Tales from Tahoe

Hi friends!  I'm back from an amazing week in beautiful California.  All week long I wondered why I have yet to listen to my 5 year old CA-obsessed self and actually move there.  To date I love everywhere I've visited in California, Lake Tahoe being no exception.  We had spectacular weather which made our outdoor adventures that much better.  Jamie convinced me to rent a boat for a few hours and I'm so glad he did.  Of course, he expected me to drive and after a few nerve-wracking moments when I didn't realize that the average depth of the lake is 1000 feet and I couldn't run aground I loved it!  We took the boat to Emerald Bay where the water sparkles blue-green, is clear to the bottom and a castle sits on a rock island in the middle of the bay.  We packed a picnic lunch and a few Fat Tires and just hung out for an hour soaking up the sun.  I tried to get in the water but my wimpie self made it only waist deep because it was SO cold!  After lunch, we ventured to Cave Rock, a sacred place among local Native American cultures and enjoyed the quiet, calm waters for awhile before heading back in.

Emerald Bay 

Cave Rock - absolute serenity 

We spent Saturday night at Riva Grille eating beach side, watching the sunset and watching two weddings unfold.  Accompanied by fruity drinks and live, acoustic music we reminisced about our own beach side wedding and planned our upcoming 30th birthday bash.

Sunday, we picked up Mia the Kia (our rental car) and circumnavigated the lake stopping to hike to several smaller lakes where I searched for perfect sugar pine cones.  You see, when my parents visited Lake Tahoe while pregnant with me, my mom gathered an entire box of giant sugar pine cones to build a baby Christmas pine cone tree for me.  Growing up, it was my brother and my tree to decorate all by ourselves.  To this day, the tree gets decorated every December.  With such memories, I knew I needed to collect my own pine cones for my own Christmas tradition.  Even knowing the back story, Jamie thought I was a crazy cone lady combing the forest floor for the most perfect, sap-free specimens.  And maybe I'm just a little bit crazy (name that lyric) but he wouldn't even help me carry my three pine cones to the car, citing dirt and germs. I think he was really afraid of spiders.

A pine cone that was later replaced by some much larger, more perfect ones.

Hiking to Fallen Leaf lake

 We stopped for burgers at the famous Bridge tender restaurant with its sweet, rustic charm before rounding out our day with a trip up Heavenly's gondola to 9500 ft which gave us AMAZING views of the entire lake.  Afterwards we watched the sunset over the lake atop Freshey's deck enjoying melt-in-your-mouth Hawaiian-style ribs, fish tacos and the local crunch salad.  Delicious and comfortable dining at its best.

Monday morning, bright and early we grabbed coffee and croissants and headed towards Yosemite by way of Mono Lake, the most expensive gas station I've ever visited and Tioga Pass.  More on Yosemite tomorrow!