It's Always Fun for Everyone When Karen Comes!

 George's sister Karen came to visit.  Because she is fluent in Spanish, she and Monica have developed a close relationship through frequent calls.  Directly from the airport, we dropped Karen off at Monica's apartment so that they could spend the day together. Isabella loves Karen too!  Later we got together for a pizza dinner and a walk on the Boise Greenbelt.

On Saturday Matt and Cady joined us for an afternoon in the mountains.  The cool Payette River afforded some relief from the hot weather we have been having.  We couldn't complain about the heat to Karen since she lives in the Phoenix area and they have set a new record with 31 consecutive days over 110! Now that is hot!

Isabella loved it, of course.  She is a little fish.

Cady's dog was less excited about did manage to at least get her feet wet.

Monica dipped her toes in.

Karen and George enjoyed quiet conversation but stayed dry.

I always plan activities for Isabella.  This time we worked together to make her a beaded wind chime.  

I think she liked it!

Our traditional 'tin foil dinners' were a hit again thanks to Matt's skill at the grill.

And of course, we had to have s'mores....with gluten free marshmallows, chocolate and graham crackers.  These were the biggest marshmallows I'd ever seen!

Isabella loved the giant marshmallow s'mores.  Her teary face is because she was so sad that Daddy wouldn't let her swim with him cross the river to play on a rope swing.  The current was swift even for John, much too strong for even an excellent swimmer little girl.  She was so sad not to join him, as evidenced by her swollen eyes. 

Every time I'm around Cady, I like her even more!  She is a great addition to the family group. And not just because she has two adorable dogs!

Another perfect day in the mountains.

Donner Pass

 I just got back from 3 weeks working for the census in California.  Most of that time I was in the Lake Tahoe area which was very pretty, but I also spent some time in Roseville and in the little communities around Donner Pass.

What a spectacularly beautiful area!  My favorite places are in the mountains with lakes and pine trees!

While I loved the scenery, I did not like driving over that pass  (elevation 7227 feet) and I made that drive 4 times.  Two of those times were on a Sunday afternoon when lots of people were driving back to central California from their lake vacations, pulling boats and campers and trailers but still zipping along at 75 miles per hour.  Add to that the semi trucks and it made me very nervous.  

I stopped feeling sorry for myself when I thought of the ill-fated Donner Party that I had heard about in history classes for many years.

When I reviewed the story I learned that about 60 people were trapped by an early snow at Donner Lake about 3 miles from the summit.   That is the lake you can see in the earlier photo.  Of those there were 19 men, 12 women and the rest were children, 6 of whom were babies or toddlers.  Many of these people starved to death or died of exposure.  Winters here are particularly harsh.  One man I talked to said that a couple of years ago they got 7 1/2 feet of snow in one 4 day storm.  Some house have ladders up to their 2nd floor windows to use when snow covers their doors.  

I don't even like to think about what it would be like to be living in make-shift log houses with no food during one of those storms.  We all have heard the stories of cannibalism and shuddered.  I like this historian's thoughts on the matter. 

 Historian Ethan Rarick wrote, "more than the gleaming heroism or sullied villainy, the Donner Party is a story of hard decisions that were neither heroic nor villainous"