Angles Camp 2006

Going to Angel's Camp is starting to become a Wharff tradition.  Originally we were suppose to have Jo Jo's birthday there, but they decided to go to the races instead.  I'm glad they decided to go to the races instead, because going to Angel's Camp was postponed, enabling Jen and I to go, since it happen to coincide with a business trip to the Noah San Jose office. Our flight arrived on Wednesday so that I could do my work before the weekend. 

The night before I worked til 9:00 am and went into the office at 7:30 am so that I could leave the office early.  We left Jen's parents house on Friday at 3:30 and started to make our way to Angel's Camp.  Jen was curious about the traveling status of everyone else, so we called Nancy.  We found out that they were very close to Plesanton and we were also.  So I pulled to the shoulder and waited till Nancy and their family could catch up. They were all very happy and excited to see us and were we. It was kinda funny that we happen to see them on the freeway, seeing that we were about 700 miles from home.  So we decided to caravan all the way to Angel's Camp.

At around 7 o'clock, we stopped in Manteca, (the town of lard!) to grab a bite to eat.  Nancy and I had "In-n-Out Burger", which was A'OK for me since we don't yet have one in Vancouver.  Emily and Jo Jo had Panda Express and Joey had Carl's Jr.  We ate outside of Panda, which was kinda fun, but the sun was shooting right into our eyes, so some of us were quick to get the "GOOD SEATS"!  

We finally arrived to Angel's Camp at around 8:30 pm and we quickly all helped Joey get the trailer setup.  Sherry arrived around 1 hour later and we then helped them get ready with their trailer.  We all were very happy to see each other. We pretty much spent our first night setting up camp and just chillin. 

We were in no rush Saturday morning, just relaxing, eating and waiting for Mom, Dad, Tony and Heather to show up. Nancy made an awesome breakfast, fried eggs mingled with french toast with holes cut out of the center (I have no idea what they're called), along with breakfast sausage.  She also cooked up some sausage, grilled onions and bell peppers for Sausage samiches for lunch while on the boat.  The rest of the gang (read above if you forgot!) presented themselves ready to have fun around 10:30 am.  

Even though Tony had hardly any sleep, Tony, Heather, Me (the author, Duh!), Sherry, Sammy, Joey, Jo Jo, Emily and Nancy all took to the open sea, uummm, I mean lake (New Melones Lake).  Tony brought his fishing boat and Joey had his ski boat. So many people were on that lake that day, that we had to wait for at least 30 minutes to put our boats in the water. We all took turns from one boat to the other, those with Tony's boat basically using it like a floating dock in the side of the lake, while others went tubing, skiing and knee boarding on Joey's boat.  One of my favorites times was when Tony would drag us all using his puny little 7 MPH engine.  It was so funny and fun to be tugged" (althoug no one was actually attached and could let go whenever) going only 4-7 MPH.  At one time we had 6 of us on the rope (with plenty of distance from the actual motor itself) being tugged, but it wasn't much of a tug since we were only going lik 2 MPH.  So dang funny and plenty fun! We were in the lake for about 5 hours and with all that sun and all that swimming, we all were getting pretty tired. So time to retreat back to camp.

A lot of us were so wiped out from that day's activites, that we took it easy the rest of the day. Jen and I tried to take naps for a short while. Some of the kids went swimming, before it was time to eat dinner. That night was Taco Time, courtesy of Mommy Wharff and we all ate together, which was so cool to have the whole family together for dinner.  That evening many of use went to bed early, being pretty tired from the day. Jen and I hit the sack at 9 o'clock.

The next morning Nancy and I took a trip to Save Mart (Oh yeah!) to get breakfast and lunch for the day.  We got deli samiches from the Deli and Jimmy Dean breakfast samiches. I couldn't believe how good those breakfast samiches were! Today was Sherry's last day at THE AC (hey, kinda sounds good). The rest wanted to go back on Joey's boat, but Emily and I stayed behind to be with Sherry before she had to leave, she had work the next day. So for most of the afternoon, Emily, Sammy, Jewels, Sherry, Eddy and I went swimming at THE AC's swimming pool. The pool was actually much colder than the lake, it was kinda shocking when I got in.  After swimming, Sherry and Eddy packed up and left for home.  

When the boaters got back, we all engaged in a friendly (ok maybe not so friendly) game of UNO! It was one of the funniest games of UNO I have ever played.  There was this kinda running joke going around that everyone was stinking from all the gas they had from the Taco's from the previous night. Also, as always, Mom was soo funny because she always wouldn't be ready when it was her turn. And probably the funniest was Nancy, the designated UNO POLICE! One of the times I was in mid-sentence of saying "UNO" and before the words could leave my mouth, Nancy would proclaim with a loud voice "Gotcha!".  WHAT!  It was pretty funny and tons of fun.  Jen said she really enjoyed the UNO the most and I must admit it was a big highlight of our trip. 

That night we had an awesome dinner.  Teriyaki Pork steaks, corn, pasta, burgers, hot dogs and sausages. Tony and Joey were in charge of the grilling and Jen, Mom and Nancy did the rest. As with the previous dinner, I helped with the dishes.  After dinner we made a pretty nice size camp fire where we had freshly popped popcorn and melted marshmallows! As traditional camp fires go, we all sat around the fire reminiscing, telling stories of good times, meanwhile in the process of creating the good times at that very moment.

The next morning was sad, it was time to pack up and go home. We all said our good-byes and started our way back home. 
Yet another successful Wharff family event. It was and always is worth the time spent. I love you all and look forward to our next great event.  If you haven't already, check out the pictures.