The Week Begins with The Week End

Yesterday was a gorgeous day here in NoCal so we took a drive up to Lake Tahoe. We were shamefully unprepared for how freaking cold it was. You'd think they'd have like, snow skiing or something up there to tip us off... A lot of the parks and sights were closed for the season but that didn't stop us from admiring the scenery, taking a few hikes and generally freezing our asses off.

We went to D.L. Bliss State Park and though it was officially closed, we surreptitiously circumvented the "Park Closed" sign and set off in search of the highly-publicized "Balancing Rock".

What a letdown. Granted we used the wrong park entrance so the "easy 1/2 mile walk" took over two hours - UP hill both ways, barefoot, in the snow, with 25 lbs of unhappy kid on our back - but in fairness, the name alone conjured greater images than what we got...

And, it turns out we aren't the only ones trying to fertilize eggs this autumn; October is also the spawning season for the Kokanee Salmon. We hiked around Taylor Creek to see them do the deed. Fish sex. silly. Actually, it was quite insightful. The female salmon (seen below with the green stripes) lays her eggs in the dirt and then AFTER she is done, the male does his business.
So help me, after a certain amount of "planned intercourse", I found myself envious of the salmon's independent contributions to the process. Of course, they die soon after spawning, so maybe limited similarity is a good thing.


The brochure also says that as soon as the Kokanee mature to spawning age, they stop eating... again, there are little to no opportunities to compare myself to the fish:

Friday we had Wendy's for lunch. I only had a single cheeseburger (and fries), but of course, a chocolate frosty. We were lazy at dinner so ordered Papa Johns. Saturday was football day (GO GATORS!) and we ate the leftover pizza for lunch. Then on our way to the grocery store for some "healthy" dinner options, we passed a Pita Pita, advertising gyros. As you know, I was feeling slighted at the last few festivals so couldn't pass up this opportunity for seasoned lamb deliciousness.

Gyro pet-peev: Don't correct my pronunciation. I am not Greek, and living at Phelta Thi frat house over at the Folsom Lake Community College doesn't make you Greek either.

Me to the hairless muscle dude behind the counter: "I'd like a JA-eye-ro, please."

Dude to the grill guy next to him: "One HEEE-row for the lady."

Grr! I wanted so badly to say, "Hey, buddy, didn't you hear me right the first time? I asked for a gyro, not a heeer-ro", but I didnt want that loogie he had to hock up in order to pronounce 'heee-ro' to be added to my pita sandwich free of charge. A general word to the wise: be a little leery of a meal that requires the sound effects of multiple body functions to pronounce, "Give me that Heeer-ro (pa-tooie!) with extra Tza-tza-tzatziki (gesundheit!) sauce.

I digress, (surprise, surprise) my main point was simply that Eva Longoria Parker and I could use the same publicist these days; "I'm not pregnant, I'm just fat."


Photos from our trip:




Katie plays in the snow for the first time. (told you it was cold)

As with everything else, we had to know what the snow tasted like. Just so long as it isn't yellow.