While Sarah was having mimosas with the girls...

I had to make myself scarce the other weekend while Sarah did something as if her and her friend's names were Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte and Miranda. So, I grabbed my kayak, my fly rod, and my manly 4x4 and headed into the Sierras to camp, fish, and see if I could find a situation where I was actually forced by loss-of-traction to put our Pathfinder into 4x4 mode (as opposed to "just locking it in because we paid for it and I know that this dirt patch on the side of the road doesn't really require four-wheel drive, but I want to try it out so bad that I need any excuse to crank that knob and feel like a man").

I wound my way up to Lindsey Lake (see map below), found a nice camping spot right on the shoreline, and whipped out the fly rod. Two native trout later, and I hit the sack for a restful night of peace and quiet.


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The next morning, I was out on the lake for a crack-of-dawn kayak, and another fish or two on the fly rod. Then, off to check out the back roads and forest trails of Tahoe National Forest. And that's where the beautiful day turned a bit dreary...

As I drove along the dirt roads, I heard a hiss and lo and behold, got a flat tire.

Bummer.

Oh well, what's a better way to feel manly? That's right: working on the ol' automobile! Getting some grease under my fingernails!

Or, in this case, getting dust and dirt under my fingernails, because there hadn't been any rain in something like 200 days.

Anyway, I dropped the spare, jacked the truck, and in less than 45 minutes, I was back on the road with only a mismatched rim to show for it.

Here are a few more photos, including some of Malakoff Diggins State Park, where the gold rush dudes used huge water hoses to blast away the mountains looking for gold. I don't think the EPA would approve of that these days.

Finally - a weekend away from metrosexual SF and up into the mountains to reclaim some of my Western PA man cred.

Mission accomplished!