Our final week at the lake was the only time our outdoor activities were largely governed by the smoke plume from the nearby wildfires. One of the things we had planned and were looking forward to doing, a guided kayak tour in transparent kayaks on the eastern part of the lake, was cancelled. The weather pattern each day was remarkably similar – the clearest part of the day was in the morning up until about 11AM when the smoke filled in to the Tahoe basin. It quickly and dramatically reduced the visibility from that point on for the rest of the day. We could smell the smoke each afternoon this week (we hadn’t been able to in previous weeks) and all the outdoor surfaces were covered in a fine ash.

We made the best of it though. Most of the mornings were clear enough for a nice walk or a run as long as we were back indoors by lunchtime. Glennis and Kyle remained “trapped” here all week because the main highway leading back to their house in Folsom from Tahoe was closed due to the fires. Luckily they had all they needed here to work remotely each day and didn’t miss any work.

As a fun indoor activity in the evenings, Kyle taught the rest of us the finer points of Blackjack and Craps. He then constructed a Craps table out of our living room coffee table and we had a few rousing tournaments. We put our skills to the test later in the week one evening at the Hard Rock Casino downtown. We ended up losing our pre-determined limit (of course!), but were able to play for a while and enjoy the excitement without being too intimidated.

The highlight of the night was not the Casino however. It was a magic show that just happened to be playing in a small theater in the same hotel. The magician was really good and made both Glennis and Kyle star performers.

This weekend we begin our long car trip back to Florida starting with a visit to Tom’s Aunt in Idaho Falls. Our next several posts will be from the road. We had such a great time here that we’ve reserved this same place for next summer.