Stormy Lake Tahoe

6:58 am - Sunday - Rain, wind and dark as midnight......40 F degrees, 69% humidity, wind 29 mph out of SSW.  The wind was ferocious last night....every time I woke up the coach was rocking from the wind.

Saturday began with wind and rain, ended with wind and rain.....in between we had about 5 hours of partly cloudy skies as the next front moved towards SLT.  I had planned to be 'on call' Saturday, but the day began with sun and partly cloudy skies so I really had no excuse for a second consecutive 'rain day'.  TLE left about 7:50 am to open the office/store at 8, and within 20 minutes I had a call on the two way radio that bears, who apparently are not deterred from their nightly foraging by rain and wind, had pulled garbage out of 4 dumpsters.  I advised her I would be on the job in a few minutes, and proceeded to get dressed for work.

As I drove over to the office/store in the Ranger cart I saw that the mess made by the bears was not too bad, and after 'clocking in' I returned with a picker to pick up the residue of dumpster diving bear style and was finished within 10 minutes.  Next I busied myself with doing a little storm cleanup around the front of the office.  

I spent some time helping our manager, Robert, and Adam, our maintenance manager, dig a 20' ditch, and picking up trash in Section E before TLE called me on the two way radio advising it was time to clock out and get ready to drive up to Tahoe City to have an early dinner with long time friend Don Neff.  I've known Don since 1962 when I was in 7th grade and he in 6th.  He comes to all the school reunions, and does not live far from Lake Tahoe.  He retired a number of years ago when he sold his 'tech' business and took up his avocation......painting.  He comes to Lake Tahoe at least once a year to paint, and has a number of his paintings on display in the James-Harold Gallery in Tahoe City.  At any rate, he was going to be at the gallery painting from Noon to 5 pm Saturday so we decided to drive up to Tahoe City to see him at work, and to have an early dinner.  We left TVC about 2:30 pm and arrived at the gallery around 10 minutes to 4 in spite of the rain and winds we encountered along the way........

......we found Don deep in thought working on a painting entitled, I believe, 'Nocturnal Tahoe'.....

.....I'd recognize this guy anywhere!  While Don worked on his painting TLE and I decided to check out the restaurant, Christy Hill, which we had settled on for dinner.  The restaurant has a 4 star rating on Yelp on 245 reviews, and is located right on the shores of Lake Tahoe.  The menu is pricey, but as I have said often.....I don't mind paying for really good food.  We thought it would be perfect to have dinner with a view of 'stormy Lake Tahoe'.  They were not open until 5 pm.....they are strictly a dinner place......so we called for reservations and headed into downtown Tahoe City to Fanny Bridge for our obligatory 'Fanny Bridge' picture....of course it was windy and rainy, so we opted, at TLE's insistance, to just take an 'usie', as opposed to me walking across the street to get a picture of TLE's derriere whilst she leaned over the bridge railing.....

.....next we stopped off at Lakeside Brews and Spirits to see what craft brews they might have to sample.......

.....TLE chose some sort of pumpkin seasonal, which I also ordered and was pleasantly surprised.....if only I could remember the brewery and name of the offering.....:-).  We bought a 22 ouncer of another craft beer which interested us and were on our way back to the gallery to pick up Don and head a few blocks over to Christy Hill......

Internet photo of the exterior

My picture of stormy Lake Tahoe

Don's 'usie' contribution

.....we had a wonderful two hour dinner full of wonderful food, vino and conversation.....of course it didn't hurt that we had a wonderful, unobstructed view of stormy Lake Tahoe.....Christy Hill is a very intimate restaurant with probably fewer than 20 tables.  The food and service were exceptional, and so was the company!

Of course, the wind and rain continued unabated and that is what we faced as we got into the VW to make the 1+ hour drive back home.  I yielded the driving reigns to TLE for the trip home as I don't see as well at night as I once did......we arrived home just after 8 pm grateful for an uneventful although interesting drive home through wind driven rain.

Thanks for stopping by!