May The Forest Be With You

Marilyn and I were determined to check out Camp Concord 50 and Better September 17 to 21, five days, four nights. I spent the night at her new Petaluma townhouse Sunday night and we left by 10 a.m. Monday morning. The setting is at South Lake Tahoe in rustic cabins with a large dining hall, game room and brand-new baths and showers. We slept four to a cabin in ours. I use the word "slept" loosely. It's not easy to sleep in my own bed let alone with three others or leaving the cabin in the dark and cold in the night one or more times. The staff could not have been more friendly, cheerful, helpful and accommodating and the food was outstanding. We were served three meals a day and food at happy hour prior to dinner. If we had a field trip during lunch we got a packed lunch of what we checked off on the bag. I immediately found Scrabble in the game room and found others over the week to play with, including two who had never played Scrabble. The first excursion we signed up for was a museum and lodge with outbuildings of how people lived in the 1800s. It was a lovely area and walk along Lake Tahoe. I swam in Lake Tahoe and Angora Lake after our hike there where we ate our bag lunches at picnic tables on the beach. We hiked to Fallen Leaf Lake to canoe and I saw ruins where only a massive fireplace stands. Fallen Leaf is reminiscent of Lake Siskiyou and Angora of Castle Lake though Angora is much smaller. Marilyn and I played ping pong several times, there was a Bingo night where she won and since I was leaving on a hike my white cotton pajamas were dyed purple for me. They didn't quite turn out as expected after I washed them at home but it's better than white. On the last night the staff provided s'mores for anyone who wanted to make them at the campfire, located off our front porch of cabin #3. We walked the lovely Rainbow Trail before leaving and were on the road by 1 p.m. It was particularly gratifying to spend time with visiting Paul over the weekend, Adam and Steph, and talk to E in Texas, 36 weeks along tomorrow.