This year our gardens were amazing!
Beautiful sunflowers against a brilliant blue sky.
On August 17th we moved Hannah into her dormitory at the University of Nevada, Reno. Bob snapped this picture of her and Lisa as she carried in her last piece, a small succulent for her room. It was exciting and a bit hard both at the same time.
Hannah in front of her new home.
Each floor in her dorm houses a single major which makes it great to find study partners and mentors.
Getting all moved in.
Hannah and Marie, her new roommate.
Hannah has very nice housing at UNR in the Nevada Living Learning Community building.
Hannah will be studying Elementary Education and this will be her main building, the William Raggio College of Education building.
On August 10th Bob Joined a group from our church on a 10.2 mile out and back hike to the summit of Mount Tallac (9,739 feet). It was a beautiful day with amazing views.
Trail view on the way to the summit of Mount Tallac with Fallen Leaf Lake and Lake Tahoe below.
An amazing panoramic view from the summit of Mount Tallac (9,739 feet).
Dave Norvell is a friend from church and the group leader on our Tallac hike.
Mike Kirchner and his dog on the summit of Mount Tallac.
Caleb and Hannah in front of the Desolation Wilderness sign.
On July 28 we headed on a three day backpacking trip into the Desolation Wilderness Area. It was an amazing trip with incredible scenery.
CLICK HERE to go to our Desolation Wilderness Area Backpacking Page.
Joining our family on our Desolation backpacking trip were Chris England, Dave Norvell, and Christopher Robison. They were a great to have along.
Lisa hiking through this amazing wilderness area. We started at Echo Lakes and hiked eight miles to Lake Aloha the first day.
Setting up camp on the shores of the amazing, otherworldly Lake Aloha.
Lisa and Hannah taking a refreshing swim in Lake Aloha. Because it is quite shallow, it was surprisingly warm even though snow melt was running in on the opposite bank.
Truly amazing scenery.
Sunrise on Lake Aloha greeting us on the second day of this great trip.
Hannah and Lisa hiking along the shores of Heather Lake.
Lisa and Bob hiking up the trail above Susie Lake.
Hannah in her element near Dick's Lake.
On July 26th Bob received an invitation from the economic development team at NVEnergy to join them at the beautiful Montrêux Golf and Country Club for the Barracuda Championship Golf Tournament. The Barracuda Championship, is a professional golf tournament on the PGA Tour. Joining Bob was our good friend and neighbor, Sean Summers. Sean is a big golf fan and an avid player, so having the chance to bring him along with all of his experience and knowledge about the tour was great. It was a really fun day for both of them.
Both Sean and Bob had a great time walking around the beautiful Montrêux Golf and Country Club and enjoy the great setup NVEnergy provided. Their booth was right on the 18th hole with all meals included. It was a really great time.
On July 25th our wonderful little puppy of nine years succumbed to the ravages of diabetes. Over the past six months since she was diagnosed, she had progressively gotten worse and worse, lost her eyesight, then her hair, and lastly the will to live.
Bob spent these last moments with her before she fell into her last sleep.
We thank God for all the wonderful times we had with Christy and are thankful we could be the family to send her off to run with the "big dogs" in Heaven.
The week of July 8th Bob joined ten of his colleagues from the Nevada Governor's Office of Economic Development (GOED) for a tour of rural Nevada. A big reason to go on the tour was to connect with the rural parts of our state and to familiarize the team with all the amazing sights, activities and things to do in rural Nevada. They had the opportunity to visit with a wide range of community stakeholders including local government officials, business owners and residents. While on the tour they also went on a number of wonderful tours, including a large mining operation, a state of the art hemp farm, a scenic rail ride, the Google Loon project, and also got to visit many great historical sites.
One of the first stops on the tour was to visit with local officials and business people in Ely, Nevada. After that the team went on a great outing on the Great Basin Star Train. It was a beautiful evening train ride through the area which is home to one of the darkest skies in the lower 48 states, providing amazing views of our wonderful night skies here in Nevada.
The next stop on their tour was one of the largest gold mines in the state, the Goldstrike mine, just north of Carlin, Nevada. Here Bob is standing next to Joel Lenz, GOED's Mining Industry Specialist, in front of a section of the processing facility.
Bob and some of the GOED team in front of one of the huge haul trucks at the Goldstrike mine.
Kris Sanchez, GOED's Interim Executive Director, and Bob.
The GOED team also made a stop at Bently Heritage Estate Distillery in Minden, Nevada. The distillery crafts some of the world's finest spirits including gin, vodka, and whisky from grains grown on their own ranch including winter rye, wheat, oats and barley.
One of the Carl stills in the Bentley Estate Distillery.
A couple of the custom oak aging barrels.
Three versions of Bentley's Juniper gin and two versions of their vodka.
This beautiful staircase is the centerpiece of the Mill Building, a complete restoration of the old Flour Mill in downtown Minden.
The view of the distillery grounds from the top floor of the Mill Building. They always fly three flags: the American flag, the Nevada State flag, and the flag of the country where members of the Bentley family are currently traveling to on one of their many philanthropic trips.
One of the last stops on the GOED rural tour was Genoa, the oldest town in Nevada. It is home to Mormon Station Memorial State Park which commemorates the settlement of Nevada in 1851, when the first permanent trading post was established by a group of Mormon traders from Salt Lake City.
Early on July 6th Bob and Caleb loaded up their mountain bikes and rode the amazing Flume Trail. The Flume Trail is a moderately difficult one-way 14 mile ride a couple of thousand feet above Lake Tahoe. The views are amazing and we're so blessed to have this trail less than a half-hour from our house.
Caleb far above Lake Tahoe's famous Sand Harbor. Caleb is becoming a great mountain biker.
Bob and Caleb above Marlette Lake. Marlette Lake is part of the Marlette Lake Water System and was created to provide water for the silver mining boom in Virginia City, Nevada. The water flowing out of Marlette was directed down a "flume" to float timber to rail lines which would then deliver it to the mining operations in Virginia City. That "flume" has now been re-purposed as a hiking and biking trail we now know as the "Flume Trail."
Caleb at Marlette Lake.
Having fun posing after a fun Fourth of July target shooting outing just across the Carson Valley where we live.
Joining us for our Fourth of July fun were our neighbors, and good friends, the Summers: Jen, Sara, Jonathan and Sean.
In the middle of June, Bob sold the little Jayco PopUp camper he had completely rebuilt over the winter to his work colleague, Michelle Sibley.
All along it was Bob's goal to sell it at cost to someone who could really use it, appreciate it, and know the joy we've had over the years with our PopUp camper.
Click Here to see more of the story and pictures of Michelle driving off in her new/used RV.
Hannah doing some painting this summer in our backyard. She loves creating art.
On June 15th Bob took our whole family to a truly special event -- lunch with the President of Poland in Nevada Museum of Art in Reno.
This is a shot of Andrzej Duda, the President of Poland, speaking with us seated at the front table -- pretty amazing!
Caleb and Hannah also got to join us for the Polish Presidential visit, but were seated a bit further in the back. That said, they were the only kids in the room. What a great experience for them.
At the beginning of the summer we spent a couple of days camping at Fallen Leaf Lake. Bob had just finished his PopUp camper project and we wanted to test it out. Hannah's good friend from Las Vegas, Lydia Moretto, was here visiting so the girls pulled the small PopUp to the campground with Hannah's SUV and we pulled our PopUp and parked them side-by-side in adjacent campsites. It was a wonderful way to start the summer season.
Caleb helping set up our camper in the next campsite.
Lydia enjoying all of Bob's PopUp handiwork!
Hannah lounging in the refurbished PopUp.
Fallen Leaf Lake is beautiful and we so enjoyed the campground and beach time.
A view of Mount Tallac (9,739 feet) from our campsites. Mount Tallac stands out as one of the highest peaks in the region and from it's summit there are incredible views of the region including the Desolation Wilderness Area and Lake Tahoe.