Tag Archives: spring break 2021

Jun11

A spring adventure – The Lake

Posted on by
Standard

Spring Break, 2021

I don’t recall having a real Spring Break trip last year… If I’m remembering correctly, I did a short Spring Break trip down to Joshua Tree back in 2019, but 2020 didn’t quite lend itself to much traveling…

With that in mind, and looking at how much vacation time I’d accumulated over the last year or so, I realized that I really did need to take some time off to escape from work, from Wilsonville, and from getting stuck in my own head. Thankfully, most travel restrictions on the West Coast have been lifted, and my back’s been feeling a lot better… and I was able to finally make the long trek down to Sacramento to visit my friend Mike and finally meet his girlfriend Michelle!

It was a long drive, and a full week of stepping out of my usual little patch of world. I didn’t really go into it expecting anything specific, but I came out having even more appreciation for my friends, and feeling gloriously rested and recharged. I’m not quite back to my old self yet… but this trip was an amazing change to stretch back into myself, and just… explore.

Tuesday and Wednesday, 04 & 05-May-2021

A big part of our plans for the week was going out to Lake Tahoe – a gorgeous outdoors mecca, that I’d visited previously to rather spectacular disaster when I broke my leg. Interestingly, Michelle’d also broken her knee there too… though she’s jumped back into skiing far more adroitly than I did… you know, since I haven’t skied again since that accident.

This was a chance for me to revisit Tahoe itself, and hopefully make a few new memories of the area. Positive ones, full of happiness and adventure!

(Ed Note: There are a few other adventures that Ben went on in Tahoe that aren’t covered in this post – specifically some hikes and cycling trips. Please see, “A spring adventure – The Rides” and “A spring adventure – The Hikes” for those photo galleries)


Tuesday, 04-May

Tuesday morning saw us get onto the road fairly quickly – Not rushed, of course, but… we were moving at a pretty reasonable time. Soon enough the morning saw us breakfasted, our cars gassed up, and the top down on the Mustang as we cruised down the highway toward the mountains.

The drive was gorgeous – instead of taking the main highway toward Squaw Valley, like Mike and I had done the last time I’d visited, we took a Southern route toward the far South end of Lake Tahoe, where Michelle’s family has a vacation house. This road was gorgeous, and absolutely perfect to drive with the top down and some good music playing… sweeping curves, tall mountains, and just enough sun to make me thankful for the sunscreen that I’d applied before we left Sacramento.

Once we arrived, we lazily got ourselves energized and started ambling around town. Lunch, then a bike ride (Ed Note: See the post titled “The Rides” for more info there) saw us back in action and feeling great. With Michelle having to step inside for a meeting, Mike and I took the chance to launch some kayaks and do a bit of river exploration.

It’s been ages since I’ve been in a rigid kayak.

I… may have forgotten just how nice it is, compared to my little inflatable dinghy. A kayak that doesn’t try to spin like a drunken top every time I paddle? A kayak with a rudder, letting me make fine course adjustments?

Yeah… I enjoyed the heck out of this trip around the lake.



After we finished out our waterborn adventures and beached the Kayaks, we spent a bit of time relaxing around the house before starting out for a bit of sightseeing. There’s a neat little bay near where we were called Emerald Bay that I’d been really excited to see – a painting of it was hanging in the livingroom back in Sacramento, so I was really excited to see the inspiration for the view.

Let me tell you – while the painting was absolutely excellent, it wasn’t quite as sweeping as the real thing.

Lake Tahoe really is beautiful… I’d only ever seen it with its winter coat on, but Mike had been telling me about how amazing it is for years. Finally being able to come back and see what he meant in person was absolutely excellent.


The rest of the evening was relaxation. We picked up a pizza, hung out at the house, did a bit of a whiskey tasting, and finally got the downtime to just be. To sit and talk, catch up, and appreciate the fact that we didn’t have anywhere to go.





Wednesday, 05-May

Wednesday dawned beautifully bright; my room was looking out over the lake, and I definitely spent a bit of time just appreciating the sun sparking off the water after I woke up (and after I put in my contacts, of course). Tahoe really is pretty, and this was yet another excellent morning on a beautifully relaxed vacation.

In counterpoint to the lazy wake-up, we actually got ourselves mobile fairly quick once we were awake – Cleaning up and closing out the house, we got ourselves moving toward Squaw in fairly short order. Unrushed, to an extent, since we did take a quick break to drive out and pick up some breakfast before we finished out the last of the chores.


Once clean and closed, we make our way North, toward Squaw valley itself…

(Ed note: From here, the adventures can be found in two places: The posts titled “The rides” and “The hikes” each have one adventure from Squaw Valley)

    Jun10

    A spring adventure – The Rides

    Posted on by
    Standard

    Spring Break, 2021

    I don’t recall having a real Spring Break trip last year… If I’m remembering correctly, I did a short Spring Break trip down to Joshua Tree back in 2019, but 2020 didn’t quite lend itself to much traveling…

    With that in mind, and looking at how much vacation time I’d accumulated over the last year or so, I realized that I really did need to take some time off to escape from work, from Wilsonville, and from getting stuck in my own head. Thankfully, most travel restrictions on the West Coast have been lifted, and my back’s been feeling a lot better… and I was able to finally make the long trek down to Sacramento to visit my friend Mike and finally meet his girlfriend Michelle!

    It was a long drive, and a full week of stepping out of my usual little patch of world. I didn’t really go into it expecting anything specific, but I came out having even more appreciation for my friends, and feeling gloriously rested and recharged. I’m not quite back to my old self yet… but this trip was an amazing change to stretch back into myself, and just… explore.



    Sunday, 02-May


    I haven’t really been riding my bike that often – I enjoy it, but with the injured back I didn’t want to make it any worse by staying hunched over for long periods. That was quite a while ago though, and it’s been feeling steadily better as I’ve been adding weights to the various lifts at the gym… On top of that, Mike and Michelle are both really into biking around Sacramento, and were pretty emphatic about how beautiful the city is by bike…

    We started with a ride for breakfast.

    Beautiful trees, tons of glorious shade, and a perfectly relaxed pace brought us to the restaurant. Then a slightly longer ride home via the riverway bike trail, enjoying the California sun and the pretty desert ambiance. It… felt really good, actually. Surprisingly good, and with Mike still chomping at the bit to keep riding, I couldn’t say no to a slightly longer afternoon ride.



    We hit the Jedediah Smith Memorial Bike Trail, along the American River. We drove one of our cars out a few miles, hopped on the trail, and headed back into the city for a lovely there and back ride. The trail itself was beautiful – a gracefully winding trail along the American River.

    The best part was just the relaxation, though – nothing against the scenery, but it’d been so long since I’ve just been able to chat with someone while riding, and just let our minds and the conversation wander wherever it felt like. We biked, cruised, chatted, and enjoyed the scene. The sun, the breeze, and the landscape were all on point, flashing by under our tires.

    We cruised for a lot of it… but even that ended up being quite fast, when we stopped to look at how far we’d actually come. I felt good, but… Dang it’s been a while since I’ve biked. My seat was sore, legs were tired…

    We stopped in town for a quite bite to eat for dinner, but honestly I was pretty well bushed by that point. After biking home, all I was capable of was a relaxing evening on the couch, reading and making friends with their cat.

    It was perfect. Absolutely perfect.



    Vital stats:
    Distance biked = 30.82 miles
    Biking duration = about 8 hours



    Tuesday, 04-May


    The drive into Tahoe was gorgeous, and absolutely left me wanting more – maybe not to drive more, but definitely to experience more of the lake and the mountains surrounding it… Ideally some way slightly quicker than walking… Maybe some way that Mike was obsessed with…

    Hmm… I wonder what possible method of movement that could describe…

    Yeah, we jumped on the bikes pretty quickly after getting settled into the house. Not right away, but… within 30min, I’d say. Maybe less.



    We took a clockwise route out from the Keys where we were staying, heading toward the end of the bike path, as far as we could ride before really driving into the harsh hills where the bike path and the road mix. We felt energized, but… maybe not quite energized enough to bike along a 45mph highway at a 10% grade? Yeah, we’re strong, but not quite that strong.

    The ride was gorgeous. It was around 8 miles round trip, maybe a little more, riding through beautiful forests that toed the line between temperate and high desert. Lots of sage, but also lots of interesting ground cover and massive pine cones, dropped from the huge soaring trees.

    We hit the end of the trail, rested a moment, and then headed back toward the house via the various beaches along the lake. We had a rough timeline we wanted to keep, but had easily enough time to take a few scenic detours to stare across the lake and cool our toes in the mountain water.

    Glorious. Just absolutely glorious.




    Wednesday, 05-May


    After hiking and grabbing lunch, we still had some time before we needed to head back toward Sacramento… and driving around Squaw Valley had left me astounded at just how beautiful that valley really was. I needed to see it by the back of a bike; I needed the slow movement of the mountains as we rode, and I needed the chance to stop by the side of the road to take more than a few pictures.

    This was a pretty short ride, for a change… just a quick stretch of the legs before getting back on the road to Sacramento.

    For a short ride though… dang. The views!

    I mean, okay. I’m sure there were a lot of reasons that the 1960 Olympics were held here. The skiing, the space, all of it. Sure, they’re awesome.

    But the views! I can’t imagine the views didn’t weigh into it, and weigh quite heavily…




    Thursday, 06-May


    After coming back from Tahoe, we still had the whole rest of the week to enjoy, relax, and unwind… Mike and Michelle both had work during the day, but… I was steadfastly escaping from that. I mean, sure. I could have logged into my work email and saved some vacation time, but… come on, man. I’m in California! It’s time to explore and relax!

    I biked, I checked out some of the neighborhoods that Mike suggested, and I kept my little tradition going for getting breakfast at that cool English place down the street.

    I don’t quite remember all the details, but you know what? That’s completely okay – this vacation was all about relaxing and experiencing, and I did an excellent job of doing just that. When I biked, I had a vague idea of where I wanted to go… but frankly, I didn’t hold myself too strictly to it.

    If a light was red? Well, I’d take a turn and keep going. Or if I was feeling a bit toasty from the ride? Some shade can always be found, and a chapter or two of my book can get read.

    It was a good day.




    Saturday, 08-May


    Saturday dawned, and it was almost time for me to get back onto the road and on my way home to Oregon. But… Not quite right away, right? The drive was long, but not that long…

    We pulled out the bikes, and went for one last Sacramento ride; stretching my legs and taking a guided tour of a few parts of Sac that I hadn’t gotten to see just yet. Nothing crazy, but exactly the right amount of time for us to enjoy, and burn down the timer until our table was ready for Breakfast.

    Jun9

    A spring adventure – the exploration

    Posted on by
    Standard

    Monday, 03-May-2021

    Spring Break, 2021

    I don’t recall having a real Spring Break trip last year… If I’m remembering correctly, I did a short Spring Break trip down to Joshua Tree back in 2019, but 2020 didn’t quite lend itself to much traveling…

    With that in mind, and looking at how much vacation time I’d accumulated over the last year or so, I realized that I really did need to take some time off to escape from work, from Wilsonville, and from getting stuck in my own head. Thankfully, most travel restrictions on the West Coast have been lifted, and my back’s been feeling a lot better… and I was able to finally make the long trek down to Sacramento to visit my friend Mike and finally meet his girlfriend Michelle!

    It was a long drive, and a full week of stepping out of my usual little patch of world. I didn’t really go into it expecting anything specific, but I came out having even more appreciation for my friends, and feeling gloriously rested and recharged. I’m not quite back to my old self yet… but this trip was an amazing change to stretch back into myself, and just… explore.



    Monday, 03-May

    I don’t know why, but on Monday I got really scared / nervous… I was down in California, visiting friends, and getting to finally stretch myself out and explore a new city again. Something I hadn’t done in years, it seemed, and something that I’ve always hugely enjoyed doing.

    But I was nearly 600 miles from home, and exploring on my own while Mike and Michelle were at work… so alone in a new city, for the first time in longer than I care to think about. It’s invigorating and freeing, glorious and amazing, but the weird thing was that I was freaking out on the inside.

    I was super nervous, kind of scared, and frankly just wanted to hide indoors and watch Youtube or some stupid TV.



    I don’t really get it, but… maybe it was because it had been so long since I’d really gone on a new adventure?

    I remember when I first set out on my big South American adventure, a friend of mine warned me that, every time she traveled, she’d get super homesick a day or two into a trip… and that it’s a perfectly natural thing. You just have to push through it, and accept that it’s a simple psychological reaction that everyone has. One that comes, but one that will pass quickly enough.

    This trip was pretty tame by my standards, so I wasn’t super convinced that I was falling into the homesick category. Looking back through where I’d been and what I’d done, and my memories of my mental state during those, and this doesn’t quite add up. I wonder if this is just one more effect of the pandemic, of the breakup, and of the new world that I’ve found myself navigating…

    Regardless of why I was feeling it though, the solution was the same. I texted a neighbor of mine, asking if they could give me a sanity check on my garden, and then I buckled down and did my best to enjoy this brand new city laid out in front of me.

    I started with a great breakfast at an English-style brunch place called The Fox and Goose, and then headed to the climbing gym in town. By the time I was done bouldering I was feeling a bit better – two hours of climbing almost always helps make things better, I’ve found.

    (Ed Note: Please see Ben’s other post, titled “A spring adventure – The Climbs” for more details on the climbing)


    After the gym, I kept the adventure train rolling – hitting a few shops, and wandering around ’till I found a restaurant that piqued my interest… then just kicking around ’till it was time to head back and hang out!



    Thursday, 06-May

    Today was another adventure day, full of exploration and cycling around town.

    I don’t quite remember any major standouts, to be honest – I had breakfast at Fox and Goose again, since they’d had three different breakfasts that I knew I wanted to try, and I happened to have three mornings free. That was just too fortuitous to pass up, and I made starting my day there a nice little staple to the adventure.

    The rest of the day was spent enjoying myself. I biked around a bit, looking around for anything that caught my eye – I started toward a part of town called Land Park, at Mike’s recommendation, and sort of moved on from there. I settled on exploring a small rock garden before lunch, and then explored around until a BBQ place caught my eye.

    It was a lovely day, full of lovely exploration.



    Friday, 07-May

    My last full day in Sacramento, I kept to my theme and spent the day exploring and relaxing, immersing myself in the freedom to do literally anything I wanted at any time, and the excitement of being in a new place.

    My nerves had mostly gone away at this point, and I was becoming almost comfortable in the day-to-day temporary routine that I’d created for myself. I had brunch at Fox and Good, I read in a park for a while, and then I went back to the climbing gym to get a few bouldering routes in.

    That afternoon, Mike was able to get off work a bit early, so he and I took a nice long bike ride around town – Previously I’d been meandering around a bit aimlessly, so having a tour guide was a nice change of pace. Mike’s been cycling a lot recently, so he kept up a very solid pace, tempered by the narration of the neighborhoods, and other places that they’d looked at renting apartments at. It was lovely, and the weather was absolutely perfect.

    In the evening, Mike and I went to a taco place I’d found on Monday, and then the three of us just relaxed in the living room, chatting and watching TV. Lovely and quiet, calm and happy. It was a very good day.



    Saturday, 08-May

    My last day in Sacramento… last morning, really.

    We biked, and had out last nice breakfast out – this time, at a really nice indoor place that Mike and Michelle recommended. The indoor aspect was quite appreciated since the weather had gotten a bit windier than the previous two days, and the pollen was falling from the trees in thick waves across the streets.

    It was… intense, but not the worst ever. Better than my drive back from Tahoe, at least, so I wasn’t about to complain too loudly.

    We biked around a bit while waiting for our table, and found a rather impressive pile of scooters that had been created at a Bike Rack… from what Mike told me, there was quite a bit of pushback in Sacramento regarding the electric scooters. Not that they existed, but about the requirement that they be left at a bike rack. They’re not locked to it, of course, but just… taking up spaces that bikes could normally use. It wouldn’t have been a problem, except that none of the scooter companies had installed extra bike racks… which leads to most racks being fully taken up by scooters, leaving cyclists a bit in the lunch.

    Unless, of course, some enterprising youths (so I assume, at least) decide to create impromptu street art using the scooters…