July 31: Goodbye to the Sierras

July 31:  Goodbye to the Sierras

Everyone is up early as we need to pack and have everything out to the Uni-Mog by 8 am.  There is a drizzle that sounds much worse inside the tents which need to be swept out, the mats placed back in the plastic bags, the lantern and the clothesline taken down.  The rain stops and a hearty breakfast consisting of pancakes, eggs made to order, bacon and sausages is served to prepare us for the four mile hike back to Florence Lake.

It’s a beautiful walk back through the meadows and we all enjoy the flowers and the views.  Our week has ended and most feel that they will return to the program in the years to come.  The boats take us over the lake , eight at a time.  We treat ourselves to ice cream bars at the little store.  The luggage eventually joins us and every heads out to home.

Our journey takes over three hours and at times we can see the smoke in the air from the not too distant forest fire. Our first task upon reaching home is to do real laundry and remove the campfire smells from our clothes! 

We get an email that Spike (the dog) did NOT have a broken leg; instead he had stepped on and had been bitten by a rattlesnake!  Since he had been given a venom shot before coming up, he was going to be fine.  Relief!

The couple we were staying with and invited us to the High Sierra program, Barb and Dean, were friends from our Antarctica expedition.  Another friend from that same trip lives only an hour from them so he and his wife came over for cocktails and dinner; it was great to reconnect!  Dinner was at Fugazzi’s with dishes from short rib ragu and red wine sauce over pappardelle noodles, jambalaya to artichokes and onions over angel hair.  All were delicious!  And we were all too full for dessert (can you believe it?!).