|
Tahoe Family Guy: How to spend your free time in Tahoe |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
Written by Andrew Cristancho/Tahoe World - View Profile
|
|
Tuesday, 07 August 2007 |
|
|
|
|
Those of you that know me personally know that until recently I’ve worked weekends. Now, though with my new Monday through Friday gig here at the paper I enjoy evenings and weekends off with my wife and daughter. This, theoretically at least, allows us to participate in community-based activities that always seemed inaccessible while I was working nights.
Weekends off; wake up early, get some exercise, cook a nice big breakfast and start on a home improvement project before noon. One out of four wasn’t bad last Saturday as the three of us sat around the table for a 10:30 a.m. breakfast.
“What should we do today,” asked my wife.
“Ummm … well that Tour de Fat thing is going on in Truckee,” I said glancing at the clock thinking we had better get a move on if we’re going to get there in time, (we live on the West Shore).
Our daughter stares at her parents probably wondering what her fate will be today. My wife and I verbally poke non-commitedly at each other’s true motivations.
 “Ummm...music at Homewood tonight, could be fun,” I say as I continue to press for good times in the basin.
Then the dreaded but oh-so-common phrase used throughout our mountainous region.
“We need to go shopping and get some supplies,” my wife said eyeballing me with steely eyes, watching for any sign of dissent.
When you live in North Tahoe ‘going shopping and getting supplies’ translates as driving to either Reno or Carson City to get groceries, clothes or home furnishings.
My wife apparently recognizes dissent when she sees it and before I could spread my disdain for shopping trips to my daughter my wife said, “I think there’s a swim center in Minden — we could go there first and hit Trader Joe’s in Carson on the way back.”
The promise of a trip to any kind of pool did not escape my daughter as she smiled from ear to ear. Apparently she doesn’t care about staying in the basin — just having fun — that’s why kids are cool.
I shrugged my shoulders, smiled and as enthusiastically as possible said, “Okay, let’s go.”
We didn’t make it over Kingsbury Grade into Minden until early afternoon. That’s how traveling with the family is — if you don’t make a point to take your time and enjoy the journey as much as the destination you’re in for a rough journey and destination.
Then something occurs to me: By taking our time I’m really enjoying the ride. I’m noticing the Carson Valley's alternately desolate but lush landscape. The Sierra in the background completes a romantic cowboy picture in my brain and I imagine myself on horseback with one of those cool Clint Eastwood overcoats. All of a sudden I want a ranch.
 “Do you know where it is?” my wife asks
I snap out of my high plains drifter dreams and back to the interior of the Subaru. Ahead is a blue green building with strange blue pipes sticking out of it.
“That must be it,” I said. “Those blue things are the water slides.”
That makes my daughter smile. Little does she know she won’t be tall enough to slide on them; sometimes it’s hard being a little kid.
We spend a couple hours at the Carson Valley Swim Center. The place is truly an oasis in the high desert of western Nevada: at least six pools indoor and out with two water slides. There is even a kiddie pool with a big yellow hanging fountain and suspended colored buckets that dump water on the children wading underneath.
Another pleasant surprise for me is that Minden’s pool is attracting a more diverse demography than I expected. I’m also enjoying the heavy metal music that the teenage lifeguard staff has chosen for the afternoon. I forgot how fun the public pool can be. Oh I’ve been to the Truckee pool, but they don’t play Ozzy Osbourne.
By 5:45 p.m. it’s off to Carson City for the event that this trip was about — grocery shopping.
I still don’t understand why so many Tahoe families have to make this economic exodus. I have never done a formal cost analysis of Tahoe grocery stores versus Northern Nevada’s but finding the cereal you want for under $5 per box in Reno and Carson City stores tells our family that it is worth the extra gas.
$325 and 10 bags later we head back up over Spooner Summit. Our skin smells like chlorine and it feels dry and tight as we smile at each other while sharing a basket of organic cherries.
Yeah, the destination was fun but I will always enjoy the journey more.
Only registered users can write comments.
Please login or register. Powered by AkoComment 2.0! |
|
Last Updated ( Tuesday, 07 August 2007 )
|
