Pictures to follow...
Jen’s
What would be better than spending a three-day weekend in Lake Tahoe for your birthday? Well not too many things, especially when you stay at a rented house overlooking a beautiful meadow, add in a massage and a hike around Fallen Leaf Lake. This is just what we did.
Jen was researching like a bandit to find just the right place. To me the right place is the one located on the busy highway, and leaning toward the lower price tag. If I were to pick one it would most likely have a 1980’s décor and be located next to a loud biker bar or truck stop with blinking neon lights that I would say “Are very romantic if you squint your eyes…” while the glow illuminates the room. (He really isn't joking!!)
Jen on the other hand had a certain place in mind that would feel like home while offering an amazing view of nature. Well she found it, and oh boy what a wonderful cozy place. It overlooked a small stream that was put in its beautiful place by the meadow of all meadows. We happened to be under the flight landing path of the local airport. Now most might think that airplanes over a nature view would clash, but for us it felt just right and gave that occasional exiting opportunity to run through the house out that back door, down the deck while your head is looking strait up wondering what type of aircraft is shrieking overhead. (This actually only happened about four times the entire weekend, and it was very fun to see the planes fly right over us!!) Then we would watch it shrink into the distance and float softly behind the trees. Can it get better than that? Well yes it can.
We found the setting to turn on the gas fireplace, opened some red wine and enjoyed a glass with some kettle corn while watching the sunset with some jazzy-like music. There was some white cheddar cheese as well just to let you know that we’re not terribly red neck.
Saturday morning consisted of Trader Joe’s multigrain pancakes bacon, and an egg. Yes it’s possible.(not sure what is possible??) You thought I might have, but if you know us you can rest assured that the coffee was the first thought of the morning after the water due to the higher elevation. Really coffee thoughts started the night before with a good cleaning of the coffee pot, and one pot of water run through to prime out any evil pre-ground coffee flavor that might have been lingering. We did learn that the water left in the coffee pot absorbed a small bit of previous flavor, so we adjusted the process the next morning. (Yes, we are coffee snobs!) Now that we were fed and had a few sips of coffee on the deck overlooking the beautiful meadow it was off to the next adventure…hiking.
A quick drive down to Safeway for some bottled water, which is silly. No, not because you can get water out of the tap, or that I drove to the store to get something I had at the cottage, but that we forgot to grab one of the 4 cases of bottled water that was in our garage. Oh Well. We found the parking spot and the trailhead and enjoyed the surprises found around the various curves. There was the damn that we crossed, a free-standing fireplace left from what once was a house, and various terrain changed from high sierra forest, rocky lake shore, Aspen grove, and a small neighborhood complete with paved road. So after a short lunch of cheese, crackers and salami we headed back.
After passing some older ladies we thought we would continue ahead and not take the same route back thinking that a parking lot only a few hundred feet away as these ladies were clearly not planning on breaking any distance records. (Actually we ended up being quite impressed with the distance they had come from!) Well it became clear after fining the way off the trail that the road we happened upon was not going to take us to our car, so we turned back to go the way we came. We thought we might be able to hop a few rocks and get over the stream we were walking next to, but the rocks were a bit farther apart for our jumping capabilities. Now back up to the trail and on we went. “Crunch, crunch, crunch.” A noise to our right and eyes widened with excitement. There was a Momma Bear about 40 yards away. Sure the camera was in my hand, but I thought it best to continue on our way as this was a real wild bear. I thought any stop in our progress might bring unwanted attention to our tasty salami-breathed selves. Jen’s talon grip on my arm made me want to continue moving forward as well. (It was SOOO exciting!!) The odds of seeing a bear in the wilderness is small, so we felt pretty blessed to catch a glimpse of the amazing creature, especially from such a short distance away. Now back to the Runner and on to the crazy fun of October- fest.
Loud music, beer , tents selling food and other wares, and people who were clearly tasting lots of beer. A quick walk through the fest and down the road to the Camp Richardson Bar and grill or whatever its called. We had a mai tai in honor of Jen’s parents in Hawaii. (They are visiting this week- as well as our friends Teri and Joe, and this day happened to be Joe's birthday- so in honor of him too!) After meeting some guys exciting about the coming “Snow on Wednesday Yeah Woooooooo” and another three who were related and one with missing teeth all clammering with identification in hand for the house specialty called the “Rum Runner.” Ahhhh the slurpee-like blended concoction of rum and other tropical goodness that we really didn’t want to try, so we opted for the more expensive version of the mai tai. Jen was not sure what to say in response to the questioning of her excitement of the coming snow, but I guess her glances in my direction were enough to lead the excited gentlemen to shift gears and introduce themselves to me. (They said they were sorry to Scott- they weren't trying to pick me up! HA!!) A couple handshakes and we were fast friends. I even shared my excitement about the coming snow, “Yeah snow.” (After they did shots of yegermeister - I'm not even sure what that is- they were pretty smashed already and VERY excited about the fact that it was due to snow Wednesday!!)
Back to the cabin and a few steaks on the grill after being marinated, some potatoes and onions, and asperigus (actually is was brussell sprouts!) combined with a good movie on the t.v. makes the evening very relaxing. Jen challenged me to a game of pool at the house next door. We think the combination of elevation, exercise, lots of butter, and wine made us crash early, but that’s ok, we have tomorrow to explore. Oh and there was that couples massage we booked.
So more coffee in the morning and a light breakfast with a lot of soaking in of the view and some Bible reading, a trip to Safeway for some yogurt, and back to the cabin to just relax some more. The sun was perfect the wind was low and so we found some lounge chairs and again watched the meadow while warming in the sun. Now to go to the “SPA” which was in the hotel where Jen’s brother was married at about a year ago. They had a hot-tub overlooking the lake so that is where we started. There was a couple from Germany who were about to go swimming in the lake. You could tell they were European less from the strange language, and more from the husbands swimsuit choice, yep a speedo. (I always wonder with sincere interest as to why in the world the Europeans think it fashionable for men to wear speedos??) So then we walked up to the spa in our Jedi robes and had all problems and pains rubbed out for an hour. Very nice. I would only recommend that you not eat any spicy food a couple days before. (So embarrassed that he shared such a personal thing about himself!!)
We were given a great tip for dinner of a place that was only a few hundred feet down the beach. Introducing The Blue Bistro. Should we go back and change into more dinner-like cloths of just eat dinner now? We’ll eat now. The sun was beginning its trek below so it was the perfect time to enjoy a second story dinning experience outside over the water. My Halibut fish and chips were spot on. (Apparently you need to use the term "spot-on" when eating fish-chips! They WERE good!!) Jen had the Soup D’jour and the only downside to our meal was that it was a bit cool toward the end and there was no waitress named “Floe” to tell us about the soup de’jour. (Huh?) Instead a young guy named Cliff told us about it and he was wearing shorts. (apparently the shorts part is important?) We had a dinner only amounting to $40 and did not lose our camera to the older gentlemen offering to take our picture. We walked out and offered to take a families picture and then learned that this would be our first and last Blue Bistro experience as a larger corporation was buying up the whole lot and had their own plans for the location. (BOOO!!! HISS!!! Best place around!!)
Back to Safeway for a dessert. For me my first “Its-it” which is an awesome ice cream cookie sandwich. (Apparently they don't have these in Michigan?? Remember these- I hadn't had one in YEARS!! SO good!)(Massage made me sleepy!) The cappuccino flavor was a good choice. Jen wanted an oatmeal cranberry cookie which once was heated up became this ooey-gooey cinnamon dream. Now back to the cabin to watch some food network competitions in pumpkin carvings contests and fall asleep on the couch…well Jen anyway.
More Coffee Monday morning and up in time to avoid the morning windstorm on the deck. Packing and laundry and off to Placerville for a bite of lunch and a quick walk through town. We had to stop at the hardware store where you marvel at all that is packed in such a historic and rustic location. We managed to not find anything we needed, but there were many contenders. This was the last stop on our journey. We came home to find all the dogs in good spirits and later on Jake the cat came in and said hello. Happy Birthday my beautiful Jenny-girl. You deserve such a relaxing and fun weekend! I love you.(AHHH He is SO sweet!)
