2023 Lake Almanor - Day #1

From 1988 to 2009, a group of families spent a week every summer at the Dorado Inn at Lake Almanor. The venue switched to the Tsasdi Resort at Lake Shasta for 2010 and 2011 and then back to the Dorado Inn from 2012 to 2014. The annual event fell apart as kids were in college and priorities changed. The week was an important part of my life for a long time.

Last fall, Drew took it upon himself to see if we could get the band back together for a year. I was surprised when the Tomasins, Snipes, Nooters and Wallens all committed and put down a deposit. Something happened over the last couple of months and the Wallens backed out; I need to sit down with Wallen and understand what happened.

I planned my retirement to fall just as we were taking off for the trip. It is going to be special to have Jack, Drew and Carmen, Morgan, Lee and Daniel with us for the week.

Sharon and I spent the morning packing and loading the car. We rolled from Carmichael about 1245 pm. Going 80 to 5 to 99 to 32 to 36 with a stop for gas in Gridley, we were at the Dorado Inn about 420 pm.

We are staying in cabin 4 this year. Over the next hour, everyone showed up. It is going to be a large group. There are eight Heringers: Sharon and I; Drew and Carmen; Morgan, Lee and Daniel; and, Jack. Jack's roommate Jason is also with us for the week. The Nooters are in Cabin 3. Drew and Carmen are in Cabin 1, while Morgan and Daniel are in Cabin 2.

The Tomasins and Snipes are in the large cabin south of the main resort. There are nine Tomasins in Cabin 5, including: John and Julie; David and Lo, Chris and Cassie; Mikey; and, Tomasin's nephew Nick and his girlfriend Blakely. The Snipes in Cabin 6 include: Kurt and Joy; and, Keith and his girlfriend Lizette.

I tried to rally the group to go for pizza in Westwood, but the concensus was just to order pizza and pick them up. Splitting into two groups, Drew, Carmen, Jack and Jason ran into Chester and picked up pizza for the main cabins from the Pizza Factory.

Jack and I finished the night playing cribbage. He beat me handily...

2014 Lake Almanor Day 8

Jack and I were up early packing and cleaning up the cabin. We had to be out of the Chavez Cabin by 11:00 am. Hunter and Yuli got up almost 2 1/2 hours after we did…

Once we were done, we headed to Chabrier's house and helped button things up, including putting the cover on the patio boat. Afterwards, I drove Hunter's truck and trailer around to the boat launch on the west side of the dam to take his boat out of the water. I am still amazed that Hunter got his boat back in the water so quickly after it sunk on Wednesday night.

Hunter and Yuli took me back to Chabrier's house to pick up my car. Leaving Chabriers just before noon, we were home just before 3:30 pm. This included a medium length stop in Chico for food and walking the dog plus some unusual lane configurations on I-80 east bound due to construction. We came back through Oroville and Marysville, rather than through Gridley and Yuba City.

This is the first year since 2010 at Lake Shasta that I have not gone back and forth to Sacramento at least once during the week. It made for a more restful, enjoyable week.

A couple of general observations.

First,  I am amazed at the amount of property for sale. South of Chabriers, I counted nine for sale signs in about a two mile stretch. There were also a lot of for sale signs on the peninsula in the area around Knotty Pines.

Second, I am hopeful that I will be back in the Dorado Inn next year. If I can get back into the Dorado Inn, I would love to get Drew and Nicky {plus Morgan and Beau?!?} up for part of the week. It will be interesting to see how the group continues to morph and change in the next few years.

2010 Lake Shasta Day 8

The Tsasdi Resort has a check-out time of 9:30 a.m. I was up about 6:40 a.m. packing, washing dishes and cleaning the cabin. I was out by a little after 9 a.m.

The group has talked over the last two days about what we want to do next year. While there is still interest in going back to Lake Almanor, we decided to go ahead and make reservations for 2011 at the Tsasdi Resort, but a week later. We will be continuing to explore other options, but everyone felt good enough about this year that we would come back to the same place. I reserved a bigger cabin for next year. The Tsasdi Resort has the advantage of being big enough that we could drag in some other occasional families, such as Nooter, Geselbracht, Bachman, Charbrier, Connor or even more Wallens.

The departure was a little more fragmented than most years. I did not get a chance to say goodbye to most of the Tomasins.

Jack and I stopped in Redding and had a late breakfast with Wallen, Jill, Bob, Jenny and CJ at the Black Bear Diner. With a couple of stops for waymarks in Shasta and Tehama Counties, we rolled back into Elk Grove about 2:20 p.m.

I enjoyed the week a great deal. The week nourishes friendships that I have had for more than 30 years.

Both Sharon and I are scratching our heads wondering where the summer when. Between the Cal Ripken baseball pre-state and north state tournaments, a case of the flu, a trip to Sp@in and the week at the lake, the summer has flown by. Jack starts school a week from Tuesday.

2010 Lake Shasta Day 7

Earlier in the week, Wallen and I talked about doing a longer run. We took off early Friday morning and ran slightly more than six miles south of the resort. As we were getting close to the resort on our way back, we passed Tomasin heading out.

Back at the cabins, everyone was moving pretty slow. With most of the kids sleeping late, none of the boats ended up going out in the morning.

Drew was planning to take off for a concert at the Greek Theater, but wanted to play some horseshoes. He rousted David out of bed and we eventually got David and Tomasin down to the horseshoe pits. Tomasin and I beat David and Drew two straight games. We ran away with the first game. Trailing 12 to 5, we came back to win the second game by a score of 21 to 17.

Drew took off a little after noon. It was great for Jack and I to have a chance to spend a few days with him.

Hunter spent the morning rounding everyone up to go out on the lake for lunch. While we were playing horseshoes, all of the boats took off. Loading up an ice chest, I eventually got Tomasin to take me out to meet up with the group. I had assured Tomasin that I knew where they were, but as we got closer it looked like they might have gone somewhere else. I was relieved when all of the boats finally appeared around the corner.

We spent a great afternoon barbecuing, visiting and swimming in the Lake. Wallen's brother Bill joined the group in their boat with his wife and three kids. We probably spent almost four hours on the lake.

Heading back to the resort, Jill and Snipes took the patio boat back to Antlers, while Wallen and I planned to drive around and pick them up. Passing the Basshole Bar and Grill, we saw Tomasin getting out of his car. We stopped and eventually convinced Tomasin to join us at Klub Klondike. While I waited with Tomasin, Wallen ran back and picked up Jill and Kurt.

Klub Klondike has a shuffleboard. I have always loved playing shuffleboard. Jill and Tomasin ended up beating Kurt and I two straight games. At this point, we decided just to bring everyone there for dinner rather than work to pull together a left-over night. Tomasin and I drove back and picked up our kids. Although dinner included some drama, we had a great meal. I had barbecued pork ribs (bone in), beans and a salad.

The Klub Klondike also has karaoke. With Hunter leading the way, this led to a group rendition of You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'.

Tomasin, Julie, Jack and I headed back to the cabins and crashed early.

2010 Lake Shasta Day 6

In a number of ways, this year at Lake Shasta has been very different than the previous years at Lake Almanor. There has been more emphasis on the boats and the lake. In previous years at Lake Almanor, we would play golf once or twice and Jack and I would ride our mountain bikes a couple of times. Lake Shasta is also warmer and calmer than Lake Almanor. Most days, it would get windy in the afternoons at Lake Almanor; Lake Shasta stays calm almost all day which gives everyone a much bigger window for going out on the boats.

While Jack slept until after 9 a.m., Drew went out on the Tomasin boat and wakeboarded. I started the day with a five mile run south of the resort. I could actually see Tomasin's boat on the lake from the road.

Back at the cabin, a large group hung out at the Tomasin's cabin while Julie made breakfast. Jack was not happy that he had missed going out with the Tomasin boat.

Chris eventually took the Tomasin boat back out with Danny, David, Rachel, Jack and I. Danny, Chris, David and Jack all wakeboarded. This marked Jack's fifth straight day of going out and wakeboarding.

As we pulled back into the resort, Jill was loading up a group on the patio boat. Jill and I ended up taking out a group of 10 kids on the patio boat, including Chris, Mikey, David, Rachel, Danny, Loren, Morgan, Keith, Drew and Jack.

We headed north of the resort and benched the patio boat in Doney Creek. Everyone swam and played catch with a rugby ball. Nate's dog roamed the beach. Drew and Nate took out their guitars and played for about 45 minutes. All told, we spent almost three hours hanging out. It was a wonderful, relaxing afternoon.

Jill promised Tomasin that we would be back by 4:30 p.m. We gassed up the patio boat at Antlers and then headed back to the Tsasdi Resort.

The plan for the evening was head into Redding dinner. Sans the Tomasins, we had a group dinner at Gironda's. I had some seafood risotto that was not very good. Afterwards we met at Tomasin's mom's house for dessert to celebrate David's graduation from Mississippi State.

2010 Lake Shasta Day 5

We got out on the water before 9 a.m.; the earliest time so far this week. Jack, Drew and I went out on the Tomasin boat with Tomasin, Chris, David and Rachel. Everyone except me wakeboarded. Jack went twice. This is the fourth day in a row that Jack has been out on the wakeboard. He is really enjoying it and trying hard to emulate some of the stunts of the older boys.

After a quick bite to eat, Tomasin, Chris and I headed to the store. There is actually a small market in Lakehead about two miles from the resort. It is my turn to make dinner so I wandered the store trying to figure out what they had that I could make into a dinner to feed 30 people.

It was a very lazy afternoon with a number of me, including me, taking naps in their cabins. A group eventually headed down to play horseshoes.

Starting in the early afternoon, I worked on pulling together dinner for the group. I made a large salad, buttered sourdough, spaghetti, meat sauce and sausages. Drew and I fired up the coals and Jack helped Drew cook the sauages.

After enjoying the evening on the patio, almost everyone headed to the Basshole Bar & Grill. We spent a couple of hours playing pool. I played with Snipes and Jenny. It is honestly the worst that I think that I have ever played. Julie and Mikey rolled back from Windsor and made a quick stop. It was after midnight by the time we headed back to the resort in a whirlwind of drama...

2010 Lake Shasta Day 4

Sharon and Janie got up at 5:00 a.m. and started home to Sacramento! After helping them load the car, I crashed until a little after 7:00 a.m.

I went out for a 4 1/2 mile run south along the lake by myself. I cannot run with Wallen every day; it would kill me.

After sitting and watching Joy make a late breakfast for a herd of boys, Jack and I spent the middle part of the day on Hunter's boat with Hunter, Debbie and Danny. We headed up to an area north of the Antlers resort. Jack, Danny, Debbie and Hunter all wakeboarded. Eventually, Tomasin showed up. The two boats spent some time drifting together on the lake with everyone visiting and swimming.

Jack wakeboarded a second time. This is the third day in a row that he has wakeboarded. He is getting stronger and more confident.

Back at the resort, I had committed to participate in a panel interview for work. I spent about an hour and 15 minutes on a conference call sitting on the patio boat looking at the lake. I was actually amazed that I was able to hear the interview and participate via a cell phone.

Towards the end of the call, I started the patio boat back to Antlers. I had texted Drew to pick me up there. I returned the boat, walked off the dock and Drew and Jack were pulling up to pick me up.

Hunter and Debbie made a great shish kabob dinner. I ended the night visting with Snipes, Joy, Hunter and Debbie on the deck with everyone talking about their overseas travels.

2010 Lake Shasta Day 3

Today was a great example of why I have spent a week with this group for 23 straight years...

Up early Sharon and I wandered into Lakehead to try and find somewhere to get coffee, while Janie and Jack slept. We ended up at the Camp Shasta Coffee Co.

Back at the cabin, Wallen and I headed out for a five plus mile run south on the road in the front of the resort. This quickly turns into a forest service road with some great views of the lake. I will post a map of the run over the next two weeks. It was a great run. This is a better place to run than the running on the highway along the eastern shore of Lake Almanor. I work hard all year long so that I can run with Wallen three or four times a year.

From there, Jack and I went out on the Tomasin boat with Tomasin, Chris, Kurt, Keith and Craig. Craig wakeskated, while Tomasin, Chris, Kurt and Jack wakeboarded.

Eventually, we caught up with Hunter. Moving people around, we picked up Loren, Morgan and Danny. Danny put on a spectacular wakeboarding display, including hitting a flip. I shot a bunch of video with the Flip camera and hopefully will post some great video in the near future.

Heading back to the dock, I met up with Sharon and Janie. They had done some shopping. The plan for lunch was to take everyone out on the lake and barbecue hamburgers. We found a spot to land the two patio boats and the two ski boats. We spent an nice afternoon barbecuing and swimming in the lake.

Back at the resort, Sharon, Janie and I took the patio boat out for a late afternoon drift. When I got back to the cabins, David and his girlfriend showed up. Julie and Mikey headed back this morning for football practice.

We finished the night on the deck with chicken enchiladas for dinner that the Wallens made.

All and all a great day on the lake!

2010 Lake Shasta Day 2

Rather than hiking, Sharon decided that she and Janie would like to spend the day on the lake. After late breakfast and a quick stop at the market, we ended to Antlers and rented a patio boat for the next couple of days.

Sharon and Janie drove the boat back to the Tsasdi Resort. One of the differences between The Dorado Inn and this resort is that it is a long way from the cabins on the hillside to the boats on the lake.

Chasing after the Hunter boat, we spent a great afternoon on the lake. Jack wakeboarded behind Hunter's boat. We barbecued on the patio boat and had a late lunch with Hunter, Debbie, Loren and Danny. Tying the two boats together, we drifted and swam in the lake.

Dragging everything back up to the cabins, I got a chance to visit with Tomasin and Snipes on the decks outside the cabins. The Snipes ended up with probably the nicest cabin: #15.

We finished the day on the deck with a late dinner. Julie and Joy had a great Mexican meal of tamales and enchiladas.

2010 Lake Shasta Day 1

Every year since 1988, 22 straight years, we have taken a group to the El Dorado Inn at Lake Almanor. For the second time in that period, the Dorado changed hands in the last year. The new owners decide that they would not honor our reservations for this summer. All of the running amok around this decision and how it was communicated may or may not become a longer post in the future.

When Tomasin, Hunter and I skiied at Northstar in late January, we decided that we should try to go somewhere. Julie went to work and found the Tsasdi Resort at Lake Shasta.

Jack and I left Elk Grove about noon, stopped for lunch, gas and a couple of waymarks in Red Bluff and rolled into the Tsasdi about 3:45 p.m. It is a much easier drive than going to Lake Almanor.

Sharon and Janie wandered up over the course of the day. They went to the Sundial Bridge and had lunch in Redding and then stopped at the Shasta Caverns.

We have a big group this year: Bob Wallens; John Wallens; Snipes; Hunters; and Heringers. In total, we have more than 30 people.

Jack and I spent some time hanging out on the dock sitting in a patio boat that the Wallens have rented; first with Wallen and Jill and then with Sharon and Janie.

We finished the evening having a group dinner at the Basshole Bar & Grill.