JohnT in Reno, Carson City, Sac-Town. Plus: Ask the bored guy.

[Japher]

Sutters Mill is somewhat on your way from Tahoe. My grandpa use to have a cabin in Coloma nearby...

You did pick a nice time to come out here. I like it a lot better when the hills are golden yellow instead of green.

The drive from Tahoe to Napa is rather long, but is really nice. Lots of great pit stops and nice country. I drove through Napa a couple of weeks ago on my way to Wilits (the heart of Mendocino County) and had to stop a couple times just to take in the views...

Hope you have a great time...

Are you going to gamble?

[JohnT]

Naw, we're not the types to throw money away. Well, except on video games, movies, etc.

And we'll be happy seeing the mountains from the highway. I'm not too sure if we'll make it to Napa as it isn't too high on my list for this trip - perhaps for the upcoming San Francisco trip (completely unplanned, but we will do it within the next several years).

[Dinner]

Originally posted by Japher
Sutters Mill is somewhat on your way from Tahoe. My grandpa use to have a cabin in Coloma nearby...

You did pick a nice time to come out here. I like it a lot better when the hills are golden yellow instead of green.

The drive from Tahoe to Napa is rather long, but is really nice. Lots of great pit stops and nice country. I drove through Napa a couple of weeks ago on my way to Wilits (the heart of Mendocino County) and had to stop a couple times just to take in the views...

Hope you have a great time...

Are you going to gamble?

I was at Sutter's Fort last weekend when my parents came up to Sacramento for a visit. It's nice and interesting but kind of on the smallish side (as you'd expect for a fort built in the 1830's) and not worth traveling to see. If you happen to be in Sac then stop in see it but don't go out of your way.

Napa is cool and well worth a trip but I don't know what you two would do with your daughter while you get liquored up..er... I mean taste the wine.

Japher: BTW I go to Willits all the time (I'll be there next week again) because one of my employer's big contracts is out that way. It's almost scary how we end up going to so many of the same places.

[Japher]

Oerdin: Sutter's Fort is kewl too, I was, however, talking about the mill where the gold was actually discovered... Sorry, if you knew that, it just seems that a lot of people don't know about that place, they seem to think it was found at the fort.

and, yeah, we do end up at a lot of the same places. Thing is I was raised in Fresno, went to school at Davis, and now live here in San Jo... Thus, all my day or weekend trips take me within a certain radius of those places. Willits is a nice little town, my new brother-in-law is from there, went up there for a wedding reception... A cool event they have there is the Reggae on the River (hippy festivel), really fun... Also, a lot of good hiking around there, just be sure to stay on the trail less you find someones pot fields and get shot

[DRoseDARs]

*Bump* How did I miss this thread?
(Note: I already knew about the trip...but I still missed this thread... )

Stefu - Are you going to shoot a man just to watch him die?

I already have tentative plans to hook up with DRoseDARs - and from what he said in another thread, he could probably use the calories from beer and wings.

Jon Miller - what does your wife think of this?

Uh, JohnT...should I be worried? Your wife isn't the Kill-my-husband's-online-aquaintances-when-he-isn't-looking-so-I-can-claim-"I didn't do it, nobody saw me do it, you can't prove a thing!" type, is she?

[JohnT]

Uh, JohnT...should I be worried? Your wife isn't the Kill-my-husband's-online-aquaintances-when-he-isn't-looking-so-I-can-claim-"I didn't do it, nobody saw me do it, you can't prove a thing!" type, is she?

Curses! Foiled Again!!!

Naw, my wife's an OK sort. We've met Che and Bunnygrrl and they can vouch that, once her medications are settled, Laura doesn't even lunge for your throat anymore.

[DRoseDARs]

*DRoseDARs looks for a scarf and tries to think up a believable explaination...*

Does "High temperatures make my body's homeostasis all screwy so I get the chills above 90 degrees" sound believable...?

[Dinner]

You could just tell them you live in Reno and are always prepared for the sky season.

[JohnT]

Bump.

We're on our way. 7 hours of flying with a 21 month old! WHEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!

long stretches of broken by intermittant periods of

[DRoseDARs]

*BUMP*



Just met John, his wife and daughter (forgive me John, it takes a little while for names to commit to my memory) at Marie Calendar's for lunch (well, first meal of the day for each of us...so breakfast ). The little tike is absolutely ADORABLE! She fussed a little bit, but she was cute even then.

They had other plans for today, but the 4 of us (3, if they can off-load the toddler onto John's uncle) are going to meet again later this week, Thursday or Friday, and do something in town.



Wish I had a "bahb..."
(Her word for balloon. She got a purple one AND a blue one, the lucky little scamp. )

[JohnT]

"My Trip", by JohnT

You know, I gotta admit I don't even know how to tell you about this trip... We came back glad that we went, but not because we enjoyed ourselves.

But many things were enjoyable, however: it is not like there was nothing to do and we didn't have fun on our trip. There were just so many small things (and one large thing) that detracted from the quality of our trip, making it so that Laura actually joked about kissing the ground when we landed in Knoxville - and she can't stand this place!

First, the fun:

Truly enjoyed putting another name on the list of Apolytoners I've met. It was even better, because, as Laura said, DRose is "our kind of people." Pleasant, well-spoken, lots of mutual interests, and serious-minded, we had a very enjoyable lunch together. We never got together again because of other obligations... but, also, because by Friday I was just sick and goddamned tired of driving that underpowered 5-speed manual Suzuki Gran Vetari (or something like that) over that goddamned mountain just to get to a city, any city, with a freakin' bookstore!

A-hem... we were talking about the fun stuff, weren't we?

Were it not for a couple of Sophie moments, the meeting with DRose would've been the highlight of the trip. Finally, someone to talk to that we could relate.

My aunt Peggy was a real gem, doing all she could to make us feel at home and welcome, especially in preparations for the baby (crib, carseat, highchair). She was also pleasant to talk to, especially when you could get her by herself. I should also commend her for loaning us her car for the entire week - my aunt and uncle paid for the housing and transportation for the entire 9 days, which is the only way we could've made this trip. They have a lovely home as well.

I met one of my clients while on the trip and received new orders for a couple more assignments, which was pretty damned sweet. We (the family, not the client) also went to Olympic Valley, and got on a cable car going up to the ski slope. For $17 a person, though! ( )

We ate well.

But...

Where my aunt and uncle lived was just inconvenient as hell for a number of reasons. It wasn't at all baby-proofed*, it was 40 miles away (one way, up and down a mountain (US 431 from Reno to Incline Village, Lake Tahoe) from anybody and anything that we wanted to do, and the town that we stayed in had nothing to do in it except take Sophie to the park. Laura and I are NOT, repeat, NOT outdoor people, so the things that Tahoe had to offer (and there was a lot!), we didn't want. At least we learned that we prefer vacationing in large cities.

And I don't even know how to go into my uncle, but on the flights home, something Leo Tolstoy wrote kept repeating in my mind: All happy families are alike, but unhappy families are unhappy in their own way. In many regards, my uncle is a very successful person, a Horatio Alger story of a person who built themselves out of nothing to be so wealthy that they can retire at the age of 35 (40 at the latest), spending the rest of their days travelling the world ala Will and Ariel Durant. But in some ways, especially in terms of human relations and the quality of "how you come across to others," my uncle is the poorest man I've ever seen. This is neither the time nor the forum to discuss this, as, unlike my parents, my uncle is an honest and giving man who has never done me wrong (DRose got an update on that situation, but I will wait a while before I post it - it might not be necessary and I don't want to tip my hand). But his manner made me make some pretty large changes to my plans, plus re-inforced some decisions that we have already (mostly) made - ala whether to move from Knoxville to Reno (A decisive NO!)

We're back, and we're damned glad we're back. Next trip: Atlanta, GA for Dragon*Con on the weekend of August 29th. We'll be staying at one of the hotels, so I hope to see Imran, Q Cubed, Victor Galis, and other Atlanta Apolytites that weekend!

*Letter openers, long knives, the shredder, electical plugs, staples and pins in the **** carpet(!), and an entire array of like objects were all available to Sophie. It was like her dream come true - all the stuff Mommy and Daddy won't let me have is right here for the taking!

[JohnT]

Sophie moments:

She got the most adorable coonskin cap. Pictures upcoming.

We went to the Reno Philharmonic Pops concerts (#1 memory of the vacation, btw), and Sophie was so entranced and overjoyed by the music that she started dancing in her chair and danced for well over 1 hour. We must of had 20-30 people come up to us and exclaim about how adorable Sophie was - one woman said "Awesome! Awesome! Awesome!". It was pretty freakin' awesome, I gotta tell you.

Btw, did I mention that Reno is just hot as hell? My uncle was seriously trying to tell us that Reno has "on average, has about 3 days a year where the temperature gets above 90." It was listening to crap like this, expressed in his "come on, goddamn it, challenge me" voice that put the damper on the trip.

[DRoseDARs]

"...on average, has about 3 days a year where the temperature gets above 90..."


If he were talking about Incline Village, or Tahoe in general, I'd be inclined to believe it as Lake Tahoe is a few thousand feet higher in elevation than Reno. My house is something like 4500 feet above sea level and around the Truckee River is something like 3000 feet. Summers are almost always hot. Hell, we just about skipped Spring all together this year.

Could be worse: could be Las Vegas. The mercury strains to get above 100 here in Reno, so 90's are normal and common. So are wildfires.

[Dinner]

How come you never PMed me about the meeting? I guess I'll have to wait for the next Tahoe vacation.

[mrmitchell]

John, I have a question for the bored guy.

Is there a God?