Lake Tahoe Trip Part 3 (Tuesday-Wednesday)

Tuesday:

We started Tuesday off by hiking 1 mile straight down a gravel trail to the shore of Emerald Bay State Park.  It was very pretty, but pushing a cheap umbrella stroller back up is not my idea of a good time.  

 After lunch we bought a parking pass to Sugar Pine state park because today was BEACH DAY!  We didn't want to carry the paddleboard and the cooler that far but we think it really ended up being about the same distance.  We didn't realize the parking lot was so far from the beach:(  But it was a blast!

 This is the most accurate picture we got of the beautiful water.  Logan said that when you got out to where it is really deep (the lake is over 1600 feet deep in places) the water turned the most beautiful deep blue color.  I didn't get out that far because I'm a baby.

 We buried Chap in the sand.  We played "Where are Chapter's feet?" for a while.  He thought it was HILARIOUS!

 A rare treasure indeed, a photo of Logan with a genuine smile:)

 Chapter loved paddleboarding with daddy.  Every time Logan would start to go out, Chap would cry to be taken along too.

 Wednesday:
Wednesday was pretty uneventful.  We woke up and packed up.  Drove to a shopping center and explored a different beach for a while and then left.  On the highway out to the north there was this viewpoint that was incredible.  A very dramatic way to leave this beautiful place.

We drove "The Loneliest Highway in America" all the way across Nevada arriving at my mom's house at around 11:00 pm on the 23rd. All geared up for Pioneer Day the next day.  

Lake Tahoe Trip Part 2 (Sunday-Monday)

We didn't have a whole lot of time to do anything when we got there on Saturday since Yosemite turned our 9 hour 40 minute drive into about 13 hours (counting the time we were in the park walking around).  So when we got to South Lake Tahoe we found a grocery store and got supplies for the week before heading to our vacation rental.  Our first impression of Lake Tahoe was of South Lake Tahoe (the city) and we HATED IT!  People in the store were so rude and rushed and angry.  There were people everywhere rushing and driving recklessly.  We were starting to regret our choice.  But we hopped in our car and started up the road on the western side (where we were staying) and were relieved to find it very non-commercial and consisting mostly of locals and campers staying in the various state park campgrounds. We found our house in Tahoma, CA and our gracious host (owner of the vacation rental) informed us that near the home was a trail that led into Sugar Pine State Park and down to the beach.  So we walked down there that night and looked at the breathtaking lake and forest.  And I completely forgot about South Lake Tahoe and fell in love.

Sunday:
We woke up early and made breakfast before getting ready and heading to church up in King's Beach on the north shore of Lake Tahoe.  After church we mainly drove around up mountain roads and explored.  In the afternoon there was a beautiful thunderstorm and in the evening it cleared up enough for us to go explore Emerald Bay State Park.  We just walked around the top of the bay and then hiked a short distance to a waterfall and a "vista".  It was still gently raining so we saved hiking down to the actual bay shoreline for another day.

Monday:
 Monday was a bit more exciting.  We woke up at 5:00 am to literally run down the trail to Sugar Pine to catch the sunrise.  It was well worth it!

Then we went and got breakfast and then Chap and I headed up to Tahoe City to drop Logan off at the head of the Truckee river to paddleboard down it.  When we got there we realized my phone was dead and Logan's was at the house so we made plans to meet downriver in 2 hours and we were off.  Chap and I went shopping and bought him a shirt and played around while Logan paddleboarded.   We went to pick him up a little early and he had beaten us there.

 We went back up to King's Beach to eat at a retro burger joint we had noticed on Sunday and then we went back down to Sugar Pine to play.

 Chapter sat on this ginormous tree.  We did see one bigger than this later though.

 We didn't come prepared to swim (Why?) but we played in the water anyway.

 It soon became clear that Chap was going to have to strip down.  He threw sand into the water for a very long time.

The sunrise picture may be Logan's claim to fame, but this one is mine.  So beautiful!

Lake Tahoe Trip Part 1 (Yosemite National Park)

For family vacation this year we journeyed 10 hours away to Lake Tahoe.  We left St. George at 4:30 am on July 19.  While we were on our way we realized that we would only be about 20-30 miles from Yosemite so when we got to the turn off around 1:00 in the afternoon we took it.  We didn't make it the additional 50ish miles into Yosemite Village (where the really iconic stuff is) but we did go to Yosemite!  Very exciting. Since it was last minute and unplanned we didn't have Chap's national park passport with us but we stamped a postcard and mailed it home to him.   The little visited corner we went to was incredibly beautiful so I can't imagine the rest.  And since the drive there really wasn't too bad (Chap was AMAZING) I anticipate going there sometime in the next few years.

4th of July

The 4th of July was amazing as usual.  We went to the parade in St. George.

 Then we came back home and set off some smoke balls.  This was a big hit with the Chap-man

 That afternoon we went up to Kanarraville to spend time with Logan's cousins.  They host a BBQ every year and for the past two years Logan has been making homemade yeast root beer for it.  This years turned out awesome!

 Chapter posing with his giant bigger-than-he-is pack of fireworks. That night we went to Logan's office to watch the fireworks.  We didn't take the camera because we went up on top of his roof.  His office is in a 3 story building in downtown St. George and we climbed the ladder from the mechanical room to the roof.  We had our hands full getting me and Chap up there without carrying a camera:)  It was amazing though!  We'll probably do it again next year.

 Then next day we went up to our friends the Graff's and set off fireworks.  Chap absolutely loves their boys Romney and Wesley.

Chap having a little homemade root beer:)

Gunlock

While I was at girl's camp and Chap was with my sister, Logan spent his long lonely evenings fixing the boat.  So when I got home we took it for a spin at Gunlock.

 This picture was taken shortly before Chapter got brave and fell face first into the lake.  It only took a second for his life jacket to flip him face up but he was pretty mad about it.

He got a really cool hairdo from it though!  

Father's and Son's

Way back in May Chapter attended his first Father's and Son's campout with our ward.  He did great!  And while they were gone I got to catch up with my good friend Jessica and go out to Winger's (which Logan hates)!

With Romney and Wesley