Tahoe Highlights and Facts to Amaze and Impress Your Friends

It's early Sunday morning here on the west coast and we've had a fabulous time here in Tahoe.  As I had mentioned in a previous post it's been quite a while since we've been here and we're looking forward to coming back some time but there is a bunch of the world still to be seen.  One thing about Tahoe at this time of the year is that it's very crowded so parking at some places can be a little challenging.  If you come, and I hope you do I would suggest the fall.  The temperatures would be a little chilly but I'm sure there wouldn't be half as many people here.  If skiing is your thing then a visit in the winter would be great as well.  My skiing career which was never much has been over for a number of years.  I may not be the sharpest pencil in the box but I was smart enough to realize it was time to hang the skis up while all the joints were still working.
A couple of highlights and facts;
Sand Harbor Beach-This beach is actually a Nevada State Park located about 18 miles from Tahoe on the east side of the lake.  There are actually 3 nice sandy beaches in the park; main beach, divers cove and boaters beach.  We set up at divers cove which is the smallest of the three beaches.  The water is incredibly clear and there are huge rocks (boulders) on land and in the water.  There is also a very nice amphitheater where they run a Shakespeare Summer Series and have concerts.  If you go in the summer go early, the parking lot fills up quickly.
http://parks.nv.gov/parks/sand-harbor
Echo Lake & Echo Lake Trail-Beth and I have done a lot of hiking in a lot of places around the globe but we agreed this was one of the most interesting and scenic trails that we have ever hiked.  It's actually part of the Pacific Crest Trail which runs from Mexico to Canada.  Since we only had four bottles of water, two peanut butter sandwiches, and one peach we opted not to do the entire trail.
What we did was recommended to us by a Park Service employee and her recommendation was excellent.  We drove to Echo Lake which is about 10 miles Southwest of Tahoe and took a water taxi to the far end of the lake.  The water taxi ride was very scenic and the lake which is quite large is actually about twice as large as it first seems because of a channel at the end of the first part that cuts through to the second section.  We were dropped off at the far end and hiked back to where we started.  It wasn't a long hike, only about three miles in length and the elevation change was minimal but the views were amazing.  There are many options for longer hikes or not taking the water taxi and doing an out and back hike.  There is also wilderness camping further out that a lot of folks were doing although I prefer a bed, toilet and not risking getting eaten by a bear.  Both Sand Harbor and Echo Lake would be high on my list of recommendations if you come to this area.
http://www.tahoeactivities.com/echo-lakes-trail-head
http://www.echochalet.com
If sitting in a smoke filled casino is your thing they have those here as well.  We did about a five minute walk through of Harveys and Harrah's and were glad to be back out in the fresh air.  There was a time in our past when we enjoyed that stuff but like skiing those days are long gone.  Maybe I am getting older and wiser!
OK, now for the quick facts on Lake Tahoe that you can share with friends and family to impress them on your intelligence level.
The Lake is:
22 miles long
12 miles wide
72 miles of shoreline
1,645 feet deep
37 trillion gallons of water (enough to cover all of California with 14 inches of water which could be helpful with the wildfires)
Today it's off to Napa Valley and the wine country.  I'm going to be on the lookout for the Boone's Farm, Ripple and Mogan David (Mad Dog) wineries.  Those were the three official wines of any underaged kid in Mulberry in the 70's.


Divers Cove at Sand Harbor

Sand Harbor Beach

Rock Star!

The Main Beach at Sand Harbor

I'm not sleeping, I'm in deep thought!

Echo Lake Water Taxi



Passing through the connecting channel of Echo Lake

From the Echo Lake Trail

Harold and Gladys on the Trail

Echo Lake looking toward the channel

We found what we were looking for............sorta!

We left Texas Wednesday afternoon after a couple of busy but great days.  I was happy to get a chance to visit with just a few folks at the hospital.  The building is looking great and I know the two grand opening events were excellent thanks to an amazing marketing team.  I appreciated the offers to tour the new hospital but didn't want to disturb all the work that is going on in preparation for the move on August 7. I am looking forward to seeing it when we are back in the area in late November after our big trip.
We flew from Dallas to Sacramento (which has an incredibly nice airport) and drove the two hours to Lake Tahoe getting in just after dark.  The temperature when we arrived in Tahoe was very pleasant even though it was close to 100 in Sacramento.  When we woke up it was amazing!  We took our coffee and tea down to the beach around 6:45 and the temperature was in the low 50's!  Man that was a welcome change from the heat of Florida, Arkansas and Texas.  It did warm up pretty quickly but still nothing compared to where we've been the last few weeks.  So I think we pretty much found what we were looking for in terms of cooler weather.
This is our first visit to Tahoe since 1999.  I can remember it because we were here when the Dallas Stars won their first and so far only Stanley Cup.  We were huge hockey fans back then and it was fun following their rise to the championship.  The area has developed quite a bit since then but it still has some amazing views.
It was a pretty low key day for us today.  I think we were both needing a little break although we did a couple of nice hikes including the Eagle Lake Loop Trail and a short but interesting hike at one of the visitors centers on the west side of the lake.
Every Thursday evening during the summer there is a free concert series called Live at Lakeview at a local park on the lake.  The music tonight was a reggae band from Italy (you can't make that up).  They sounded about like you would think a reggae band from Italy would sound.  We stayed a while and did enjoy the dancing of some very well medicated and colorful characters that seem committed to keeping the hippie movement alive and well in spite of the breakup of the Grateful Dead.
All in all a great first day in Tahoe!  More and longer hiking on tap for Friday but plenty of chilling out time built in as well!

Yes, it was 51 degrees and yes, it felt awesome!

Sunrise on Lake Tahoe

The Idiots Enjoying Hammock Time!

When I checked my e-mail this morning I found out I won 2 Million Euro in a raffle that I didn't enter.  I told Beth about it and she had an e-mail letting her know she had won 2 Million Euro as well!............Can you believe our luck!

And next it's off to........................

A couple of posts back I mentioned that once we left Texas we weren't sure where we were going but that we had flights booked to Boston, Boise, Denver and Phoenix.  We had two goals in mind; cooler temperatures and of course the best deal.  All four had a little of one or the other but not necessarily both so the decision was a tough one but we've decided and tomorrow we're heading for none of them.  Beth as the search and bargain expert idiot (I'm still looking for my expertise) found not at all to my surprise something better than any of the four aforementioned so tomorrow afternoon we're off to South Lake Tahoe and Napa Valley!
We fly to Sacramento and will then be driving to Tahoe for 4 nights and then it's on to Napa for 4 nights.
As always, there will be posts and pictures along the next part of the journey.
Until then, cheers!

Reconnecting

It's Sunday morning and we'll be moving from the north side of Fort Worth about an hour south to Burleson where we are looking forward to spending time with Ben.  Ben's days off are Sunday and Monday so this will allow us more time to visit with him as well as one of our grand dog's, Allie who is about 70 lbs of loving lab that would be perfect if she didn't shed so much.
While we've been staying here at Champions Circle we have enjoyed reconnecting with two couples that we are honored to call friends.  Rob and Pam McNeely from Burleson from our more recent past and Tatum and Margaret Boulware from Elon, North Carolina who were great friends of ours when we first got married and were living in Burlington, North Carolina.
Rob and Pam joined us Friday afternoon for a one night stay.  It was great seeing them and sharing so much time in the pool as well as a few meals like we have done so many times over the years.  It's fair to say that they were our first and best friends throughout our 23 years in Burleson.  We look forward to them visiting us in August when we are back in Florida.  Keep Rob in your prayers.  While working out yesterday morning the TV on his elliptical machine only got MSNBC.  I'm concerned they brainwashed him and suggested that when he got home he do some binge watching of Fox News.  We're going to see them Tuesday night and I'll update you on his state of mind.
Tatum and Margaret were our first and best friends in Burlington, North Carolina who we met shortly after we moved there in the summer of 1982.  Beth and I had been married all of two weeks at that time and while I can't remember specifics as to who was in the Brittany Apartments first I think we both arrived around the same time and that they were newlyweds as well. One of my earliest and favorite memories of Tatum was him walking into our apartment, looking around and then asking "do you guys have a thing against furniture?"  I guess he was really onto something since here it is 34 years later and we don't own a piece of furniture or a house to put it in.
We had some great adventures with Tatum and Margaret in the three years that we lived in North Carolina and stayed in touch for a period of time after we relocated to Florida but hadn't spoken with them in at least 20 years until yesterday.  Keep in mind that Mark Zuckerberg was probably still in diapers at the time we moved from Burlington and Al Gore hadn't invented the internet yet so staying in touch was a little more difficult at that time.  I don't do facebook but through the magic of google I was able to track them down and we had a great visit by phone yesterday and look forward to seeing them sometime soon.  There's a lot of catching up to do!

Bentonville, Arkansas

Just to catch everyone (including myself) up on this past week. We left Sarah, Joey and Sweet Baby James last Monday and spent three nights at Devil's Den State Park which is about an hour north of Fort Smith.  We left there yesterday (Thursday) and drove to Fort Worth/Burleson where we will be until next Wednesday.
Currently we are staying at the Marriott Champions Circle on the north side of Fort Worth right across from the speedway.  They offer some amazingly cheap rates during the summer that often include breakfast making it an even better bargain.  The hotel staff are super friendly, the property is located on a golf course and they have a very nice pool area so it makes a great "staycation" for anyone who lives in the vicinity. We'll be leaving here on Sunday and moving a little south to the Burleson area and are looking forward to spending some time with Ben and catching up with a few folks.  Also, we have a few scheduled doctors appointments, because going to the doctor is what retired people are supposed to do.


http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/dfwmc-dallas-fort-worth-marriott-hotel-and-golf-club-at-champions-circle/


On Tuesday we drove from Devil's Den up to Bentonville which as most of you probably know is where that great institution with everyday low prices Wal-Mart started.  It would be an understatement to say that Wal-Mart has been good for that region.  Bentonville and Rogers which is the adjoining town are really nice.  Beautiful parks, trails, nice neighborhoods, a vibrant looking restaurant scene and even a Wal-Mart or two! 


I'm not a big Wal-Mart fan although spending a little time in a store people watching can be quite entertaining.  I will have to say they appear to be a very philanthropic organization and family which is very apparent in this area.  In addition to the parks and trails that I mentioned there is the Wal-Mart Arkansas Musical Amphitheater (AMP) and also the Wal-Mart Museum which is really quite nice and located in the original 5&10 store that Sam Walton owned and operated.  The crown jewel is the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.  The building itself is amazing, there are outdoor sculpture gardens and a great collection of art that even someone as culturally incompetent as me could enjoy.
If you're in the area I would certainly recommend you take a few hours to visit both museums.  One other great thing, there is a really good ice cream store attached to the Wal-Mart museum and the prices are very cheap!


http://www.walmartmuseum.com


http://crystalbridges.org/






We've got our game plan for next week but that's for another blog.........the idiots will be on the move again!




Where it all started!



Devils Den State Park-The Early Bird Gets The Webs!

On Monday afternoon we left Fort Smith for a short hours drive north to Devils Den State Park.  I’m a few days late posting this particular blog because there is no wifi in the park which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. 

Our cabin is a really nice studio type cabin that was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps back in the 1930’s.  What a novel concept the CCC was in its day, offer employment plus educational opportunities to healthy and capable young men instead of a handout……………interesting!

The park is an outstanding state park with plenty of shaded camp sites, cabins (which thankfully now are air conditioned) and plenty of great hiking trails through some interesting terrain that runs along creek beds, close to waterfalls and by some really interesting sandstone caves and crevices.  If you’re in this neck of the woods and this is your cup of tea I’d highly recommend you checking it out.  They even have a swimming pool for park guests although they have rather silly hours (12:00 Noon-6:00 PM but closed from 2:30-3:30 for a “pool break”).  I never really knew a pool needed a break, I guess you’re never too old to learn something new.

Beth and I are early risers, always have been and continue to be even in retirement.  One of our favorite things to do early is to walk before it gets too hot or too sunny which is really important this week since our timing was impeccable and we’re here during what the weather guys are saying is the “hottest week of the year”.

This morning we were fully caffeinated and had eaten our Cheerios by 7:00 and were hitting the trail.  The temperature was great and we had plenty of shade from the rising sun however there was one little drawback we encountered.  We were clearly the first folks on the trail and did any hikers that followed behind us a great favor by clearing all the spider webs that had been spun overnight and it seemed like there were hundreds of them.

As we were pushing our way through the webs I was reminded of one of my lifelong best friends deathly fear of spiders.  I’ll not share his name but he was a fellow Mulberrian who graduated from Mulberry High School in 1974 and is a fellow alumni of the University of Florida……some of you will figure it out pretty quickly and I think he’s actually been reading this blog or at least he told me he was going to read it.  To him all spiders no matter how small and harmless were man eating creatures with the intent on destroying mankind.  I remember him sharing with me that one morning while brushing his teeth that a tiny spider dropped down in front of him causing him to swallow his toothpaste which led to him puking.  Now why I can remember this trivial nonsense but can’t remember where I parked the car 10 minutes earlier is one of the great mysteries that I frequently ponder but I guess it makes for good storytelling.

As Beth and I talked about all the spider webs we were destroying (mainly me since she volunteered me to walk in front this morning)  we came to the following brilliant philosophical conclusion; the “glass half empty” person would focus on destroying the spider webs that the spiders had worked so hard on while the “glass half full” person would focus on all the bugs lives we were saving from an agonizing and painful death in a spiders web.  I think my friend would be a “glass half full” guy on this one.

 

 

 

Cabin 17 in Devil's Den-A cute and cozy studio

 

She lifted this rock over her head right after I put the camera away

 

Devil's Den Trail

 

Some of the nice stacked rock formations in the creek bed

 

Up River from the Bridge

 

I just couldn't resist this picture.....I would have never figured out what all that stuff in the background was without the sign!

What a journey it's been!

Thirty four years and about 3 hours ago a fantastic journey began when Beth walked down the aisle of First Baptist Church of Mulberry, didn't change her mind at the last minute and said "I do".  As we often do on this day we were replaying the big event and laughing at the simplicity of weddings back then compared to nowadays.  It was a quick afternoon service, Beth had two attendants her sister Cindy and her best friend Lori.  I had my brother, Gerald and one of my best friends Drew who just a little over six months earlier had married Cindy.  After being pronounced "Husband and Wife" by Rev. David Bump it was off to the church social room for cake, punch, nuts and mints.  No sit down dinner required or expected back then!
We weren't "the traveling idiots" back then or at least Nana hadn't publically and proudly proclaimed us as such.  But wow, in my wildest imagination I could have never believed how lucky I was to have such an amazing life partner!
I guess from day one we were destined to one day become the traveling idiots.  We had saved spare change and a few bucks here and there while in college and splurged on a honeymoon to Denver, Yellowstone and Jackson Hole, Wyoming.  This was a little over the top for folks from the dusty little one red light town of Mulberry.
I remember us getting excited when we first spotted some type of deer on the side of the road.  We stopped and took pictures like true tourists, only later as we continued up the road did we realize that over the next week or so we'd probably see about a billion of these critters.
After the honeymoon we loaded up the smallest U-Haul trailer known to man and moved to Burlington, North Carolina.  Beth completed her masters degree at UNC-Greensboro while I taught and coached at Burlington-Cummings High School.  We were ridiculously poor back then.  I mean take the calculator to the grocery store poor and steal the newspaper from the mall door before it opened at noon on Sunday poor.  As poor as we were we still enjoyed adventures and often went to the mountains or coast where we'd usually have to sit through some 90 minute timeshare presentation just to get a hotel at a cost we could afford.  We also took advantage of a short lived discount airline called People's Express which offered cheap flights to New York.  God knows we couldn't have afforded a hotel in New York so we'd take the early flight up and the last flight home.............we were big time travelers!
After three years Beth had graduated, worked a bit and we were ready to move on.  Here's another interesting but little known part of the journey.  Nana was instrumental in my career.  Keep in mind back in the early 90's things were a little different and you looked for jobs in the newspaper (remember when they were relevant?)  Nana found and mailed me an ad from Medical Center Hospital in Punta Gorda which was opening a new Wellness Program.  I was fortunate enough to get a position and we were off to Florida in an ever so slightly larger U-Haul.
Seven years in Florida and the birth of two amazing children, first Ben and then Sarah and we were off to Texas where we really earned the reputation of the "traveling idiots".  DFW airport was close and became our gateway across the country and to all corners of the world.
I'm so fortunate to be married to one of the most "live life to the fullest" people I know.  She has been a rock of support through good days and challenging days and really opened my eyes to so many incredible adventures.  I remember one day saying in passing that Iceland looked interesting and the next thing I knew we were booked to Iceland.  One day I got a call at work and Beth asked me what I thought about going to Hong Kong, I said when and she said there were some great deals in four days.  Thanks to an incredibly understanding boss who was amused by all of this four days later the Tucker family was off to Hong Kong.  Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Thailand, South America, China, Europe and more...........Nana couldn't have been more accurate in naming us.
While travel may not be everyone's cup of tea, the lesson that Beth has taught me so well is that you can go through life or you can live life. Beth has pushed, encouraged and supported me to step out of my comfort zone and I am so blessed and fortunate.
This little blog is intended to document our journey for our amusement as well as the amusement of anyone who wants to read it but I also hope that it will serve as an inspiration for others to find their passion and make dreams a reality and oh by the way, don't wait, the future is not guaranteed!
It's hard to believe that it's been 34 years, time does fly when you're having a great time!