We stayed a little closer to home this weekend, mostly because we spent too much money the last few.  We did get out and enjoy a new place though.  Now that we’ve lived here nearly 3 years we thought perhaps we should try a few different places, instead of just making the same trips over and over.  (OK we just went to a new place two weeks ago, I guess that was the start of this new plan.)  So, for our revered “Sunday Funday” this week, we joined another couple at nearby Sly Park, aka Jenkinson Lake.  All in all, a great facility, we thoroughly enjoyed our afternoon there.  We took our inflatable kayak, they rented a few, and we paddled around the lake for a little picnic lunch.  As a matter of fact, we are considering going back this coming weekend and doing a little camping, but who knows if that will come together.  I only had a few quibbles, most of which related to price.  Yes, I know that seems to be a recurring theme… hmmm.  And, not so much last weekend, but as we look towards camping there.  They got us for $11 entry fee last weekend;  Fair enough.  There were 4 of us and we had a good day of entertainment.  Checking out the campgrounds though, good grief.  Granted, I haven’t tent-camped in a long time, but their tent-only sites are $35 to $55?  And that only allows one car, we’ll need two.  (cha-ching.)  Want to bring Teagan?  Five bucks a day.  (cha-ching.)  Load of firewood? (double cha-ching.)  At the end of the day we’d be better off staying at the Holiday Inn by our house.  Speaking of Teagan, they don’t allow dogs in the water, which I’ll have an awfully hard time explaining to her.  I get it, it’s the drinking water source for the area, but I’d be a lot more concerned with what all those little kids swimming are doing in the water than dogs.  Oh well, we’ll see what comes together.

We escaped the triple-digit heat for the second weekend in a row, we’re on a roll.  On seeing it was going to be another hot weekend, we made the last-minute call to take the 1.5 hour drive up to Tahoe for a few nights.  Since we couldn’t find a pup-sitter on such short notice, we loaded her up and took her with us too.  It all worked out just fine!  We ended up in a resort we hadn’t stayed at before, and it was not quite as nice as others we’ve stayed at, but it was all good.

We got there Friday night and were sort of worn out from the last-minute packing, the drive, and the work week.  We didn’t really have any desire to go anywhere, and that was a good thing because Teagan made it known she did not want to be left alone in the strange room.  That sort of caught us off-guard, as she doesn’t usually seem to care where she is.  As long as there is a couch and a chew toy, she’s pretty laid back.  Oh well, we adjusted our plans accordingly and just hung out in the room with her and played cards.

Saturday we had a full itinerary.  We kicked things off with a shopping trip to set Teagan up with some hiking boots.  We’ve always wanted to take her out hiking with us, but the trails up there are usually covered with sharp rocks.  It might have been a bit over the top, who knows.  I’ll grant you, there are plenty of dogs out there without boots, but I know I wouldn’t want to walk over those rocks barefoot.  We already knew the store that carried them, so we headed straight there.  They did a great job fitting her, it was pretty amazing how much of a difference the right size made.  We actually already have boots she wears sometimes, but they’re too big and you can tell she doesn’t like them.  When they found the right size for her, she walked around in them like they weren’t there at all.  After that we made the long, slow drive to the trailhead.  It was over by Emerald Bay, and the drive there is always stop-and-go the whole way.  Parking is no treat either, we had to circle around a few times before we got lucky and a spot opened up.  It was definitely worth it though, the hike was great and Teagan loved it.  As an added bonus, she was absolutely wiped out for the rest of the day.  We headed down to the casinos for the evening, and I don’t think she even raised her head when we left.  Doni had a big night at the games, I think she paid for our entire weekend!  (Granted, we weren’t out much but few pints and a tank of gas.  The room was paid for long ago and we brought our own food.)

Sunday we got up early and tried to beat the traffic back down the hill.  Apparently everyone else had the same idea, it didn’t work out so hot.  Oh well, we made it eventually.  We spent the day over at our friend Harper’s house celebrating her 3rd birthday.  It was quite the party;  Cake, ice cream, and nacho cheese, pretty much all the things a good party are made of.

Yup, still hot here.  Better, but still well into the roasting range.  It’s starting to wear on us a little bit, so when we got the chance to escape the heat for the weekend we jumped on it.  A group was heading down to the coast for a little camping trip, and we got the added bonus of seeing an area we hadn’t been to before.  The area was called Duncans Mills, which at a 3 hour drive was a bit further than we usually care to travel.  I’d say it was well worth it though.  The trip got us some fantastic scenery, and it was a good 30 degrees cooler.  As a matter of fact, sleeping in the tent at night was downright chilly, but I’ll take that over being hot any time.  While we were there, we explored a few new wineries, and made the short trip to nearby Bodega Bay to see the ocean.

We got back Saturday evening, pretty well worn out.  Sunday was spent on the couch, but at least it was the back yard couch.  We brought a little cooler weather back with us!  I’ve got a lot of pics to post this week, so I’ll go with those instead of actual content.  Bonus.

It’s still a bit on the warm side here.  By warm, I mean punishingly, brutally hot.  Yeah it’s nice that the humidity runs about 20%, but the sun will still wear you down.  Mostly I miss hanging out on my back patio.  Oh well, in all fairness it is the middle of summer, it’s supposed to be hot.

We didn’t have any big plans this weekend, sort of just hung out and relaxed.  I met up with a buddy Friday afternoon for some post-work-week celebration, then scurried home to watch the Royals drop another game in my moderately comfortable air conditioned living room.  I think I fell asleep about 7:30.  Another wild Friday in the books.

Saturday I got up on the early side to enjoy the cool morning air.  Hey, if I can’t have my evenings on the patio, I make it a morning hangout.  After a few cups of coffee and plenty of morning news on the TV, I was ready to get out and exercise before it heated up too much.  Never happened though.  At least I thought about it, that has to be good for a few calories.  We ended up do nothing all morning, then later in the afternoon met some friends at the newer Sentivo winery up in Fairplay.  At least I think it’s newer…  I might be making that up.  It was a very nice place at any rate, and the 45 minute drive up in elevation bought us about 10 degrees of cooler temperature.  We brought a little picnic with us and spent quite a while enjoying their grounds, I definitely wasn’t in any hurry to get back to the heat.  After that we headed to Placerville for a bit, then on back to the house.

Sunday, mostly just to keep from totally wasting another weekend day, we met up with a friend and her little ‘uns at nearby Lake Natoma for some recreation.  Seemed like a popular option, the parking lot was pretty full.  I took my inflatable kayak and we rented another there at the park, and proceeded to paddle and splash around for a few hours.  After that we headed over to a nearby restaurant and enjoyed a tasty lunch on their patio.  Somewhere between the heat of the day, all the paddling, and the heavy lunch we got knocked out for the rest of the day though.  We limped back home and spent the rest of the evening on the couch.  Again.

Whew we’ve been busy.  I haven’t forgotten about updating my website, I’ve just totally ignored it.  We’ve had two weeks of company, vacation, and fun.  Our friends Chris & Kelly came in on the 15th, and we headed down to the Napa & Sonoma area.  Donette and Kelly participated in the Napa to Sonoma 1/2 marathon, while Chris and I  did…  Other stuff.  We went to some great wineries while we were there of course, and enjoyed some fantastic meals.  That goes for Donette and I at least;  Coming from the food desert we’ve moved to, pretty much anything tastes fantastic.  After that we headed back up the hill to our house and kicked around a few days, then Chris had to go back home.  We traded him in for our friend Mary at the airport, and a “girls vacation” ensued from there.  I tried to avoid those outings for the most part, but I joined in a few trips.  Good times, if a bit warm!  I have to keep reminding myself that it’s even worse in KC, and whereas the heat index in KC is usually 15 degrees above the air temp, here it is generally about 5 degrees lower.  Doesn’t matter that much…  Even if the heat index IS a mere 98, that’s too hot for me.

I can’t remember every detail of the past two weeks, as usual.  I really need to start taking notes.  And as a matter of fact, I think I did take notes over this trip, I just can’t remember what I did with them.  Sigh.  Got a lot of pics though.  There are a ton more too, maybe I’ll throw another set up later in the week.