TIME FLIES!

It is a good thing I was wordy in May because I suddenly realized that we are now mid-way through the summer here in the beautiful mile-high hamlet of Strawberry.  The pool is holding water, the lounges are "staked out" by the visiting guests early in the day.  I jokingly advised the young man putting beach towels out this morning that we changed the rules and what he was doing was no longer allowed - come and USE the lounges, don't just "reserve them!"  When I laughed he realized that I was joking with him, and he offered to finish sweeping the tree debris from the deck!   I never refuse an offer of HELP!!  You all better remember that - don't say it if you don't mean it!!

Pinecrest Lake has been discovered by the hordes from the VALLEY!  During the drought years it and Lake Tulloch were the only water accessible and each year more folks have driven up for the day.  The Sunday of July 3rd was the highest use EVER - an estimated 30,000 people!!  The cars were parked on both sides of all the roads in Pinecrest and out on the Highway!  That is a one mile WALK to get to the water - which was still high in the trees since we had a week of rain/hail/snow just the week before Memorial Day!!  I didn't drive over to check but they had to be standing shoulder to shoulder and even in the water in order for that many people to be at Pinecrest Lake.  Not like the "olden days" when this corner of California was an undiscovered paradise!!  I even have a US map that has NO HIGHWAY 108 above Sonora.  I guess there must be newer maps that DO SHOW our highway!!

We get several folks a day who have no cellphone signals to guide them, and often have NO IDEA the name on the cabin or even the road that it is on, except "saved in the cloud" which of course they cannot access without a signal.  You have to be a mystery buff to answer the questions posed by "lost tourists" in our corner of civilization.  At least the Sonora Pass is open so we don't get the poor foreign tourists who attempt a crossing and ignored the three signs between Hiway 99, the last freeway, and Strawberry.  THREE SIGNS saying Sonora Pass, Hiway 108 closed 6 miles above Strawberry!!  I often get the question "Which freeway exit do I take?"  Oh, so glad that the nearest freeway is nearly two hours west of us!!

Our eldest son recently thanked us for moving the family out of San Jose when he had to make a day trip there for a doctor appointment for his wife.  The two youngest grandchildren asked if they could stay with grandma as they really didn't look forward to a day in the car - BORING!!  It isn't often that you can be part of a 10% INCREASE in the school population at Pinecrest Elementary School, and that is what our kids were back in 1979 when we left San Jose to purchase the Strawberry Inn.

It seems like someone else's life, a story I read, a dream / nightmare I had...time flies!  ENJOY IT!!