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.  
 

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 starving.  The 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.....