Pine Mountain Lake

The weather cleared up and we all met in Angels Camp where Michael joined John and they rode together.  We drove over without any trouble.  No snow...no rain.  It was just fine!  It's a beautiful drive.  There is one area that seems to go straight up the mountain.  I took some video:  (warning...the wind is pretty LOUD)

We wanted to leave extra time to put on chains or whatever, so we ended up getting there REALLY early.  They were glad to see us.  I asked them if they were worried that we wouldn't make it and they said no.  I told them that the only way we weren't coming is if they closed the road!!  We are mountain people afterall!!

It just so happened that this gig was on my BIRTHDAY!!  I turned 52!  I made a special shirt for myself that said "Birthday Girl" on it....just to make everyone aware!!  he he  All I wanted from the band for my birthday was to perform the Beatles Birthday Song and I was promised that we would. 

It was nice to be able to set up in a leisurely way.  Pine Mountain Lake is a beautiful community and we played in the Grille.  It's a restaurant and bar, and the stage area is huge!!  We used our new lights...which are fantastic!  I had this plan to put lights on top of our speakers, and John's wife Patty somehow attached velcro to our lights, one white and one red for each speaker.  The speakers are up high, so the lights would shine down.  So many times it seems like we are playing in the dark.  At this gig, we had the luxury of time to figure out how to work this out.  We had all the cords we needed.  And WOW!  They are fantastic!   This should be a million dollar invention!!  

We also set up our video.  But, as usual, it's so far away that it's really not that great.  We are still figuring out Jerry's recorder and when we got home, we were bummed to find that nothing at all had recorded!!  Ugh.  I'm desperate to update our website's audio and video.  

One of the really nice things about playing for these folks is that they feed us!!  We had a wonderful meal and the food is delicious.  

The restaurant manager told us the the band for the Iron Door Saloon cancelled at the last minute.  This would be great for us!  We would benefit from people coming to the Grille when they heard there was a band.  It was shaping up to be a great night!

We started with some soft dinner music and there was a lot of dancing...the ballroom kind.  There was one couple that was just outstanding!!  I think that's them in the background of this photo.

As the evening wore on the crowd began to shift to a younger group and we played more and more Rock.

One couple came up and the guy wanted to collect a guitar pick from all of us for his collection, Steve and Mike gave him one without question.  I told him that he would HAVE to have one of mine too!!  Mine are hot pink!  He was happy about that and he proceeded to enjoy our music very much and whistled loudly a lot.  That made us feel really good.

And....it was his wife's birthday!  Imagine that.  So, we called her up and sang the Birthday Song for her and for me too.  There is a line in the song that goes...."they say it's your birthday...it's my birthday to yeah"...I got a kick out of that.  

We rocked and rocked until the stroke of midnight.  And, of course NOW it started to rain.  We all got soaked as we loaded our gear up to take the long road home.  Rain is OK...just hold the snow until we get home!  They were so happy with us that they booked us for 2 more gigs and I'm already looking forward to going back.  It's so close to Yosemite that maybe we will spend the night and go to the park the next day.