Ogii with her new foot detox machine.
A tiny new kitten.
Everyone at Ogii's work wore red, white, and blue.
Billy hard at work.
Everything packed in the new Prius for the 4th of July trip.
We got up at 4am to leave. I drove; Ogii and Billy slept.
After driving the Prius for a few hours, it asks if you want to take a break. I wonder if it's tired?
Lots of sunflowers.
I still have this old cleaning cloth from the San Francisco optometry office.
My old phone holder doesn't fit in the new Prius slots, but it has this little ledge where my phone fits perfectly.
We had just put the FasTrak transponder in the new car.
Which means we can skip the cash lanes and just drive through.
It's a good thing we did because because there's a bit of a line.
Hot air balloons.
At the Sacramento airport.
To pick up Kat and Kendra.
All decked out for the 4th.
A giant suitcase coin well.
Everyone in the car.
The US is the land of freedom, except if you want to express that freedom by shooting fireworks on our independence day.
Pretty hills.
Cars got a bit backed up on the single major highway into Tahoe.
I see the lake.
And we're here.
A couple of guys in some flag onesies.
What's the big holdup here?
Ooh, a parade. I'll happy wait for that.
Everyone was watching it from their cars.
Including the people behind us.
Including us.
The gals watching.
Since we're not going anywhere, I figured I'd get a closer view.
That's for the police? It looks more like the military.
Live music.
Corvettes.
Bikes.
Non-mobile bikes.
Lots of flags.
We got to our hotel. They didn't have our room available yet, but we could still go down to the private beach.
Even though it was private, it was still packed. To the north...
... and to the south.
These guys has a giant flamingo like ours.
On the pier.
A pool.
We drove all the way here to have everyone on their phones.
I don't think it's icy today.
Maybe his aim is bad?
The mountains still have snow. I think at least one resort still has skiing.
Grabbing some burgers.
Their toilet was broken. Easy for me to fix, though.
Midget wrestling, but not this weekend.
A German restaurant.
Back to the beach. There were lots of floats and boats.
And kayaks.
Us on the beach.
The lobby.
Paintings that look almost 3D.
We could get into our room now.
Decent space.
Kitchen.
Patio.
The pull-out couch had the absolute worst mattress I've ever seen, though.
You don't have a key; each room has a keypad you enter a six-digit code for instead.
Wow, they have very fast internet. Maybe we should just stay in the room all weekend and be online.
Nah, back to the beach.
A guy in a little sailboat.
A boat right in front of us.
A dragonfly on our tent rope.
A woman asked if she could sit in front of us. We said sure. Then her five friends showed up. Oh.
Reading with her feet in the water.
Kat napping.
Kendra napping.
A cheap massage place. Although from what I read, that's a very short massage; longer ones are regular prices.
They taped a US flag on their hood, nice.
Wood carving.
Grabbing some groceries and Ogii saw MyMo ice cream.
Ogii cooking dinner.
Only four plates; I guess Billy gets a serving tray as his.
Everyone eating.
There was a big family celebrating the grandma's 95th birthday.
Making s'mores.
Sunset.
There were a lot of flies right at the water's edge. Thankfully they didn't bite.
These women were out posing in the water in their bathing suits. So this guy ran out in a speedo and posed while his friends took pics of him.
A bit of a moon.
Watching Independence Day on my phone.
And now time for fireworks.
They shot them off in the middle of the lake.
And you can see them from all around.
Hearts.
Lots of them.
Even more.
A video of the finale.
Time for some poker.
Red, white, and blue chips.
Kendra cooking breakfast.
Some squirrels chasing each other around a tree.
A bluebird.
The 4th was on a Thursday; on Friday a lot of people had left. Nice, more room for us.
Some ducks on a jetski.
Geese had taken over our area.
Blowing up the kayak.
And the flamingo. Thankfully the cabin had an outdoor power outlet we could use.
Ready for kayaking.
And we're off.
Selfie.
Beautiful view.
The mountains.
The water was very clear, too.
Headed back in.
The geese are still here.
They've moved over to our neighbor's area.
Some drinks in the flamingo.
And a few more.
The geese decided to head off.
As have we.
In the flamingo.
With the kayak on the side.
Billy decided to head out on his own.
Kendra pulling Kat in.
Slowly.
We kept drifting back in, so Billy and I tied the flamingo to the kayak and pulled it out to a buoy.
Kat hanging onto the neck.
The gals.
These mini flamingo drink holders tend to tip over. Gotta keep an eye on them.
Someone else pulling a float out farther with a rowboat.
Kendra doesn't want the drink served on a paddle.
I'll take it.
A dog on a kayak.
Floating back in.
A video of the flamingo ride.
Our neighbors showed up to read and nap.
Billy going swimming.
While Ogii and I go kayaking.
Resting on the kayak.
Another boat with a dog. Although this one is a blow-up; I hope his nails don't puncture it.
Pretty amazing we fit all of this plus five people in a Prius.
A jetski pushing a big float out.
Resting on the beach.
More resting.
And more.
I cooked dinner.
Everyone eating.
In the pool.
By some tall trees.
The sauna.
Ogii and I went to grab some donuts for breakfast.
They had some fun ones.
Ogii cooked, too.
We walked to Heavenly to drop Billy off there. On the way we saw a Tahoe in Tahoe.
A pickup with a big US flag in the back.
Lots of flowers.
A line of classic cars.
A green one.
A red and orange one.
From the front.
A blue one.
Blue and white.
Purple.
Dark purple.
By a father and son.
Fun picture of dogs on a ski lift.
Billy headed up the gondola.
While Ogii and I headed to the casino.
For their morning poker tournament.
Ready to go.
Fast levels.
The dealer dealt me a jack, but it flipped up, so he gave me another card. Which was a six, which I wasn't to happy with until I got another six. And then I flopped a full house and got all of another guy's chips. That worked out well.
Chipping up a bit.
Ogii knocking a lady out.
There were four tables.
After getting it all-in and losing, I was down to one chip. After a bit Ogii and I were both out of the tournament, although Ogii made it to the final table.
Kat and Kendra showed up to play cash.
Good times.
Kat made quad kings. Another guy had a set of sixes, so if he would have hit another six on the river, it would have been a bad beat jackpot, and he and Kat would have won a ton of money from the casino. Unfortunately it didn't happen.
Kendra winning a pot.
Ogii's turn to win.
Back to Heavenly.
For some mini golf.
I had worn a shirt with an eagle head on it to intimidate the other poker players. I don't think it worked.
Ogii rolling some dice on the top of this hole.
My ball bounced in here, but it's not supposed to be in there, and there's no way out.
Then Ogii's ball got caught in this hole.
Kendra cheating by picking up a hazard and moving it out of her way. They really should nail those down.
Using the putter like a pool cue to hit a ball through an underpass.
The final hole.
With the Blues Brothers.
Some live music.
And corn hole.
They beat us.
An artist with some beautiful pictures of the area.
There are a lot of great views around the lake.
A waterfall by the road on the way home.
Us in front of it.
We stopped by a house Kat was renting out in Sacramento. The neighbors had a bunch of chickens.
Unfortunately, the people she was renting the house to had animals with fleas, and even though we were only inside the house for a few minutes, we got fleas all over us, too.
Time to strip naked in the street, pull all of our clothes in plastic bags, tie them closed, and change into different clothes.
Waiting in line to get into the restaurant to watch the Women's World Cup.
There was a news crews filming the giant crowd.
It was completely packed inside.
The women got a seat with a guy who was waiting for some friends who didn't show up.
This woman had a Krieger jersey and and cheered a lot when she went into the game.
A bad foul.
The US scores.
And the crowd goes wild.
And another score.
The US wins.
Watching the awards ceremony.
After dropping off Billy at the airport, we went for lunch.
Out by the river.
Good food.
Some pretty big houses nearby.