Donner Summit park

At Truckee is the monument to the Donner party. It is quite an attractive exhibit.




The snow the year the Donner party got stranded was twenty-two feet deep. As deep as the top of the stone monument pictured.

The bear incident

We were driving down the road from Truckee on our way home from Tahoe, just sightseeing getting settled in for the long trip home when Terry says...."Hey, I just saw a bear". We were right along I80 so I thought he had seen a rock shaped like a bear, but he stopped and backed up and sure enough it was a bear, right at the edge of the road. Melissa got her camera out and was taking some awesome shots.

Then he picked something up and started to carry it off. It was so cool
He stood on his hind legs to pick the carcass up to carry it. It was a dead buck deer with horns. As we watched with the windows down you could hear him crunching the bones as he tore off bits to eat. Some moron tourist got out of her car and stood between our truck and the bear to take pictures. I commented out the window that if I were her I wouldn't get much closer, cause the bear may try to protect his dinner. What an idiot....this isn't disneyland.

The cruise

Dinner was awesome, dessert was divine....

After dinner (they had to seat the other people for dinner) we went to the upper deck for music and dancing. They had an awesome two man band. It was fun.

Cruise pics

Melissa and Dan brave the out of doors on the boat to get a picture.


It was sooooo crowded cause the other dinner cruise boat couldn't do rough weather so we just crammed everyone on this boat.


It was so crowded that you couldn't even get up from the table and was a little crazy....we were all a little crazy.

The Boat Ride/Dinner

As part of the birthday celebration Thelma invited the family and friends attending for a dinner cruise on the Lake. The weather was iffy to say the least.


Here is the boat...look at those clouds! It was a three hour cruise, a three hour cruise........(gilligans island theme for those who don't recognize the words :0 )

I think Russ got in trouble...he always gets caught.

But it should have been Terry....this is what was under the table and those are Terrys legs....he brought the bar with him.
That is why he is smiling!

Trip to Tahoe

We (Terry, Julie, Melissa, Dan) just returned from a whirlwind trip to Tahoe. Terry's Mom Thelma had her 75th birthday celebration (I am awaiting pictures from the fam to post them)and we were fortunate enough to be able to go down for the festivities.
Tahoe is an extremely beautiful place, the trees, the view of the lake, the crystal clear water etc.




And Dan is super happy to be here too!

After the mountain trip

After getting off the hill huckleberry picking, our fingers are purple, our clothes are dusty and we had sticks and twigs in our hair so we head down to the river for a cooling swim and cleaning off, and some fishing. It is wonderful to be able to be high in the mountains in the morning and down on the river in the same afternoon enjoying the peace and quiet of the water. We are blessed.