Lake Tahoe: Land of Opportunity

Ah, vacation time! So full of hope and exciting prospects!

So anyway, let me get the unpleasant reminisces out of the way so I can begin and end on a high note. About two hours into our drive to Tahoe we notice an unpleasant, burning smell. We begin debating over whether it's coming from our van or from somewhere else. Suddenly we notice that smoke is billowing behind us, and about the same time Tim realizes that we have lost the ability to accelerate. In short, it was total transmission failure. That's actually the only bad part.

At precisely that moment, we come upon an exit and immediately turn off and stop at the stop sign. We can't move so Tim jumps out and starts pushing while I steer the van to the roadside. Out of nowhere, some person appears and silently begins pushing beside Tim. He then disappears with barely a word. Tim thinks it was just someone from Stockton (where we broke down), but I'm thinking that was very Three Nephite-esque. Oh I'm not saying it was them, but doesn't it sound like them? I'm just sayin' (I'm also kidding).

So we got lots of help. Tim, Sr. had to drive 2 1/2 hours to get us, the tow truck guy was willing to sit and wait while we got transportation squared away, the nice lady at the auto glass shop where we broke down was quick to get the kids inside and out of the sun, and the guy at the transmission shop experimented with his magical Baby Whisperer abilities in order to keep Mitchell from slowly relocating all the water inside the water cooler to the floor of the waiting room where I was, yes, waiting a couple of hours for Tim, Grandpa and the gang to come pick me up. Not to mention, all the plan-rearranging that was done by the rest of the family already in Tahoe in order to accommodate our sudden lack of a vehicle.

So we left the van in Stockton, and went on to Tahoe and adventure! Only some of which was captured in pictures as follows. The lake is the most picturesque part anyway.

It was time spent in unparalleled joy:
Keller managed to not throw up till the drive back to Clovis.













Major sandcastle construction projects were undertaken.

And there were some not-so-major undertakings. Meriel informed me that this lump of sand with two feathers sticking out of it is the result of her long labor to portray the true inner essence of a bunny. I, for one, can feel it.

The nice thing about Lake Tahoe is that its shallow edge goes for quite a while. You can walk out a long ways in relatively warm water that is only up to your waist, or chest in Meriel's case.


Quintessential Meriel
And here's one of me. I'm wearing glasses because I was weed-whacking without eye protection and a speck was hurled into my eye which made the tiniest, yet pretty uncomfortable, nick in my 9-yr-old hard contacts, but that's another story, and, hey, it looks like I just told it.




Quintessential TimOh, yes, he did that on purpose.



Behold the cuteness that is Mitchell!





Aside from the beach, Tim and I were able to see Measure for Measure at the Tahoe Shakespeare Festival where we did but chortle merrily at the man doing his pre-show Pilates stretches right on the stage and at another female patron who thought 7 PM was the perfect time to cast off her bikini cover-up and start soaking up some sun. Or perhaps she did verily faint from heat and was trying to cool off by exposing her abundant skin to the chilly breeze that had just kicked up. The show was good too.

We also visited the Tallac Historical site where Meriel and I had a very public show-down over her discarded sandals which was only resolved when I threatened to drag her back to the car. The Historical site was good too.

And, of course, we were able to hang with 3/4 of the Ryan family, play some bizarre games of pool, and celebrate 3 birthdays in one fell swoop (all photographically un-documented). We're so efficient!

As for how we got back home, there was a good chance of the van not being finished by Friday (and it wasn't) so on Friday morning, we attempted to reserve a rental car for a one-way trip. I tried Enterprise, and they said you can't do that in South Lake Tahoe. Hertz wouldn't help us either. Welcome to the Lake Tahoe Resort Hotel! You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave! (da da DAH!) We finally had luck with Avis . . . for double the price (da da DAH!) .

So the van is currently in Stockton. On the up-side, Tim pointed out that there's so much more room in the garage with only his dad's tiny Miata parked in it rather than a big, bulky van. I told you I would end this on a high note.
Tim is horrified that I posted this picture because it looks like he's anxiously inspecting a dirt speck on his shiny, red sports car, when he's actually looking intently at what is either telltale drips of transmission fluid from the absent van, or just an oil stain.