Adventuring on Lake Tahoe less than a year after Randy’s Double Lung Transplant

Lake Tahoe is wonderful.  I usually get altitude sickness, but this time, I didn’t .  A little short of breath, yes.  After all, it is 7,000 feet up from sea level, and I live mostly at sea level.  Randy’s been a little breathless, too, but he checked his spirometer numbers (a lung capacity exercise) and those numbers are even better than they were in Dallas a few weeks ago.  I think the fresh air and walking for the last couple of weeks have really exercised both him and his lungs. He is still a little weak, but that’s to be expected.  Eleven months ago he couldn’t even walk, and now he’s walking some steep hills and a lot of stairs.  Good for us both!

Yesterday we went rafting on the Truckee River with Tahoe City’s River Rafting Company.  Their symbol is the River Man. I went two years ago on the same river with girlfriends when we came to Tahoe for a long weekend, but on that trip I fell off the boat and made an ass of myself (so what else is new?).  I am happy to report that I learned a lot about paddling this time and did not fall OUT of the boat.  I did kind of trip INTO the boat, but I do not believe that a little trip counts as a fall.  Randy disagrees.  He laughed for 2 and a half hours down the river, especially when I messed up on the paddling. At least, after 34 years together, he is still entertained by me.

It is so gorgeous here.  I cannot get over the blue of the water and how crystal clear it is.  The green trees and mountains are breathtaking. We’ve been enjoying activities before the fourth of July comes…I’m sure the lake will be completely crowded by the weekend.  We rented a little boat today, and stayed out for four and a half hours on the water.  It was as though we had the lake to ourselves!  We went to the west part of the lake, to Emerald Bay, where the water truly is emerald, and then up the west side to Meeks Bay, also a beautiful place.  We drove across the lake into very threatening looking clouds, and we saw lightning over the mountains.  We checked out the Casinos and South Lake Tahoe, then headed in.  I am sitting at the rental house right now, looking over to the east, but those clouds went north, so the lake is as calm and blue as ever. It was very intense to see the lightning up in the mountains…very cool!

So what to do tomorrow?  How about a Helicopter ride over the lake??  I think I’ll do it!

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