On to Lake Tahoe and a Visit with Heather's Family

We left Mary Ethel and Roger's on Friday and headed for Lake Tahoe. It began to snow almost as soon as we hit the road. We were a tiny bit worried about going over the pass but, although the snow continued to fall sporadically, the highway was fine. Here are a few photos taken out the car window. I was not necessarily all that thrilled to see cold and snowy weather but figured I could handle it for a couple of days. :) We had a very nice room at the Hyatt Resort in Lake Tahoe. The people were super friendly and the service was the best. We decided just to eat dinner on site and I was all excited that the manager on duty was from Philadelphia and the server's assistant was from Asbury Park, New Jersey. He heard us talking with the manager who'd seated us and came up to the table saying, "Hey, Jersey!" Yes, he was a Bruce fan who had worked "right across from the Stone Pony."

Both had recently moved to Tahoe and were adjusting to the new environment but seemed happy to be there. Our waiter was a very nice older guy (probably our age LOL) from Peru. He'd been there 27 years and thought he recognized Rich, though Rich said he'd never been to that hotel before. Funny. We had a pleasant conversation with him about his family and Peruvian cooking.

In the booth behind us, a couple (well, the man, really) started complaining about the shrimp on the seafood buffet. He said it was the worst he'd ever had and he'd eaten shrimp all over the world. On and on he whined to the poor waiter. The funny thing was that Rich was facing the guy and said he'd eaten three plates of shrimp before he started complaining. The waiter went after the manager who had to come and listen to more of the same. The guy sure was a talker. I was eavesdropping at first but it went on for so long that I lost interest and am not sure what the final outcome was. The manager had been offering them some additional items last time I heard. Rich later had a conversation with the manager and they commiserated a bit about dissatisfied customers. What can you do?!

After dinner, we stopped in the casino to spend our budgeted fun money. I usually spend $20 and then I am finished. Rich has more talent and/or luck at gambling. This time, he won $408 on video poker with very little invested. True to his good form, he cashed out immediately and we went smugly back to our room for the night.

On Saturday, we left Lake Tahoe to go to Gardnerville to see Rich's stepdaughter Heather, Dan and kids. They live way up in the hills so Heather sent a neighbor down to meet us and show us the way. Dan was going to come for us but he was in the ER getting 7 stitches in his chin after a skeet shooting device snapped back and cut him pretty badly. Ouch!

Dan came home soon after we arrived at the house and we all went back into town to have lunch at a Chinese place. Above: Dan, Danyell, Heather and Rich.

Dan's daughter, Addie

Cutie pie Danyell

Addie, and Heather's daughter Samantha

Dan and Danyell

Dan's son Aaron

The kids wanted to stop by the park before going home. It was really windy and cold so we did not stay long. The kids were fine but the adults were wimpy.

Sam and Danyell

Dan does chainsaw carvings and sells them--you should see him handle that chainsaw! He wanted to make us a bear to take home with us so we watched him work. I felt kinda bad that he had just had stitches and probably was not feeling the best but he did not let it slow him down a bit.

Heather and Rich look on.

Here's our bear, holding a sign that says "welcome" on one side and "bye" on the other. Kind of a cute play on our name, huh?

More excitement at their house--their cat was having kittens! They thought she had four but there were five when we arrived. So cute! We had to check on them several times.

Aaron keeping the fire stoked

Sammie and Addie

Danyell, who just turned 5. The last time we saw her, she was a baby in Heather's arms, so it's been awhile.

We had a great visit and it was lots of fun to catch up with everyone. Thanks to Facebook, we stay in good touch these days, but a personal visit is always the best!