2008 Young Family Reunion

The 2008 young family reunion was held from August 10 to August 14 in beautiful Lake Tahoe, California. Family came from all over including both sides of California, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Ohio, Washington, and Canada. I could not begin to describe how fun this experience was and how fortunate I am to have such as amazing family. I also go the opportunity to fly Sara out to meet them (one of many tests I put her through).

The following is a short summary of the great time that I had…

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Day 1 – Trip to Lake Tahoe

Misha and Dorothy got married on August 8th in the bay area. The timing of this reunion was extremely convenient because it allowed family to attend both events. On August 10th, I drove up to Sacramento with Karen and her kids to the airport where I picked up Sara and rented a car (convertible of course). From the airport, Sara and I drove straight to Lake Tahoe. The drive was beautiful. Once there, we got our room and settled in to say hello to the family. To fit us all in we had three water-front cabins, 2 camp sites, and an RV. When the sun was setting Sara and I took a walk to the water to relax and take some quick pictures.

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[Click here to see more pictures from this day]

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Day 2 – Hike to Eagle Lake

On the first full day at Lake Tahoe, we decided to take a hike. We started at Emerald Bay and then hiked past Eagle Falls and Eagle Lake to a look-out place a few miles past the lake. The weather was hot, and water was scarce but the views were amazing. Jim brought his dog who was a better sport that most of us. On the way back we saw several bears walking along the same stream that we were.

When we got back to our cabin, Sara and jumped in the lake to cool off. This had a greater cooling affect than I thought as it was freezing cold. Nevertheless, we played in the water for a while and got some good pictures in the process.

Following the dip, we went back to the cabin for a well-deserved pasta feast and adult beverages. I took a bunch of the girls for a ride down the coast in the convertible, and then we came back for games, watching the Olympics, and watching the sunset over the Lake. Beautiful day.

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[Click here to see more pictures from this day]

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Day 3 – Rafting on the Truckee River

The plan for this day was a rafting trip down the Truckee River… Young family style. First off, in the true spirit of our Scottish thriftiness, someone had discovered that to rent a raft was the same price as purchasing a raft. It should be noted however that the purchased raft was much smaller and less dependable. Nevertheless, the news sent a run for discount rafts to the local grocery store. Seeing that I was not about to check a raft as carry-on when I went home, I opted not to purchase the smaller raft and use my money to purchase a pony-keg of beer for the trip.

Food, water, and pony-keg in tow, the Young’s took on the mighty Truckee River in a caravan of inner-tubes, blow-up mattresses, canoes, discount rafts, and proper 10-person rafts. Despite a few water fights with the natives, a bout of hypothermia with one of our crew (Jordan), a problem with my pony-keg, and an oar lovingly thrown in Bobby’s face by his sister (see picture for the damage), we made it safe to the other side.

After our near-death white-water experience, we retired back to the cabin where Thomas and his family made tacos, and we continued with the adult beverages. When the kids started going to sleep, Sara, my brothers, Shari and Heather snuck out to South Shore Lake Tahoe to do a little gambling on the Nevada side. Sara and I spent most of the time at the black-jack tables with Carmyn. Dean was the big winner of the night, with the house taking all my hard earned money as usual. Oh well, better luck next time.

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[Click here to see more pictures from this day]

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Day 4 – Scuba Diving Lake Tahoe

OK, so anybody who knows me knows that I love scuba diving. So when Thomas and I were told that we would be on vacation next to a body of water, chances are that we would inevitably find ourselves exploring it. Along with the usual toiletries, change of clothes and bathing suit one would find in a suitcase, Thomas and I also brought dry-suits, scuba tanks, and regulators.

The dive plan for the day was simple, we take our scuba gear and hike down to Bliss State Park. We would talk somebody into taking us out on a canoe and then we go exploring. Thomas had heard of a underwater cliffs that dropped straight down hundreds of feet and we wanted to see if we could find them.

Sara and Bobby volunteered for the task of canoeing us out to the dive spot with our gear. Once there, we got geared up and dropped down in the lake to look for the cliffs. We saw gigantic boulders, small schools of fish and craw-fish. We hit a thermocline at around 40ft that hit me like a wall of ice. In all my genius I didn’t bring gloves and couldn’t feel my fingers after a while. Deeper still, we finally found the drop-off at around 120ft. On the way up I took a bearing for the shore and came in slowly. Once I surfaced, I was very surprised to find Sara and Bobby a few feet away from me in the canoe. They said that they were following my bubbles as I came in; now that’s service. The diving was amazing and just what I needed to complete a vacation. Check off on the list: Fresh-water alititude diving.

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[Click here to see more pictures from this day]

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Day 5 – Booze Cruise

The last day of our trip started with a trip into town with Bobby and Misha for lunch. Afterward, Misha took off to go back to his new wife. Bobby, Sara and I went to Tahoe City to meet some more family members for a much-needed booze cruise. The cruise went around the north part of the lake while we ordered buckets of over-priced beers and margaritas. It was so much fun and a perfect way to end the reunion. A story that deserves mention was that many of us were on the outside balcony of the ship enjoying the views… Thomas, in an ill-advised attempt to get the attention of the rest of our party decided to moon them from outside. Of course just at that moment an asian couple walked by to witness. Funny stuff.

Also, while we were waiting for the boat to arrive we gave Bobby the camera to play with. He is a natural at photography and took some great pictures of Sara and I. She currently has them framed and hanging in her room. So just for the record, Bobby’s pictures are on the walls of a professional photographer. Good job Bob.

The following day we woke up early and drove back to Sacramento Airport where we turned in the car (miss you convertible) and hopped a plane back to sunny San Diego. There are worse places to go back to. Thank you Young family for such a great time. I love you all and can’t wait for the next reunion.

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[Click here to see more pictures from this day]