Rafing the Gold Country

I found myself back up in Folsom for the second time in three weeks. I bailed out of work around 2:00 and endured serious traffic, but made it to Folsom by 5:30 p.m.

After an evening of pizza and drinks with Mike's roommates Enid and Vonna, Mike and I drove up to Garrett's place in Lotus for a day of rafting on the American River. Mike's friend Doug and his son, AC, joined us, along with two of Doug's friends from Simi Valley.

Garrett and his girlfriend, Whitney, live right on the American River. Their property literally touches the water, right in the heart of the South Fork at Camp Lotus. So we all piled into Garrett's truck and drove up to Chili Bar, the launch point for rafting the South Fork of the American River.

Chili Bar was promoting the "River Rodeo" today, but only a handful of river kayakers showed up for the competition. A few other traditional rafts also raced, but I have no idea who won.

After watching some of the competition while we pumped up Garrett's raft, we shoved off. Garrett normally recommends a few adult beverages in his boat for the trip, but since AC is only 13, Doug asked us to refrain. The trip was fun nonetheless. Although I almost bounced out of the boat during the first rapid dubbed "Meatgrinder," it was pretty much smooth sailing the whole way. The water was running fairly low, so I guess we didn't see anything beyond a Class III rapid, even through the "Troublemaker" rapids.

Eventually we made our way through the historic spot in Coloma where James Marshall discovered gold at Sutter's Mill in 1848, and we arrived at our take-out point at Garrett's house in Lotus. At that point we all cracked some ice cold beers and sat back and relaxed. Most of the gang headed out an hour or two later, but Mike and I stayed with Garrett and Whitney a while longer before hitting several dive bars in the area before finishing up at the Coloma Club.

Back to the future

Another example that the older we get, the more things stay the same...

Sierra Nevada Brewing Company recently announced that they will discontinue "twist-off" bottle caps. They will reinstitute "pry-off" caps that have proven to keep beer fresher, longer.

There's a fine line between friends and revenge

Why is it that when a woman dumps a man she wants to remain friends, but when a man dumps a woman she wants revenge?

The vampire

Mike and I headed out of Folsom around 10:00 and drove up to Auburn via Folsom-Auburn Road. It's amazing how this area has changed and how many killer houses are up here. It's obvious the technology money has seeped far from the Bay Area.

We stopped at a trailhead off of Foresthill road in Auburn and unloaded our mountain bikes. My bike was brand spankin' new and needed to be broken in. This was just the place. The 15 mile ride wasn't too bad, and afterwards we made the rest of our drive up to our Alpine Meadows cabin near Tahoe City. Mike's buddy Garrett met us later in the night at the Bridgetender Tavern. Garret, how was your Philly Cheese Steak?

The next day we decided to ride up Highway 89 to Lake Tahoe and up and over the mountain that creates Alpine Meadows ski area. Thanks to Mike's good instincts, the singletrack trail dumped us out just a few hundred yards from the cabin.

Immediately we jumped in the car and headed over to Sunnyside, a favorite watering hole of mine right on Lake Tahoe. Sunnyside is a sister restaurant to Duke's Canoe Club and Kimo's in Hawaii, so we opted for a round of Duke's famous Mai Tai's. Then another. Then another. Pretty soon we were feeling pretty good outside at our sunny table facing the lake. Just about then an 8-year old girl walked by holding something in her hands. That's when Mike blurted out, "Oh, look at the vampire" and smiled at the girl. I wasn't really sure what he meant and I didn't bother to ask.

We continued drinking. About 30 minutes later Mike admitted his faux pas. Mike thought the girl was wearing some sort of Halloween type fake fangs, but realized the girl was missing her two front teeth, as often happens with 8-year olds when the loose their baby teeth. The missing teeth enhanced her side teeth, giving her the look of having fangs. Apparently the girl didn't appreciate the comment much.

Just about the time we were ordering our fourth round of Mai Tai's, a smoking hot woman approached our table. I was thinking this was our lucky day.

The woman stopped at our table, gave us a quick look over and said, "You know, I'd appreciate it if you guys wouldn't call my daughter a vampire."

We were stunned. Speechless. I looked at Garrett. Garrett looked at Mike. I can't recall who said what, but we couldn't create much of a comeback. Mike willingly apologized, saying that he thought the girl was wearing some toy fangs and he was trying to humor her. Her mother accepted the apology, but also mentioned that all the kids at her daughter's school also call her the "the vampire."

Aren't kids ruthless?