Lake Tulloch

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Woke up with two reasons to smile big this morning.  The first smile came when I discovered that Bruce and the dogs were off on their walk around the pond -- he's feeling better!  His fever broke last night and, although he's still feeling pretty poorly, we've turned the corner with this thing. 








The second smile came when I looked out through the double doors and saw a completely different cast of characters peering in at me.  Good morning!!!  This is the oldest of the three broods of ducklings.  I'm sure that if the doors had been open, they'd have all marched right on in to have a bit of a look around and maybe check out the fridge.

Yesterday I left Bruce on his sickbed and went out to have some fun.  I know that this sounds heartless, but we'd reached a point where I'd descended into full-on hovering mode and could say nothing except, "How are you feeling?" and "Can I get you anything?"  Every five minutes.  Bruce put up with it because...well, because he was flat on his back and had no choice. 

The view from the lake house deck

So, to give him a break from me and also to give me a break from me, off I went to visit my friend Jackie at Lake Tulloch Reservoir.  This lake is a mere ten miles or so from the house, yet in the 18 years I've lived here I've never actually been on it.  I've driven along it, crossed the bridge to reach a town on the other side and once even sat and had a drink on the edge of it -- but that's as close as I've ever gotten.  Jackie and I have taught together for a long time and every year she invites me over to the lake house that they rent with friends for a week in the summer.  This year I stepped out of hermit mode and finally went -- and had a great time!





I think that the main reason I've never gone on the lake is because I'm totally out of my element there.  It's a family/vacation/resort sort of place where people do things like water ski and party and jet around in fast boats.  I don't turn my nose up at any of this, but, to be honest, this is my idea of a boat:

The SS Frog: in the barn and covered with dust

Time to shake loose some of that Frogpond dust off myself, wouldn't you say?  So off I went with Jackie and other friends and family in a real boat, with Jackie's husband, Mark, at the helm.  I wish I'd thought to get a picture of it, as I know nothing about boats and can not even describe it very well.  The best I can do is show you what it looked like when Mark hit the throttle.

Yeah, it was like that!  Almost lost my garden hat, but loved every bit of splash and spray.  This wasn't my little rubber raft bobbing on the pond! 


Then we slowed down and tooled around looking at the sights.  I Googled it and discovered that Lake Tulloch has 55 miles of shoreline.  Who knew?  If you look at a map, it's sort of shaped like a starfish with four long skinny arms.  One of these arms travels up into the hills where it joins up to a much bigger reservoir called New Melones. 


First we traveled down one arm and looked at houses lining the lake:

Then we went up another arm where there was more nature:

Upside down Topography

The edges of the lake are rimmed by ancient lava flows.  This is called upside down topography (learned this at my summer geology institute): a volcano would erupt and the lava flowed down a river bed.  It then hardened into the shape of the river and, after millions of years of erosion, voila -- a perfect cast of the river rises above everything else.  Pretty cool, and very impressive from down on at lake level.





Last of all, I got to see (for the first time in my life) wake boarding up close and personal.

Nathan almost flying as he skimmed the water

Jackie's son, Ben -- he was a wild man out there

Jackie looking like Xena, the Warrior Queen

I love this last pic of Jackie!  Over the years I've seen her decked for teaching, for going out and for kicking back and relaxing -- but never like this.  She's amazing! 


I'm quite pleased  that I managed to peel myself away from this place (as, no doubt, was Bruce, who got an afternoon off from me asking him how he felt)  and am very grateful that Jackie persevered and never gave up inviting me for a visit until I finally got my butt over there.  Thank you!

The welcoming committee (gonna have to hose off that porch. Again)

Yeah, but now I'm home again.  Ahh, Frogpond...