Idyllwild, CA 2007 — 100 Peaks

This year for our Guy Trip, we planned it at the last minute and decided to go up to the DFC in Idyllwild. It was easy to get to and very comfortable. The weather was pretty hot, but not unpleasant.

The PM and I arrived first and took a quick look around town, stopping at a thrift store and getting a bunch of books for next to nothing. Everyone else arrived and we decided to go to Lake Fulmor.

After a brief overshoot of the lake, we turned around and arrived. It was a beautiful lake and I felt like I had been there before. I then remembered I had an unidentified picture in my photo archives, where my wife and I had gone on a day trip. When I got home from the trip, I confirmed that it was the same photogenic lake.

I immediately caught a little bluegill, which made me think that we were having fish for dinner. But even after casting all around the entire lake, we had no further luck. It was a pleasant lake and the breezes were nice, and we even saw a turtle, lurking under the dock. We went back to the cabin and had some Korean BBQ and rice. We played poker until late and drank wine, beer, and Hennessy.

The next morning, we woke up, had a hearty breakfast, and headed out to see if we could have more luck at Lake Hemet. The lake was busy and warm, and after casting out for an hour or so with no luck, we decided to call it a day. We went back to the cabin and had some great meatball sandwiches and played some poker.

When it was dinner time, we went to town to have dinner at Cafe Aroma. Even though we had a reservation, we ended up waiting 45 minutes. The owner came out and apologized and said that their 5:30 reservation was still at our table and appeared to be not ready to leave. The person at our table was Herb Jeffries, a somewhat famous jazz and western singer and actor that is the sole surviving member of the Duke Ellington Orchestra (he since passed away in 2014 at age 100).

The restaurant even had a private dining room named in his honor and is decorated with his movie posters and portraits. This was the room the owner ironically offered us. We had our dinner and had a good time. We went back to cabin to hang out and play poker.

The next morning we had another great breakfast, cleaned up, and made our way home. All in all, we had a mellow and relaxing time.