Sunday, 26 June 2016

Birthday Bash Part 2

Many of the party attendees stayed in the newly completed hostel across the street from Rolf's. 

This place deserves a description.  At one time it was the Alta Hotel, a sort of flophouse.  After that it was a brothel and more recently had been unoccupied.  

After running an outdoor adventure business in Argentina for many years, Zack, who rents a cabin from Rolf next door, bought it and he has spent the last four years painstakingly renovating it to create affordable lodgings for tourists.  Zack is quite an amazing character.  Maybe 40, and seemingly laid back and a little spacey, he is very detail oriented and extremely thorough, pretty much learning the renovation business as he went.  Now his partner, Abbey, is taking a role looking after the housekeeping details. Truckee gets a lot of visitors who come for the many outdoor activities:  skiing, hiking, rafting, mountain biking and, other than camping, there are no budget accommodations.  This place should go gangbusters. 

Floors in the kitchen and common area are old newspapers with a verathane covering.  
 
It really wasn't open for business yet but close enough that our party people could stay there and we were able to use the big kitchen, 
common area 

and deck for expanded festivities. 

A bed in the dorm, cubby with big storage unit at the foot of the bed.

The pocket doors in the bathroom were required to be self closing.  Instead of installing the usual electronic device at some cost and effort, Zack devised this simple pulley and weight system.

  
The bar.

Zack and Abbey are lovely people and it was nice to include them in the party.  I think he is a bit hesitant to open, afraid that the tourists will mess up his nice place. 

Friday, 24 June 2016

Birthday Bash Part 3

While at Rolf's we did a couple of excursions around Lake Tahoe.  Rolf, Tanzy and I drove to north shore of the lake to check out tubing possibilities on the river.  The river was way too low but it was fun to see Tahoe City where my parents retired to some 50 years ago.  Such a beautiful lake in a spectacular setting.  



We checked out the old neighborhood and the house where my parents lived, 
now pretty ramshackle.  

On another day, a group of us went to Emerald Bay, one of the most beautiful features of the lake. 
 
Yes, the water is an emerald hue there as you might guess, waterfalls cascade down the granite cliffs.  
 Lance and Laurie
 
 
 
And there's a replica of a Viking castle built in 1928/29.  http://vikingsholm.com/
Some critters joined us for lunch.
While we were admiring Emerald Bay, the others were still partying fiercely back at Rolf's where his community friends gathered to honour him.  (And totally glut him with sweet goodies)
Death by chocolate
 

Monday, 13 June 2016

Birthday Bash Part 1

The clan gathered at my brother Rolf's place in Truckee California for the celebration of his 80th birthday and my 70th.  

Patriarch and birthday boy, brother Rolf
We also celebrated his daughter, Kim's, 53rd birthday And sadly, we celebrated the life of our sister, Ellie, who passed just a week before after battling Alzheimer's for several years.  
 DSC05453
Andrew, Ellie, Rolf

Family came from far and wide.  Kim and her partner came from North Carolina. 



Cousin Lance came from Albuquerque.  He cycled from the Reno airport on his little folding bicycle, up the steep highway to Rolf's and from there he would continue by bike to his daughter's in San Francisco after the party.  The man loves to cycle.

Lance in orange

Leann, one of Ellie's daughters and her family came from Colorado, 


Ellie's other daughter, Krissie, queen of the margaritas, and her family came from San Jose.  


Truckee is located near Lake Tahoe in the Sierra Nevadas in California, a beautiful and historic location.  
 
A group of pioneers known as the Donner Party decided on the route westward over the Sierra Nevadas that passed through where Truckee is now instead of the Oregon Trail and, as a result, were stranded here during a severe blizzard that trapped them here where they earned a place in the history books for resorting to cannibalism when they were starvingThe Donner Party gave their name to the pass over the mountains known since as Donner Pass.  Truckee grew as a railroad town originally named Coburn Station, starting with the Transcontinental Railroad. The railroad goes into downtown Truckee (as we were reminded every time they did through the night) and the Amtrak passenger lines still stop there on the trip from Chicago to San Francisco. Now Truckee is very much a resort community owing to the diverse recreational opportunities at hand:  skiing foremost, rafting, tubing, kayaking, hiking, mt. biking, golf and so on.  On the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe there's gambling too.

Rolf has lived in Truckee for many years in the lovely house he built and filled with beautiful and sometimes whimsical objects and art, on banks of the Truckee River that flows out of Lake Tahoe.  




We passed many happy hours on his big deck overlooking the river, eating and drinking and basking in the company of family.  

To be continued.....