Our RV Adventures

The park really got busy today. Although we don’t have any neighbors on either side, we’re pretty much surrounded now. What’s interesting are all the tent campers here in the park. There are groups with 10-15 tents all clustered together in a circle. Since it’s still going down to the low 30’s every night, I hope they’ve got good sleeping bags.

About 1:30 Jan and I headed down to Heavenly Village for an afternoon of fun and frolic.

Well, fun and a boat ride. Well, fun and a boat/car ride.

Heavenly Village is an area that’s still in California, but bumps right up against Nevada and the 4 casinos here. It’s claim to fame is the fact that this is where you catch the gondola ride up to the ski areas on the other side of the mountain.

Our daughter Brandi reminded us that she was out here staying at Heavenly Village on a ski trip a number of years ago.

We thought about riding up the top and looking around, but then found out it’s $38 . . . each! for the round-trip. Nah, ain’t gonna happen.

Heavenly Village is also a very nice shopping / dining area with a couple of high-end hotels thrown in for good measure.

And of course the other thing Heavenly Village is known for is that it’s the starting point for the Tahoe Duck Tours, which is the main reason we’re here this afternoon.

As we walked around, checking out the shops, the first place Jan saw was Sock City. Turns out to be a place that only sells socks. Who’d a thunk it? Well, they also sell knitted gloves and hats, too.

Jan did buy several pairs of very colorful socks that she really liked.

The next thing we came across was a really neat car show there on the grounds.

A 1932 Ford.

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A 1937 Chevy Truck

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And for Nick, this 1970 Mustang Mach I

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A very nice 1932 Chevy.

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A 1965 Austin Healey 3000. I used to have a lot fun shutting these down in my souped-up 1965 Triumph Spitfire. Surprised a lot of guys.

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Here’s a 1979 Corvette. Love that Blower (Supercharger)

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And a beautiful 1947 Chevy Stylemaster.

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About 2:45 we queued up for our Duck Tour. Our Duck was built in 1945 and can travel 55mph on the highway and 8 knots in the water. We’ve taken Duck rides in Philadelphia, Washington D.C, San Francisco, and Seattle. We tried to take one in Boston, but they were sold out the rest of the day.

Our driver was Captain Donnie, a South Lake Tahoe native.

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After we drove around South Lake Tahoe for a while, with our Captain pointing out the best of the local shops and restaurants, then it was time to get wet.

We drove over to the Tahoe Marina and right down the ramp and into the drink.

Lake Tahoe was formed millions of years ago when a now-extinct volcano (Mount Pluto) erupted and blocked off what was then a deep canyon. At over 1600 feet, it is the 2nd deepest lake in North American. Only Crater Lake is deeper.

The lake has been reshaped several times during past ice ages, and in fact, there are several areas where you can find ancient trees, 90 feet tall and 30 feet in diameter, 150 feet below the surface.

As we got out into the lake, the captain pointed the high-end lakeside homes. By ‘high-end’, we’re talking $10 million and up. The ‘poorer’ section is down at the other end. Those only go for about $1 million. Wish I was poor like that.

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This is the Safari Rose. Built in 1959 as a corporate yacht for IBM, its later claim to fame is that it was the very first ship to offer Alaskan cruises, before any of the big cruise lines started sailing up there.

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And this is a very unique boat. In fact it’s the only one in the world.

It’s the Tahoe Flyer, the world’s only fully U.S. Coast Guard Certified Hot Air Balloon Launch and Recovery vessel.

After launching from the boat, the balloon ascends to around 8,000 – 10,000 feet, giving you views all the way over to Yosemite when the weather is clear. And then when you come back down after about an hour aloft, the Tahoe Flyer is waiting right there underneath you.

After about 30 minutes out on the lake we came back ashore and drove around the area some more before finishing up back at Heavenly Village.

By the time we finished up it was after 4:30 so we decided to have dinner at Applebee’s once again since it was only about a block away.

It was almost 6 by the time we got back to the rig, and the park was even busier.

Tomorrow, maybe a movie. We’ll see.

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Thought for the Day:

It would amaze people from the 1960s if you were to say, "In my hand I am holding a device about the size of a deck of cards that has access to the sum total knowledge of all humanity from the beginning of time. I use it to argue with strangers, tell people when and where I am going to the restroom and look at short movies of cute cats."

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I’m sure you’ve all seen the news reports about the bridge collapse up in Washington state. It was hit by an oversize truck and it’s really lucky no one was killed, even though a number of vehicles went in the water.

My friend Nick Russell says that just goes to show why he doesn’t like bridges. I said if he didn’t drive so slow over a bridge then he wouldn’t be on it long enough for it to collapse under him. And if it did collapse under him, think of all the stories he could tell, and all the Gypsy Journal articles he’d get out of it. There’s just no pleasing him.

In checking the location of the bridge, on I-5 between Everett and Bellingham, I was curious if we’d ever crossed it. And, as it turns out, we had. Three times, in fact.

In 2008, on our way to Alaska, we were staying at a nice little Passport America park in Cle Elum, WA. The real reason we were here was to visit Roslyn, WA, the town where one of our favorite shows, Northern Exposure, was filmed.

While we were there we drove over to Bellingham in our truck to pick up four new house batteries for our rig. The Trojans that were in the rig when we bought it were pretty much shot, and I wanted to replace them with Interstate U-2400’s. The nearest store that had four in stock was over in Bellingham, so off we went, crossing that bridge both ways.

Then about a week later we crossed it one more time, in the rig this time, on our way to Alaska. We were entering Canada at Sumas, about 20 miles north of Bellingham.

So the last time I was on the bridge was five years ago, so it’s not my fault, no matter what Nick says.

Our daughter Brandi called this morning with the latest new house update. They did the walkthrough yesterday with closing scheduled for next Thursday. One of the few things not finished yet is that the custom shower doors haven’t come in yet, but soon.

A little later I called Tahoe Duck Tours to get tickets for the 3:00 tour tomorrow afternoon. We’ve taken the Duck Tours all over the country, so this lets us check another one off our list.

Later Jan started up a batch of spaghetti sauce with ground beef and mushrooms in the Crock Pot. It should be ready to eat for supper.

About 2:30 Jan and I headed out for some sightseeing and a few things from Raley’s, a local supermarket. I also wanted to see how much worse the traffic would be over this holiday weekend.

While we were out and about, we drove down by the lake and I came across something I hadn’t seen before. A Dog Water Park.

And it looks like it was being put to good use.

And even as cold as the water was, there were still people out on their Jet-Skis.

Hope they’re wearing a wetsuit.

By the time we finished up at Raley’s. it was about 4:30 so after we got home Jan got started on the garlic bread while I got the spaghetti going. And in this case it was really easy using the Microwave Pasta Boat.

We got it several years ago and it’s great for any type of pasta.

You can use the round, hollow handles to measure your spaghetti. One handle-full is a serving for two. You can cook as much as 8 servings at a time. Then just place your spaghetti in the container, add water to the correct level, and set your microwave for 15 minutes. When the timer goes off, your spaghetti is ready, no fuss, no muss.

The holes in the lid let you drain the pasta quickly, and then you’re ready to go. You can cook any kind of pasta, and even steam-bake potatoes, both plain and sweet.

A really neat item, and only about $12 from Amazon. Check it out.

Thought I’d you a heads up on a new RV show that starts this coming Sunday night. I’m sure you’ve seen the shows where a group goes in and remodels someone’s bathroom, kitchen, backyard, whole house, or even their car. But now we got one for remodeling RV’s. It’s called Rock My RV with Bret Michaels and it comes on Sunday nights at 6pm PDT on the Travel Channel.

Bret Michaels, is known for a number of things: lead singer for the rock band Poison, winner of Celebrity Apprentice, and now for being a avid RV’er. He grew up RVing with his family, and still vacations in one today, plus he’s traveled millions of miles touring for concerts in buses he has designed. And he’s designed travel buses for many of his friends.

The early online reviews of the series seem to only have good things to say about it. So give it a try.

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Thought for the Day:

“If you ever injected truth into politics, you would have no politics.” – Will Rogers

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