Alan and Jonna's 2010 Graeagle, CA trip

For New Year's Eve 2010 we continued our tradition from last year by joining Jonna's brother Jamie and his three kids: Larkin, Brianna and Rosie for a long weekend at Jamie's in-law's cabin in Graeagle, CA. (Jonna's sister-in-law Kelly's holiday gift was a relaxing weekend alone at home, so she didn't join us). We went hiking, sledding and snow-mobiling.

Here are some of our favorite photos from the trip:

1) Larkin had a broken right foot, so his sledding was marked by plastic bag and duct tape covered cast and a leg held high while sliding down the slopes.

2) Alan, Jonna, Brianna and Rosie hiked halfway up the slopes at the old ski Plumas-Eureka ski resort for an extended sled run. Nice views of the Sierras and of the dark clouds all around (surprisingly, the weather was nice where we were!)

3) Just as we got to the high point of the day's hike and were about to start our sled run, a beautiful rainbow lit up the sky.

4) This is the view back down the slope with the old ski lodge down at the bottom of the hill and with Bri zooming down on her sled.

5) For our second day we drove down to Truckee Summit, about an hour from Graeagle, and did a snowmobile tour with Eagle Ridge Snowmobile. We did a two hour, which was about 1 1/2 hours of trails and 1/2 hour blasting around in Perazzo Meadows.

6) Alan, Bri and Rosie took a break in the middle of the meadow so that Jamie, Jonna and Larkin could take the sleds out solo. Despite the dark clouds, we again had great weather and even had a moment of bright sunshine I could get a picture of the two girls in their snowmobiling gear.

7) Jonna and Bri were riding two-up on this sled and posed during a break in the trip.

8) Perazzo Meadows is a wide open place with a shallow creek running through the middle (the creek was frozen over in mid-winter). The snowmobiles got up to around 50 mph going across this big meadow.

9) On our final day in Graeagle, we returned to Plumas-Eureka State Park to hike up to Eureka Lake. We hiked back up the slopes of the old ski resort to a road and then looped around behind the mountain to Eureka Lake. The hike through the trees is really beautiful as the big moss-covered tree trunks tower overhead.

10) A frozen Eureka Lake with Eureka Peak in the background. (Okay, technically, this isn't Eureka Peak, it is really a sub-peak on the side of Eureka Peak but since you can't see the actual Eureka Peak from the lake, it is a substitute...

11) Jonna, Jamie, Rosie and Bri just before we launched of the summit for a sled run all the way down the slope and with the Sierra Mountains stretching from frame to frame in the background. The top of the slope here is *very* steep and the famed Sierra cement snow packed hard. On a teflon bottomed sled, you rocket down here!

12) Rosie and Jonna mid-sled run on the way down.

13) A panorama showing the view down the range of the Sierras from near the top of the slopes in Plumas-Eureka State Park. Beautiful!

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Alan Fleming