Crazy weather wipes out most of the birthday celebration

Last Thursday was Don Q's birthday. And, to help celebrate that a very "monumental" occasion, Elaine and I had planned a whirlwind list of fun-filled activities including:

Wednesday evening: A small, private birthday dinner at our home with my son Jim and daughter-in-law Kathi.

After a leisurely round of Manhattans and conversation, our dinner consisted of stuffed mushrooms, Prime Rib, twice-baked potatoes, garden salad and Baguettes with butter.

Thursday morning: We were going to get up early, throw our fishing gear in the little, red pickup, have breakfast somewhere downtown and then go trout fishing at a location that I have not visited for a number of years.

We were going to drive to a parking location on a hillside near Wolf Creek in Alpine County, Calif.

From there, we planned to hike about 1-1.5 miles on a trail to a remote section of the East Carson River.

In the past, this section, which receives very little fisherman pressure, has produced some outstanding fishing for a mix of rainbow trout, cutthroat trout and mountain whitefish.

In addition, as a bonus, it offers some great scenery and the chance to see all kinds of mule deer, coyotes, hawks, etc.

We were going to spend the day, having fun doing some "catch and release" fishing and then return to Woodfords, later in the afternoon.

Thursday late afternoon: We would check into our reserved room at the Woodfords Inn at Woodfords, relax, have a cocktail and then get cleaned up for a very special dinner.

Thursday evening: We had dinner reservations for 6:30 p.m. at the newly-remodeled, Wolf Creek Restaurant in Markleeville, where the Chef is Patrick Henry, a longtime, personal friend.

Thursday night: We would spend the night at the Woodfords Inn.

Friday morning: After a leisurely breakfast, our plans were to hike into Summit Lake, a small lake located near Indian Creek Reservoir.

This lake has produced some outstanding fishing in the past, and we were looking forward to more catch and release fishing for rainbows that can run up to almost five pounds.

Friday afternoon: We would drive back home, catch up on telephone messages, Emails, U.S. mail and have a quiet dinner at home, followed by watching the NBA playoffs on television.

Saturday: We planned to drive to the Portola area to fish in our chest waders at Davis Lake. We had expectations of catching some nice rainbows, with the hoped-for bonus of possibly even catching a Northern Pike.

Then, unfortunately, the weather changed our plans:

A big winter storm rolled into the area on Wednesday evening and completely changed most of our plans in a hurry!

When we got up Thursday morning, the weather was ugly, very ugly!

The wind had been blowing very hard, all night. It was still very windy, bitter cold and the mountains were completed shrouded with some very nasty looking storm clouds.

We checked the road conditions and there were chain restrictions everywhere.

And the forecast was for the snow level to drop to the valley floors by Thursday night.

Snow in May!

Not good!

Especially for anyone planning to go into the mountains to go trout fishing.

So, our carefully laid out plans began to unravel, as the weather got worse.

Our fishing trip to the East Carson River was reluctantly canceled.

Our reservation at the Woodfords Inn was reluctantly canceled.

However, we were bound and determined to go ahead with our special dinner at the Wolf Creek Restaurant, regardless of the nasty weather.

We decided to take the little, red pickup in the event we "might" encounter snow. Note the key word "might."

My new plan was to drive to the Woodfords Station in Woodfords to spend a few enjoyable minutes with longtime friend and owner, Dave Kirby, before traveling to nearby Markleeville.

On our way to Woodfords, once we passed the Nevada/California stateline, it began to lightly snow.

Not good!

At Woodfords, we had a pleasant, half-hour visit with Dave, who told us, "Geez, you're the first humans I've seen in 2.5 hours because of the snowstorm."

All the time we were visiting with Dave, the snow was coming down, thicker and thicker.

We finally left Dave at about 5:30 p.m., and drove to Markleeville.

It was snowing very heavy, there were no other vehicles on the highway and the snow was really beginning to pile up and stick on the pavement.

Not good!

At the Wolf Creek Restaurant, we were warmly greeted by Patrick and Sylvia the waitress, who had both given up hope that we would be there that evening.

As it turned out, while eating our dinner, we were the only ones in the restaurant. How's that for a private dinner with special service!

We had a very tasty Manhattan cocktail and then we treated to a superb and unforgettable gourmet, birthday dinner.

That dinner consisted of:

Maryland crab cakes with Hollandaise sauce.

Homemade chicken noodle soup.

We passed on a choice of either spinach, Caesar or dinner salad.

I had a filet mignon with crab meat, white Asparagus and Hollandaise sauce.

Elaine had chicken breast covered with avocado and Monterey jack cheese.

Baked potatoes.

Assorted grilled vegetables.

And a very special birthday dessert for Donnie Q of Tiramisu with vanilla bean and whipped cream.

All the time, it was snowing harder and harder and the snow was piling up deeper and deeper.

Not good!

Once we finished our dessert, we reluctantly told our hosts goodbye and walked out the door.

There were about four inches of snow on the ground and it was snowing very hard. A blizzard in May.

Not good!

There had been no snowplow on the highway, so I put the little pickup into four-wheel drive and drove a safe and slow 20-25 MPH back toward Woodfords. Four-wheel drive due to snow!

At Woodfords, I shifted back into two-wheel drive, dropped down out of the snowstorm and proceeded to drive back to Carson City.

Along the way, people were staring at my snow-covered pickup as if we had just arrived from Mars.

What the heck, if they were regular readers of my column, they would have known that it usually snows, sometime, the week of my birthday.

This year, it snowed on my birthday!

-- Bet Your Favorite Pigeon

Bet your favorite pigeon that he can't tell you if it has ever snowed in this general area after May.

If he sighs and says, "Yep, in fact one year, Don Q got chased out of the nearby mountains on the Fourth of July weekend by a snowstorm while he was on a backpack trip," he could be an old timer, here in Carson City.