July 4th at the Lodge by John Griffin
photos by Ed     photos by Bill and Mary Jane

Fourth of July at the Lodge with contributions by Bill Hoffman, Mary Jane Early and Wivine Klitgord

It was one of those perfect weekends at Tahoe, with warm days, cool nights and the best group of Après people and guests imaginable. Those not already there, like Greg Smith, Tina Groux and Joe Poppo, arrived all Thursday afternoon and into the evening and the party was underway. Most of the group made it to the King’s Beach July 3rd, fire works display, which started about 9:15. The beach was really crowded as was the parking lot and the rest of town. It’s really nice to have a place that’s walking distance from all the action.

On the morning of Friday the fourth, people were up early with a couple of notable exceptions, who will remain nameless. After breakfast, people headed off in various directions. Ray Muglli and Ed Martin lead two hikes back to back. Ray’s hike was to Martis Peak with Ed, Mary Martin, Pat Lowther, Esther Ludina, Bonnie Paterson, Tom Van Bogart, Wivine K and John Griffin. What a view. You could see it all, from the Heavenly valley at the South end of the Lake to Martis valley and beyond. You could even see Mt. Lassen, at 135 miles. Yes, it was a clear day. At one point a glider silently flew overhead. After that the same group went on the State line fire trail hike, had some lunch followed by a welcome interlude at the Brewpub next to Calneva. Finally, they made a visit to the "Not So Secret Anymore Beach", alias "Speedboat Beach", at Brockway where we serendipitously ran into Joe and Tina. Some played in the water and on the rocks while others went to get the BBQ Started. Greg Smith and Denise Dutil went somewhere else, which remains a mystery. Hmmm.

Meanwhile the Four wheeling contingent went out for a warm up run for the next day. The Friday drivers were Ulrich Krueger, Bill Crawley, Steve Haug, Bill Hoffman with passengers Gail & Chance Rubinaker, Mary Jane Early and Ken Fuller. Richard Lyness, one of the four wheelers opted for fishing on Friday. The run was essentially from Truckee to Tahoe City. Navigational mishaps took the expedition through the flagstone-paved backyard of a very nice house out in the middle of nowhere. They all waved going through, and again on the return back to the righteous path. Back on the right route, along the way they saw a rusted out hulk of a 20's era car. The car, which was riddled with bullets, could've been right out of Bonnie & Clyde. Speaking of Bonnie and Clyde, where are Greg and Denise? Next, the group headed to Mt. Watson for lunch. After lunch and a half hours search for Chance who was asleep in one of the vehicles, they went to Watson Lake and lounged in the sun awhile, before heading down the mountain, for Tahoe City and then home. Back at the Lodge parking lot the Jeeps, Blazers, Durango’s, Kias, Suzukis and Foresters, all with dirt an inch thick. Too much fun.

That evening we had our 4th of July BBQ with chicken and tri-tip, corn on the cob, potato salad, beer, soda, pie, ice cream and watermelon. I would like to mention Mary Martin’s exceptional Bourbon Marinade and great grillwork by Ray Muggli. The party went on way into the night with lots of laughs and story telling of the day’s activities. Some like Greg, Denise, Mike Callinan, Ed Martin, and Esther went to the beach for a second night of fireworks. At least we think that is where Greg and Denise were.

On Saturday mourning a slightly less vigorous crowd went out to do it again. Some went biking, some more four wheeling and some sight seeing. Gail Rubinacher, Mary Jane Early, and Esther toured the lake on Gail’s Jag, which took about four hours. Esther had never seen the whole lake, which provided the perfect reason for the adventure. The bike group, consisting of Ed, Mary, Ray, Cheryl Lawson, Bonnie Patterson, Greg, Denise, (We know where they are now) Tom, Joe, Tina, Wivine, and John made an eventful run from Squaw to Sunnyside and back. Ray had picked out a really good picnic spot at Sunnyside where the group had lunch and libation watching the sunbathers and boaters. On the way back to Squaw, Mary had a flat tire. Having no pump, she apologized to Ed or anything bad she had ever said about him. Ed, Greg and John changed the tube much to the amusement of the on looking cyclists who all wondered, "How many engineers does it take to change a flat?". Mary, instead of a pump, had a CO2 tire inflator, which she was just dieing to try. When she did, it didn’t inflate the tire and the rush of CO2 knocked her over. Mary had a good laugh about it and Ed’s mini pump finished the job. Meanwhile, where are Joe and Denise? On the way to Squaw, we stopped at River Ranch, which was too crowded. No surprise. Cheryl met up with Allen Norton, who was nursing a sore knee, while the rest went off to finish the ride. Back at Squaw Valley, the group took time for a tour of the new village, see a gun fight, listen to some blue grass and have a coffee. It was a great

Now lets see what the Four-wheel guys are up to. The Saturday drivers were the same as Friday, and joined by Richard Lyness and Michael Seltzer (who came up from Sacramento to join them) and passengers, Chance & Ken.

The group took a back route that paralleled Henness Pass Rd (a kind of back road of a back road) that took them through the some woodland and pastures, and around Jackson Meadow Reservoir, followed by a stop at Tollhouse Lake for a cold one and a mosquito repellent chaser. Then, while crossing a snowfield, they made a brief detour to drive some deep puddles and muck. Why? Because they could!

They lunched on the Shore of Meadow Lake at 7400 Ft., and watched a fisherman land a fish. There was little sign of the town of Summit City that had once stood there and was home to 4,000. After lunch they headed down the mountain on a road with many unmarked forks, and got lost for about an hour and a half. Finally after getting it right at the Bowman Lake dam, they decided to shorten the journey, and returned via a shorter route on Highway 20 and back to the Lodge. On a day like this, it would be better to leave the Escalade at home. Back at the Lodge, the mud on the vehicles was now two inches thick.

Saturday night was Italian with food and more food followed party and more party. Chance was very entertaining by demonstrating how to make the stairs in the cabin into a "slip and slide" using a sleeping bag. It must be nice to be fourteen and have rubber bones. Chance, who, as you may have guessed is Gail’ Rubinaker’s son, was a lot of fun and we were all glad he came on the weekend.

Sunday, morning brought the specter of returning to reality. To help cope, we had a very nice brunch thanks to Ed, Steve and Denise. From the feedback, people had a pretty good time and I think may talk about it for a good while. Thanks to all who came for making a memorable weekend.