Lake Tahoe in Summer!

We had on our summer to-do list a visit to Lake Tahoe, and summer was quickly slipping away. We have been quite a few times in the fall and winter, but we both wanted to experience the lake when the weather was warm. We left early on Saturday morning for a quick day trip so we could mark it off our list. We arrived at Sand Harbor, a Nevada State Park, at around 10am and had a great time laying on the beach and reading. There wasn't a whole lot of water activity for the two of us because the lake is COLD (maybe 60 degrees). We both got in about knee-deep and had about all we could take.

By mid-day we were starting to get a little pink and thought it would be best to get out of the sun. We packed up and took a stroll through Northstar Ski Resort. It was cool to see it without snow, and the lifts were still running and carrying mountain bikers instead of skiers and snowboarders.

After church on Sunday, we continued our new CA tradition of going to the farmer's market. We might have gone a little overboard, but we love getting tons of fresh local produce. It's definitely a big perk of living in California.

The End of the Skiing Season

Before we head into this coming weekend, we need to update you on the last. Lake Tahoe had received some more snow and Andrew was wanting to get out there and take advantage of it as it probably was going to be the last for the season. We headed out Thursday evening for Lake Tahoe. Andrew skied for a half day both Friday, at Heavenly Ski Resort on the south shore, and Saturday, at Alpine Meadows on the north.

While Andrew skied, I stayed back at the room with Hazel and read. It's going to be awhile until I'm ready to give skiing another chance (since the last trip was a total failure). I love finding places to stay that allow Hazel to stay, too. We were able to take her on a couple walks including one on the beach. She didn't seem to want to play around on this beach as much as she did on the beach in Santa Rosa Beach, FL. Maybe it's the difference in the sand? But she did sniff around for awhile.

On Saturday we saw Rob Schneider perform at the MontBleu Casino. It was a really funny show.

And as we were leaving Lake Tahoe, Andrew was beyond excited to take a trip to this place...

That's the Energy Drink Outlet. Most people know my husband loves the stuff. He was already drinking that Rockstar before we even stopped. He bought some drinks to fuel his addiction and we were back on the road. I also feel I need to include this picture that was taken at a Monster Energy plant in North Carolina. Ridiculous, right?!

Lake Tahoe, Take 2

This Thanksgiving, we decided to get away and spend some time in South Lake Tahoe. This was our second trip to Lake Tahoe since we moved out west. Our last trip (which you can read about here) was in June and Andrew had been looking forward to winter for some snowfall to ski.

On Thanksgiving day we skied at Heavenly. This was my first time ever so I wanted to do a beginner class. And although Andy has skied several times he took the class with me. Having him by my side made it much more fun. He was very patient with me while I tackled the bunny hill over and over then he spent some time on some real hills while I sipped hot chocolate in the lodge.

For our Thanksgiving meal, we ended up at a pizza place. We assumed we would have our choice of restaurants, but South Lake Tahoe is a pretty small town and most places were closed.

Next year we'll be be doing some better planning for the holiday meal, but other than that it was a great trip!

Lake Tahoe

What a great weekend! We hopped in the car on Friday and had one thing on our minds… a relaxing weekend camping in Lake Tahoe. It took us four hours to get to Nevada Beach Campground, our home for the next two nights. We really lucked out with our camp site.  The view was absolutely incredible.

I had never been to Lake Tahoe, so the idea of snow covered mountains in June was extremely foreign to me. While lying outside our tent, I was able to suntan while looking at the snowy mountains! Andrew kayaked on the lake while I read but by the early afternoon we were ready to hike with Hazel to see the Angora Lakes. We were expecting it to be a short one, however, the road that lead to the trailhead was gated shut, presumably from the lingering snow and heavy snow melt. We decided to park the car outside the gate and hike it in to the trailhead. This ended up taking much longer that we had anticipated. Andrew had his iPad with him which he consulted with often and would say to me “it (the lake) should be just over this ridge.”

That became the trip’s tagline as it felt like we crossed 20 ridges before we ended up approaching the still-frozen lake! How quickly our dream of cliff jumping into the lakes came to an end! Hazel must have sensed the upcoming calamity because she was dead set on turning around just minutes into the hike.

 

But after sweet talking her into cooperating, she proved to be the man woman as she just kept trucking along. The hike certainly wasn’t a bust, though. It was great family time for us and we also got an amazing view of Fallen Leaf Lake.

Since it got cool in the evening, we were able to leave the pup in her cage in the car (windows cracked, of course), and we strolled along the town and through a couple casinos.  We did the same the next morning and also went to a couple beautiful lookouts (including Emerald Cove). Andrew is excited to come back and ski when winter brings a heavy blanket of snow to the mountains. I’m not so much.  But I am all about snuggling up in a ski lodge with some hot chocolate and a good book!