Three In One

Last Saturday, we decided to pull of a “Three In One” – three different smaller events all in one afternoon. 

We invited Grandpa to come along with us, and he kept up well with our pace!

Our first stop was the Fair Oaks Chicken Festival.  For decades, Fair Oaks has the distinction of having wild chickens that wander all through town.  Once a year, the Chicken Festival is held with bands, booths, games and food.

This was our 1st time here, we walked through, got some yummy kettle corn, saw the chickens, (didn’t eat them, although there were tons of chicken food) and it was time to move on.

Our next stop was  a “Rail Festival” put on by the ‘Railroad Education and Preservation Society and the El Dorado Sacramento Historical Railroad Historical Association’ otherwise known as the REPSEDSHRHA.  I think that is the longest group name I’ve ever heard of! 

They are working to complete a line of railway that has been abandoned from Folsom to Placerville through the foothills and hope to open it in about 2 years to tourist rail excursions. This was the 1st annual Rail Festival to raise awareness of their project.

They brought several old pieces of railway cars and equipment and had rides on some of them. We went on the streetcar and were ambushed by some not to nice folks.

We rode a few  miles down the track and then came back. Hard to believe just a few miles down the way was the city. Looking at this scenery, you would have thought we were in the middle of nowhere!

There was a very cute banjo band that were very good!  They only place that had shade, was right next to the drive-thru for Starbucks. So all the Starbucks people got serenaded as they ordered their coffee.

We ended up our 3-in-1 at the old Folsom Powerhouse. Back in the day, when electricity came to town in 1895, the Folsom dam was built, and the water rushing down the river was used to generate electricity that was used to power Sacramento 22 miles away.  The plant was used until 1952.

The water would rush down these huge pipes and turn huge turbines to generate the electricity.  They used labor from the nearby Folsom prison to build the dam and the powerhouse.

We accomplished our 3-in-1 and had a great time!  Thanks Grandpa for coming with us!

Lake Tahoe Family Reunion

The Gwilliam’s finally all got together for a family reunion over Labor Day Weekend.  We had a great cabin that fit all 31 people! 

We ate a lot… played games….talked and chatted…..went on hikes……went geocaching…….and had a great time together!

In this game, Zach was supposed to act like a crazy man. Do you think he pulled it off?

We went to Reno and tubed down the river.  The river runs right through downtown Reno and it’s been altered to have dips and rapids. One side is larger rapids and white water for the ‘big kids’ tubing and kayaking, and the other side is more tame for the smaller kids.  Everyone had a great time!

We spent some time at the Fleischmann Planetarium and Science Center at the University of Reno.

Oops…not ready for the picture yet!

Ok, try now:

We went to Scheel’s which is a store bigger than Cabela’s, but same type of sports store.  There were aquariums, museums, fudge factories, shooting galleries and even a full size Ferris wheel INSIDE the store!

Almost all of us went hiking looking for geocaches.  We crossed a cool looking pond and saw an old miners’ house.

We tried to take a family photo – wait…not ready yet!

Ok, Try now… Oops..not ready yet again!

Ok, here’s one- still with some shadows, but you get the idea.

And now with a funny face.

Of course we had to go to Lake Tahoe. It’s so pretty!

We went early in the morning before the crowds got there.

Interesting factoids about the lake:

Average Depth: 1000 feet

Deepest Depth: 1645 feet

Water Temp: 41-68 degrees

Size: 22 miles long by 12 miles wide

Shoreline: 72 miles

Volume: 39 trillion gallons – enough water to cover California with 1 foot of water

On the way home, we stopped at Squaw Valley to get some liquid refreshment.  Squaw Valley was the home to the Olympics in 1960.

Can you spot the hidden tram in this pic? It blends in:

We had a great time! Thanks everyone for coming!  Let’s do it again soon!