Camp Layman - Family Vacation Edition

Connor and I just got back from a week vacation with my family where we had no internet, phone service, or stress. I often go into great detail with my vacation posts, but so much happened, I think a highlight reel will be much better.

We stayed in one cabin together for the first part of the week, then split to two different cabins later on because Dad decided he didn't want "that much" family time. I think that was inspired by the fact that we were five people to one bathroom.

This was the cabin I stayed in during my childhood.

Much of the week was about sharing my childhood memories with Connor. Dad insisted that we go to the train museum and ride the train. No complaints from us. We got into the car that had an upper viewing area and rode around.

There is an annual boat race that takes place on the nearby river. I hadn't participated before since it had started after I had stopped coming. The idea is to house a raw egg and have it get past the rapids in one piece. Connor and I built the S.S. Shark Tank. The egg survived. We placed third.

Earlier in the week, Connor and Dad did a longer hike around the Lakes Basin area. Mum and I took a shorter route so I could paint. After we all met up and the painting was done, Connor, Mum, and I swam to the little rock you can see in the picture. Or rather, Mum and Connor swam, and I got pulled along while I floated on my back because I was still recovering from my strict diet. The water was quite cold... probably because is was a snow fed lake. Dad stayed on shore, but shouted to us that he was "getting cold" while we were swimming back.

By the end of the week, a hike to the Sierra Buttes Fire Lookout was planned. I was delighted to find that I had enough energy to join in and we made it to the top in good time. I enjoyed finding snow patches on the way up and throwing them at one of our friends. It made the hike go much faster for me. We had lunch at the top, but I chose to save a bag of M&Ms for the car. This was not to be. On the way down we passed some young parents with a child who was clearly out of energy and having a meltdown. I gave my bag away to help them out, but spent the rest of the hike mourning my lack of car M&Ms. 

Going up. The mountain we were summiting is just off picture on the left.

Before leaving town, Yeti insisted on getting an Orange Freeze from the Frostee. Who am I to deny Yeti?

You have to go to the Frosty 10 miles away to get an Orange Chocolate Chip Freeze as opposed to an Orange Freeze. Yeti wanted that during the week too.

Connor and I took a longer route back home so we could see Lake Tahoe. I hadn't seen it in (ahem) decades... and Connor had never seen it. He waded in and pronounced it "not too bad." I was impressed with how close the wildflowers were to shore. 

Per usual, we collected patches and a magnet from places we visited, which included: Donner Pass, the Feather River section of the Western Pacific Railroad, Plumas Eureka State Park which is where gold had been mined, and two patches from Lake Tahoe. One from North Lake Tahoe and one from South Lake Tahoe. I also quite liked the magnet that looked like a geological marker.

Far more things happened on our vacation. There was tubing, rounds of Ping Pong and Shuffle Board, walks to the bridge, star gazing... etc. But rather than record it all, I left my phone in the cabin and took it all in.

Virginia City And Camp Layman: ERT 2014 Day 4 & 5

Day 4 of the Epic Road Trip of 2014 was a big driving day. We left Lone Pine, drove past Mono Lake again, and entered Nevada on our way to Virginia City. Although when we stopped in Carson City, Nevada, for gas, I noticed that one of our brake lights was out. Mum wanted to fix it later, I didn't want a fix it ticket, so I insisted on repairing it immediately. After having a brief disagreement, I guided us to the nearest auto repair store. I'm pretty sure the guy at O'Reilly's had a good laugh. After getting us the correct light, he asked us if he could help us with anything else. I said, "Better Attitudes." After spending 15 minutes in the parking lot, we were back on our way. Virginia City isn't that far outside of Carson City. We'd never been there on a weekend. Boy was it crowded!

We pottered around, got some fudge and ice cream. (The verdict on the fudge: it's better in Solvang, California.) Then headed over to the cemetery. There were some really impressive markers. It's pretty dry in Virginia City, so I'm sure that's why a wooden marker could survive.

Virginia City was a mining town. The Comstock Lode was found in the area and many people became wealthy off of the silver that was discovered. As such, there would have been mining accidents.

We finished up our ice cream and continued on to Camp Layman. I had spent nine consecutive summers there as a child and was excited to revisit. This cabin ended up being our home base for a few days. After the amount of exploring and driving Mum and I had done, it was nice to stay in one spot for a little while. (Bonus, we ran into some friends we hadn't seen in years. I walked up to say hi just as one of them was telling the new owners about this family that used to come every year. That family included me! Talk about coincidences.)

On Day 5, we took it easy. I had read a story about a boy who was attacked for gold dust during the 1800s. He didn't make it, so his friend carved his name and age into a tree. There is a historical landmark at the spot: #212. As it turns out, it was a little hard to find. We followed the vague instructions and eventually stopped at the most likely spot. I suppose it was a little unrealistic to believe that this tree would still exist. It would have been over 160 years old and these forests didn't seem to have trees over 70 years. (I determined this by finding the largest felled tree I could and counting its rings.) However, after wandering around a bit, I found this unassuming marker. Even if we couldn't find the tree, at least we found the right spot.

We pottered around in Quincy for a little bit before going to check out the parking lot by the place we were going to hike the next day. After doing an unplanned short hike around that area for an hour, we headed to the Graeagle Frostee to get burgers and my favorite, an Orange Freeze. Mum and I warmed ourselves in the sun as we enjoyed the great view. We also looked up at the mountain we were going to climb the next day.