Archive for the 'Tahoe Journal' Category

Mario’s Tahoe Journal

December 3rd, 2014

In the interest of converting my entire collection of physical representations of childhood memories into eternal digital archives, I’m scanning pages from Mario’s Tahoe Journal, my old pen-and-binder-paper-powered diary of our family trips to the alpine lake back in the 90s. You can now read the pages on this very blog! I’ve posted them with their original dates and typed them out as accurately as I can (misspellings and sullen teenage angst and all), and included photos I had taken during the same trips. They will all be posted under a single category for reference, which can be found here:

Mario’s Tahoe Journal

Please note that the opinions I had expressed as a teenager of siblings and peers do not reflect current opinions of same individuals. These entries are being posted unedited for posterity. I have nothing but love for my family and those we traveled with all those years ago. Blame the hormones, and forgive Baby Mario his transgressions.

[Discuss]

Tahoe Journal – June 18th, 1999

June 18th, 1999

Friday, June 18th, 1999

Ah, our final hour. It defenitely wasn’t wasted. Thankfully, we didn’t have another Ponderosa trip. Instead, we had another ride on the Tahoe Gal. That was pretty fun. We took the Emerald Bay cruise. Donna didn’t want us to stay below decks this time, so we spent most of the trip sitting on top, fighting the wind. We saw some osprey’s nests, and even a few osprey. In Emerald Bay, we saw Vikingsholm and Fannette Island. Mostly, I chatted with Carlo about Pokémon, Star Wars, and other points of interest.

This evening, we gave Grampa his early Father’s Day present, a shirt with a fishook pattern (I know it’s spelled “fish hook)”. He loved it.

I really enjoyed myself this time. We didn’t do quite as much, and I didn’t swim. And there was Kara… Anyway, I still had tons of fun.

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Tahoe Journal – June 17th, 1999

June 17th, 1999

Thursday, June 17th, 1999

Starting today, I’m putting that little st/nd/rd/th on my dates.

Me, Dad, Amelia, and Carlo all went rafting down the Truckee River this afternoon (Donna and Kara were too chicken, and were content with going shopping). It was a blast. For most of the trip, I got to paddle the little raft by myself. That was good, because it was really fun being able to steer.

That’s about it for today.

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Tahoe Journal – June 16, 1999

June 16th, 1999

Wednesday, June 16, 1999

First off, I would like to apologize for my journal entries. I just use this to let off steam.

Today was supposed to be a lazy day, but Grampa had other thoughts. We spent most of the day picking up sticks and doing household chores.

Finally, we went to the beach. Once again, I wasn’t in the mood to swim, so I sat on my towel eating lunch. After dinner, we all sat and watched “The Truman Show”. I liked it a lot, but no one else did.

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Tahoe Journal – June 15, 1999

June 15th, 1999

Tuesday, June 15, 1999

After a sugary cereal breakfast, we took a trip to Reno, which seems to be the farthest this family will ever let me go.

We wandered through the streets and casinos a bit, then stopped for lunch at Planet Hollywood. Nothing’s really different there, but I got to see a prop from “Army of Darkness: Evil Dead 3”, which is a really funny movie.

Upon exiting Reno, we went to Boomtown. This time, I didn’t make the mistake of going on the VR ride, being content with the ticket games. Carlo did the same, so we combined our tickets to get a great Anakin Skywalker cup.

While Grampa and Dad went to a rotary meeting, Gramma and Donna took the rest of us to Lakehouse Pizza. Since Amelia and Kara didn’t want meat on their pizza, we got cheese, which was decent. But you’d think me and Carlo would get our way at least every once in awhile.

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Tahoe Journal – Flag Day 1999

June 14th, 1999

Monday, June 14, 1999 (Flag Day)

We all went horseback riding today. Even though Donna and Kara continuously commented on my not riding last year (even though I had cracked ribs last year!), it was really fun. My horse, Denver, always wanted to pull ahead of Geronimo, Kara’s horse. That was cool.

Afterwards, everyone wanted another beach trip, but I stayed at the cabin. Somehow, that led everyone to believe that I hadn’t been outside all day, so Dad and Grandpa made me help them carry a boat down to the lake. Granted, I would’ve done it anyway, but they didn’t need to make up some lame excuse.

Before dinner, me and Grandma played a few card games, while the other kids played Monopoly. We had some great enchiladas, and for dessert, we enjoyed chocolate fondue with poundcake (yes, I was in heaven!).

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Tahoe Journal – June 13, 1999

June 13th, 1999

Today, we went to the Biltmore in Nevada for breakfast. It was fun talking to the Spanish-speaking waiter, Juan. We had the $1.99 special (the adults in this family are so frugal). It was tasty, but not filling at all.

A while afterwards, we went down to the beach. I didn’t swim, but did some rowing in the raft. That was fun, except for Kara complaining about me not swimming (I’ll never know why she whines about things like that!).

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Tahoe Journal – June 12, 1999

June 12th, 1999

Saturday, June 12, 1999

It’s been a whole year since my last Tahoe trip, and it’s good to be back!

Unlike most times, we had a relatively short car ride, and thank God! There has never been a time that I enjoyed the journey to the Lake of the Sky. Kara, of course, got the star treatment, and got to sit up in front, while I, the oldest of the bunch, had to sit with the dog. Boy, was it fun sitting next to a shedding, slobbering pomeranian. Oh well. I only have to put up with this for 2 more years.

Not much happened today, but we’re supposed to go to the beach tomorrow.

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Tahoe Journal – June 20, 1998

June 20th, 1998

Saturday, June 20, 1998

Ah, our last day. This has been one of our longer Tahoe trips, and I think I have thoroughly enjoyed myself.

Once again, we took a ride on the Tahoe Gal. We learned some interesting stuff (did you know that the Dreyer’s ice cream family has a house on the lake?). It was about the same as usual, though.

After the boat ride, we went to Fast Eddie’s (Grampa calls it Fat Eddie’s, because he always has to loosen his belt when he goes there! ◕‿◕). I had a great big ½ pound burger. Amelia tried, but there was no contest; I had some of hers, too! I washed it all down with a nice tall glass of beer (root beer, that is!). Most of the kids went to the beach afterwards, but I decided to stay at the cabin and write my journal. I had fun this week. There were wonderful moments (and there were those other moments), but all in all, I had an enjoyable time.

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Tahoe Journal – June 19, 1998

June 19th, 1998

Friday, June 19, 1998

Today was just another beach day, but today, I decided to dunk. It wasn’t that bad, actually. Mostly I rowed the boat a lot.

Donna actually summoned up the strength to go in the boat. It was the closest she had ever gotten to the lake the whole trip!

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Mario at the Cabin

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