4th Festivities

Last year for the 4th of July, Mike took the weekend off from work and we headed down to the beach.  We went paddleboarding with sea turtles in the intercoastal waterway... spent time with friends... and laid on the beach.  I really thought it couldn't get ANY better!  

This year, we stayed in Tahoe and battled the traffic and tourists all weekend.  We had no specific plans and that was wonderful!  The clinic was closed Thursday and Friday for the holiday, so I ended up with my 3rd three-day-weekend in a row!  

Wednesday night after I got home from work, Mike and I jumped in the car and headed up to North Lake to watch their fireworks.  We took a lucky turn down a side street and ended up with a perfect parking spot!  There's really nothing quite like fireworks.  It's nearly impossible not to stare up at them in amazement.  

Thursday morning we started the 4th off right by sleeping in!  SO THANKFUL FOR THE FREEDOM TO SLEEP IN.  We wanted to get away from the Lake Tahoe beaches because we knew they would be packed with tourists so we headed down to Caples Lake to paddleboard.  

The mountains surrounding Caples Lake actually still have some snow.  

Obviously Zater tagged along... he's getting REALLY good at sitting on the board... 

 ...but if you paddle too close to shore he jumps off for a swim.  

 After paddling against the current and wind, we headed back to sit on the dock and waited as the clouds started rolling in.  

 After Caples, we headed home to shower and pack our gear for a cookout on the beach!  We loaded the car with our charcoal grill, food and drinks in the cooler, and some extra layers of clothes so we could hang out on the beach to watch the South Lake Tahoe fireworks.  We knew all the beaches would be crowded so we loaded the paddleboards with all our stuff and paddled out to the sandbar.

 It was so awesome to lay on the beach and watch the sun set over the mountains!  There was a beautiful pink glow everywhere and we had plenty of space to ourselves on the sandbar.

 No 4th of July celebration is complete without grilling... 

 We had a few "neighbors" around us on the sandbar, but it was much less crowded than the other beaches and we were very grateful for that! 

 After dinner we made s'mores over the charcoal grill and waited patiently for the sun to set completely so the fireworks could begin.  As it got completely dark out, we could see the fireworks shows from Tahoe City and Incline Village (both on the North shore of the lake).

 The fireworks show in South Lake Tahoe is supposedly one of the top 5 in the country so we were very excited to see it this year!  It was amazing!  It started off as one of the best shows I've ever seen.  I couldn't get over how perfect every. single. firework was!  They had hearts and smiley faces... HUGE fireworks... and small fireworks that hardly went up in the sky and the entire show was synchronized to music.  It was really beautiful.

After the show... we had to load up the boards and paddle back up the river to the car.  Lots of other people in canoes, kayaks, rafts, and paddleboards had the same idea as us.  Mike and I used our headlamps so that other people could see us if necessary, but during one short stretch of the river, when no one else was around, we turned off the headlamps and paddled by the glow of the stars.  It was the COOLEST paddle we have ever been on.

Friday, we headed out to Meek's Bay to paddle the crystal clear, caribbean alpine waters of Lake Tahoe.  As soon as we got out to the beach we noticed the cloud of smoke from a forest fire across the valley from our house.  After talking to the fire department to ensure we weren't in danger, we enjoyed our paddle.

Big ol' cloud of smoke. 

Please notice the PACKED beach.  We spent a lot of time just floating on the boards. 

CAN'T GET ENOUGH OF THE COLOR OF THIS WATER!!!!  

 We found a small little area of sand on the beach away from the biggest crowd and enjoyed the Tahoe blue waters of Meek's Bay while soaking up some sun.  

Our July 5th was just as awesome as July 4th!  And July 6th was pretty awesome too: today we paddled around North Shore.  We paddled along the shore to Tahoe City where we had a picnic lunch and got some ice cream.  On the paddle back, the wind picked up a bit creating some white caps on the already choppy lake.  I was very grateful that we were paddling WITH the wind on the way back to the car and it was actually a lot of fun!  Even when you weren't paddling, the current and wind would push you along pretty quickly.  I still had "sea legs" a few hours after we got home!  

After we unpacked and cleaned up, we walked next door to our neighbors house to get a look at the Gardnerville fire.  Over 2,000 acres have burned so far.  Luckily it is in an area that is not populated.  We are about 30 miles away from it so there's no real danger to us at all.  

We had an amazing 4th of July weekend and I hope everyone back home did too! The weekend isn't truly over yet, but I do have to go to work for a little while in the morning which means my "work week" is starting.  I'm so grateful to have spent another awesome 4th with my amazing and adventurous husband!  Can't wait to see what's in store for the rest of our "first Tahoe summer."