Two Days of Tahoe

The next check on the California Bucket List is the beautiful Lake Tahoe. Only an hour and a half away, we kept talking about how we wanted to visit but never seemed to have time. We finally made time this week -twice for Eleanor and me! 

Gavin had a rare Wednesday off so I made an executive decision soon after we woke up that we were going on an adventure to Tahoe. Neither of us knew what to expect -some mountains, sure, but not the beauty we would see. 

Once we passed Placerville (also on the bucket list) the mountains seemed to suddenly tower above us, and the world became more and more green and gorgeous. Highway 50 winds its way along the South Fork American River, between silvery rock hills, blanketed in a lush forest. It's an amazing sight after a few months of the yellow fields of the valley. It was a relaxing drive, reminiscent of the numerous drives on I-90 coming home from Pullman. 

Gavin was a good sport and pulled off the road at a few turn outs so I could take pictures of the landscape. 

First stop in South Lake Tahoe was Stateline Ave. Remember the movie A Walk to Rememeber with Mandy Moore? There's a part of that movie where her character checks off her bucket list "being in two places at once" by straddling the stateline. Corny, I know; don't judge. The stateline is very obvious, even without all the signs -one minute we were driving through a cute little mountain town and the next moment we were facing towering casinos. But I needed pictures on the actual stateline. Again, my family were great sports. Eleanor even sat next to an old Pony Express stateline crossing marker for me. 

Then the sightseeing commenced! We went in all the little touristy shops, me in search of the best looking magnet for our fridge -Gavin says spoon collecting is out, so magnets full our fridge- and Gavin in search of ridiculous places to place our child. 

Hunger eventually overtook us and we went in search of a beachy picnic spot. The Lakeview Commons was a great park with picnic tables, grills, and plenty of green, grassy open space for us to layout and enjoy the view. Eleanor loved running all over the grass after we ate and made friends will everyone around us.

Lake Tahoe itself was spectacular. A beautiful blue with a shallow that seemed to stretch forever! The mountains created the perfect frame for the lake. 

This was Eleanor's first real trip to a beach. How we had put it off for so long is beside me so we made the most of it. Since the shallow was so long we let Eleanor run and splash through the water to her hearts desire. Her and Gavin picked up shells, and she explored the sensation of sand between her fingers and toes. She had a blast. 

That night my mom, Diana, flew into town for an extended weekend visit. Originally we were all supposed to go to Tahoe Thursday, but Gavin's day off changed. Mom was still pumped to visit the lake, so the next morning we left on our own adventure. The drive was just as wondrous as the day before, as mom and I discovered waterfalls, rock formations, and canyons I hadn't seen Wednesday. It's a different view from the driver's seat. I took mom over the stateline and toured the town a little before we grabbed lunch and had a picnic at the same park. There we spent a few hours relaxing and playing in the water before calling it a day and heading home. 

Lake Tahoe forever has a place on my list of favorites. Now we just need to make a trip there in the winter ...

Exploration: California's Capital

Gavin and I decided that Thursday's are Adventure Days. We've lived in California (as a family) for 4 1/2 months now and haven't really explored much further than Folsom. Sure, we've been to Roseville, but that's just a Southcenter/Bell Square combo and not really unique, and Gavin drove to the gold rush town of Placerville almost everyday for work, but I don't think that counts either.

So we made a California "to-do" list of things we really want to see and explore. First up: Sacramento.

Being only a 20-30 minute drive for us means we should have been to Sacramento numerous times before last Thursday. It's RIGHT there. But other than driving through it to get to/from the airport every few weeks, we haven't visited. Gavin came up with the idea Wednesday, since two items on our list were the capital building and Old Sacramento. Easy to cross those off in one day (thought we decided going back sans Eleanor would be nice).

First stop was the capital building, and a beautiful building it was. From afar it looks like a run-of-the-mill  capital building: white stone, pillars, and a dome. Then you get close and the intricate carvings and statues come to life and the beauty of the surrounding garden enchants. One does have to look past the brown, dying grass and the dry "trout pond", but California is in the middle of a terrible drought and its good to see the capital doing its part to conserve.We walked around the building and were going to go in, but with the baby in her stroller the idea of metal detectors and security checks had us turning around. The garden's shade gave us the reprieve from the sun we were looking for, so we toured the different memorials and saw a diversity of plant specimens. Ive since fallen in love with magnolia trees and the giant white blooms they carry. I also saw my first orange tree which was pretty cool; I joked with Gavin that I thought oranges came from the grocery store. I've seen apple trees but the orange trees are a different kind of beauty.

After an hour or so we wondered over to Old Sacramento for a quick look around and sustenance for the growing rumble in our stomachs. We were rewarded with a little self tour of the historic gold rush era buildings and cobblestone streets. It was still very touristy, like the Seattle waterfront, with souvenir shops, candy stores, and carriage rides; the history of old town was preserved beautifully though. Once the heat finally beat us, we found a small pizza parlor to fill us up and then made our way home to our day with some relaxing family time.

Oh, HOT damn ...

The forcast for the news 10-days here in Northern California calls for sun, sun, and more sun. The highs range from 99-104 degrees. 104?! Our Washingtonian bodies are taking their sweet time acclimating to this new, dry, ever increasing California heat. To think, we complained when the thermometer hit the 90's in August. Now I'm thankful for the littlest bit of cloud overhead, or when the weather app on my phone is wrong and it only gets up to 88, or when the pool in empty and Eleanor and I can have it all to ourselves. Its the little things in life really. I've never gone through so much sunscreen.

But we've figured out ways to keep ourselves cool. As I mentioned the pool is always a good one. We're lucky enough to have two provided by our apartment complex, one of which is right by our building. when there aren't too many other kids in the pool we spend an hour or so relaxing and floating to our hearts content. A poolside lunch is always a plus too.

Elenaor's other favorite way to beat the heat is by having Nakie Days. She gets to run around in her diaper or little shorts. Wish this was socially acceptable for me, but alas I dug out all my shorts and tank tops instead. We did enjoy a few movie days in front of a big box fan. Eleanor is becoming a fan of Disney -I think it's all the animals.

We had a nice suprise yesterday actually when Gavin came home a few hours early form work to spend some time with his girls. We enjoyed a family dinner at Smash Burger -a burger joint that I'm hoping will expand to Washington one day. Gavin and I are doing our best to eat healthier, and bun-less burgers are one of our favorite ways to cut a few calories. I didn't think Gavin would like it at first, but there's no bread to soak up all the delicious burger juices so there's a lot more flavor to enjoy. Then we did a little shopping where Gavin and Eleanor had a few good father daughter bonding moments.

Eleanor and Gavin in the cigar room at Total wine. (Above: Gavin found an Eleanor sized wine cup and she loved it.)

We also had a nice visit with Grandpa Pete and Grandma Karen last weekend. They were on a road trip and realized they would be about 20 minutes form us, so they swung by and hung out with me and Eleanor for a few hours in the afternoon. Of course no visitor can leave without breakfast at Mary's Gold Miner Cafe, so the kiddo and I joined them for breakfast the next morning as well. (Unfortunately, Gavin wasn't able to see them due to his work schedule.)

We had an otherwise chill 10 days since the last post. It rained a little yesterday, which felt so good. When it rains here we get these little sidewalk visitors all over. I took a picture as I was walking the dog this morning. Just a little something to enjoy until our next post.

Memorial Day Weekend Festivities

So I totally got in trouble for not posting last weekend (happy Christina ...lol) but everyone needs a vacation and Eleanor and I had gone to Washington. Gavin unfortunately had to stay back in California because there's no rest for a car-guy during a holiday weekend -especially the first one of summer. So off to WA we went to spend a wonderful weekend visiting family, playing at the lakes, and enjoying a peaceful sunny weekend.

Then we got there and I remembered that it's never sunny in Seattle on Memorial Day weekend. 

First on our trip was a day at the family campsite by Lake Stevens. Eleanor had been there before by this time she could walk and play and eat twigs (no joke, she tried a few times). Too bad it was too cold to swim but we enjoyed our time worth Dad, Jen and the kids watching movies and making s'mores. 

The only downside to camping was sharing a bed with Eleanor. That girl wiggles and jiggles and scoots all over the place! It was already uncomfortable on the converted table, but kiddo wouldn't stop until she was right in my spot, pillow and all. Little Dr. Cooper in the making ...

Sunday we spent a day out at Papa and Nana's on Mason Lake. Seriously, I packed all Eleanor's swim paraphernalia but we didn't get to use any of it due to it being too cold. Major bummer. But we had an awesome time hanging out with the family -especially watching all three of the little girls interact with each other. 

Monday and Tuesday we didn't do much. I went and saw Pitch Perfect 2 with Jennie and Michelle. It was a good movie, but nonetheless it was still a sequel and we all know the sequel is rarely as good as the original (Harry Potter, LOTR, and Avengers are amazing exceptions in my book). It was a good girls date that involved waaaaaay too much candy, but a lot of laughs, especially from Michelle who always laughs super loud during movies. Plus, my Dad for some good papa-granddaughter time in. Tuesday was even more chill with a visit to Papa and Grandma Gill's house in Enumclaw. Eleanor entertained them by running around the house for over an hour and playing with Toby the cat. She also got to play the piano and play in a box Grandma got for her. Great day for a 14-month-old. 

Alas, we flew back to Gavin (and sunshine) on Wednesday morning. I have to give a shout out and major kudos to TSA at Seatac Airport this trip. They were incredibly helpful getting me and Eleanor through security, which always the most stressful part beside the flight itself. Props to Alaska Airlines too; they're ALWAYS super helpful and this flight was no exception. 

Cheers!