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Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Yearly camping at Lake Kirkwood

Can't believe another camping expedition with grandgirls Emily and Deirdre has come and gone...It was another memorable time and I'm posting many pictures to give you a good glimpse into our time at Lake Kirkwood in the shadow of the Two Sentinels...If you want to see any picture better just left click on the picture and it will more than fill your computer screen. And if you want another perspective on this camping trip go to France's blog...The Adventures of France & Deirdre . I'm already looking forward to next years camping adventure...

A view of the Two Sentinels overshadowing Lake Kirkwood.

This is our camp set up...



First morning I went down to the lake and could see Flingee on the camp dock helping youngsters fish, as usual.



And then I saw the kids starting the Polar Bear swim...brrrrr!




Here's Emily and Deirdre enjoying breakfast on the rocks around the campsite...





Later that morning we all got in our canoe and headed off towards the Girl Scout camp to watch the water races...





















After lunch the girls went down to the beach and enjoyed the water for themselves...they were lucky to have the company of two youngsters they met last summer who just happened to be there again at the same time...









Senya and Logan's dad is out on the round raft with Logan and Deirdre is floating nearby.










Here's France with Deirdre, Emily and friend Senya...











On Wednesday we took a hike with Senya, Logan and parents to the 'Falls'...we now call them the Lower Falls as we discovered that their parents had discovered some other falls above the traditional Falls.












Snack time after hiking to the falls...Emily, Deirdre and Senya.













Me and my two grandgirls, Emily and Deirdre in front of the Falls.














Caples Creek on the way to the Upper Falls discovered by Senya and Logan's parents.














And here are the Upper Falls they thought were the Falls we all were talking about...















Logan, Emily, Senya and Tim (Dad of Logan and Senya, mother is sitting in front of Logan). We enjoyed snacking some more beside the falls and the kids all had a rock throwing fest.














Senya's parents led the way back over the granite to camp...


















just about there...














That night Senya's parents introduced the girls to a new game called Pirateer...they were fascinated by it so much we are now trying to find the game for ourselves.














































































Then we had our last campfire with our new old friends...after making s'mores the kids enjoyed entertaining us with many songs...




























Next day Flingee (fishing guru from Girl Scout camp) helped Emily and Deirdre learn how to fish and they both actually caught their first fish ever within a few minutes of casting out into the lake. Of course, with Mom Flingee's instructions success was guaranteed!














Yep...a storm was brewing...and boy did it get cold...and hailed, too!





























Here are the girls each with the fish they caught within minutes of each other!

















Mom Flingee is showing the girls how to clean a fish...they weren't very excited about that though! Thanks Flingee for making fishing the highlight of this years camping trip!













It got so cold and windy that we retreated back to camp...the girls got in their play tent and as you can see Deirdre kept her feet outside the tent so she wouldn't get the tent dirty! We told her to take them off but she thought her idea was better!













When Carl and Jenny arrived at camp we decided we had had enough of the wind and cold and went to the Kirkwood Inn for dinner instead of cooking at camp...it was a welcome relief! It was crowded though and while we waited for room at the Inn Deirdre, Emily and Carl played horseshoes outside.










































After filling our bellies we returned to camp and all went to bed...we started off sleeping well but it ended up being the coldest night of all...


















When I woke up the next morning there was frost all over our stuff and here you can see a kayaker on the lake in the middle of the mist rising from the lake.














On Friday we went to Emerald Bay, Lake Tahoe and hiked down 1 mile to see the famous Vikingsholm Castle...here are all the girls (minus me) just before we started hiking.














This is one of the many mini waterfalls on the way down to Vikingsholm...














A scenic view of the island that has a little tea house on it in the middle of Emerald Bay.















We took the tour of the Castle and were happy to actually get the one tour guide who spent the first 14 summers of her life living in the castle visiting the lady who owned and built the place. She was definitely interesting...













Here's France and Deirdre in the courtyard of Vikingsholm...


















We bought a small book the tour lady wrote about Vikingsholm and here she is autographing it for us...














This is the room she actually stayed in those 14 summers...what a lucky young lady she was!













Here I am with my two little girls...Deirdre and Emily.


















This is an old gas pump...literally a pump that was worked by hand to get gas.


















The dining room of the castle...















The livingroom of the castle...













Another view of the livingroom with fireplace and piano...













Our last campfire of the year...we made more s'mores and girls drove us crazy with the campsong Roostasha...














The Stellar Jays were plentiful...



















and so were the Golden Mantled Ground Squirrels.














On the last morning before we packed up and left we all took one last ride in our canoe...Here's Jenny, Emily, Deirdre and Carl getting ready to take off...after I took the picture I gave them the castoff...













Enjoying the lake...














Coming back in to shore...time for me to get my last chance to canoe...













Me and Carl taking one last spin around the lake...















Until next year...



















Goodbye to summer 2009...


Videos of Emily and Deirdre catching their very first trout off the Two Sentinels dock with fishing guru Flingee instructing...They each caught their fish within five minutes of casting in to the lake! Thanks Flingee for making their day!!!!



2 comments:

Unknown said...

Brett is so jealous of this trip. He wants to go next year.

The Adventures of France & Deirdre said...

No cots allowed for you!! Just kidding! The kids are tough, so they can rough it on the ground.....I want my comfort for a week!