I, of course, didn't drive back to Sacramento after discovering that I had forgotten it. It's just that worrying takes a lot out of you.

I'm exhausted. But, I'm proud to say that the weekend in Lake Tahoe was fabulous! We had a great time celebrating Buzzer's birthday.

My sister flaked out because she was still having pain/problems with the holes in her mouth where her wisdom teeth used to be.

Buzzer, M, and I drove up to Tahoe early on Saturday morning. We dropped our stuff off at the cabin, then headed to Horsetail Falls. That was one tough hike (I guess it didn't help that I was bothered by the altitude), but we got a lot of great photos.

After the 5-hour hike, we headed back to the cabin to freshen up, then went down to the Lake for dinner and gambling. All of us were sore losers. My dad taught us how to play Keno. I used to be a heavy Blackjack player, but stopped playing during a neverending losing streak several years ago. Keno is a pretty good game, but you can get tired playing it because it's so repetitive... just like playing the slots.

M lost $60, I lost $60, and Buzzer lost $120.

When we got back to the cabin, we had a birthday party for Buzzer. I had bought the goofy party hats, the noise makers, and balloons. We ate cupcakes because my sister flaked out on baking the cake.

The next day, we were all feeling pretty sore, but we went on another hike nonetheless. This time we did a stroll around Echo Lake. Very pretty and fairly easy terrain. It turned into another 5-hour hike.

As you can probably imagine, today I'm super sore. But I don't mind. It was great to be outdoors in the perfect balmy weather. There wasn't a cloud in the sky. We lucked out because Tahoe is typically cold this time of year.

I've got to resume this later today, as my lunch break is over and I have to go back into CAICE training. Wish me luck. My computer was constantly freezing up during the morning session.