Welcome December

How do you ring in December in the Sierra Nevada Mountains?  You hit the beach of course.  A huge storm is passing through this weekend with 30 MPH winds on Tahoe.  The surf report today was 2-6 foot waves – tomorrow up to 7 feet.  It was erratic, some great waves followed by periods of smaller waves. Sure the water is 47 degrees and will kill you between 1-3 hours if you unprotected, but with a hooded 5mm wetsuit (Thanks for the early Christmas Ashley) its not that bad (except when you take a direct splash to the face).  If you notice I don’t have boots or gloves yet (they are in the mail and will get here on Tuesday – Thanks Mom!), so my feet hurt so bad.  Every rock stepped on or bump by the body board was painful.  Can’t wait for the boots to arrive.  For gloves I put on thin liners then dishwashing gloves over them and then I duct taped them really tight around the wrists.  It kind of worked.  Unfortunately Ashley’s wetsuit and boots arrive on Tuesday, so she had to sit this one out.  There were three surfers in the water with me.  I am sorry if this is starting to look like a surfing blog, its not the intent, its just its been 18 years since my last summer on Cape Cod regularly body boarding and now to be in a place where you can do it once a month or so has been AWESOME! (Add in fly fishing, hiking, and quiet and I can hardly believe my good fortune – whoever  knew the Genoa greater metropolitan area even existed?)

Ashley always just gets videos of me on the small waves I swear.  I catch some real monsters.


We did that for an hour or so.  Then we drove to South Lake Tahoe for lunch at one of our favorite burger places Izzy’s



Then we drove over the Luther Pass into national forest.  We purchased a Christmas Tree permit for $10.  The only rules are the tree cannot have a diameter of greater than 6-inches (that’s huge!), it must be within 10-feet of another tree (reduces competition for nutrients), and it has to be within a mapped area.  Helps thin the forest and allows you to get a great tree.  It was a little difficult as we only had limited hiking stamina and terrain due to three kids.  Everything close to the road was pretty much picked over so I would up going up the side of a steep mountain.  I found an unbelievable tree.  I cut it down then realized how heavy it was, how far away from everyone I was, and how steep the mountain side was.  I put the thing on my back and made it down.  Most trees you find in the wild are wind blown on one side or crooked, but this one is awesome.  I feel guilty for cutting it down, but I have to remind myself I did the forest a favor.  That was a lot of driving for one day.


It was a tough week at work with some really politically difficult situations rearing their heads. I love where I live. I feel peace being at home.  When its been 9 years since you can say that, and I did not hate Phoenix I was very neutral there except I didn’t feel safe in my own home, it makes anything that happens at work worth it (except getting canned, because then you can’t live here anymore).

Good Bye Summer!

As I stated on a previous blog post when winds at Lake Tahoe are 20-25 MPH and gusts hit 20-25 you can surf the lake.  Today was one of those days – winds of 22 MPH with gusts up to 41 MPH.  I know it is Sunday, but we went as the final opportunity to surf Tahoe for the year.  When we moved here I never would have believed that you would dare enter Tahoe at the end of October.  Many people were walking the beach in winter coats and hats.  They must have thought we were nuts to be out in the water - and we probably were. Tomorrow Tahoe is supposed to receive 3-5 inches of snow.  As you can see from the car thermometer (maybe not the most accurate) the air temp was 46 degrees and with wind chill felt like 36 degrees.  Even in the summer Lake Tahoe’s water temperature approaches 70 degrees, today it is closer to 60.  It makes Cape Cod feel like Key West.

The body boarding was wonderful.  Depending on the gusts, waves were 3-4 feet.  Ashley and I have “Spring Suits” (2mm wet suits).  There were two other people there surfing with 3mm wet suits.  A purchase for next year will be the full 5mm suits.  We only stayed for about an hour because the kids were having a hard time with the cold weather and wind. 
The water was warmer than the land, but getting wet hair and then having the cold wind blow across really numbed your face.  Now – 4 hours after being home, I still have a headache.  It was also pretty cold on your feet.  Getting out was the hardest part.
So that’s it – done for the year.  Put the wet suits and body boards away (and fly fishing gear) and get the skies out.  Ashley and I now have about 5 websites we use to track wind and weather at Tahoe (the wind must be blowing from the SSW for surfing).  Next year after the additional equipment we should be able to get in the water year round.  Its fun to live in a place were this is possible – I caught a wave next to one of the surfers and he yelled “You don’t get to do this every day!” Its true, but being in a place where you can do it a few times a month is awesome!

Ashley Shredding

                                               At the end of the day – Good Bye Summer!

Bonus picture – our backyard on Saturday -

Shreddin' Some Gnar

When I first knew that we were going to move to Lake Tahoe I was curious if the waves ever kicked up enough to surf.  Sure enough I found a website http://www.surf6200.com/nv/ that is dedicate do people who surf Lake Tahoe (it has not been updated in 2 years).  If you look at some of the videos you cannot tell the difference between the Lake and San Diego.  The conditions must be 20-25 mph winds with 25 mph gusts.  Most of those storms are in the fall and spring and I do not imagine getting in the freezing water during those times.  Today we had 10 mph winds with 15 mph gusts.  I did break out the body board.  It was not ocean like, but was big enough to just give you a taste of what it is like.

Living here is great, but it has made me covetous – If it is this good here, how great would it be in Hawaii or Oregon Coast (Can’t live in California because of their messed up financial situation)?
The best part about body boarding Lake Tahoe is when you take a big gulp, it actually tastes really good!

Golf Balls

by Erik

Since our move into this golf course community Soren has become obsessed with golf.  In his reasoning, since he is good at it on Wii, he is good at it in real life.  When we go fish on the golf course lakes Soren wants to spend most of his time looking for golf tees and if he can find a ball, he is in heaven.  I noticed on a run this week that since there was a low snow pack one lake in particular was becoming dry.  Even better about this lake was that the green is located just beyond the lake.  This has exposed golf balls that have been under the water for few years.  You can see them out there like Easter eggs.

I decided to take Soren and Svea to look for the balls last night knowing they would have a blast.  I was not planning on getting in, but figured I would hold a bag and let them collect the balls. 

Things were going great until Svea walked a little to far out into some of the soft mud.  She sunk into the mud up to her knees and then fell over and her arms sunk upto her elbows.  She was screaming and crying.  I still did not want to get in, So I sent Soren to help her.  He made it within three feet of Svea and he sunk upto his knees.  Now I was forced to get in.  I tried to walk light, but sunk in as well.  The mud sucked my shoes off, but I was able to get the kids out.  I went back in and retrieved every one’s shoes.  Now we were all in so I helped collect golf balls.  The kids were loving it – muddy and looking for golf balls.  Every time you stepped in the mud there was 3 or 4 under your feet (like looking for quohogs at the salt marsh in Cape Cod – for family).

We washed off in the golf course sprinklers, went home and cleaned the balls.  Grand Total – 128 golf balls.  Ashley asked “What are you going to do with 128 golf balls?”  Talk about someone who misses the point – who cares what we are going to do with them?  The point is “WE HAVE 128 GOLF BALLS.”  The kids were ecstatic and we can chalk up another new experience.  Soren has already been asking to go get more – and we could, I only had one bag.

 

 

Peace, Quiet and Fish!

Erik’s Post

My old boss from Flood Control in Phoenix, Amir Motamedi, was in Tahoe vacationing this week. He took time out of his vacation schedule to have lunch with me and check out my new habitat.  Amir was the person who basically gave me the big break I needed out of school.  He hired me as a hydrologist even though I had no experience and was young.  Amir was also very patient with my limited knowledge, explained things so they were easy to understand and always put the pressure of deadlines on himself and always stood up for staff.  It was nice to spend an afternoon with him catching up.  Amir has taken me to lunch numerous times over the years.  It was nice to be in a position to take him out and treat him.  It was that first job that eventually lead to the job I have today and I am forever grateful to Amir for giving me that first chance (I repaid him by only staying for 2.5 years).  Minden was settled by Basque Sheppard's and the area still has Basque roots.  One of the famous restaurants is  JT Basque Bar and now I finally had the opportunity to try it.

I had the steak sandwich.  It was probably the best sandwich I have ever had.  When I cooked at the Oaks (a casual eatery in beautiful Ogden Canyon) we made steak sandwiches. We diced steak and mixed in mushrooms, green peppers, onions, and cheese.  This sandwich was a large steak on two pieces of bread.  I raved about it all day.  Best lunch in a long time an I will be back (still getting used to the slot machines in the lobby!).

In Phoenix for 5 years every Wednesday was scouts.  I was gone from my family from 6:45-9:00.  Well – I don’t have any calling right now (and judging from the 21 Elders at church on Sunday (after you take away the two that were in nursery and one in each primary class and the 11 that were in the YM program) not to mention the mammoth high priests group, it might be through the summer until I do have a calling.  I now take Thursdays and go fly fishing after work.  It takes 1/2 hour to get someplace worth fishing then another 30 minutes to 1 hour hike and I get in about 2 hours of fishing.  I work with a guy who loves to hike, but hates to fish so he tells me of all these streams he finds and then I go and fish them.

I found maybe the most peaceful place on the planet.  The hike is a killer – straight up, but then it opens into a beautiful alpine meadow.  You would not expect fish to be in the stream – its so small but it was full (the pics are poor quality because all I had was my phone, but you get the idea).

 

Every third cast was a fish.  Not the stocked rainbow trout you usually find, but colorful native brook trout.  Brook trout are by far the smallest trout (2 inches to 6 inches), but watching them take the fly and bringing them in was fun.  I seriously caught about 30 and released them all.  None had taken the hook too far, so they are all still happy in their stream.  The one on the end was the big fish of the day.  I did not see one other person.  It was me, the stream, fish, squirrels and chipmunks and a bunch of colorful song birds.  Wonderful!

I really felt as I hiked back to the car – that is how the day is supposed to go.  Delicious lunch with a good friend, productive day at work, and time be in a peaceful location to think and decompress.  What a good day.

July 4, 2012

Liv hit the 6 month mark this week.  It’s crazy how fast she is growing up.  We tried some rice cereal.  She wasn’t into it.  We’ll wait a little longer and try again.  She still doesn’t have any teeth, my latest teether.
Last Friday we drove out to the Lake after Erik got off work and had picnic sushi at Diver’s Cove.  It was a beautiful night and a great way to start the weekend.
 
Svea is our water baby, even though the water was freezing.
Even in my spring suit it was COLD!

Erik snorkeled.  He’s hard core.  I’m serious when I say it was COLD.

Liv ate sand.  Blech.

Svea’s hair has reached its lightest summer blonde, it is so cute!

Erik had to return to Phoenix to pick up our Sentra so he was gone all day on Saturday.  We may not be completely moved in but at least all of our stuff is here with us now.
Sunday afternoon we drove down to River Fork Ranch and walked what I think was the West Fork Trail along the Carson river.  The trail wasn’t very exciting but there were great views of Genoa and the Sierras.
For the 4th this year we ran around town shopping.  After a tiring day we decided to enjoy the fireworks at a high school in Carson City.  The kids had a blast (The baby not so much)!  See the kids wearing their “winter coats” in July?  Awesome.