Digital Choke Daynotes

 Wednesday, July 6, 2005       mail    link   the story

Well, that was relaxing.

Got back today from a long weekend trip to the cabin up in Strawberry. It's about 20 miles west of Lake Tahoe on Highway 50. The cabin is right on the American River; the river is about 20 feet from the back porch. The river is running higher than usual, there was lots of water rushing down. The constant almost-roar of the river is quite relaxing.

Here's a little picture of the cabin, and a shot of the river looking upstream:

The cabin is not that big, probably about 900 square feet. Just enough room for a small kitchen, a living/dining room, and small bedroom (just big enough for a queen-size bed) downstairs. There is a loft area upstairs that has room for a couple of twin-size beds. Indoor plumbing also with a small bathroom and shower stall.

I think the cabin was built in the 1950's -- based on the date stamped into the propane tank (used for the gas cooking stove/oven).

But it is quite relaxing. Pretty quiet (not counting the constant sound of the river rushing by). Pam and Stacy and I brought books to read, and a bunch of DVD's. There is no cable at the cabin this year. The local cable company wasn't very reliable, and seems to have gone out of business. The locals that stay up in that area use satellite dishes, but we don't spend enough time up there to justify the cost of that.

So -- and this is what amazed Pam -- no Internet access from last Saturday to today. Instead, I read the latest Dale Brown book, a Robin Cook, and an old science fiction book from Greg Bear ("Eon"). And we watched a few DVDs. Some 'chick flicks' for the girls, and a couple of action films for me. We watched "The Last of the Dogmen" (good flick, enjoyed that again), and "Ladder 49" (fireman story with John Travolta; not bad).

Saturday and Sunday were spent just relaxing. Monday we wandered over to Virginia City (NV), which is where there were great silver mines during the last half of the 1800's and into 1900. Lots of touristy-type 'old west' shops.

We watched their 4th of July parade for a bit, and then wandered over to the train depot for a short ride past all of the abandoned silver mines. There are other things to do there (you can go down into a working silver mine), but the holiday crowds were a bit too much, so we left after the train ride. It is an interesting area to visit, though, if you are in the neighborhood. There are some old buildings, and the cemetery has some interesting headstones.

Tuesday was more relaxing around the cabin. Although Pam made a run to Lake Tahoe to get a prescription for antibiotics for the outer ear canal infection that cropped up.

We packed up this morning (not too early, of course) and left by about 11:00am. I drove the truck (F250 diesel), which we had used to bring up a newer dining table and chair set. For the trip home, the truck carried the old (mostly broken) table and trash which I took "to the dump" (insert "Lone Ranger" theme here).

I got home by about 1:30pm, made some lunch, and sat down with the backlog of newspapers. Then off to the doctor to verify my diagnosis, and to get some ear drops to assist in the ear infection fight. Back home (after getting the prescription), and spent some quality time with the computer. Checked the work email (only 188 messages, most from various security lists, so easily plowed through), fixed a couple of problems with wrongly blocked email, and a web filter server that was misbehaving. And, of course, visited the Daynotes Gang to catch up on their activities.

Tonight a bit of TV catch-up -- a couple of "House" reruns I hadn't seen yet, along with a few CSI's.

Don't really have a plan for tomorrow. I'm taking the whole week off from work. I may head up the hill to the family reunion at the Baxter cabin. So not sure if there will be any posts here.