I flew with two of my friends from Salinas to South Lake Tahoe in a Cessna 172. The weather was great, but the fire at Henry Coe State Park made visibility difficult. There was also a TFR over the place for the firefighters.

 

As a result, I ended up going east to Los Banos, north up to Placerville, and then followed 50 up into KTVL. It was a beautiful flight through the mountains and my first moutain flying experience!

 

When I got there, the wind was favoring 36 so I had to get down in a hurry from 9500'. I made a straight in approach as there was no traffic whatsoever.

 

The FBO was decent and we rented a car for the day. They do have an overnight parking fee and a handling fee which is waived with a fuel purchase. We left early the next day when the DA was the same as field elevation again using 36. I gained altitude over the lake up to 9500' and then turned south to follow 50 back to Placerville.

 

I landed at Modesto for breakfast where I got excellent service from SkyTrek and Tilly the bulldog! I had to wait out some cloud cover in the Salinas valley for a few hours before taking off again.

 

All in all, an excellent trip!