We had a great four days off this past weekend. Thursday Jan 5th Eighmee, Ryan, Sean, Kitt and I loaded up the Pilot and headed up to the Lake Almanor Country Club where we rented a house from Eighmee's brother. We arrived around 6:30, unloaded the car turned on the heaters, and headed back in to town (Chester) for food and supplies. That evening I made Penne pasta with french bread and salad for dinner. There was a few good inches of packed snow on the ground which made for a beautiful view.
Friday morning we slept in and Kitt made country potatoes and fried eggs for breakfast before we suited up threw the sleds and tubes in the Pilot and headed to the driving range which doubles as a sled run in the winter. We had a great couple hours sledding and building ramps out of snow before we headed back and I made soup for everyone to warm up. I believe it was that evening that we watched Jackass Season 1 before Kitt started making breaded chicken for dinner. Eighmee added scalopped potatoes, bread and salad for another great dinner. Again we stayed up late and then crashed.
Saturday, again we slept in until 11:30 or so and I made breakfast. Pancakes, scrambled eggs, sausage and bacon. Around 12:30 or so we suited up again and headed up toward Lassen State Park for some more fun in the snow. The lakehouse sits at about the same elevation as Chester around 4,500 feet or so. We drove the 30 miles or so up to entrance to Lassen which lies at an elevation of about 7,000 feet. There was a TON of snow here and from the looks of the sky around us a lot more on the way. Eighmee's brother had told us it was about a mile hike in to the Sulfer Works. A network of hotsprings. There were a few families sledding near the parking lot, but we didn't bring sleds.
We were mostly focused on seeing the Sulfer Works since last year we didn't weren't nearly prepared when we'd arrived for a hike in the snow. It was an amazing view as we slowly ascended the trail. Not knowing where we were going, we almost gave up about three-quarters the way there and since we'd been passed up by another group that was WAY more prepared with snowshoes, etc. But we eventually saw the plume of smoke and the smell of sulfer and knew we'd made it. The warmth from the springs kept the snow melted away from the road in many areas which was a nice change getting to stand on solid ground. We took several pictures, and got someone from the other group to take a couple group pictures of all of us. It was getting dark and the wind and snow were picking up so we started back. Ryan challenged me to a race back down to the car which I accepted. It's amazing how quickly you can get winded, and how long it takes to catch your breath at that high an altitude. Just a few hundred feet into the race Ryan sunk in and took a spill. He seemed fine and I continued a jog back to the car to get the heater going.
The parking lot was starting to fill with snow as we left as was the road for several miles until we got lower. The snow was coming down pretty hard until we got low enough and the snow turned to rain showers that continued until we got back to the lakehouse. Once we got inside Kitt and Ryan made some tuna sandwiches, I made some split pea soup as we all sat around both dazed and excited from our accomplishment. We all grabbed blankets and slept for several hours.
By this time It'd become aparent that Ryan jacked up his back from all the activity which probably culminated in the fall at Lassen and he was pretty much out of commission for the remainder of the trip.
Eventually we got up and started in with dinner. I'm describing all our meals because it was just amazing how much food we ate this weekend. For this night Kitt and I BBQed a huge tri-tip on the gas grill. Then we made baked potatoes and salad, and Eighmee made corn bread. This was the most bitchin' dinner I'd had in a long time. We played a bit of Uno and hit the sack dreading the coming final day.
Sunday we slept in again. Eighmee had made some crumb cake for breakfast to have with coffee. We started stripping the beds and washing the sheets. Sean did the dishes the whole time we were up there more or less. Bags were packed, and loaded back into the Pilot. Heaters were turned off and doors were locked as the lakehouse began looking less like the lived in shelter we'd loved the past few days and more clean and sterile as it did when we'd arrived. We all had some snacks for lunch and eventually hit the road some time around 4 PM.
The return trip was fairly uneventful. Ryan went to the doctor yesterday and his back it still messed up.
