As we descended into Truckee, the view from my seat was marvelous as we approached the station. When we got off we waited for the bus to Safeway but discovered that the local bus was impacted by traffic from the local street festival. So, I hopped on the bus going the opposite direction and found out that this was the best idea since the station stop was essentially stranded by road closures and there was only one bus on that route anyway.
By the time we got to Safeway, we were stressed from the heat but our moods quickly improved after we took in the air conditioner. We picked up food for and downed a Dr Pepper before getting back on the local bus.
We were really tired from the travel when we got to the park but found our camp site pretty easily. As we set up camp, I fell into a conversation with the neighbors and that really helped. They had a little dog and their two kids were a little older than mine. They offered us dinner which was nice. We got to know each other for a little while. My boys enjoyed playing with them too.
We started winding down at sunset and the boys suddenly decided to get into their tent. I was at the picnic table for an hour while they settled and then was alone for another hour. I went to bed at around 12:30 midnight. I slept pretty well given the circumstances. However, I have a nice down sleeping bag and a good Therma-Rest. I checked the boys a few times.
We slept until eight. The Neighbor boys showed up with cereal and they also offered us bacon. The boys disappeared soon after that and didn’t get back until around 9:30. It turned out that they had made a new friend. We made a bag and said bye to to the campground kids as we were headed to the Donner Boat Launch to paddle over to the Lakewood Neighborhood for brunch.
The piers in the Lakewood Neighborhood are all open to the public. We docked and walked to Lakewood Diner and put our names in. Then I bought us a mule and flip-flops for the boys at the Lakewood Store. When our names were called at the diner, I got the boys pancakes and everybody got extra bacon. I got coffee and the boys got hot cocoa. The view was great.
We bumped into a couple who live in Truckee having brunch because. They recognized the boys’ t-shirts, which had the name of their mother’s office job written on them. He told me who he had worked for there and I recognized the CFO. I texted her about it.
A short while later we said goodbye and walked Moraine Street back to the paddleboat. I noticed that the crossing was actually pretty easy. However, the afternoon winds hadn’t yet started. I took a dip, but it was really hard getting back into the boat.
When we dropped the boat off, we walked in our new flip-flops to the campsite. The boys disappeared while I was making a bag for a short trip to Truckee.
I couldn’t exactly see them, but one of them boys was mystified by Split Rock, so I where they had gone. Once we were assembled and ready to go, we walked to campground office and spent a little bit of time at the museum. After asking a few questions, I was very excited to discover that the park has a hiker biker campsite. It was also nice to learn that there were no restrictions on dispersed camping above the state park.
We ordered a TART Connect. When we got to Central Truckee at the Amtrak station, we walked across the tracks to the clothing store on River Street. I saw a jacket I liked, but it was the wrong color. I wanted pants but it was warm enough to wear shorts. So, I decided not to buy anything.
We went to the pizzeria. The hostess was really nice. The boys were into the Olympics on television. Next to us were two little girls desperately trying to play with their mom’s telephone. They were the same age as my boys. While chatting with them, my boys engaged another table to help with the video game machine. Apparently you have to push the buttons the right way to play Pac-Man.
When we left the pizzeria, there was a little rain and I wasn’t happy about it. I looked at my phone and it seemed like it was going away. The TART Connect brought us back to the campsite. We re-organized and then we went for a walk. We looked at Split Rock. I indulged my boy because he had taken us to the smaller version but later I took them to the actual Split Rock and he was really impressed.
This is an occasional series chronicling my life. This Notebook Analysis series is meant to be contemporaneous piece developed as an agglomeration of my notebook pages. In each of these posts I used my notes to develop my recent thoughts.
No comments:
Post a Comment