Two American Anamolies: Diner dining and river rafting (7 August)

Some aspects of the American "way of life" are surprising, amusing, entertaining and even sometimes dumbfounding. Today we experienced two such examples. For breakfast in Truckee we visited Jax's Diner. This special form of restaurant is a revamped railroad dining car and we even have an example in Switzerland: Cindy's.

The typical interior of a diner consists of booths on one side and a counter with bar stools on the other. The menu is limited, in some places mostly burgers and other simple meals. But here at Jax's the food is well prepared, fresh and healthy. Breakfast is served all day and I had an excellent combination of eggs and avocado on salad greens and hash browns. Sounds strange and looks awful, but is refreshing and delicious.

More importantly, the coffee is freshly roasted and, seldom found on the dining table, there are colorful flowers to brighten the day.

We've enjoyed our stay in Truckee and will miss the "frontier atmosphere" of this historical little town.

On our way south to Placerville, we drove along the west shore of Lake Tahoe and marveled at this mountainous road we had bicycled on three UDC tours. However, we found the traffic to be much more intense than we remembered, with cars parked along every imaginable and unimaginable patch of roadside, the passengers attempting to gain access to view points and beach fronts.

In Tahoe City we made the spontaneous decision to cycle the bicycle path back up to Squaw Valley. The path was in poor condition with uncomfortable cracks in the pavement, but it was lovely to travel along the river and away from automobile traffic. However, there was other traffic along the river: masses of happy river rafters. People in rubber rafts and colorful plastic rings of every description were paddling down the river, or hanging off the sides of their transport, or swimming alongside or even just wading through the often shallow water. It was just one big party of playing, picnicing, beer drinking, sunbathing and life enjoying Americans.

 The bicycle path was also in enthusiastic use by young and old and families and every type of two wheeled vehicle. The contrast to our almost lonely climb up Donner Pass yesterday was quite marked, but both events part of our American experience and each entertaining in their own right.

 

This is river rafting?!