It was just a typical Saturday the day before Scott’s birthday. We were just hanging out around the house, Scott ran to into town and we were going to have some homemade lunch. It was close to 2pm and I knew with my surprise that I had planned, that we needed to leave no later than 2pm. After we had some lunch, he started to make iced tea and I had to halt him and tell him he couldn’t make it and that he needed to go get in the car. He thought I was kidding, so I had to be stern. Needless, I had already had the car packed while he ran into town this morning.
He doesn’t like surprises and does not like to not know what is going on. Once we got in the car, he kept bugging me. “Which way are we going,” “are we going east or west.” I finally had to tell him “this is a surprise!” So we headed east and at this point he had an idea that we were going to Tahoe. He just had no idea what we were doing.
For the month prior to Scott’s birthday, I was in touch with his good friend Phil and we planned a Tahoe get together with all of Scott’s friends from his bartending days. Scott had NO IDEA.
We arrived in Tahoe at about 3:45 to the Coldwater Brewery. Phil was to meet us about 4 and that was going to be the first surprise of the day. Scott and I sat at the bar for a bit and Phil showed up. We hung out for a bit and next comes Scott’s old roommate and long time friend Frank. This was an emotional moment for all of us as Scott had not seen Frank in 20 years. Truly a great moment. Over the course of a few hours, many other old friends showed up for the party. Here is a few photos of the crew.
We ending up hanging out for awhile and had some dinner with everyone at Coldwater and then we decided to meet up at the Lucky Beaver with a few friends for some drinks.
Scott didn’t know but I had planned for us to stay in Tahoe that night as I had another surprise for him on his actual birthday. He had talked in the past about always wanting to ride in a glider. So what better birthday present than to make a memory out of it. We got up Sunday morning, had some breakfast and headed down Kingsbury towards Minden. He again did not know what was going on. I had booked this glider ride for him at SoaringNV. I booked him the “Tahoe Wild Ride.” This ride was for him to go up with the pilot and he was to experience loops, rolls, and an inverted flight. Once we arrive at the airport, he decides that he would rather me go with him. If I was going to go with him, we would have to do a regular flight as the Wild Ride is only for 1 person. So he talked me into it (I would say it wasn’t a pleasant experience for me). Let’s just say, I am glad they had puke bags readily available and I will never eat chorizo again 🙁
Below are a few pictures of the gliding experience.
He had no idea that any of this was going to be taking place that weekend. I knew that I wanted to make this a memorable experience and what better way to celebrate his 52nd birthday than with his longtime friends. Happy Birthday Scott!