Day 68 - Sunday, July 4

At the Mellow Mountain Hostel in South Lake Tahoe (mile 1090.8). A second zero day.

Happy Fourth of July! We took our time getting up and once up, I called my mom to chat. A few others went to get pastries, but I stayed behind to take a shower and then go to the outfitter to get seam sealer for my new tent as well as stakes because apparently they didn't come with it (who sells a non-freestanding tent without stakes?). I came back and worked on paring down my resupply because I got too much.

Then got a call from Frank who let me know they were going to lunch for Indian/Nepali food. I don't usually turn that down, so got on a Lime scooter for the first time and rode that over to the restaurant. It was a little nerve-racking but I made it.

Had lunch and got plenty of momos (Nepali dumplings) and then walked to the beach to see the lake which was about as busy as you'd expect on the 4th of July.

Frank bought a lemonade from some kids in a stand on the way. Jack, Magnet, Frank, and I then all walked back to the hostel.

Frank and I went to the outfitter to try to get new tips on her trekking poles as they are REALLY worn down and in desperate need of replacing, but they didn't have ones for her. We went to Raileys grocery for some fruit to make a fruit salad as we're having a family style pot luck dinner tonight. Came back to the hostel and hung out for a bit, with Jedi once again presenting his argument as to why Wyoming is part of the Midwest. He did not convince anyone...  Microbe made it to the hostel today.  She had hiked 60 miles ahead and then hitched back to hang with us on the 4th.  She'll head out tomorrow.

We then had a dinner of fresh baked bread, fruit salad, Mac and cheese, ribs, hot dogs and more. For dessert, AB made another cheesecake and J-PRO made a couple of key lime pies.

We continued to hang out and then watched a pretty uninspiring fireworks display.

It was apparently crowd funded, so that's why it wasn't the best. We went to the common room and several people played Settlers of Catan while Frank and I played on our phones before finding a deck of cards and playing some games.

At midnight, we all sang Happy Birthday to Frank and Microbe lit a random candle that she found.  We then immediately went to bed.