Fire on Amity Road

Monday, August 25 was the first day of school. My routine was back to normal. I went to Jazzercise at IceWorld at 6:00 p.m and when I walked to my car afterclass the wind was really strong and I could see smoke. That's not unusual because there is an locomotive plant nearby the fires up the engines from time to time producing smoke. I started to drive home and the smoke got blacker and more dense the closer I got to home. Then I turned on Amity. Lots of fire engines, police cars and one ambulance passed me and I got stuck in the middle of a mess. As I looked at the powerstation on the right of me I saw many, many, small sagebrush fires. They were starting to close the road and I cellphoned Paul and asked him to rescue me because I was stuck on Amity Road with a full tank of gas and fire all around me. Luckily the fire engines pulled to the side of the road and I was able to drive the rest of the way on Amity and turn onto Trails End to my house. At this time, I could see 2 houses completely engulfed in flames. Ed called from Japan and I visited with him for a few minutes and then walked back to Amity from my house to watch the fire. In this short time, now I could count 10 houses burning.

















The fire, the road and me. Yikes, that's really close.


















My street sign. Amity and Trails End.

Fireman throwing flares in the sagebrush right along the road to limit the fire fuel. Amity was quarantined off and Paul and I were stuck. Other neighborhoods were being evacuated. My co-worker Charlene was evacuated with no where to go. She went to the LDS church in Columbia Village with her dog in tears.

Over 41 firestation units were called in to fight the fire-as far away as Gem County. Here they are trying to boundary the fire so it doesn't burn more neighborhoods (like mine!)

Fire was burning on the sagebrush on the other side of Amity Road and 50 mile per hour winds were fanning it towards the houses on the ridge. I was hoping the wind wouldn't change directions and jump the road. We would have been caught between the fire and the canal. I would have jumped in the canal and taken my chances.

The smoke was so thick, it hides the other houses on fire to the left. 10 houses burned on the ridge. 9 others were damaged.

I wondered as I saw this plane appear out of the smoke how the pilot was doing. Could he see? Was he going on instruments? Was he having "flashbacks" of a war zone. My sweet little corner of the world looked like a hundred bombs had hit us.

Today I rode my bike to school and pedaled past all the devastation. The smell of smoke was still very strong. I said a silent prayer thanking Heavenly Father that the wind didn't change directions and my house was still standing.

August Vacation to Lake Tahoe

Bonka sports his "vacation shirt" as we start our vacation in Lake Tahoe.

View of Lake Tahoe from our condo and beach. Three colors of water. Lots of parasailers.

Grandma swims everyday.

Whose hiding behind our 2-man boat?

Grandma reads to relax.

Bonka relaxes on the beach with a sudoko puzzle.

Bonka's dream to hike along the Pacific Crest Trail and the Tahoe Rim Trail.

Hiking to Susie Lake Along Glen Alpine Trail

Bonka at Trailhead.

Glen Alpine Trail to Susie Lake.

Freaked out. Do I really want to hike in Desolation Wilderness?

Huge pine trees along our way.

Susie Lake. In the heart of Desolation Wilderness.

Hiking to Susie Lake was a hard, strenuous climb of about 2,000 feet in altitude change. We were quite proud of ourselves for going the distance! (5 miles - uphill!)

Bonka a natural tree hugger.

Echo Lake

Bonka and Grandma pay for a ride in this transport boat to drive us to a trailhead to hike around Echo Lake located a few miles from Lake Tahoe.

Bonka can't resist jumping in for a swim. Goes swimming in his shorts!

This hidden lake was worth the hike to see such beauty. I saved a piece of this rock to remind me of this wonderful day.

Bonka had so much fun playing on the giantic rocks as we hiked around Echo Lake. All Grandma could think about was these granite rocks would make beautiful c0untertops!

The Famous and Fabulous Emerald Bay

We first admired the beauty of Emerald Bay as we drove along the highway. We could see the entire Bay from our stops along the road. We returned later another day determined to hike from Emerald Bay to the D.L. Bliss campground. It was a 10-mile adventure. The water was constantly in our view as we hiked. Saving the best for last, Emerald Bay was our final hike before returning home. Truly a masterpiece of God.

Backpacking to Jennie Lake

Here's where all the fun begins.

Bonka and Grandma set out on a backpacking adventure with 30 girls. Grandma taught them in early morning seminary last year. We are excited to begin our 9.2 mile, 2,000 foot elevation change, hike!

We made it! The hike was hard but soooo worth it!

Jenny Lake is beautiful. A testimony that there is a God who created splendor for His children.

Bonka is a great camper. He sets up our tent in the beautiful woods near the lake.

Bonka cools off by swimming in the lake. He's hot from the hike and setting up camp.

Can you find Bonka?

Grandma and Bonka find a stream that we can use for drinking water. In the evening, we fill all our water bottles up for the next day's hike using a filtering system. Bonka loves Grandma and makes sure her water is clean and pure so she won't get sick.

Bonka makes breakfast for Grandma using a small propane campstove. We ate instant oatmeal, cup of fruit, and juice from cans. Can you find the stove and food in the picture?

Grandma brushes her teeth after breakfast. She uses the water Bonka filtered for her from the stream.

Grandma made sure she packed her lipstick so she would look pretty backpacking.

Can you see if her nails are pretty too?

Can you find Bonka's famous walking stick?

What does Bonka use to secure the pads and tent to his backpack?

We are ready to start our hike back to the trailhead.

Can you find the reflections of the mountains and trees in the water?

Bonka and Grandma successfully complete their 9.2 mile backpacking adventure to Jennie Lake! Now it's time for Bonka to load all the backpacks into our faithful 1994 Ford Ranger and transport them to Camp Glenwood about an hour away on a bumpy dirt road.

It's hot and Bonka and Grandma have sweat on their backs where their backpacks were. And, there is no air conditioning in the truck.

Look for Bonka's backpack in the truck. Do you remember it from the above pictures by the lake? Look for Grandma's backpack. It is on the ground.

The backpacks are almost to the top of the truck cab.

Can you find Bonka's backpack? Hint: look for a bungi cord and his baseball cap from the country Nancy lives in.

The pile of backpacks continues to grow as Bonka works hard. Next Bonka throws rope over the backpacks and secures them for the bumpy ride to Camp Glenwood. Bonka is a master of ropes and knots and nothing falls out of the truck.

Can you find Bonka's backpack. Hint: look for bungi cord and a baseball cap from the country Nancy lives in.

Can you find Grandma's backpack. Hint: It has a plastic bag of cherries showing.

Can you find Bonka? After dropping off all the backpacks at Camp Glenwood, Bonka and Grandma enjoyed lunch and a shower at the camp.

Banks was very close, so we stopped and swam in the river until it was time to see "Crazy" at the Starlight Theater.

The show was fabulous and a sweet end to a wonderful backpacking adventure.