Serene Lakes Days is a standard for this family. Once a year Serene Lakes families all get together to participate in events from horse shoes to three-legged races to running to cycling. This year was no different except for the fact that we didn’t participate in much. The adults spent the weekend working on the outdoor shower and refinishing the row boat.

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The Killers made it up to our cabin for a fun-filled weekend of skiing and sledding. All of the kids took a lesson for a few hours and then joined us on the slopes at Donner Summit for the rest of the sunny day of skiing. Sunday was spent sledding just down the street from our cabin. We had a great hill with some super-fast runs all to ourselves.

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I don’t claim to be a fantastic photographer, but I was quite pleased with my efforts recently to capture this moonset over the lake at our cabin. I used a 2-minute exposure and the timer mode while taking the 20 or so snapshots in 20-degree weather at 4:30 in the morning.

Click the photo(s) here to see a larger version.

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With fires burning all over California, the smoke in the Sacramento valley is as thick as something that is really thick.  I refuse to name any time of soup. But even at 7000-foot elevation the smoke in the air made for gray skies over the Independence Day week, a dismal sight.

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And now for something completely different: At a time of national pride and patriotism, the McClelland family brings you a special message from one of the great forefathers of our nation and a true friend of ours…Abe.

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Todd and Marci Schaffer joined us this weekend at the cabin. We were awarded with the warmth of long-time friendships as the Cooks joined us for dinner on

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Check out Animoto for making free 30 second videos like this one. I think I might start using these on McClellandfamily.com.

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The Foster/Syme development group recently purchased the Royal Gorge cross-country ski resort along with a ton of other land around Serene Lakes (where our cabin is) including the bottom of the lake. When they revealed their plans which include 950 condominiums and single-family homes, a lot of people at the public meeting drank the Kool-Aid with a “Please, may I have some more.”

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In 2005 when Todd Foster, Mark Foster, and Kirk Syme bought Royal Gorge, the largest cross-country ski area on the North American continent at 4000 acres, their plans to develop the area around our Serene Lakes cabin met with extreme anger from the community. Patrick and Emily took the over-development to heart and did their part to raise money to aid the fight against Foster and Syme.

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