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Here is the promised part 2 of 2 of the Tahoe pictures. They are all of the boating trip we took. It's pricey to rent a boat so we were only gone for about one and a half hours. I was amazed that it cost $60 in gas! I did a rough calculation and I think the boat only got 2.5 mpg! We went from Tahoe City down to Emerald Bay and back.





















The front part of the boat had a tarp covering the seating area, that was Jace's favorite area to hang out in.





This is Emerald Bay, it's really beautiful. A rich lady who used to live in a huge Viking-inspired house on the bay built a small tea house that looks like a castle on top of the island in the bay.

Last weekend we spent a few days in Tahoe with the extended family. We stayed at a ~$5 million "cabin" that a friend of the family owns. It had two buildings and 10 beds! The weather was awesome. This is part one out of two because my battery ran out when we rented a boat. I'll get those pics from my Mom and add them soon.

Here are some shots of the awesome cabin and its view:

















The spa could fit about 12 people. It also has powerful jets on one side that let you swim in place.





I went on a walk through the forest with my Mom and Jace. We found an area with gigantic boulders which were fun to climb on.

















Apparently it snowed about two days before we got there and it all melted. This is the only tiny patch we were able to find:



This is a funny (in my opinion) sequence where Samantha was exploring the hill below the cabin, became irritated that I was photographing her, and then proceeded to climb up and tackle me. I should be an action photographer!





















We spent some time walking along the Truckee River:







Jace playing at a nice playground with an awesome view of the lake:



My Mom and Jace looking at a big paddle boat in the distance:



Finally, since he wasn't well-represented above, here's a picture of Rez:



Stay tuned for Part 2!

Not figuratively, just literally. At every street intersection I'm assaulted by something I like to call "pickle gas" wafting from the storm drains. My coworker Kevin calls it "swamp gas". Either, way, it's like being punched in the face. I've tried figuring out what it is via Google and Wikipedia but no luck so far.

Now that I've gotten past my overly sensitive nose issues, here are some pictures to look at. Sorry that they are dim and blurry, my camera is horrible at taking lowlight pictures.

Here is a picture of one of many "Skyways" that connect all the buildings together:


An interesting building:


One building had big mounds of grass in front of it with little statues, very cool:




We went to the Mall of America... we had to. It was very dark and kind of deserted but maybe that's because it was a weeknight. Here is a ferris wheel:



Gotta love how the mall cops get Segways:



There was a soap store that had huge bars of soap (bigger than a loaf of bread) with things suspended inside:



One cool thing was that it would have cost $40 each way via taxi to get to the mall but it was only $1.75 each way via light rail.

That's all for now... I get to go home tomorrow... yay! After 5 days of intense data work I'm looking forward to some rest.

You never know how fun cardboard and duct tape can be...



I'm off to Minneapolis for another week.

Check out the new website where you can donate money and see the progress we're making toward our goal of $1,000 by the end of the month!

http://www.CHOPtober.org

The guys I work with are putting together a charity called "Choptober". Basically you grow pork chops and sport them during the month of October and at the same time get sponsored to raise money for breast cancer. We are going to start a website. Expect to hear more soon!

Here is my entry: