Day 2: Not only did I wake up at the crack of dawn like the freak that I am, but I also felt miserable because my allergies had started to get the best of me. I love the outdoors, I'm just allergic to everything out door, hence I'm more the indoor type. I waited for a few people to get up before starting breakfast, we'd bought so many eggs I'd told everyone to expect eggs at every meal. Today we had scrambled eggs with bacon ends, if you don't know what a bacon end is then you haven't lived! We're talking a slab of bacon, not those puny bacon strips. We all had breakfast and then got to cleaning dishes, taking showers, just general getting ready stuff. I had planned for us to go explore the tunnels of Donner Pass but with the snow wasn't sure we'd have access. So plan be was to go to Donner Park check out the museum take a trail and then be done. We all loaded up into the car and on our way we went.
I could have sworn I brought my phone charger with me, but for the life of me I could not find it anywhere. So I was like, hopefully my battery makes it! Sitting in back was not the best move for me as I get carsick, so I felt super nauseous the whole way there, which isn't far it just feels far when you don't feel well. Leah gave me a piece of gum to help, which it did a little and we listened to an audio book in the back.
As we pulled up the parking lot was full so we had to walk along the side of the road to get to the park. And once inside the nice warm building we had a look around. Unfortunately Governor Nofun had forced them to shut down the museum portion because Covid. Which I know is silly because I went traveled the USA this summer and toured a museum at every stop. It is possible to have museum abide by Covid restrictions. Since that was closed all that was left was the gift shop where I picked up some nice postcards to mail out. At a dollar a piece I thought it was a little excessive but its for a good cause so how could I complain. I didn't take as many pictures here as I normally would have because my phone was dying and I wanted it to last.
While it was a beautiful crisp day for a hike there was snow everywhere. And while some of our party members didn't care and wanted to hike those dangerous snow covered trails, birthday girl did not and I couldn't blame her. We eventually settled to try the easy Winter Trail, as the snow had all be compacted and even removed in some places. We started off at a brisk and beautiful pace, to which shenanigans ensued.
I think we all started off strong and in good spirits, but then we hit our first marker which was the road we should take back and would end our hike. But the boys said that was not where we turn, it was just a fire road and of course I didn't know what I was talking about. This is why you should never let a guy be a navigator, even if he's good at, they cannot handle someone else giving directions. So we continue on, and our short easy walk becomes a long easy walk. We then hit yet another marker and once again I am ready to turn back. But no, the previous discussion comes back round, and they know what they are talking about and that's that so our walk continues once more. And suddenly it's not easy anymore no, it's very difficult, and the boys well, they want to trudge on and it is easy. While the birthday girl and myself argue it is not easy and decide to turn back, my sister was also in the turning back party. So the party split for have trudging on in the snow the other half looking for the trail. Which we found and followed, where me met a very nice man on the road with his adorable dog Dobbie! Dobbie was the best of boys and we sat in the snow for awhile to pet him. The owner assured us we were on the correct path back and so we continued as it got cooler and cooler and really all I wanted was to be out of the snow and warm.
Guess who made it back first? Yeah we did, we warmed up inside the visitor center than found a semi dry bench to sit and wait for our party at. To me it felt like forever, I was so cold from the walk, the sun was beginning to set and I wanted to be anywhere but there. We walked back to the car and headed for downtown so we could grab something to eat before going back to camp. The boys had set their hearts on some pizza place and we had to walk a ways to get to it only to be told it was a 30 min wait. The birthday girl was like, I'm not waiting 30 mins to be seated, to which my sister and I concurred, we suggested splitting the group again and started on our way to find a restaurant, any restaurant that could seat us immediately. Which we did, Truckee Tavern and Grill, they sat us right away at a table that had a fire pit right in the center.
Right across from us their was a treat shop that was looking more and more appealing especially as we waited for our food. Everything at this place was done online, you order your food and drink through and app and they bring it out to you, its a nice set up but not as nice as traditional ordering out. It does make splitting the bill super easy though. I order a Cauliflower Coconut Curry soup and some chicken fingers. I really wanted soup because I was so cold, in spite of the fire pit. My sister go a burger I took a pic of her food as well because it looked so yummy.
The soup was perfect, I lamented afterwards that I should have gotten two bowls of soup and skipped the chicken fingers. I even came home and tried to make it without any success, I will be trying again because it was so good! After dinner we went up to check out the inside of the restaurant, and then made a little side detour to the chocolate shop that had been calling our name.
At the chocolate shop we bought truffles, I got a Hot Chocolate, my sister a London Fog, and the birthday girl a Latte. With all our goodies we went back to the car more than ready to head home. I totally fell asleep on the car ride back. Once home it was jammie time again! We all prepped for bed and my sister picked out the movie, our IT guy helped us set up the TV and soon we were all cuddled up and ready for the flick.
We watched Bedazzled staring Elizabeth Hurley as the Devil and Brendan Fraser as an awkward but lovable fellow who strikes a deal with the Devil to gain the affections of his officemate and crush. It's a wonderful comedy that I thoroughly enjoyed and also I love Brendan Fraser. After that the birthday girl hit the sack and the rest of us played a few more games into the wee hours of the night.
Song Burst: Two or three teams compete to complete lyrics from popular songs of the 50's and 60's unfortunately none of us knew the songs well enough to do well at the game. Which then sparked a conversation about how the game needed to be updated with a 90's 2000's version, and Post Hardcore Scremo version, and an afterdark version complete with bad words and all. The game itself would have been fun if we had been familiar with the music but if you really are strong on the 50's and 60's this would be a good game for you.
Don't Get Stabbed!: This was the last game we played that evening and it was super fun, one person is elected the killer and the rest of the players have to work together to escape his murderous grasp. The first round we killed, but the second round we all got killed. It turned out to be a really fun game I would highly recommend, perfect for being in a cabin in the woods, but also good for any gamenight gathering. It is not like mafia where you have to guess the murderer, you know who the murderer is and are actively trying to escape from him.
By the time we finished up the game we were all so tired it was easy to fall asleep. Make sure to tune in tomorrow for Part 3.
What did I wear? Remember that trip to Reno I took to celebrate my nieces birthday? In my post The Return we hit up Junkee an adorable thrift store where I picked a really cute wool jacket that remined me of like safari or something, I can't remember if I posted pics there or not. It required some alterations that were done just in time for this trip, awesome right?! I also wore my jodhpurs which you will remember from blog post Hey Benny! SCREW YOU! I have some very good pictures posted of them including the sewing pattern so you can make a pair yourself. My sister likes the look so much she requested having a pair made so I'll be working on that soon. And the blouse I wore underneath my jacket is the same one I made in Elementary: Mystery Sewing Box Challenge 12 it's kinda fun that every garment I wore this day has a blog post associated with it. In the evenings I wore these really cute constellation pajama's I made from a plush fleece blanket fabric. I love these jammies so much I think I need at least two more sets. You can find a picture on my Instagram but I'll post one here as well.
Comments