vikingsholm

Mike and I like to hike.  We like to hike on a bike or a trike...sorry I got caught up in the rhyming words of that first sentence.  While in Tahoe - yes I'm still talking about Tahoe - we did a lot of hiking.  We also did a lot of burning of our skin by the sun because we were silly enough to think that even though it's not hot temperature-wise, the sun can still indeed be strong.  whoops. our ears have peeled.  twice.

The hike down to Vikingsholm  (a word I can not get enough of, and you really need to say it with gusto almost like you are singing it) is a bit steep.  Like 500 feet straight down steep - but to be fair the park ranger said, "It's not STRAIGHT down."  Clearly, we weren't hiking down an elevator shaft, lady.  duh.

But it is a bit steep and I'm pretty sure the family that was behind us had a runaway stroller incident (never fear, the children weren't in the stroller) thought that the hike was steep. Mike and I on the other hand enjoyed it.  We actually ran back up it...(however this isn't because we are that fit, it was because our checkout time in out hotel was quickly approaching and we wanted to go back and get a shower in before we carried on with the rest of our day. Luckily for us, our quick-like-jack-rabbit scaling abilities got us back up to the top, into the car, down the road and into a shower all in the nick of time.  And we were able to not be smelly tourists for the rest of the day, which was pretty nice because we were going out to dinner with friends later on.  (Pretty sure they appreciated our quick-like-jack-rabbit abilities too.)

Anywho, I've realized I've spent much too long on nonsense and I've told you nothing that we learned while at Vikingsholm:

1. It costs money to go inside Vikingsholm - since we were on a time crunch - we just looked through the windows.  Same effect.
2. If you feed one goose, 12 million will be sitting next to you on your beach towel in a matter of nano seconds.  It's true.  We did not feed them. We witnessed it.
3. Vikingsholm was the summer home of Ms. Lora Josephine Knight.  She and her husband were the prime financial backers to Charles Lindbergh's flight over the Atlantic.  (And you thought you weren't going to learn anything from me today.)

[assessing the climb down]

[fannette island]

[vikingsholm]

 

[one giant tree]

See that little island behind Mike?  That was Ms. Lora's island for afternoon tea.  It was also the home of Captain Dick "Them's my toes" Barter - who was known for showing his self-amputated toes to guests. (I just learned that from Wikipedia...it was too good not to share.)

[probably my favorite picture of the day...who doesn't like to play with the reflection? :) ]

[we started the hike up there]

[please pardon the dark pictures - when you are in a rush to see everything, calibrating the camera accordingly really isn't in the cards.]

tilden take 2...

[all the ducks decided we must have bread in our pockets because they flocked toward us]

[do not feed the goats...seriously]

[a happy goat eating to its little heart's content]

[mike on the trail with his new found hiking stick]

[our hiking sticks waiting at the trail's head for 2 new nice people to use them to fend off any vermits]

So I'm sure I've said once or twice, but Mike and I really think the gem of the East Bay is Tilden Park. It is such an oasis in the midst of suburban living.

A few Saturdays ago, we spent the afternoon hiking. We chose a trail that overlooked the Tilden Golf course, which was great because we were at a much higher elevation so we could enjoy the views of the golf course and a nice nature trail, AND as a bonus, we were still able to hear the golfers yell, "Fore!" One could say it was a nice juxtaposition between city golf course and remote nature preserve. I would say that I'm reading a new book (Heartbreaking work of a staggering genius, this book deserves its own post when I'm finished but the family in the book lives just outside of Tilden Park, so it's a great read for a girl like me.) that uses a lot of big words like juxtaposition and I wanted to use it myself. We saw one snake, luckily it was about 6 inches long and without a rattle, but it still scared the bejesus out of me. Neither one of us like being approached by legless animals, so we kept our hiking sticks close at hand to fend off any critters.

Once we completed the trek - which was all on a service road because the path that we thought about taking back was overgrown with poison oak. Now, I've never experienced poison oak or poison ivy, but I saw leaves of three, so I let them be, as the saying goes.

After the hike, we made our way (by car) to Lake Anza - it's all in the same park, but it's a BIG park. Lake Anza is the first real lake other than the man-made ponds or reservoirs I've seen on the East Bay. It was nice and felt a lot like home to walk around a lake for a change. There's a large green space next to the large free parking area, which = hippie haven. We had a surprise on the way in of the natural lawn mowing area of goats and sheep. We can't quite figure out why a nature preserve that most likely wouldn't mow a steep incline anyways, would need to have goats and sheep maintain the grass at a management length, but this is California and we are having a budget crisis...

weekend wandering...part 2

Saturday morning we decided it would be a great idea to walk around the local reservoir. it was a great idea when sitting on the couch in the air conditioning, that is. but we got out, walked the 2 mile loop in 106 degree temperatures and proceeded to spend the rest of the day drinking 14 gallons of water. On our way to park at the reservoir a LARGE turkey tried to hitch a ride up the hill in our car. 106 degrees is simply too hot for us and the turkeys. today we are going to a movie. much better idea.