Memorial Day Weekend (By Erik)

We had lots of chores to get done Saturday morning.  I helped a family move in the ward in the morning.  Ashley cleaned out and washed her car.  I mowed the lawn and did the dishes.  Ashley also had to cook dinner to pack to take with us to Lake Tahoe.  Not a fun beginning to the long weekend.

The good news is with Tahoe close by, a boring Saturday can easily be salvaged into a fun Saturday.  Water temperature is listed at 50 degrees which is 1-3 hours of survival time (at the upper end) and 30-60 minutes until unconsciousness. Cold.  I took a 5 mm wetsuit and swam around, but my hands hurt so bad being in the water.  Sierra Trading Post had a 4 mm wetsuit available in Soren's size, so he swam all over the place as well.

He actually swam out to the rock piles, maybe 80 yards.  The good news is when you get to a 4 or 5 mm wetsuit you really have to work to submerse yourself.  You can float on your back indefinitely. Liv has a 3 mm wetsuit, but it is shorts and only a covering over her arms.  She was not aggressive in the water and didn't swim.  Svea and Ashley did not even get their wetsuits on to give it a try.

We did take our canoe up, and that was the main reason for going up.  Ashley and I each went out three times.  I went once with Ashley and Liv, once by myself, and once with Svea and Liv.  We didn't take any pictures of the canoe.  Also we took the little kayak.  All of the kids gave that a shot.  Liv has become comfortable on the kayak by herself.  She will go anywhere.  Of course Soren and Svea have it down.  Picture of Liv on the kayak with Soren swimming behind.

Good Saturday.  

Sunday we went to church and then didn't do much.  I took a Sunday nap and still fell asleep on time.  I tried to get the kids out of the house to do a few geocaches, but no takers on the offer.  Ashley made pizza and we watched America's Funniest Home Videos which has been a family tradition for a long time.

Monday - What is the best way to spend the first day of summer vacation?  Go skiing!  Squaw Valley was open through Memorial Day.  Want to know how awesome the snow was?  Take  a look at all the powder when we showed up.

On the way up the mountain in the Funitel (a Gondola with two cables) - Snow situation Awesome!

Squaw Valley base is 6200' which is pretty low.  Top elevation is 9,000' which is pretty low.  Our mountains need about another 2000', but we can't get too picky, anytime you can ski on Memorial Day things were good.  Kids got to wear whatever they wanted because it was 80 degrees.  Liv wore pajamas.  Soren wore shorts.  Svea wore a dress (not a dress up dress, just a dress).  I wore shorts and my lobster shirt which is reserved for festive occasions.  Ashley wore shorts a well.

You could not ski top to bottom.  You had to take the Funitel to the mid point on the mountain then ski the upper 1/3.  The snow was horrible, but you don't go skiing in May and complain about the snow.  Our Sierra at Tahoe Season Passes came with four week day Squaw Valley Passes.  I am hording vacation time for this summer, so we did not get to use any of our Squaw Valley Passes.  Lucky for us, they forgot to black out memorial day.  They had 4 of 23 lifts operating.  Mid mountain had more snow.

There is the snow!

Kids were not into it the first 1/2 of the day.  We got 4 runs in and they were frustrating.  At lunch I told the kids if they wanted to ski fine, but if they didn't it would be better to go home because that was not worth it.  Luckily, after lunch they responded and we had a better afternoon.  The lame thing is Squaw closed at 2:30!  Normally they go until 4:00, so we got up there late and had to leave early.  The last day brings out all the weirdos, we saw two my little ponies, a few bananas, a pioneer woman/polygamist, Patrick from Sponge Bob Square Pants, guys in dresses, costumes, all kinds.  

Here is Svea going down a snow channel.  It gives you an idea about how much snow was still left at the top, she could not see out.  She did a good job.  I tried it, and took a good spill, rolled head over heels.  Liv also did it and made it all the way down, but I do not have video of it.

And now for the most critical moment of all ski season.  I skied in 7th & 8th grade and then snowboarded from 9th grade until I got married, although after my mission I worked every Saturday and went to school, so I did not get out on my snowboard very often.  On my snowboard I would do a 360 pretty regularly, but had never even attempted one on skis.  To be fair, I have been skiing only the last three years and have been teaching kids.

Today I felt it was time to give it a shot.  I wanted the kids to see me do one so someday when they think that I am lame they will know that I am not lame because one time I did a 360.  The key to a good 360 is finding a jump that launches you "up" not "out."  I found one today and hit it twice to gauge it.  The third time around Soren issued a 360 challenge, so I went for it.  To be fair, I expected another shot, but I did not realize they were closing at 2:30.  The last thing that Ashley said was "Don't blow out your knee, we need to hike the Tahoe Rim Trail this summer."  It was with that confidence I gave it a shot.

 

Of course I nailed it - you can hear Soren's cheer of amazement.  My kids will always remember the day their Dad proved he was cool and did a 360.  Svea is actually only giving me credit for a 270, and if you watch the replay, I am afraid she is right.  I thought I would get one more shot at it, but that is how it ends for this year.  Next year I might have to be more aggressive with it, but with the amount of Diet Coke I drink and turning 40, something is bound to snap.  The best skier I know is my Uncle Andy, and he was not doing and 360 at age 40.

We drove into Reno to return our rentals, I guess we don't need them anymore this year (unless we go to Mammoth Mountain which will probably be open until 4th of July).  We had dinner at Blind Onion Pizza to celebrate the end of ski season.  Blind Onion does not compare at all to the Pie in Salt Lake, or Barrio's in Phoenix, but its the best we have.

Good year of skiing.  Ashley went over 30 times and I went over 20.  Have never skied that many times in a single season in my life.  We do have Sierra at Tahoe Passes again next year, so we look forward to it.  Next year hopefully Svea will be tall enough to load on the ski lifts by herself and Liv will be another year stronger (leg strength stamina is her limiting factor) and hopefully Soren gets more confident and maybe a little more aggressive in his comfort zone.

Good year - good weekend! Great place to raise a family.  Very fortunate to have wound up here.

Bike Riding

The Nilssen family is severely behind the curve when it comes to riding bikes.  We have bought our children bikes for Christmas and birthdays with hopes that our kids would take interest in learning to ride.  What kind of parent does not teach their kids to ride bikes.  Even as a 3 year old Soren was terrified of his bike.  I remember going to the mail box with him and he would slam on his breaks with white knuckles, take 30 seconds to try again, go 2 feet and slam on his breaks again.  Svea was never much more interested then Soren.  We decided with Liv to use a balance bike, a bike with no peddles that teaches balance as a different way to instruct.

I had gone home sick from work on Friday, and still had little energy on Saturday plus the weather was cold and rainy, so no hiking.  We decided to go to Lampe Park and bring the bikes.  I actually told Ashley "I am really surprised that Svea never learned to ride her bike, she is adventurous and coordinated."  I remember Chris learning to ride a bike in Kansas, Dad just pushed him down a significant hill and it was no big deal from that moment onward.  I put Svea on her bike at the top of the driveway and pushed her down.  She made it with some peddling. It was a success.  She jumped off her bike and was skipping around, high fiveing, really excited.  Ashley had a tear in her eye.  Here was attempt #2.

There you go, she had it!  We did that a few dozen times.  Not to say all rides went as smooth

If its skiing, hiking, swimming, or biking, Svea does not let the temporary setbacks or pains distract her from the goal.  By the time we went to the park she was in control.  She spent the afternoon going on giant loops around the park, over bridges, I think she understood that her territory had been expanded.  We rode again this afternoon and she has it.

You wonder as a parent where you went wrong when your kids can't ride a bike, so this is a welcome expansion of skill sets.

Liv of course saw what Svea was doing and picked it up right away.  The bike we have for her is a little too small which makes it a little difficult, but Ashley and I were done spending money on bikes until this weekends breakthrough

At the park Liv got even better

Soren is just as nervous about it as he was as a three year old.  He claims that on his mission he will use training wheels and has no interest in learning how to ride a bike.

Liv gave her first talk in church today.  The subject was the restoration of the gospel.  Liv wrote the talk last night and Ashley gave it to her today. It's good for kids to learn to speak in the public early.  It's a good life skill.

Skunk Harbor

(Note From Erik)

Hello,

Just a quick note from our Saturday.  I am done with school, so free time galore.  Also, the first Saturday in two weeks were it wasn't raining.  What do you do in the Tahoe Basin when you have a day to kill?  We were going to go canoeing, but there was 20 MPH winds.  Too much snowmelt for fly fishing.  So we did a hike to Skunk Harbor.

We have been to Skunk Harbor 1/2 dozen times or so.  Its kind of a pain because you hike down to the beach, then get tired, then you have to hike up.  Kind of difficult.  Water temperature in Tahoe is still 49 degrees, so you have to be crazy to get in.  Actually, one guy why were were there ran from the beach and dove in.  He got right out then shivered on the sand.  Just getting your feet wet gives you a headache.

It was 55 degrees and with the wind, you needed an jacket.  The kids all make me laugh, they are outfitted to the tee.  They look like such serious hikers (actually, the places we take them, they are pretty serious).

Interestingly, The road we are on is an old rail road right of way used to haul timber up from the Tahoe Shoreline during the Comstock boom. (I am now typing for a 2nd time as the blogger deleted my post, so it might not be as detailed as the 1st typing). 

The beach was beautiful.  Even though you can't swim, its amazing that the kids could spend a whole day there.  There is a creek that enters Lake Tahoe at this location.  The kids send time digging different channels for the stream to enter the Lake.  They wade in the water.  They play with other kids, have lunch and the most important thing they spend the most time on is saving drowning lady bugs.

Its kids of a futile way to spend you day, but you can save thousands of lady bugs and not really make a dent in anything.  Oh well, it makes them feel good.  Thats service.

Took a picture of the Lake and Liv wanted to be in on it.

On the way out we decided to find a geocache that was about 100 meters off the trail.  While approaching the cache, it was apparent the terrain was not natural.  Usually banks on either side of a flat area is a "flume" where they used to send lumber down to the mine and that is what I assumed this was.

One more of Liv walking out - looking real sporty.

I love that the kids will hike.  I can tell they feel good doing it and they love to be outside.  I didn't like to hike as a kid (but thats because my parents wouldn't buy me good equipment - no camelbacks, no hiking poles, no hiking boots - they didn't have any of that when I was a kid - life is better now).  You put the kids on a trail and point the way and they do the rest (for the most part).

The name of the cache was "trestle."  Soren was the first to say "this lumber is not natural."  And he was right.  Turns out we were on an old rail road grade used to run lumber from the shore to the top of the basin to be used in the mines.

Amazing to be that close to history and never notice it before.  That is what geocaching is supposed to do, lead you to interesting areas you may have not been aware of before.  The rail road functioned 140 years ago.  Surprised with the Tahoe winters this stuff was still out there.  It was apparent is was an old rail bridge that has collapsed.  And yes, we did find the cache!

The person who hid the cache has a good write up of the history with some interesting photographs

https://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC59K0R_trestle

The "Carson and Tahoe Lumber and Flume Company."  Seriously, when you read the mining history, everyone made money except the miners.

This picture in 1877, we walked on the lower rail road track down to the beach.  The locomotive in the background is now what would be the highway.

How cool is that?  So much in this photo, but the mining really did a number to the Tahoe environment, striped all the old growth lumber and fished out the lake.  What would it look like if the old growth would have remained?  Not sure, but its still one of the most beautiful places on earth, and its our playground!