Maples in Nevada!

A day off today!

We lazed around until noon, when we decided we should probably run (our already tardy) mother's day gifts to the post office. Hastily, we got ready, then jumped into the Stomper for a trip into town. My favorite post office lady was working today. You wouldn't believe that there are still real people out there like her. Her name is Ann and she smiles a gap toothed grin....She has puffy curly brown hair and she always wears pearls & make-up. She is so kind; she should be every one's grandma! I swear it.

Wile suggested that we cruise down around South Lake and check it out. We have lived here for 6 months and haven't been down around that end of Lake Tahoe yet. Man...you wouldn't believe how pretty it is around there. The road was winding and hilly and the green moss is growing on the sides of the mountains and rocks all over. We came to a bend in the road where Emerald Bay meets a beautiful mountain water fall. We parked along side the road and climbed up on some rocks to get a better view. Down by the waterfall was a wedding party getting their pictures taken. What a cool thing to have a water fall and the awesomely green waters of Emerald Bay as your back drop!

Our tummies were rumbling, so we hit the road around the rest of the lake. We ended up in South Lake Tahoe and after about one minute of looking, settled on Grand Central Pizza for lunch. The lunch special was good and cheap! $5.99 for the salad bar, a slice of pizza and a pop! I talked Wile into hitting the Pier 1 that I spied on the way into town and he patiently looked around with me. We settled on some new wine stoppers and then we were off. There was a little thrift store a block or two up, so my car veered to the right and we went in. This place was kind of funny. It was well stocked with antique pictures of naked women. In one of the glass cases I found a salt and pepper shaker set that were two individual boobs that sat on a spoon rest shaped like the rest of the body. It was kind of funny and it didn't have any arms or legs...just the "important" parts. lol. We walked out of there empty handed, but Wile found a skate board that is still beckoning to him, so I'm sure we'll be back.

After that, we continued our path around Lake Tahoe. We came to an area known as Cave Rock, where this gigantic rock formation spills into the lake. They have tunnels carved through for the road way and it truly is really cool. There was a small park on the lake side, so we parked there to get a better look. Wile pitched some rocks in the water and I made an alarm sound because people around there are so funny about "Keeping Tahoe Blue." I'm sure if someone had been around, they might have scolded us for simply being alive near the lake.

When we got near Incline Village, we decided to steer away from the lake altogether. We headed down the "hill" toward Carson City (Nevada's State Capital). The town is old and green and there are real trees there like Maples! There were lilacs and irises and old houses. It was a nice departure from Truckee's cedar sided mushroom communities and Reno's stucco neighborhoods. It actually seemed like a town that could be back home; only you can see mountains and it's much warmer! We were so happy to be there that we started driving up and down the streets and we even went and bought a paper to see what the job scene was like. Well...the job scene kind of looks like Michigan's job scene...blah.

We ended our evening with 2 pops and candy bars (a Fast Break and an Almond Joy) and we headed back toward Reno to make our ascent back up the hill to Truckee. After seeing the green of Carson Valley, it was hard to get back to the mountains with it's 3 varieties of plant life and it's cold mountain nights. We can't complain, though, we have a nice place to live and the adventure of coming to California will always be ours.