Lake Tahoe

If you are contemplating between a beachy vacation or a mountainy/camping vacation, Lake Tahoe, CA/NV is the place for you! I was very lucky to be able to tag along with my BFF, Emilie and her family to Lake Tahoe from the 6th-15th. It was seriously one of the best vacations ever! We stayed at a Marriott Resort and felt very pampered. It is not hard to have fun with Emilie (we always seem to gain at least 5 pounds when we are together, no food restrictions there)! I LOVED the horseback riding that we took. I felt like a little princess on my horse, Snowball. Leah is riding Thad and Emilie is on Hud. We had to crack up over the names of the horses. Hud and Thad sound like bouncers and then there is little Snowball. The trail that they took us on was breathtaking. We were in the mountains and could smell the pine and then all of a sudden you look through the trees and see Lake Tahoe.

We spent on day at a place called Sand Harbor. The neat thing about Lake Tahoe is that the water has so many different colors to it and is beautiful! I went on my first kayaking trip and had a blast. I also loved how the mountains surrounded the lake and that there were so many BIG rocks. It was such a different feel than east coast lakes and mountains.

We went on several hikes, one of my favorites was a hike at Emerald Beach (the water really does look like it has an emerald feel to it). This was a hard hike because it was basically all down the mountain to the shoreline (were we visited a "castle" modeled after a viking home) and then hike back up the mountain.

I couldn't get over how big the trees were out there! This tree is certainly not the biggest that we saw. Everything had a peaceful and serene feel to it. Not only did I enjoy the walk in mountains with the trees, we also saw many waterfalls. The beach thing was a plus too!

Once we got to the lake there were so many cute little geese that kept begging for food. This one we named Webster because of his cute little feet.

On our way back up the mountain we saw this tree that was uprooted and lying on the ground. It seriously looks much bigger in person. If you look closely, you might see some of the rocks that were uprooted with the tree.

On our last day there, Emilie's parents were sweet enough to treat us to a ride on the gondola. I will admit that I was TERRIFIED to on. It is a little compartment (think like a major big ski lift type thing) that is held by a very strong rope and takes you up the mountain. When you get to the top you can see several miles all around you and a BEAUTIFUL view of Lake Tahoe. I can't believe that I almost let my whimpiness get in the way of seeing something so phenomenal!

Pyramid Peak wasn't even the highest that we went. This was a stop most of the way up. We were able to get off of the gondola, get a few pics then get back on for a ride further up. Em took the picture below from the gondola. It looks so fake, but that is what we saw. It was neat to see mountains with snow and then some without. You can see the different colors in the lake.

Here we are on the infamous gondola.

We couldn't pass up the chance to try out a belly dancing class at the resort. It was a lot of fun even though I felt very awkward. The best part was wearing the little scarf that made the tinkling noise we moved.

The hardest part of the trip was saying goodbye to Emilie and her family. It is so hard to only see her once a year. Each time I am with her, I am reminded how lucky I am to have such an awesome friend.