South Lake Tahoe

*PICTURE OVERLOAD…. you’ve been warned!*

Two months later, I am finally posting the last of our California vacation pictures. We started in San Francisco, then traveled up to the Muir Woods and did a little wine tasting in Napa Valley… but the last two days of our California trip were spent in South Lake Tahoe. This was the relaxing, nature-inspired portion of the trip.

Our family vacations aren’t so much “vacations” as they are cram-as-much-sight-seeing-as-you-can-into-a-few-days trips. We are travelers. We love to go new places. And that means revisiting previous vacation locations doesn’t really appeal to us, because that time/money can be spend going someplace we’ve never been before. That’s not to say we don’t enjoy our jam-packed vacations; we actually always feel like we did and saw everything we wanted and enjoy staying busy and experiencing everything we can.

But now, for the pictures. Let me just say, a camera can not capture the beauty of South Lake Tahoe. It’s just impossible. You have to really go there to appreciate everything it has to offer. But I’ll attempt to give you just a taste of how wonderful this little slice of Heaven on Earth really is!

at the lookout halfway up the tram ride

it was sooooo cold and windy here!

at the top of the ski area… we were so lucky to get to the top since we got on it literally 2 hours before they closed down to prepare for winter

gorgeous views, even on the tram

mom and I at the beach

sunset

sunrise… even on vacation we wake up early!

inside the Taylor Creek Park

the salmon were spawning while we were there

marshlands

the one Aspen tree that didn’t look like it was dying

Emerald Bay

one of the “smaller” lakes around Lake Tahoe

no family vacation is complete without a little hiking

pinecones that were a foot long

we spent two days looking for the California/Nevada state line, and we happened to drive over it as we were leaving the park to head to Sacramento… lucky encounter!

Cave Rock, you can drive through it on the far right

Bridal Veil Falls on the drive out of the national park

I hope you guys enjoyed seeing some pictures from our mother-daughter trip. I am sure glad I finally finished posting them, sorry it took so long! I am one lucky daughter and can not thank my mom enough for taking me on this trip. It was just what I needed after a long 6 months on our crazy roller coaster and I will forever treasure the memories we made on this trip together. Love you mom, and thanks for always being there for me no matter how much hell I give you!