C&C Eichermueller Family

How was everyone’s 4th of July? We had a very relaxing one here in Reno with my parents. We went to a couple Reno Aces games which was totally fun. Anyone ever play Baseball Bingo before? It is sooo much fun! I highly recommend going to an Aces game when they are doing the Baseball Bingo. It makes the game interesting. Take someone with you who knows baseball terms though. Almost every other play I was asking my Dad if it was an ‘infield putout’ or a ‘5-3 putout’. Usually if I had to ask, it wasn’t what I hoped it would be. The fireworks celebration for the 4th was really good. I was thoroughly impressed by their finale! Other than the games we hung around at the house trying not to cook in the heat. I did get a new sewing machine (thanks Mom and Dad!!) which I am anxious to break it in but I do need a project…. I don’t currently have one. Maybe I should start making some Christmas gifts! LOL! Hope everyone had a great and safe 4th!! 🙂

This year for Memorial weekend we decided to drive to Portland, Oregon and visit David! It was a great drive up. There are tons of places in Oregon that are other places as well… Examples: Aurora, OR… Aurora, Illinois. Lebanon, OR… Lebanon. Salem, OR… Salem, Mass…. you get the point. It was pretty clear the whole drive up, not a lot of rain. We left Reno Friday night and stayed in Klamath Falls, OR for the night. The next day we drove the rest of the way to Portland. We hit 2 breweries (McMenamins in Eugene & 7 Brides Brewery in Silverton) on the way and discovered some beautiful countryside. Part of it looked a lot like German countryside and there was even a part with a church steeple you could see in the distance. When we got to the town it had a German facade like Leavenworth, WA. Has anyone heard of Mt. Angel? They apparently have a huge Oktoberfest every year and a lot of David’s family lives there too. It was very interesting. We arrived in Portland around dinner time and we met up with David to have dinner at a Japanese restaurant (that’s right, I ate Japanese food!). Now, did I like the Japanese food? Not the yellowfish I ordered but I did like Chris’s pork. 🙂
The next day we went to H&M so I could shop a bit and then to the Rose Garden and Japanese Gardens. There was a continuous cloud cover but no rain and it wasn’t cold. I told David I heard it was supposed to be sunny and he informed me that this was sunny for Portland. After the gardens we hit up a few breweries before dinner. Along the way we got The Simpsons tour. We went to BridgePort BrewPub (where we sat outside with Rocky and froze), Amnesia Brewing (where we left our credit card and when we went back for it 5 more beers were on the card… ), & Lucky Labrador Brewing (yummy peanuts). Dinner was at a really good Louisiana Kitchen restaurant called Manage under an overpass in a place that looks totally sketchy. Chris took Rocky for a walk while we waited for our table and got stared at by some homeless people trying to sleep. Good food though!
Monday was a sad day as we left Portland and David behind and hauled butt back home so Chris could write his paper that was due that night. We hardly stopped at all and hit a little bit of weather along the way. I did get to have some good apple pie at lunchtime. YUUUUUUUMMMMMMY!!!

Day 3 – We woke up late which was nice and then headed towards downtown DC to make sure we got to Ford Theater on time so we can look at the museum when it opened an hour before the show. We got there super early so we went souvenir shopping. Once the museum was open we headed on in and then saw the wonderful show Liberty Smith. It was really good and had a lot of historical facts. Afterwards we headed to the Museum of Natural History. It was jam packed full of impolite, prepubescent 8th graders shoving their way through people to see all the cool stuff. I got a bit claustrophobic so we left not even 5 minutes after we arrived. Good thing it was free! We then got on the metro and headed to our next brewery located in Silver Spring. It was in an old fire station house and was worth braving the rain for.
Day 4- We realized we had not seen the Jefferson Monument so we headed on over. From there we could see where the pentagon is and decided to hoof it on over. Unfortunately we found out you cannot walk to the pentagon. You must take the metro or the freeway. In our good efforts we found the Mount Vernon trail and walked straight to the airport. We watched planes take off for a few minutes before catching the metro at the airport stop. We went to Alexandria and saw the Masonic Temple and walked down the main street. The shops were super cool and we met up with our friend Michelle at the Tapas restaurant. It was a great way to spend our last night in the DC area!

Chris and I very much enjoyed our visit to DC and would love to go back one day. It feels like a vibrant city with young adults who are making a difference in the world. It was awesome!!

Day 2- We got back on the metro and headed to the Iwajima memorial… you know the one with the soldiers putting up the american flag? It was a lot bigger than I thought it was going to be. I think I had envisioned it as life sized but in fact it is much much larger. Next to these men was a bell tower so we went to check it out. It turned out to be a gift from Holland to thank the US for assistance in WWII. We could see Arlington National Cemetary from here so we walked on over and took a stroll through all the graves. It was quite peaceful. We made our way to what I think was the main entrance and there was a museum honoring women who have fought and are fighting in wars. I had to use the restroom so we headed in. It made me cry. Next we walked over a bridge to the Lincoln Monument. Unfortunately, they were redoing the reflecting pool so there was no water and a bunch of construction trucks in it. Probably making it nice for all the summer tourists! We saw the Korean Memorial next and then headed over to the Washington Monument. I believe we then hopped back on the metro to find our next brewery… Capitol Brewing. This was Chris’s favorite brewery of the trip. After lunch I informed my wonderful husband of an observation I made. I notice people walking around with H&M bags. Knowing his wife extremely well he asked if I would like to go to H&M. Of course I said yes and off we went to find the H&M. We headed to Ford Theatre next but they were out of tickets for tours for that day. They did inform us of a play we could see though so we can see that in the theatre and also have access to the museum 1 hour before the show starts. We decided to come back the next day and see the matinee show of LIBERTY SMITH. A fictional, historically based comedy which was extremely entertaining. We could see from our seats the balcony where Lincoln was shot. But I am getting ahead of myself…. this was on day 3. After buying our theatre tickets I think we headed back to the hotel, had some dinner and watched the movie Bedtime Stories with Adam Sandler. Good movie if you’re lookin’ for one!

We have been home for a week from DC and it was awesome. I hope I remember all that we did. We also were in contact with our friend Michelle the entire time who helped us a lot with trip planning and sites to see. Thank you Michelle! We were lucky enough to get to have dinner with her Sunday night before we left. It was the first time I have ever had tapas and it was yummy. I wonder if there is a tapas restaurant here in Reno….

Arrival Day- We arrived at the airport and to our dismay our luggage had not arrived. We went to the Southwest lost luggage area to wait in line to tell them our bag is not where it should be and the lady in front of us also was from Reno and did not receive her luggage. The guy from Southwest said that is a good thing we were from Reno as well because it meant Reno screwed up everyone’s stuff who came from there and our luggage probably missed the Reno flight entirely so will most likely arrive on the next flight in later that night. Sure enough it did and we were able to continue our vacation as planned without a spontaneous shopping spree.  We figured, this was the first time our luggage has been lost and we really do flight a lot so it was bound to happen eventually. Kind of like, the more you speed when you drive the more you up your chances of being caught!!
Day 1 of adventure – We started our day heading out to the Smithsonian. We had just learned the night before (from Michelle) that the Smithsonian is actually 19 different buildings encompassing many different things. We started at the vistor center building called Smithsonian Castle located at the mall. It showed you were all the 19 buildings are located and what is inside them. From here we decided to head to the Portrait Gallery museum to see the Presidential Portraits. We spent a lot of time there and really enjoyed it. We next headed to our first DC brewery (besides Rock Bottom where we had dinner the night before but that one doesn’t count) District Chophouse Restaurant and Brewery. After lunch we wanted to get back on to the metro to go see the National Cathedral. Along the way we passed the National Archives and decided to stop by. We got to see all the important pieces of paper our fore fathers signed. They are really difficult to read because they are faded but you can buy a more readable copy in the gift shop if you’d like! We then headed to the National Cathedral and actually sat through some of the Mass that was going on. The museum was already closed because it was past 5pm but it was nice to sit for a bit and listen to the choir. We then headed in the WRONG DIRECTION to look for the metro station and actually ended up on Massachusetts Ave. Guess what’s on Massachusetts Ave? EMBASSIES! It was a blast looking at all the different flags hanging outside the different buildings and trying to guess which countries they were. We eventually made it to DuPont Circle where there is a metro station stop and hopped on to head back to the hotel and get some dinner.

Day 2 of adventures tomorrow….

It is our 3rd day in DC and boy have we gotten around! I’m not sure I can name all the places we have been so far in this post because we are going to be heading out soon for Ford’s Theatre and the Verizon Center where the local NHL hockey team the Capitals play. I promised my bro a Capitals shot glass and by golly he’s going to get one! Off we go. More later….

That’s right folks. Even though the weather has been acting like it was about to start Springtime a little early, BOOM! A massive snowstorm hits and we are covered in whiteness. A lot of people are saddened by these flakes falling from the sky, but not I! It’s February people… there is supposed to be snow on the ground and snowman’s being made. Thank you mother nature for bringing back the cold!!

“And where is Pollock Pines?” you find yourself asking. Well it is on Highway 50 just east of Placerville and just west of S. Lake Tahoe. Tahoe is about 30 minutes away. It is the location of great childhood memories where our parents used to own a cabin. We even drove up the old driveway so we could see the old cabin. It looked good and well taken care of. Ahhhh, the memories I have of that place.

The weekend was spent with my super big bro Mike, Traci and Aunt Susan. We wanted to relive our youth so we wanted to do things we did way back when. We ate lunch at the new an improved BURGER SHACK. It was originally an actual shack in the middle of a dirt lot with only outside seating. It then moved to a shopping center space which was extremely disappointing. To our surprise it has once again moved to a stand-alone building so it is more like a shack again! They just reopened this past Tuesday and were still working out the kinks but the homemade cheesecake our waitress made was EXCELLENT!
Our next adventure was walking around Placerville shopping. We made a couple purchases and had fun walkin’ the dog around. It was a sunny, warm, California afternoon.
Our plan was to have some dinner at Los Hermanos (makes you feel like you are no longer in hick Pollock Pines but rather in Mexico on the beach) and then go bowling. Well, since there is not much to do in a small town, bowling was where everyone was at. There was a huge waitlist to get a lane and we decided to get a movie instead. Has anyone seen the movie “Grown Ups” with Adam Sandler and Chris Rock? If you haven’t, I have just saved you anywhere from 1-5 bucks (depending on where you go to rent a movie) cuz that movie was horrible. I think Aunt Susan fell asleep during it!
The next day we went to lunch at the Pizza Factory where their cookies are so tiny! Mike and I can remember when they had “THE BIG COOKIE” and boy was it big and it was cheap too. Chris and Traci feel it is one of those things where we were little so it seemed big and now that we are big they seem little but I will state until the day I die those things were HUGE! So instead of one big cookie like old times I got two small ones.
It was a great relaxing weekend spent with family. I can’t wait to go back and maybe go to Jenkinson Lake for some swimming and rafting!

This past weekend was spent with my brother in law Stephan! He was on a snowboard trip with his buddies to Tahoe (as he does every year) and we were able to spend some time with him. Friday we went out and celebrated Chris’s birthday! I asked the waitress at Great Basin if they sing for birthdays… she said no. But he did get a free beer! Saturday we headed out to Mt. Rose ski resort. It was a beautiful, sunny day. Mt. Rose was having a “slide back” day where there was a retro contest and many people were dressed in neon onesies. While we ate lunch we were entertained by the display of retro-dressed people dancing across the stage to wonderful 80s music. It was a great lunchtime break. It was very windy which I didn’t like too much but Chris thought it was a perfect day for skiing. It was great seeing Stephan and I’m so glad he came to visit!
Next weekend, Pollock Pines with my bro and fam!! WOOHOO!!