Lake Tahoe

Arriving night – went to La Cantina, recommended to us by the South Lake Tahoe Climbing Guide was actually pretty decent. Very fast service and stiff drinks.

Day 1:

Rest Day – we were determined to do the bare minimum, which consisted of eating, sleeping, watching TV, napping, snacking and visiting the hotel pool/sauna.


Day 2:

Climbing at Eagle Falls gorgeous sunny day, approximately 20 degrees Celsius in the alpine, so there was still snow all around us. Gill, Marija, and Tessa’s first crack climb. The girls all found crack climbing to be quite difficult and not like anything they had experienced in Victoria. After I led all the routes the girls followed on top rope.

After climbing we decided to head to a club that was recommended by the hotel concierge, Vex. Vex apparently is the closest thing to a Vegas club in South Lake Tahoe. We walked from our hotel on the California side of the Nevada California state line to the Nevada side and made it to the club. Marija and Tessa were pumped to get out clubbing but I was not quite as pumped on the idea. Everyone brought two pieces of ID and I brought my passport (the only ID I had at the time). We got to the bouncers and Marija decided to jump in line with a bachalorette party that was in the VIP line. Gill and I waited in the casino to see if she got in or not. Unsurprisingly Marija did not get in. She was in tears. It turns out that you need a passport to get in to the club if you are not from the USA. I was the only one with a passport. Gill and I were just as happy to head back to the hotel. Marija went to the other club and tried to get in as well but was turned away for the same reason. We went to bed after an impromptu hotel dance party.

Day 3:

Today we went to Reno, “The Biggest Little City in the World”. Reno is depressing. It seems to be where old gamblers go to die. We read that the best burger in Reno was the “Awful Awful Burger” from the Golden Nugget Casino. We decided to give it a try. The Awful Awful comes with a ½ lb. patty and a full pound of ulta-salty fries. The burger was good, not the best that I had ever had, but good. The diner it was served in was dimly lit and about as depressing looking as you can imagine. In Reno we also went to an antique store and tried on costumes for a while. We also toured the city on the free bus. The University of Nevada, Reno was a very nice looking school despite the depressing surroundings. On the way back we stopped at Starbucks and Gill was told to “head back to Canada, Reno sucks.”

Day 4:

Today I decided, with Gill’s approval, to take her out multi-pitch rock climbing. Multi-pitch rock climbing is a climb where the climb is longer than the length of the rope and you have to belay each other from points along the route, generally on small rock ledges. The route we chose was Knapsack Crack (5.5). Knapsack Crack was a highly rated easy climb in the climbing area known as “Lover’s Leap.” The climb went extremely well despite some light rain. Good quality granite made Gill’s first multi-pitch climb very fun, which was important if I wanted to convince her to do more multi-pitch climbs on this trip. After getting picked up by the girl’s at 6, we headed back into town and had 50% off appies and 3$ Margarita’s at Chevy’s, a Tex Mex restaurant. We then made lasagna for dinner.

Day 5:

Tandem Biking looks good on paper. I will let Gill describe her side of the story here as well because they are a bit different.

Tom:

I had a great time. Tandem bikes are quick and you get to try to get two people to do the stunts that normally only you will do. We borrowed two bikes from Anderson’s bike rental and had a glorious hour and a half bike around Lake Tahoe’s paved bike trails. We explored a local beach and saw some “historical buildings.”

Gill:

Tandem biking was invented by the criminally insane. 2 people and1 bike leads requires serious knowledge of biking etiquette and communication. I was placed on the back of the bike first, and was completely at Tom’s mercy in terms of steering and braking. We then switched so I was driving, but this didn’t work out either because Tom could change the direction of the bike any way he liked by simply shifting his weight due to the large weight difference between us. After my brief turn at the drivers seat, I hopped back onto the back and held on for dear life for the next hour (Jumping off the bike for sweet, sweet ground every time Tom thought we should ride through something that I was sure would make us crash), all the while Tom was shouting “Weee” at the top of his lungs.



Day 6:

3rd Day of climbing (by Gill): today we went to Phantom Spires, everyone’s first spire climb!!! It was very sunny and everyone forgot sunscreen. Tom thought by bringing 3 girls along, sunscreen would automatically be brought to and boy was he wrong. I was the only one not burnt a deep lobster red because I was in the wind, belaying Tom up every spire and therefore completely covered for the day. Tom did the hardest trad climb he had ever done (10.c) called candy land – it was very cool looking with these huge knobs just sticking out of the face of the spire. I finally figured out how to crack climb, mostly because I was doing a route with a huge overhang and really wanted to avoid it. Marija and Tessa suntanned in the nude and received the most damage from the sun.


We then went to Opal, a club in the Blue Moon Casino. Marija and Tessa went earlier than Tom and myself because we were stuck doing laundry, so by the time we arrived at the club (12) they had a serious head start. It was fairly easy to catch up however, because the drinks were only $1!!! After a dance-off with a hippie, we called it a night.

Day 7:

We left for San Francisco at 10:30am. After Gill’s impressive dodge of an approximately human shaped item wrapped in a moving blanket in the center of the Freeway we made it into the city. Driving in San Francisco is the devil. All the streets are one way and every stop sign has a 45-degree hill start to cope with. I finally managed to park the car in valet parking overnight and we headed off for a tour of Alcatraz.

Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary was open from 1933-1963 and housed all the prisoners too bad for the regular prison system. The tour was very informative and Gill and I walked around the island whistling the theme song to “The Rock” starring Nicholas Cage and Sean Connery. Many pictures were taken (as always), thanks Marija!

At night Tessa and Marija hit up a club called Slide, where you take a slide to get into the club. I was not allowed in because I w