Lake Tahoe Visit

My very good friends who I traveled to Nepal with (Katie and Bradford) decided to get married on the Truckee River near Lake Tahoe.  Tim and I made our way west!

We rented a car in Reno and headed into the Sierra Nevada mountains.  We stopped in Truckee along the way and ate at the delicious Full Belly Deli.  I sat among ski bums and hikers, bikers and star gazers.  Everyone wanted to be outside and enjoy the Cali sunshine.  I felt very much at home.

We checked out the little old western town that has grown since my last visit to the area.  Donner Lake looked the same though, still holding on to its history and stories.
 

We then stopped off at beautiful Squaw Valley, USA!  I used to drive into that valley every day to work or ski.  It felt very familiar and I was pumped to share it with Tim.  I gave him a short tour and then headed over to Squaw Kids.  The front door was open so we went in and the memories flooded back!  My old boss Karen was in her office, so we had a nice little visit with her.  I absolutely LOVED that job!

 

We then headed into Tahoe City and I showed Tim a few other places.  We drove to Carnelian Bay to check out where we would be staying, which was at a friend's rental house right on the lake.  Could we be any luckier?  The place was huge and gorgeous with stunning views of the lake.  We had it all to ourselves!  That night, my friends and former bosses, came over for some wine and socializing!  It brought me right back to the old days!

The next morning showed us a beautiful sunrise (the skies were smoky due to fire season) and we got up early to paddle board on the still lake.  It is so blue and clear, the most beautiful lake in the world!  And no one was around.  How peaceful.

We ate breakfast at my favorite place: the dam café.  Then we headed up to Squaw Valley to meet Katie, Bradford, and the crew for an afternoon hike to Shirley Lake.  I was surprised to see some old friends I didn't know would be there!  And I had forgotten how difficult it can be to hike in the altitude.  Living in the city lends way to getting out of shape!  We swam in Shirley Lake and then continued the hike to High Camp where we had some drinks and Tim and I had a very nice discussion.  We took the Cable Car down to the village and went over to the Resort at Squaw Creek where I held my summer job at the golf course.  Some of the old valet guys were still there telling me stories of Burning Man and the ski season.  Things change very slowly in the mountains!  We ate at Lanza's Italian Restaurant that night, the best in town!

 

 

 

The next day brought another beautiful sunrise and an epic tour around the lake before attending the afternoon wedding.  We hiked to Eagle Rock and stopped at the BEST breakfast place, Fire Sign, for breakfast.  Robyn stopped by to say goodbye again.  I love the intimacy of Tahoe and how everyone seems to have the time and means to be around.  After breakfast we went toward Emerald Bay.  We hiked to the bottom to scope out Vikingsholm.  Tim was becoming enthralled with the beauty of Tahoe.  He told me he understood why I stayed so long and that he would have done the same.

We swung around the east shore and got out to see the stunning blues of the lake, then it was time to go back to the lake house and get ready for the wedding at River Run.  I have to say we matched ourselves quite nicely; people thought we were going to prom =)

Katie and Bradford had a humorous (of course) and beautiful wedding.  Brooke told some great stories of the pair before she married them.  A lot of familiar faces were there, including Clay, which was a surprise because you never know where in the world Clay is.  The band was awesome, Bradford split his pants, Katie changed twice, Casey's husband and son went on a little bike ride, Tim dipped me a million times on the dance floor as I became three sheets to the wind, and there was a trail mix bar and karaoke after.  It was AMAZING! 

 

I was pretty hungover the next day, but we managed to get up and make our flight out.  Tim and I only had a few days in Tahoe, but it was worth the trip!  I will always have a home in Tahoe and I was so happy to share it with Tim.

Celebrating 2 Years!

Tim and I celebrated our 2 year anniversary together.  He took me to The Precinct where I ordered a delicious steak and Moscow mule!  It's always fun to dress up for dinner and be in a fancy place. 

 

After dinner, Tim started driving us toward Lunkin Airport for a surprise.  I didn't know what was up his sleeve, but we were almost late for whatever it was we were about to do.  Then, I saw the helicopter!  We were led out to it and lifted right up over the Ohio River Valley.  It was so cool to see the area from above.  Hills are on one side and the city is on the other.  It was beautiful and thrilling!  Tim is such a romantic and is so thoughtful.  Happy Anniversary!

 

Asheville and Charlotte, NC

Tim's sister just moved to Charlotte.  We decided to pay her a visit over the 4th of July holiday, stopping in Asheville along the way to get a little camping in. =)

 

 We had a great camping site near Lake Powhatan and survived the increment rain through the trip.  We explored the Blue Ridge Parkway on our way to hike to the top of Mt. Pisgah.  We stopped at many turnoffs to take in the beautiful views!

 

It started to rain about 15 minutes in to our hike up Mt. Pisgah.  We kept on going, but then the wind really started to pick up.  We continued on and ran into a couple who decided to turn back.  As we hiked, the rain came down harder and the wind became stronger, but no signs of lightening, so we hiked on!  At the top, there were two guys taking cover under the observation deck waiting for the storm to pass.  We joined them.  After a little while we braved the observation deck to see the views and started the return descent.  Half way down, the storm completely stopped!  Go figure.  It was a great adventure =)

 

We continued exploring awesome views!

The next day, we visited The Biltmore, the largest residential house in America!  It was build by George Vanderbilt, the youngest son of the Vanderbilt family.  We learned that he inherited 1/16 of the family fortune and was still able to hire a famous architect, Richard Morris Hunt, and the most famous landscape architect, Frederick Law Olmsted, to build his mansion and the endless grounds around it.

The tour took us most of the day!  The house was equipped with an indoor garden, indoor swimming pool and recreational area, indoor bowling alley, a huge dining room and library, and a million other little treasures. 

The gardens alone required hours to explore.  There was a conservatory that had every variety of flowers and plants!

 

 

We explored the colorful city of Asheville and I have concluded that Asheville is weirder than Boulder.  I found a great parking spot near the little park downtown and there were some stragglers who appeared to be on drugs hanging out near a pharmacy.  Tim, who has never visited Asheville, asked if we were in the bad part of town.  I looked around and it was obvious why he would think that.  Homeless (or perhaps residents of a place who choose not to shower and nap in public spaces) were strewn across the small lawn in the city park.  But in fact, we were in the most popular and touristy part of the city.  I think people try a little harder down here to be off the grid.

Anyway, we continued to Charlotte to visit Tim's sister, Meredith, who just moved for a job. She had awesome activities line up for us.  We saw the Knights play baseball and did a pub crawl on the 4th of July. 

 

 

But by far the coolest thing you need to see in Charlotte is the U.S. National Whitewater Center.  It is a manmade whitewater rapids course and it is a sight to behold!  The whole center includes rafting, kayaking, paddle boarding, ropes courses, zip lines, mountain biking and hiking, and probably a whole lot more.  We spent the whole day here and rafted twice.  We lost our guide on one course, but he made it out.  It's an awesome play center with adventure galore!