My Amazing Journey 2012: LAKE TAHOE, NEVADA

Sept. 20^th – 24^th: I looked forward to Lake Tahoe and our 5 day stay with enthusiasm. I had nothing but fond memories of Lake Tahoe. I spent a week at church camp at Zephyr Cove Presbyterian Retreat every summer during my tween and teen years. It was also a family vacation destination from 8^th to 12^thgrade and Donna and I worked at Round Hill Pines Resort during the summer after my graduation, 1962. Won my first jackpot, illegally of course, and was too scared to collect my winnings and ran away.

Unfortunately for our ears, there was a motorcycle rally of 50,000 motorcycles in Carson City and Lake Tahoe. We suffered the noise pollution during the day but down by the lake it was quiet and peaceful. Molly and I sort of crashed a wedding party on the beach. We kept to the sidelines but pretended we were really invited guests. The food was heavily guarded!

We all saw our first bear (hind end only) as we were coming home after dark one night. He had just snacked on garbage can food and was headed to the woods – I think our headlights scared him a bit. I wanted to take his picture but once in the trailer, the others forbade me to go back outside. I was curious and my tail was wagging but I guess the orders to stay inside meant me, too. Are bears mean? He looked pretty cuddly to me.

I took the Heavenly Valley Gondola Ride to the top. The last part of the ride was an open air ski chair from an earlier era. As long as it is not winter, I prefer the open air chair. The Plexiglas enclosures become scratched and marred over time. No matter the mode of transportation the views were unbelievable.

On a whim, I turned the car into the resort area where Donna and I worked one summer, Round Hill Pines Resort. There was only a small piece of the beach area left open to the public for boat rides and weddings. We just happen to meet the current owner. He, too, had worked at the resort as a boy and now owned the area by the beach. The property was split up after the original owners passed. He put us in a golf cart and drove us up to where the main lodge, office and cabins were still standing but boarded up, deserted and run down. It was sad to see the grounds in such disrepair but it sure brought back a lot of memories, especially the ones that only teenagers can appreciate! A story for another time.

Donna and I revisited the Zephyr Cove Presbyterian Camp of our childhood and marveled at all the changes. The last time we camped there was about 60 years ago. The staff let us in the main lodge to look around and the only recognizable landmark was a view of Inspiration Point marked by its 4 pointed tall logs in the center of a graduated stone stepped amphitheater. As campers we would gather pine cones placing notes about our wishes in one pine cone and our bad habits in another. Our last night at camp we would build a big fire on inspiration point and burn the bad habit pine cone and set sail to the wishes pine cone. The drought this year caused snow packs to melt early and we could not see the famous cross on the mountain side across the lake. Normally, the snow pack stays all summer in the shape of a cross while the rest of the snow melts away.