Preamble

We decided for our first anniversary we would finally finish hiking Maggies South Peak. Maggies South Peak is the southern peak of a pair of peaks known as Maggies Peaks in Desolation Wilderness, Lake Tahoe, California. Almost two years previously we had tried to summit the mountain in November. At the time, I thought the peak of the mountain would be the perfect place to propose.

The hike to the top is about 2 miles with about 2000 feet of elevation gain. The hike starts at Inspiration Lookout, a popular tourist sport to to witness Emerald Bay. The trail goes straight into the mountains behind the lake with views of Emerald Bay. It plateaus at Granite Lake, a small alpine lake. Then it continues up the mountain in a series of switch backs, until one reaches a lookout of Desolation Wilderness where one can see a large valley and Maggies North Peak. At this point there’s a few use trails that climb straight up the last quarter mile to the top of the Maggies Southern Peak.

During the hike two years previously it had started out as beautiful hike, but there had been more snow on the ground than I had been expecting. After we got to Granite Lake, the trail became full of snow and ice. We trudged along even when we saw the few other hikers turning back because of the ice. On one switch back above the lake the trail became sheer ice for a stretch of hundreds of feet. Just to the right on the narrow path there was a perilous drop. What would normally be a magnificent view of Granite Lake, instead made us both tepid to continue. We had crossed patches of ice already, but this seemed like a risk too far. Every other hiker we had seen on the trail had turned around.

So I took out the ring from my backpack and we got engaged on the side of the icy trail overlooking Granite Lake. It was a wonderfully meaningful moment and couldn’t have been better if we had made it to the top of the peek. On the way down Lizy was still frightened of slipping on the ice, so told her, “If you die now, at least you’ll die engaged.”

Since we never made it to the top of the mountain it seemed fitting to get to the peek finally on our one year anniversary. As we drove up to Tahoe we looked at the mountains. No snow. This was the year.

We checked in at the Best Value Inn, a motel we had first discovered skiing Northstar; it wasn’t much too look at, but it was clean and it had a beautiful view of Lake Tahoe from the hot tub. We got dinner at bar next to our motel. Lizy got the Jalapeno Burger and was crying through dinner because of the spice.

Second Attempt at the Summit

We got an early start. We drove south along the shore of Lake Tahoe. On the drive Lizy kept trying to convince about how there tons of fall colors. I wasn’t really convinced there were so many, but I told Lizy, if there too many fall colors I would appreciate them less. It’s always best to be left wanting more. We parked the car at Inspiration Point and took a little time to look out at the view of Emerald Bay. Then we headed up the mountain.

The hike was much easier without the snow. There were a few other groups on the trail, but it wasn’t too busy. We took our time taking breaks to appreciate the views of Emerald Bay.

We stopped at Granite Lake to rest and eat some snacks.

Heading past the lake and onto the switch backs we bumped into a grouse. Lizy got great photos of it running around.

After the grouse we met a man with his dog wearing a service dog vest. Lizy asked the man what kind of service animal the dog was. The man told her the dog was for emotional support. If I ever get a dog I’m going to train it to be my emotional support animal. That way I’ll be able to bring it everywhere dogs aren’t normally allowed. It’ll also be nice getting some emotional support.

We got to the switchback that had been so icy two years before where we had stopped to get engaged. We remembered being so scared, but now it was as easy as walking on a sidewalk. We took a minute to remember the moment we had shared two years ago and then continued on.

It wasn’t very long past our engagement spot that the trail opened onto the plateau with the view of inner Desolation Wilderness. We looked out at the valley. Lizy pointed out way in the distance the trail we had hiked out of Desolation Wilderness when we had gone backpacking several years earlier with our friends Sasha and Dan. Good memories!

We turned around and tried to find a trail the rest of the way to the southern peek. There was no official trails, instead there were a handful of use trails. We didn’t see a clear path up, so we ended up walking about 0.1 miles around the peek to find a clearer path up. On the final push up to the top we saw another couple we had seen earlier on the trail.

They consisted of a excited fit looking man and a unimpressed, tired woman. It looked like she had been complaining most of the way to the top. He seemed used to it. Lizy turned to me and say, see how much more I could’ve been complaining. The woman overheard her and said, “I’m a complainer by my nature. At work me and my boss have the reputation for people that will get work done, but you’ll never hear us stop complaining the whole time we’re working. But it’ll always get done.”

Finally, we reached the summit. The summit was fairly spacious. The northern side was narrower and had views of Emerald Bay, Granite Lake, Fallen Leaf Lake, and even South Lake Tahoe. To the south of the summit it the ground was iregular with small hills of rocks.

We walked over to the north lookout. There was a group of younger men who were standing right near the edge of the cliff, looking down and commenting on the skiability of the what looked like a vertical drop to me.

Someone had left two notes written on sticky pad sized pads underneath rocks. One of them said something like:

Silence is beautiful,

but silence is terrifying.

Silence is confusing.

I don’t remember at all what the other note said. The young guys told me they thought the writer, whoever they were, was a terrible poet.

“I don’t think they’re poems,” I said.

“They’re definitely supposed to be poems. They’re like bad haikus,” one of the young guys told me.

“But they have the wrong number of syllables.”

“That’s why they’re bad poems.”

Lizy and I sat on a rock far away from the edge. We ate some pastries we had bought from a bakery on the drive to the hike.

Should We Get Lunch?

The hike down was much faster. On the hike down we kep talking about whether the snacks at the lake and the pastries on the summit constituted af full lunch, or whether we should go to a restaurant to get a more official lunch. Once we got to the car it was two pm. We had dinner reservations at six pm. If we ate now, I thought, how would we be able to enjoy our fancy dinner.

“Maybe, we go to a restaurant and I’ll just get a salad,” Lizy said.

“I don’t know. Is it even worth it to stop at a restuarant for just a salad. Maybe we just eat some more of our snacks at the hotel. We still have some apples.”

Lizy gave me a look.

We ended up stopping at a restobar in Tahoe City. It was 2:45 pm. Right away our plan to get light second lunch went out the window. I got a huge burrito. Lizy got a plate of nachos with taco cheese. We walked out of the lunch barely able to walk we were so full.

We went back to the hotel to lie down and digest before dinner. At 5:30 we started to panic because we were still so full. I called the restaurant to try to move our reservation to seven, but the latest they could do was 6:15. So it goes.

First Anniversary Fancy Dinner

The commercial center of Tahoe City is a series of stores and restaurants on either side of a stretch of North Lake blv (highway 28), the road that runs along the shore of Tahoe. The restaurant was a few blocks down the road from our motel on the shore of the lake. We strolled over to the restaurant together at 6:15, not quite hungry yet, but still hoping we’d get an appetite.

The restaurant was built on ground that sloped down to the lake. The entrance of the restuarant let out to a small second floor and there was a set of stairs that took one to the part of the restaurant farther down the hill. The restaurant was quit full when we walked in. All the tables on the first floor next to the large windows were taken, all the rest of the tables on the first floor were taken, and all the normal tables on the second floor were taken. The only available table was a high table on the second floor beside the ledge between the floors.

Lizy looked nervous. She knew I had trouble being comfortable in high chairs. As the hostess brought us to the table I tried to assuage her fears by not hiding any ill feelings of the table I might have. I could sit in a high chair. I wasn’t so particular.

We got the menu. I kept absent mindedly resting my arm on the ledge. However, there were three mood enhancing candles along the ledge and Lizy had to keep warning me off accidentally putting my hand to the flame. I started to get nervous I would accidentally light my shirt on fire. I felt like I couldn’t relax. I had been more nervous around fire since two years prior I had accidnetaly lit my hair on fire while shaving. I wanted to blow out the candle, but I didn’t want to ruin the evening for Lizy. I wanted to be an easy going not particular at all guy for her because it was our anniversary.

“Do you think they’ll notice if I blow out the candles?” I asked her.

“Don’t blow out the candles. Just don’t put your arm there.”

I felt it was better to rip the bandaid off now. When the waiter came to get our orders I asked her if it was ok if I blew out the candles, as it was making me feel uncomfortable. I thought about going into the backstory where I lit my hair on fire to make me seem less high maitenance, but I stopped myself considering it might have the opposite effect. Then I rambled a little about how I wanted to to put my arm on the railing and the waiter nodded along. She told me it was fine if I blew out the candles. After I blew out the candles, Lizy had trouble reading her menu without the added light.

The menu had sections for “shared plates”, “small plates”, and “large plates”. We got one “shared plate” to share and each got our own “large plate”. It turns out the “large plates” were indeed quite large, but they had very small amounts of food in their centre. This was fine since we were mostly still full from our large second lunch. I think this was the only time I was grateful for being at a fancy restaurant with small portions.

At the end of our meal Lizy asked the waitress, “What’s that desert with the mountain of whip cream?”

“That’s our signature croissant chocolate pudding. We give it to customers as a complimentary present if it’s a special occasion. In fact, I was going to bring one over to you for your anniversary. Sorry for ruining the surprise,” the waitress said.

“That’s ok. I don’t like surprises anyway. I’m glad to have found out in advance,” I said.

“Oh, in that case I’ll let you know I was planning on having a lit candle in the pudding. So you won’t be surprised.”

“Thanks for letting me know.”

“You’re ok with the candle.”

“Ya I’m normally fine with candles. With the candles on the railing … It was just they were really close to my arm. I’m totally fine with candles in general though.”

We both sort of laughed.

After she walked away I said to Lizy, “I wish I brought some Lactaid.”

“Don’t worry about it. I brought some for you.”

While eating desert we reflected on our first year of marriage and we looked forward to what we wanted from our future years together.

After we finished desert Lizy said, “You know I was going to suggest that we walk down to the lake. Then walk along the beach back to the hotel…”

“But now you want to beeline it back to the room because it’s dark and you’re tired,” I said.

“How did you know I was going to say that.”

“We’ve been together long enough for me to have at least learned a couple of things about you.”

Swimming in Tahoe

We woke up around seven thirty. We decided to swim in the lake. We were a little apprehensive because we knew it was going to be cold, but we had brought our wetsuits, so we figured we might as well. Even walking to the lake in our wetsuits and swim parkas wqas cold. A runner passed us by while we were walking on the beach and cheered us on, “Right on, good to see someone going swimming!”

The Tahoe City beach was across from our hotel. From the road there was a staircase down to the lake. There was a little park with a jungle gym, a running trail, two picnic benches, and a small patch of sand. We put our stuff on one of the picnic tables. There was no one else on the lake. The lake was perfectly calm.

Lizy got in first. Then I swam out after her. My face felt like it was burning from the harshness of the cold. After a while I got used to the coldness, but by then Lizy was already on the beach yelling at me to come back in. I would’ve like to keep swimming for a little bit longer, but I didn’t want to keep her waiting so I headed back to the beach.

We walked back to the motel. We went for a quick soak in the hot tub looking out at the clear lake we had just swam in. Then we both took quick showers, we packed our bags, and we checked out of the hotel.

Lunch at Rosie’s

We left our car at the motel and walk a few blocks to have lunch at a diner called Rosie’s. We had somehow never been there before. The walls and ceiling were covered in chatchkies. They had antique skis, novelty bikes, ship models, and many other wacky objects of interest.

They had a very large menu. I had trouble deciding what to eat.

“Anything you recommend?” I asked the waitress.

“Everything is amazing.”

“How about the tamales?”

“I’m going to be honest with you. I don’t love the tamales. Some people like them.”

“Lots of people?”

“I don’t know about lost of people. Hey Sophie, what dod you think about our tamales?”

“They’re alright,” Sophia said unconvincingly.

“If I’m being honest, we don’t make them here,” the waitress said.

“Thanks for being honest,” I said.

“But everything else on the menu is great and homemade. Everyone loves the scrambles and the pankakes are to die for.”

“How about the corn beef hash?”

“Well… Some people like the corn beef hash.”

“What do you think?”

“I don’t like green bell peppers, so I kind of dislike it by default. You’ve somehow picked the only two things on the menu I happen to not like. Everything else is amazing.”

“I’ll get the breakfast burrito.”

“You’re going to love it.”

Meandering

After lunch we walked over to the thrift store. Lizy looked through the sweaters. I looked at the cookbooks, then I moved on to the boardgames. I saw Rummicube for the first time since I used to play with my family at the cottage fifteen years prior. It evoked so many memories of hanging out with my parents, uncle, aunts, and grandparents that I decided to buy it.

When I brought it over to the clerk she told me it was a good find because it was seeled, so I knew I had all the pieces.

Tahoe city was decorated for Halloween. Here’s a few photos of the decorations. In one of the photos you can see me clutching my copy of Rummicube.

Gatekeeper’s Museum

It started to rain. I wanted to walk to the Gatekeeper’s Museum on the ege of town, but Lizy did not want to walk so far in the rain. In the end we drove.

The museum was housed in a historic cabin. With one exception. There was modern expansion to house an exhibit of native american baskets.

The baskets were created by women from tribes all along the Pacific coast. From Baja California in the south all the way up to Alaska in the north. The baskets were all handwoven. There were baskets for all types of things, including storing water, processing berries, cooking food, and impressing white people. The baskets to impress white people were these miniature baskets that were too little to hold anything. I guess they were sort of to hand woven baskets as bonzai are to trees.

The upstairs of the museum was divided into two sections. The first section had displays of artsy photos from the 20’s to the 40’s. One woman had photographed herself naked moving her hands in a spirally motion with the gleam of the sun interacting with her wrists.

The other section consisted of displays giving information about famous historical shipwrecks in Lake Tahoe. Some of the shipwrecks had been found, others people were still searching for.

On the main floor the museum had a mishmash of different exhibits. There was a poster on movies that had been filed in the Lake Tahoe area. Most of them were so old, that I did not recognize them, but one that stood out to me was The Godfather Part 2. I remember when I first told my grandfather that I was going skiing in Lake Tahoe, he told me it used to be a famous location for people to go to gamble and that the mafia had a strong presence. I had told him that I hadn’t known the mafia was associated with Tahoe ever. Hadn’t I seen the Godfather Part 2, he had said to me.

In the museum it gave the fact that when Al Pacino and Robert Deniro both won oscars for the Godfather Part 2 it was the only time that two actors had won oscars in the same movie for playing the same character. That’s an interesting bit of trivia, that maybe will come in handy one day.

After going through the rest of the museum, we drove home. It started pouring rain on the drive. At one pont I could see clear skies to my right but it looked like I was driving into the abyss. We made it home in the end.