Tag Archives: Sierras

It snowed in Truckee again

Four days in Truckee was good for the soul. We sat near the fireplace and watched the snow fall quietly. Yum fed all our food to the neighborhood doggies. I took Yum for a nice long walk in a snowstorm.

Tuesday night was our last night and I wanted a nice dinner. Well, and I wanted to do some gambling.

We drove to Reno and had a fantabulous meal at Louis’ Basque Corner, a stone’s throw from the Silver Legacy. This is the second time we’ve eaten there and both times have been awesome. You see, Yum’s grandfather was full-on Basque. And Yum loves her some good ol’ Basque food, particularly lamb. And this joint in Reno has the best lamb of all the Basque restaurants we’ve been to over the last two years.

After dinner we went to my favorite casino, the Silver Legacy. We played some slots and called it a night.

On the way home it started to snow really bad. They stopped us in Verdi, just after Boomtown and Cabela’s.

“Road’s closed,” the CalTrans worker told us. “It’s a whiteout. Multiple accidents. A semi jack-knifed and cars are piled up. No idea when it will be open.”

Shit. This is bad. We have to leave tomorrow. We have to get out of the Sierras. I have to work on Thursday! I can’t be stuck in Reno, waiting for this storm to pass. We turned around and started driving back to Reno, weighing our options.

We spent the next 2 hours at Boomtown playing craps and more slots. We decided to try one more time before heading back to Reno (to use Yum’s employee discount at the Marriott).

This time we were able to convince the guy at the chain control checkpoint to let us through. We promised that we weren’t trying to get over Donner Summit, we’re just going to Truckee.

There were times when we had to drive under 10 miles an hour, the blizzard was so bad, but we finally made it back to the cabin. And the next morning it was a blue-bird day, sunny and warm(er). The roads were plowed, highway 80 was open, and we drove home to Vacaville easily.

No pics this time, but I do have a short movie of some howlin’ wind.

Fish on

So last year was the first year of my life where I didn’t go fishing at least once. I didn’t even buy my fishing license. Sigh.

Determined to not let this happen again, Yum and I set out yesterday to catch some fish.

Me 'n my Yum

First we drove up highway 80 to Auburn, where we turned onto highway 49 and drove over to Coloma. We parked at the Sutter’s Mill area and took lots of pictures. I mean, we fished a lot. No luck. Not even a bite. So we left.

We drove down to the confluence of the American River near Auburn and fished near the bridges. I caught two huge trout, one of them was 15 inches (we ate both tonight).

Yum didn’t catch any fish, but smiled and laughed and had a blast. It makes me happy to see my Yum in her Teva sandals and cargo pants, taking pictures of pine trees and smiling from ear to ear.

Today we went fishing again, this time to Silver Fork. We drove up highway 50 and took Silver Fork road, just past Kyburz. We parked and camped at the Haytown Posse’s old Memorial Day weekend camping spots along the river. Nobody was up there today. Maybe it’s because the US Forest Service went in and blocked off all the OHV areas–nobody can get off the main road, not unless you have a dirt bike. But I digress.

Me fly fishing in Silver Fork

I did some fly fishing and managed to catch a little 6 incher, which I threw back. Yum was skunked again, but like yesterday didn’t care. She smiled and laughed and took pictures. She got her line snagged in the river more than once and just shrugged it off. All that mattered to her was that we were in the mountains together. That’s all that mattered to me, too.

I sure do like living on the road to fun. Last year this wouldn’t have happened. This year we’re 60-90 minutes away from cold Sierra mountain streams and fishing and pine trees and mountains and fun.

And it just wouldn’t be a teebiss-approved adventure without photos, so here they are!