Introducing My Children To 'Heaven On Earth'

It's now August of 1987 and we are finally going to take the kids to Lake Tahoe. My daughter was 5 1/2 and my son 3 1/2. I can remember being so excited and wanting to show them everything! First we had to endure an eleven hour car ride and when you are little that can be torture. This would be the farthest they had ever ridden in the car. I remember giving each of them a role of nickels (yes, nickels) and telling them that every time they asked me if we were there yet they had to give me a nickel. Any nickels that they still had when we got there were theirs to keep. In 1987, when you are 3 and 5, two dollars is a lot of money. Or at least I made them think it was :o). I don't think that either of them had to give me more than one or two. I used the 'nickel' incentive for several years and my children became excellent travelers. I would also buy little gifts from what was then Pic n Save. Every couple of hours I would give them something new. Riding in the car was actually kind of fun to them. Or maybe not. We'll see what they have to say in my comments.

That first trip to the lake was supposed to be for a week. Everyone was having such a good time that we extended our stay to 10 days. I don't remember everything that we did because the memories over the years seem to run together. I do know that we spent a lot of time just playing at the lake. I remember that we drove around the lake and stopped at Zephyr cove. There is an old legend of a green dragon who lives in the lake. Her name is Tahoe Tessie. She is friendly, and at that time you could find her image everywhere. There was a statue of her at Zephyr cove. The rest of the trip hubby and I would scratch on the walls when we went to bed at night and tell the kids that it was Tahoe Tessie trying to get in. In the mornings, when the Blue jays would walk on the roof, we would tell them that it was Tahoe Tessie walking on the roof. Good thing that they knew she was friendly or we could have scarred them for life.

Next to the cabin that we stay in, there was an old boarded up cabin. It was in need of repair and the porch was full of cobwebs and pine needles. Someone decided that a witch lived in it. From that trip all the way until this year, the cabin was called 'the witches cabin.' The kids would dare each other to walk around it and see who was brave enough to try and peak into the windows.

That year there were several dead trees on the property. They were full of woodpecker holes. Hubby decided to use the woodpecker holes and climb the tree. Look at those styling short shorts....lol.



Good thing he didn't fall. That might have hurt.

One of the special memories my daughter has of that trip is that she lost her first tooth in the cabin. Somehow, the tooth fairy managed to find us all the way up at Lake Tahoe!


Here are some pictures of the kids and hubby standing by the cabin. Be it ever so humble, there's no place like the little green cabin to temporarily call home....






A week and a half at the lake and all that that entails......$420.00.

Next vacation, if you want to call it that, January 1988, Reno, Nevada.