Lake Tahoe Reflections

                South Lake Tahoe.  Camp Richardson camp/RV grounds.  We pulled in on July 5^th.  The July 4^th crowd was here for the week.  The highway from the “Y” to the campground was bumper-to-bumper.  The campground was packed.  We nestled our 5^th wheel into site 69, and found it to be a pleasant temporary home, in spite of all the others around us.  I actually enjoy watching the kids ride their bikes around, the sound of laughter around a campfire and exchanging pleasantries with the neighbors.  I got a kick out of watching a couple of 12-year-old boys trying to trap a ground squirrel.  They finally managed to get one, but had to let it go after they showed it off to their father.

                It got a little more crowded around 3:00 A.M. Saturday morning.  A huge mama bear and her two cubs decided to join the mass of RVs, trailers and tents.  At first, I thought it was a drunk who had gotten lost on the way back from the restroom.  He was screaming single words, ones I could not make out, at the top of his lungs.  I rolled over in an attempt to ignore him, hoping his wife would find him and get him quiet.  But he kept it up for at least five minutes.  It seemed like he was getting closer to our trailer, so I decided to go see what was happening.  Just as I was about to get out of bed, the trailer moved, just a little.  By the time I was in the living area, more voices were yelling.  I slide the blind up on the rear window and saw on the trailer behind us, the bright security light shining.  On a tree just a couple of feet from that light were two bear cubs on their way toward the top.  A man emerged from a nearby tent and stood at the back of the lighted trailer watching those cubs.  I yelled to him, “Don’t stand there!  The mama bear is just around the corner!”  Flashlights came on from every direction.  Voices yelled warnings and advice.  The occupant of the trailer snapped a picture of the two cubs only a few feet from her door.  Residents of nearby tents fairly flew out of their zippered doors and headed to nearby RVs.  The loud man who had awakened me was in his truck, still yelling at the big bear.  Eventually, the mama retrieved her two charges and led them off into the woods.  In the morning I found fresh tracks next to our trailer.  She must have bumped up against it.

                Today is Sunday.  About 90% of the sites were empty by the time we returned from church.  We enjoyed a few hours of solitude before the show began.  First a Jayco trailer backed into a nearby space.  We heard the familiar spousal exchange,

“I can’t see you!”

 “I’m standing where you told me to!” 

“That’s not where I told you to stand.”

Then a large 5^th wheel pulled in one tree over.  No angry or frustrated exchanges.  Very smooth.

A group of people began arranging themselves in five different sites, including the one the bears visited last night.  We won’t be lonely tonight.

Last evening we went to Illusion Fusion, a so-called “magic” show.  I prefer illusionist.  Alex Ramon was very entertaining, even though I had several of his tricks at least partially figured out.  But he stumped us with one.  He collected gold rings from three different women in the audience, including my lovely wife.  Hers was not a plain wedding band, but a leaf pattern Black Hills Gold ring.  He took the three of them, plopped them in a jar, shook the jar, and took out the three rings linked to each other.  He let each of the women examine the link to verify the rings were really theirs.  

While I’m on the subject of delusion, I have a question about a group here at the lake.  They are called the Keep Tahoe Blue society.  Do they know that water isn’t really blue?

We keep driving by this place called the Red Hut Café.  It’s not red.  It’s not a hut.   I should stop in to see if it is a café.

Every time we come here we make a remark something like, “Wow!  Look at these beautiful houses.  Wouldn’t it be wonderful to own one of them?”  At first blush, it sounds like a great idea for a multimillionaire.  But then I start thinking about the oppressive regulations restricting every kind of activity in this region, and decide I really wouldn’t like to own anything up here.  It could be very depressing for a libertarian-leaning guy like me.  I’d get the blues every time I had to fight for the right to paint the house, cut down a tree or dig a hole.  Maybe that’s what they mean by “Keep Tahoe Blue!”