We live two lives......

 7:09 am - Wednesday - August 30th - Tahoe City - 37° F, humidity 59%, wind 2 mph out of the east by northeast.....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today in Tahoe City with a forecast high of 80° F.  On this date in 2021 TLE and I were celebrating our 50th wedding anniversary at Georgie's Beachside Grill in Newport, OR......↴

....the view this morning...↴

I awoke during the night sometime after midnight, and realizing it was officially our 52nd anniversary, thought of whispering 'Happy Anniversary' to TLE, but she beat me to it.  The longer we are together the more in sync we become.  Later in the day after we arrived in Tahoe City and were having lunch at The Bridgetender she reminded me of the quote from 'The Natural' when Glenn Close was visiting Robert Redford in the hospital.  He was expressing remorse about the mistakes he made early in his life when she said....."We live two lives....the one we learn with, and the one we live after..."....a very pithy, and relevant way of looking at life for those who engage in occasional introspection.  I believe I have inadvertently lived that advice over the years.  Nevertheless, I believe I get ahead of myself once again.

TLE and I were up around 7 am on the day of our 52nd wedding anniversary.  I wrote my blog, then headed outside to wash the Beetle before we began our 3.5 to 4 hour drive to Tahoe City.  By 9:30 am we had packed, and were in the now clean car heading south on US-395 for the first time since we arrived back on April 13th.  The wind shifted overnight, and the smoke from several fires to the north of LPG&RVR had filled the Pitt River Valley.  As we motivated southward the smoke began to clear, and by the time we hit Litchfield the skies were blue, and clear again.

Instead of driving all the way south to Reno on US-395 where we could pick up I-80 we exited on highway 70, which took us to US-89 through Loyalton, then Sierraville, and eventually Truckee where we then merged onto I-80 for a couple of miles before exiting to drive the final 15 miles to Tahoe City along the banks of the Truckee River which is the sole drainage for Lake Tahoe.  We really didn't want to drive through the congestion of Reno, and really enjoy this secondary road path to Lake Tahoe.

We arrived in Tahoe City at the Bridgetender around 1:00 pm, and were seated at a riverside table a few minutes later.  This place, in general, and Lake Tahoe specifically are literally filled with thousands of wonderful memories for me before I met TLE, and for the two of us since then.  We've eaten at the Bridgetender dozens of times over the years. and have camped, and stayed in hotels, and condos at locations all around the lake over our 52 years together.

We decided to order a couple of appetizers to share (chips and salsa, and onion rings) and then two Patti's Bloody Marys (with a stick of bacon for good measure), and settled in to enjoy the afternoon until we could check into our hotel.....

....after lunch we walked around town, and did a little 'junking' at a local thrift store we have frequented many times over the years.  Neither of us found anything without which we could not live.  At any rate, by the time we finished window shopping, and picking up a couple of things from the local Safeway supermarket we were able to check into our room around 3:30 pm.  The Peppertree Inn has 7 stories, and all the rooms face the lake.  We've been trying to get a room on the 7th floor for years, and finally succeeded this time around......

Still a little snow left at Heavenly Valley (South Lake Tahoe)

Christy Hill where we will dine Wednesday evening (they are not open on Tuesdays) to celebrate our 52nd

The top floor has vaulted ceilings, which gives them room to hang the occasional tapestry

My happy place....any place with a view of Lake Tahoe

.....as you know, we worked 3.5 summers (midway through the summer of 2017) at Tahoe Valley Campground, but didn't visit again until last year (2022).  Instead, we traveled to places on our bucket list not yet seen the next few years, but we are so happy we can now visit Tahoe at least once a year again!

Our oldest daughter, Meredith, decided to join us this year, so she drove up from Claremont, CA, where she lives, arriving at the Peppertree Inn around 7:45 pm while we were having dinner at Jake's On the Lake, another of our favorite dining haunts in Tahoe City.....

......our dinner reservations were for 7 pm, and we were able to get an alfresco table.  I ordered their White Chocolate Espresso Martini, and TLE a Greyhound (vodka with grapefruit juice).....

....and for our entrees she had the Mandarin Orange Miso salad........

....and I their Chicken Caesar salad...both were well prepared, and served in a very timely manner....

....while we sat talking about life, and the imminent arrival of our daughter I saw the moon rising over Lake Tahoe.....this one is about 1 day from being a 'Super Moon'.....

....after dinner we both ordered coffee, and sat watching the moon rise ever farther into the evening Tahoe sky.

From Jake's we walked back to Safeway to get some 1/2 and 1/2 for my coffee in the morning, and as we were walking back to the Peppertree Inn Meredith called to say she had arrived and was standing on the sidewalk watching us walk toward her.....

.....we helped her take her luggage up to her room, then moved up to our room on the 7th floor to sit outside enjoying the evening air, and talking about everything under the sun (or, in this case, the Super Moon) as we always do...

.....around 9 pm we decided to walk a block down the street to Truckee Creamery for some ice cream....a great way to end the official day of our anniversary.  We  sat in our room talking with Meredith until almost 10 pm before bidding her adieu for the evening.  My heart is full, and overflowing.

Thanks for stopping by!