Boring Stuff and a Bridge

Hiya Folks,

I log on to the Grapevine most every day over lunch at work just to see what you all are doing and figured I'd better post something to let you know we're still here. So Deb and I were chatting and we commiserated about not always having exciting things to post. Some days are exciting, but let's face it, the day to day is pretty dull. So let's see... Larry and I bought a new mattress. Okay, actually that is exciting because the cheapo thing we bought 15 years ago (yes, it's been 15 years since the gala event you all attended in Phoenix) needed to go! We found out our dog Zach has hay fever and now has a daily medicine routine that rivals that of a sickly octogenarian. We finished stripping wallpaper in the boy's room and have started to paint (the boys felt they were getting to old for teddy bears playing sports). yawn Are you still with me?

Actually this past weekend we took a family boating trip up to Lake Clementine in Auburn, CA. [Dad, do you have your map?] Our regular haunt, Folsom Lake, is so low this year it currently has a 5mph speed limit over the ENTIRE lake. Since it's hard to catch too much air off the wake at 5mph we headed north. There was a two mile stretch of road to get down to the lake that would have been quite treacherous if we'd had to pass another vehicle towing a boat going the opposite direction. It was pretty much a fairly steep, one-lane road that twisted and turned down to the lake. I guess if you meet someone you just stare each other down until one of you decide to prove your trailering skills and back up until you get to a wider section of the roadway. I'm sure Larry appreciated my driving skills (I was in the passenger seat not the back seat so that's okay right?). So to get to Lake Clementine we crossed the Foresthill Bridge. It's a crazy-high bridge that was built with plans to flood the valley below. When the "Auburn Dam" was never completed it left a 730 foot high bridge over the river. We walked out to the center and Larry took this picture of the boys. Larry missed my safety briefing and so took this picture standing on the opposite rail (just like the one the boys are leaning against). Okay, maybe he wasn't in danger of going over the edge, but the highway was just over the rail on the other side. But we're all safe and he got a great picture. Some of you may recognize the bridge from the Vin Diesel movie XXX (Triple X). Even in the picture with the boys it's hard to get a perspective of how truly high up you are until you see the stunt man in the movie base jump from a Corvette driven over the edge. Haven't seen the movie? Watch the scene here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTUawc64NmA

We were content to look and did not try our base jumping skills on this day. So now the weekend is over and it's back to the daily drudgery. sigh Hope you all are well, and keep posting so I have something to read over lunch!

Love, Paula and Co.