Lake Tahoe

On Wednesday, I went to Lake Tahoe. I arrived in the early afternoon, after I (unfortunately) received a speeding ticket. I was so bummed out! I'd been driving through the mountains for what seemed like an eternity, and FINALLY I ended up on open road. It felt so good to hit the gas pedal. Unfortunately, I thought the speed limit was 65, and so I was driving 70....the actual speed limit was 55, and so a California highway patrol officer stopped me. He was actually very nice -- said it happens all the time, exactly the same way I described: people coming out of the mountains, and allowing the car to "stretch its legs". Anyway, he only put me down for 65 mph, which will lower the ticket price somewhat. But it was a bummer nonetheless.

Anyway, it was great to see Lars! I was unable to attend his wedding for some reason -- probably a long string of night shifts -- and so I hadn't met his wife, Christine. She is fabulous. She's super-bright, warm, friendly, and very athletic (and a climber), just like Lars. They make a great couple! They also have a two-year-old son, Kai, who is very, very cute.

On Wednesday afternoon, the four of us went to the beach at Lake Tahoe on the Nevada side, where they live. The water was chilly, but the deep blue water with the mountains and evergreen trees all around is amazing to look at. Lars, of course, left me and Christine to chat while he went off bouldering -- once a climber, always a climber! -- and Kai went off to follow him -- amazing to see his natural talent, even at two years of age.

We went for sushi that night, and then Lars spent the evening teaching me about his new outdoor sport, fly fishing. I actually stayed in his "sewing room", which is really his feather-filled fly-creation room. Funny that I'm victims of stereotyping as much as anyone else is -- when I saw the spools of thread, the needles, and the feathers, I initially assumed the room must be Christine's craft space! But Lars has become an avid fly fisherman, and now he purchases special feathers to create his masterpieces.

The next day we drove to the California side of Lake Tahoe and went to Vikingsholm, an old estate on the beach. It's a beautiful hike down from the top, passing by all sorts of waterfalls, large and small. When we arrived at the bottom, we walked around the home (didn't take the tour inside), and then took a small offshoot off the trail, which took us to an amazingly large and powerful waterfall. I stood there, amazed at how such a large fall could have been hidden from both my sight and hearing while we hiked down. While I stood there and gawked, Lars ran away again and scampered up the side of the falls.

We then went down to the beach for a while, and Lars and Kai collected waterbugs while Christine and I chatted. Then Christine took Kai, and Lars and I had some time alone, as well. It was really nice, having some time to talk to him. He's changed so much from when we were residents; he was so unhappy then, and he is so calm and content now -- I don't know what to say except that it made ME feel good to see him happy.

That night, I had a HOME-COOKED MEAL for supper -- the first one in many, many weeks! We had steaks, asparagus, and macaroni salad, and homemade rhubarb pie with vanilla ice cream -- and it was absolutely fantastic. Then, while Christine put Kai to bed, Lars showed me fly-fishing videos and rock climbing videos. The most insane video was of some dude from Tahoe area, who apparently had had a fear of falling; so he "recovered" (?!?) from his fear by developing a system whereby he'd climb up two peaks, attach ropes from the tops of them to stretch across the span, and then climb up a peak INSIDE the span, hook onto the ropes stretching the span, and then JUMP OFF. Recovered or not, he's dead now, from a complication of one of his "falls". Poor bastard....

On Friday morning, Lars went to work early. So Christine, Kai and I got up, played, ate pie for dessert, and then I packed up and left for Oakland. It was an absolutely wonderful two days. Lars and Christine were terrific hosts, Kai was adorable, and seeing Lars happy (cliche as it sounds) absolutely warmed my soul. Amazing.