say, “we were there”.

Hike number two was on a small part of the  Kingsbury South leg of the TRT.  Fortunately for us, the trailhead was walking distance from our condo and right next to the Heavenly stagecoach ski lift.  So as we were starting our hike we could see skiers heading up and down the slopes!   Auntie Kelly joined Parker, Frank and I for this hike.  Since we were above 7500 feet elevation and it was the end of winter, even though we are in the middle of a drought, there was snow on the ground and on the trail as we headed up up up.  It was so beautiful walking deeper into the high sierra wilderness.  There was ice and snow everywhere but it wasn’t that cold.  We found a nice bench that someone had made ( I can appreciate!) so we took a short break there. We ventured further up the trail and went up far enough to where we could see Lake Tahoe in the distance!

Hike number three was just Frank and I. The night before we had decided to try the Van Sickle Trail. This trail runs from right near our condo down to Heavenly Village on Stateline. The map said about 3.3 miles. perfect distance.  We would hike down to  the lake, then call the girls have one of them come get us. Although weather forecasts called for possible snow, we were real surprised and excited when we woke up to find it snowing. Just a light snow but snow none-the-less.  A little snow on the ground didn’t stop us from hiking.  When we got onto the trail it was so cool. Freshly fallen snow on the trail. Pristine beauty.  And ours would be the first footprints of the day.  The early start is definitely the way to go. Beat the crowds and have the “alpine hiking experience” all to yourself. We did!  We took pictures and Go Pro videos all the way down. The views were awesome. We saw Castle Rock and views of the lake that not many tourists see.  As we made our way further down the trail, the snow started to disappear. We hiked through the burnt trees from the 2004 Gondola fire. Life is returning but the message is clear.  Only you can prevent forest fires! It seemed like more that three miles, but eventually Frank and I made it down to sunny Heavenly Village. Grabbed a Starbucks to celebrate. We sat at a table near the Gondola. There is a web cam there that shows the world what is going on at Heavenly village. Barb and I always check out the “gondola cam” whenever its snowing.  Today the girls checked out the cam from our condo and saw Frank and I there drinking coffee.

We even got some time with  Staci and her crew. When we told Staci of the upcoming vacation, she booked a couple of days at the “beach and ski” so that we could all be together.  Staci’s mom and dad even joined in the fun.  We had a great dinner (table for 12 please!) together at the Lakeside Inn and a great afternoon on the beach at the beach and ski.  Even though the water was cold, the kids wanted to swim. Parker and Colin were all in! Auntie Kelly and I were in up to our knees! Fortunately for us. the water is so shallow at this part of the lake, you can walk out 1000 yards and still be in water up to your knees.  Still ice cold though!! Dinner that night at Barb’s sister’s Sarah’s new place.  She moved to south shore and is working at the Hard Rock. She cooked the whole crew a great dinner. We love her place and her cats, who put up with three little kids and a lot of commotion.

Finally got the family together for a hike to Eagle Falls and Emerald Bay on Wednesday.  Again, the key is the early start. When we pulled into the parking lot of Eagle Falls trailhead, we were the first ones there. Again, nature all to ourselves! It was a short hike up to the falls and the bridge, the view of Emerald Bay from up there is spectacular!  As part two of the hike, we made our way down to Vikingsholm Castle at the shores of Emerald bay.  Took a little break and watched Parker chase a goose around the beach. And watched Kelly chase Parker who was chasing a goose on the beach.  When we hiked back up to our car, the place was packed with tourists!!  People everywhere?  Hiking on the rocks that we had to ourselves just a couple of hours earlier. 

The Tahoe part of our vacation was coming to an end. On the way out on Friday, we stopped at Horse Trail falls for a final hike in the Tahoe wilderness.  Parker fell asleep on the way there so Grandma stayed in the car while the rest of us did a short and quick hike up the HUGE granite boulders to check out some of the falling water.  We said goodbye to Lake Tahoe.

Fortunately we still had a couple of days together in Fremont before everyone went home.  When we all got home on Friday night, we had the final batch of “Christmas enchiladas” that had been in the freezer waiting for this moment. We scarfed on Enchiladas that night!

Saturday was the day that Frank, Kelly and I hiked Mission peak. It was a great day and and a great day for a hike. Sunny and warm. Wild flowers in bloom too.  Spending a week hiking in Tahoe really expanded our lungs, so, even though hiking Mission Peak is always hard, it was a little easier than usual. Saturday night dinner was Toto’s Pizza! Kelly and I made the drive to Belmont and got two large pizzas which we pretty much devoured that night. 

Sunday was departure day. A sad day. Frank and I did get in one last bike ride. We did a normal (what I would do on a”Saturday bike ride with the boys” route, 23 miles and a heart attack hill).  Then early afternoon we took Kelly to San Jose airport and said goodbye. Then later that night we took Kate, Frank and Parker to SFO for their red-eye back home.

It was so good to spend some quality time with the family. Parker is a blessing for our family. Such a smart and happy kid. He melts my heart when he calls me papa. Whether its looking through the “noculars” with him or just digging in the dirt with his toy trucks, the time we spend with him is precious.

There are tons of videos on all of our YouTube channels. You can also check some of the pictures by clicking here.

It has been a while since I did a Mission Peak hike.  We hit the trail around 0845 hrs and made our way up. Good thing Barb suggested I go back to the house and get a sweatshirt because it was very very windy hike.

Thanks Barbie!

Couple of things that are worthy of note.

#1 – there are a lot of people hiking the Ohlone side! There have been stories in the news about all the traffic problems at the Stanford avenue trailhead. I guess people are getting a clue because the Ohlone side is busier than usual.

#2 Improvements to the trail are great! I guess with so many people hiking now, the powers that be decided to make some trail improvements. They have created some nice trails and are guiding people away from the old trails that were more dangerous than anything.

We made good time and were up top in about 90 minutes.  The cool thing now is that you can see Levi Stadium! It looks so close!  Hung out for a while then went down the “back way” and worked our way around and then back down to Ohlone College. Speaking of the college, they too are doing a lot of improvements. It looks like they are building a multi-level parking garage right next to the swimming pool (where we spent many hours during the girls swimming and water polo years).

We ended up doing the round trip in about 3 hours. Not bad!

Downing suggested we do something different for our saturday ride so we loaded the bikes in the back of his truck and headed to Waddel Beach for a ride up to Berry Falls in Big Basin Redwoods State Park. We got an early (0730) start and were on our bikes about an hour later. Fog hugging the coast as we crossed the PCH and got on the trail and made our way 6 miles up into the redwoods. This part of our ride was on the “Skyline to the Sea Trail” that I have heard about and read about but never done. We were actually doing the reverse “Sea to Skyline.” Or at least part of the way up to Skyline Blvd.  A beautiful sunlit morning on the coast provided for a perfect sun filtered ride through the redwoods. These 200 foot plus beauties towered over everything and in some spots you could tell sunlight hardly ever hits the ground. Like my dad used to say; “look at all the greens!” You wouldn’t know there was a drought by riding this trail. Ferns growing everywhere. Wildflowers, moss on rocks, trees growing out of downed trees. Green everywhere!!  No wind and not very many people either. At the six mile mark the bike trail ended. We locked our bikes at the rack and headed the rest of the way up the the falls on foot. I think the map said 1.1 miles to the falls.

As we were making our way up to the falls, following the creek along the way, I was wondering if there would even be any water coming over since we haven’t had rain in months. There was water in the creek but not very much.  We  had to cross the creek a couple of time on makeshift foot bridges and eventually made our way to Berry Falls. Beautiful spot. They built a little platform so you could gaze upon the falls. It looked like about a 100 foot drop from the top to the pool below.  Even though it was fairly early, there were already a few people on the trail. There was a family at the falls and they offered to take our picture. We took a short break and then decided to venture further up the trail to the top of the falls. At the top of the falls you could see that there were actually several more waterfalls further up the trail. So away we went. Up and Up and Up.  We must have climbed up to another 3 or 4 small waterfalls. At some point we were taking a break and there was some guy coming down. He said there were no more falls up there so we decided to head back down.

Some way, some how, we took a wrong turn and got lost for a little while. Just hiking and talking away when at some point we realized we were not on the trail we were supposed to be on. We back tracked and got right and before we new it we were back at our bikes. And boy was I glad we had our bikes. As we were cruising (and mostly coasting) back down to the beach,  you realize that all the people hiking were hiking at least 14 miles from beach to waterfall and back. That’s a lot of miles. But for us, it was a 12 mile piece of cake bike ride and a 3 mile hike. PERFECT!!  We actually passed a scout troop that had passed us going down when we were going up.

Those redwood trees not only blocked the sunlight but they also blocked the wind. We could believe how windy it was back at the beach. Crazy windy! We took a short break before we headed up highway 1 and towards home. The bonus of the trip was that we stopped at the store in Pescadero and got a coupld of loaves of artichoke bread!! When I saw the sign for Pescadero I knew we had to stop, and I’m glad we did. Bought two loaves that were still warm out of the oven.

Another point of interest was the traffic. When we made the turn onto  highway 92 in Half Moon Bay to head back over the hill, the traffic coming the other way (to the beach) was backed up all the way to highway 280.That is a long long way. Unfortunatly for those suckers, there really is nowhere to turn around so you are pretty much stuck. We’ve been in that mess before and its no fun. So if you plan on going to the beach on a nice summer day, GO EARLY!!

Fun night! Ever since Barb gave me a Shark’s jersey for my birthday, I had been itching to go to a game and show it off.  Last night was the night.  Sharks against the Predators from Nashville.   Barb’s sis Sarah was coming with us and we were meeting up with team Lobert for pregame warmups at Britiania Arms.

I always say the nice thing about living in Fremont is that you are 30 minutes or less from EVERYTHING! Well, only 25 minutes from our driveway we found a sweet parking place on the street that only cost us $1 on the meter!  It was a windy evening in downtown San Jose. We made the short walk to  Britainia Arms and met up with Tim, Linda and Matt. Had a nice dinner and couple of drinks and a chance to catch up on everything before we made our way back to the Shark Tank for the game.

We had great seats. Section 208 – Row 15 seats 1-3. On the aisle baby! Plus we were in the end where the Sharks Shoot twice! Only problem last night was the Sharks didn’t do much shooting. Not much shooting at all.  The hike up to Row 15 was a ball buster! We ended up doing that hike three times because we always went down to chat it up with the Loberst in between periods. Anyway, the Sharks lost a yawner 3-0. Over the years we’ve been to more than a few games and we can’t remember ever going to a game where they lost this bad. The boys usually win when we go!

When we were little mom and dad always took us to Playland at the Beach.  Playland was a big deal back in my parents day. A huge amusement park right across from Ocean Beach in San Francisco.  By the time I came along, Playland  was on its last legs. I can’t ever remember going when it was sunny.  All my memories were of foggy,  overcast days.  I  remember going to the FUN HOUSE. That was always a great time. Laughing Sal greeted us out front. Then you had to make your way through a mirror maze just to get into the place. They had shots of air that would blow girl’s dresses up,  indoor wooden slides where you had to ride on a burlap sack.  Being a little kid,  the hike up to the “big slide” seemed like we were going up into the rafters of the place, and I think we really were.  They had something called “the record player”, a big wooden disc, that everyone would sit on, then the “record” would start spinning. Faster and faster until adults and kids would start getting thrown off by the centrifugal force, until only one or two people (who were lucky enough to sit right in the center were left.)  All sorts of fun stuff.   There were rides outside at Playland. I don’t remember going on rides but I do have a recollection of a “diving bell” A  tank that people would get in and “dive” into some yucky looking green murky water.   They had all the normal amusement parks rides there but don’t remember going on any. When ever we ate Mexican food it was at “The Hot House” at Playland. Mom used to get the tripe! ugh!  The Hot House is where I learned to love a good cheese enchilada! We also went to the roller rink and the slot car tracks out there.

Here is a great picture from the “before Jimmy” era. Dated July 1955. Bro Mike, Bro John and my beautiful sister Ann Marie at Playland. Even back then sis closed her eyes for pictures! I love this picture.

Stopped by the water temple on the way back from Livermore yesterday. Drinking water from Yosemite making its way to San Francisco passes through here.  If you look over the rails here you can see the water.
 

Decided to try to switch things up a bit from our normal Alameda Creek trail / Coyote Hills bike ride. There had been an inkling to do either Pleasanton Ridge or Calavaras Rd, so this weekend we headed over to the Ridge to try our legs at climbing some hills. We just didn’t know it would be hill after hill after hill after hill.

I had hiked the Ridge plenty of times, either with Barb alone or with various friends and hiking buddies. I know that its an uphill climb (either hiking or riding) to the ridge. What I failed to remember was that once in the ridge, its just a series of up and down hills as you traverse the ridge. For some reason, in my minds eye, the rolling traverse was more rolling and less up and down, when the reality is that it IS up (mostly UP) and down.

Either way, Downing picked me up at 0730 and we were off to Pleasanton.  We didn’t find out until we got to Niles Canyon that the road was closed for repairs or something. We saw guys trimming trees and stuff. So, we took the long way around and eventually made our way to Pleasanton Ridge Regional Park. Since we were somewhat early we had no problem finding parking. Soon we were saddled up and ready to ride!

Needless to say, its an uphill. An uphill right from the start. After about a quarter mile of up, we realized we probably should have stretched or warmed up a bit more before we started. After a while the trail did level out a bit so we were able to catch our breath. But an uphill climb is an up hill climb, and climb we did. After we pass through a cattle guard gate, we knew we were near the ridge.  The rolling hills may be rolling when you are riding down them, but going up is a different story. Some were so hard that I had to get off and push my bike up a couple of times. Along the way we met a guy who was walking, that said he turns around at the gate up ahead and it works out to be a 7 mile round trip. So a three and half mile up hill followed by a three and a half mile down.

We couldn’t have picked a more perfect morning to try this ride.  We were blessed with a little cloud cover as we made our way up, but other than that it turned out to be a sunny and bright fall morning. Saw about 25 BIG turkeys making their way through the hills. The view from the ridge was beautiful. We could see the windmills at Altamont Pass. The view of Mission Peak and the Sunol Regional Wilderness, could make you forget about civilization. Even the mighty 680 freeway looks small from our perspective.

We made our last uphill to the gate that the walker had talked about, and decided to turn around. In what was an hour plus up chug, would turn into a 7 minute downhill whirlwind. At one point, John and I stopped at the top of one rise because we knew the downhill was very steep. John took off and did great. I, on the other hand did not do great.  The downhill was so steep at one point that I was trying to work both brakes so I wouldn’t be going so fast that I would lose control. I guess I over compensated on one brake or the other because I started to fishtail. I knew I was going down so tried (think I did anyway) minimize impact. Went down hard on my right knee, then did a couple of somersalts and ended up in a cloud of dust.  There was a group of kids that were on the top of the hill that came running. “are you all right?”. By then I was up and dusting myself off, retrieving my cell phone and pocket knife that went flying, and (this time ) more slowly made my way down the rest of the hill.

Other than the fall, the rest of the way down was fun. There were a a couple of  “bone jarring, tooth rattling, hold on for dear life”  down hill sections, but for the most part if was smooth sailing all the way down. Only problem was, it was too short!!  To me it seemed that for all the uphill effort, the downhill reward wasn’t that worth it. It was still fun!

It really wasn’t until we got back to the truck and were cooling down that I could take assessment of my crash injuries. My right knee took the brunt with a pretty good scrape. I could feel the other spots in body ( left shoulder left leg right calf) where I probably agrivated something. Could have been worse but it wasn’t.  I have to admire the guys that ride their bikes up there. I saw one guy FLYING down the same hill that I crashed on. I think I’ll stick to the creek trail.

Check out the video here.

Got to love it when Vandenbusch plans a ride. We were on the road just after 6am for our short trip over to Half Moon Bay and the Purisima Creek Redwoods open space preserve. Steve’s buddy Dean had done this ride and told Steve about it. They did a test ride last week to see if it was do-able for us old guys. Turns out it was so away we went. Highway 92 over Skyline blvd and into HMB with windshiled wipers going. Another summer day on the coast! South on Highway 1 then a left back toward the moutains. After a 3 mile winding trip we came upon the trailhead (first ones there at 7am!) and saddled up.

A nice steady 4 mile climb up Purisima Creek Trail. Just a beautiful, quiet morning. We could hear the creek running along side us. The vegetation was CRAZY!  It was so GREEN! As my dad used to say, “look at all the greens”  There were so many. The combination of ferns, wildflowers, berries, along with hundreds of redwoods, moss covered pines,  and plenty of “coastal scrub”, made for a ride that is really different than our normal saturday morning ride.

Although it was beautiful, it was still a moderately difficult 4.5 mile uphill climb. There were a couple of spots where we had to get off and walk, but for the most part we ride the entire way up. Although we did stop a few times just to suck wind, I mean, take a break.  Once we got to the top of the trail, we popped out at Skyline Blvd (highway 35). The plan was to head north to a restaurant that served breakfast. We never did find a place open that early, but we did do a super fun (coasting at 30 mph) down hill on part of Skyline. So much fun in fact that we didn’t hear Steve’s phone ringing with Dean wanting to  tell us we went too far and missed the cutoff to the trail back down.  Once we did realize that the super fun downhill now means a not so super fun uphill, we chugged our way (4 mph) back up to meet Dean.

The trail we took down was called the Whittemore Gulch Trail. Its downhill, its single track, and its awesome. The first part of the trail was a steep downhill where I really had to lean back for fear of going over the handle bars.  After the downhill leveled out somewhat, we came upon a series of switchbacks that showed what a novice I am when it comes to mountain biking. I took it real slow around the hairpin turns, but not slow enough. My handle bars clipped  a nearby tree and down I went.  Back on the bike with a scraped and bloody knee and finished the super fun downhill. Some of the parts were so fun, like a roller coaster but on  a bike, and almost out of control! WOOHOO!!!!! Before we knew it we were at the bottom of the trail and back at the car. Headed into town to have a victor’s breakfast then back home by 12:45.

Check out a video here

and here

Staci was nice enough to invite us to stay at her timeshare in Tahoe for our anniversary weekend.We met up with them and did a mini caravan from Sac to south shore on Saturday. The weather (just like when we got married in 1985) was not cooperating. Cloudy and rainy. As we made our way up and over Echo summit, it started to SNOW!!   Our room on Kingsbury Grade wasn’t quite ready so we headed to Fat City Food Co for a late lunch. Great food there!!  The prime rib dip was excellent!  Another stop at Safeway to stock up on supplies and we were good to go.

Back up the ridge and checked into the condo. Nice, spacious 2 bedroom place with BIG living room dining room and kitchen. The view,  between the trees looking down into the Carson Valley was BEAUTIFUL!!   As the sun started to set it started to snow yet again!  In all our visits to Tahoe, most have been during the summer, so it was extra special for us to see some snow, especially on Memorial weekend! I took another video out the window of the snow drifting onto the trees.   Barb was feeling under the weather (no pun intended) so the accomodations were perfect for just chillin with the fam.

Other than a bike ride with John Downing, the trip was all about family.  Spent most of our time playing with Colin, watching Colin play, or just watching Colin be Colin.  What a great kid!  He is already walking around like a champ.  He has such a GREAT disposition! A happy boy. The only time he is not happy is when its time to go to bed. He fights it, but who wouldn’t?  He too wants to stay up late when he is in Tahoe!  But, momma knows best. The other thing that was kind of funny was that Colin was in charge of the TV remote, and the TV in general. He would swipe the remote then start pushing buttons. Change the channel mostly. When he didn’t have the remote he would just go to the TV and start pushing buttons. Most times just turning off the TV.  He is one smart kid and knows EXACTLY what he is doing. Either way it was all good with Colin in the house!

Sunday morning I met John at Lakeside Inn and we drove up to Spooner Lake.  The plan was to ride from Spooner Lake to Marlette Lake and back. Its about 10 miles round trip. 1100 elevation gain, from 7000 ft at Spooner to 8100 at Marlette.  We had done the hike a couple of summers ago so we were somewhat familiar with the trail and the area. As we drove into the Park to pay our fee, the Ranger mentioned that they hadn’t been on the trail this morning, but becuase of the snow storm the previous evening, there was bound to be snow on the trail. That was the first I thought of snow on the trail.

From our previous hike and reading about others bike rides, we knew that it was pretty much a 4.5 mile climb to Marlette Lake.  We started off pretty well. There were zero  people on the trail this early, maybe the weather scared them off, but either way, it was just John and I on the trail to Marlette Lake. As we continued our steady climb, the dirt trail was a dirt/snow mix. Further up the trail it was snow / dirt mix. Then at some point it became ALL SNOW on the trail, and I’m not talking about a dusting of snow either, we are talking 3-4 inches in some parts. There were some parts of the trail that were so steep and snowy that we had to get off our bikes and walk/push our way up.  At one point, we noticed a bear on the trail about 50 feet in front of us. He saw us when we saw him and he hauled his big bear ass outa there. Exciting!!  It looked like an adolescent so we were sure to keep an eye out of any momma bears that might have been hanging around. Fortunatly all that was left were the bear tracks that he left in the snow.

I got to tell you, at some point I started to think that maybe it wasn’t that great of an idea to do this ride on a day like today. Not only were we the only ones on the trail, there was a lot of snow and there were bears out there!!   But that made the ride so cool.  I don’t know how many times in my life I’ll do a bike ride in the snow, and see a bear. Aside from our close encounter, the rest of the ride was so peaceful. So beautiful. So HARD. I have to mention that the elevation did have an affect on us old guys from the bay area. We were sucking wind from the start and it didn’t get any easier as we chug chug chugged our way up. We did take plenty of breaks to catch our breath.

Eventually we made it to the “top” of the trail, where there was a short and steep downhill to Marlette lake.That downhill was crazy!! First of all if was about a half mile down to the lake. The trail was entirely covered in snow, and my “hybrid” tires didn’t really have any traction.  So it was pretty much hold on and let’er go! All the way down.  At one point I realized that I would probably be pushing my bike back up this same snowy trail to get home. Thoughts of frostbitten toes went through my mind.

We rolled down and onto the shore of Marlette lake. Alone in the wilderness. Serenity now.  An alpine lake at 8000 ft elevation with snow covered banks, and us.  Just totally totally cool.  We took a nice long break here, not only to catch our breath from sucking wind the last couple of hours, but also to take in the beauty that surrounded us. Took this 360 degree video .  After about 30 minutes we heard some other bikers making there way down the hill, so that was our queue to start to head back. The ride back up to the “top” wasn’t that bad after all. I did have to get off and push my bike a little ways, (because my tires were spinning in the snow),  but not as far as I thought I would.  Once we got back to the “top” it would be a nice 4 mile downhill back to the car.

And downhill it was! It made us forget about all with “wind sucking” we were doing on the slow chug  up.  By this time the sun was high in the sky and most all the snow on the trail was starting to melt. Also by this time, people started to realize that it was a good day to bike/hike.  We saw maybe 100 bikers and hikers making their way up as we were making our way down. We definitely beat the crowds.  In what took us a couple of hours to climb, took only about 20 minutes to ride down. But what a fun and exhilarating downhill it was. Totally worth it!  I peddled ahead a couple of times to get video of “Downhill Downing” in action.  He would have gone a lot faster if it weren’t for all the people on the trail.  Check out this video too.  Eventually the downhill ended and we were back to where we had started in the morning.   As we were slow peddling back to the car at the end of the ride, we were reflecting on just how cool and special this ride had been for a couple of old “creek trail riders” from Fremont. It was the combination of doing the ride  to the lake alone,  without seeing another soul, the fact that the freak snow storm had made for a once in a lifetime ride, and (last but not least!) the beauty and serenity of the surroundings. The perfect combo made for a perfect ride. THANK YOU Staci!!!

Dropped John off at his house and headed back up to the condo on Kingsbury grade. A “chill” afternoon followed by and awesome anniversary dinner prepared by Staci and Shane.  BBQ steaks topped with mushrooms and onions, asparagas, yukon gold potatoes. The perfect way to end the day.

Up early monday. Get away day. It wasn’t too bad at all. We left Tahoe and hardly hit any traffic on the way home. Went and picked up the dogs and Marie and Ron’s house and they had prepared a wonderful dinner for us! Shrimp cocktails followed by chipotle shrimp kabobs with bacon and pineapple, braised brussel sprouts and a rice salad dish. Cupcakes for dessert! Then home with the dogs and snug in our bed.

Did the long drive to SoCal last weekend to see Kelly. Good buddies Marie and Ron were watching the dogs for us, so we dropped the little varmints off around 10:30 Friday morning and were on the road shortly thereafter. Cruised out (way out, actually to the end of) 580 until it merged with 5 south, then put on the cruise control. Traffic was flying  almost all the way. As we were coming down the Grapevine and into the L.A. basin, we called Kelly and let her know we were close and that traffic was moving. She checked something on her computer and told us that traffic will come to a dead stop in about two miles. Sure enough, two miles later we were smack dab in the middle of L.A. rush hour traffic. Kelly texted us..”Welcome to L.A.!!”

Checked into our hotel and got to Kelly’s place at dinner time. She has a really great apartment on Venice Blvd about two miles from the beach. Nice big, spacey  two bedroom,  3rd (top) floor corner unit that she shares with Heather. These girls are def living the good life in Socal.  Not only did we get to see both Kelly and Heather, their buddy (and former Cal State water polo team mate) Katie was there for the weekend. It was like water polo reunion weekend!  EAST BAY WHAT??!!  Nice to see all these girls doing well for themselves. Makes me happy!

What really made me happy was the GREAT dinner the Kelly made for us.  Fish tacos, chips and guacamole, ice cold corona. All good. So good to see that not only can our Kelly cook, she is cooking good, fresh, healthy food! And not just for us, all the time!! Did I mention how great Kelly looks?  Southern California life is suiting her well. We spent the remainder of the night just catching up and talking about old times.

Saturday was hike day. Kelly had planned on taking us on the hike that she had done when she lived in Pasadena. The Echo Mountain hike via the Sam Merrill trail. We arrived there mid morning.  The place must be popular because all there is is street parking and we had to park waaaaayyy down the street. We started our hike at the gates of the old Merrill estate and made our way down, across a dry creek bed, then steadily up up up  endless (seemed like it at the time) single track switchbacks. As we made the first few switchbacks up the hill, you could look up, WAY UP, and see people WAY up there on the trail. They looked so small!  Like I said, it was a single track dirt trail that was basically just cut into the side of the hill. As we went further up, the look down became a little more exciting. If you have vertigo, this hike isn’t for you. We did our normal Mission Peak type pace. Not slow, not  fast.  We were passed by some. We passed some people too.  There was even a group of mountain bikers making their way up.

It was pretty cool when we finally got to the top.  There are ruins of an old resort hotel that thrived there from 1896 to 1936.  Beautiful sweeping views of the L.A. basin from Long Beach to Santa Monica. Check out the video here!  We took a nice break up top.  Glad to share a great hike on a beautiful sunny day with Kelly.

On the hike back down we were already talking about where we were going to eat lunch. On the way out, and while driving through Pasadena, we saw plenty of places that looked promising. But when I saw “The Hat – World famous Pastrami”,  I knew what I wanted. The Hat was great!!  Between the three of us we ordered two “pastrami dip”, one turkey sandwich, one fries, one onion rings. Turned out to be too much food. We ended up sharing everything and in the end had a whole bunch of food left! But it was oh so good. Maybe best pastrami sandwich ever!!

We dropped Kelly off at her place then we went back to our hotel to get a nice shower and take a rest. Back to Kelly’s for take out Thai food and San Jose Sharks (they were playing LA Kings) on TV.  Great dinner and Sharks win!!

Sunday – Happy Easter –  was get a way day. Up early to pack, check out and pick up Kelly at 9am for breakfast out. Down to Venice beach for great breakfast at the SideWalk cafe. Enjoyed a nice leisurely breakfast as we watched early morning Venice Beach come to life.  After breakfast we did a short walk up and down the beach walk, bought some souvenirs and then got ready to say goodbye. Dropped Kelly back at her place and hit the road for home.

Got a stupid flat tire on the way home. About ten mile north of Buttonwillow (which is about 15 miles from the middle of nowhere) we noticed something was wrong. I told Barb to call AAA, but they didn’t even know where Buttonwillow was!!! I actually did a 20 minute tire change and ended up riding the last 200 miles home on the donut spare!

When we stopped in Pleasanton to pick up the dogs, Ron and Marie had prepared us a great dinner of cannelloni and king crab legs! Talk about a perfect way to end a perfect weekend!