There Is Internet Here In The Rustic Cabin

The tiny little pea soup green cabin has no phone and no cell phone service but, as we discovered today, has free Wi-Fi. We're apparently confiscating the service from someone else who lives around here and pays for wireless Internet. I don't feel badly about it because I am sure that, back in Salt Lake, someone steals the wireless that we pay for.

We drove through the Nevada desert on Sunday afternoon with absolutely no air conditioning. Upon arrival my father figured out that the compressor isn't turning or rotating or whatever it does. We're maybe taking it to a car doctor in Truckee before we have to endure another desert trek without a cooling system. It was fine, really. We just had to roll down the windows and scream over the sound of the wind whipping through our car. We made it in 9.5 hours with about an hour of stops including 40 minutes at McDonald's in Winnemucca to allow our toddler--the one who was an angel for the entire car ride despite sleeping for only 90 minutes of it--to frolic in the play area. We had also stopped for gas and an ice cream break in Elko where the following was overheard at the Friendly Neighborhood Gas Station Redbox...

Burly Motorcycle Dude's Wife: We could rent a DVD.
Burly Motorcycle Dude: Okay.
(They approach the Redbox which is right next to the table we were sitting at)
Burly Motorcycle Dude: Honey, they have Nancy Drew!

And then my idea of stereotypes was shattered. We got gas in Reno and then headed up to the cabin. The vent was open and, as we climbed the mountains in the dark, I pressed my nose into it and inhaled. The crisp smell of pine filled my nostrils. I closed my eyes and sighed. There is no doubt in my mind that I was made to live here, in these woods, even if only for a week at a time.

My son, it seems, was also born to love these parts. Yesterday we took him to the lake and this morning, when he woke up at seven, he pulled his pacifier out of his mouth and, with inquisitive eyes, questioned, "Pool?" He thinks the lake is a gigantic pool and he was ready to dive into its icy waters at the crack of dawn.

Today our friends came up from Auburn to spend the day with us. Aaron was on staff with Troy at Mountain View and we had a great time visiting with them. I took their almost eight-year-old (the ring bearer from our wedding) out in an inner tube. He wanted me to keep going so that we could ride the waves from the passing speed boats. We weren't successful in our quest but his mother gave me permission to blog the following conversation...

Me: Hey, how far out should we go?
S: I think maybe over to Nevada. (We were around the Homewood area, a few miles south of Tahoe City. In California. In a tube. With one oar. And no food or drink.)
Me: Hmmm. Do you think your mom and dad might worry?
S: They'd probably just go home.
Me: You think?
S: Well, we might not be able to get coverage and so we probably couldn't text. They'd just think we got shipwrecked and sunk to the bottom.
Me: (Trying so hard not to laugh hysterically) And so then, they'd just go home, you think?
S: Most likely.

Oh man. Also, we decidedly would not have been able to get coverage because, um, I hadn't thought to take my cell phone out onto the lake in a tiny little tube. Silly, silly me.