Bliss

It's super windy today, so instead of mountain biking or paddleboarding, we chose to hike a touristy location before all the tourists show up for the summer.  

The location: DL Bliss State Park.  It's on the west shore of Lake Tahoe and a short 2.5 mile hike offers amazing views of the lake.  

The lighthouse. 

The pictures really don't accurately show the tremendous color of the water.  You just have to see it for yourself. 

Mike and Ann looking out over the lake. 

The windy weather today is blowing in some wet weather over the next few days. 

Mike and I drove across the street to scope out the sunset and we were surprised to see that the weather was already blowing in.  It almost looked like the mountains were on fire. 

 

 

Summer Projects

Lately I have been obsessed with the "home decor" section on Pinterest.  I've also been watching a LOT of HGTV.  I can't get enough of it.  Mike and I both would love to flip a house (well, in reality, I don't think either one of us wants to do the work involved... and I am sure it would interfere with all our mountain biking/hiking/camping plans).  Considering the fact that every house we have looked at in this area is (a) WAY out of our price range and (b) needs a TREMENDOUS amount of work... I don't think that flipping a house in Tahoe is in our near future.

So, I've decided to tackle a much smaller (but still significant) project this summer.  I'm going to refinish our bedroom furniture.  It's actually Mike's bedroom furniture from childhood and it's awesome.  I love the bed and nightstand... and then I contributed a chest of drawers that sort of match, but not really.  Anyway, the nightstand has water rings and the finish is coming off.  The foot board has chipping in the finish as well and the other piece has tons of scratches.  In summary, we haven't taken very good care of it and that makes me sad.

After some debate with Mike, he has agreed to let me refinish the furniture as long as I keep the stain as close to the same color as possible.  I totally agreed to that.  I actually really like the color, PLUS the more it matches, the less work I have to do!  So we bought our supplies and I just started the work today.

I am quickly realizing that this project will likely take me the entire summer because I only have a few days a week to work on it and because it takes so long for the stain to really dry between coats.  Today I sanded the nightstand and put 2 coats of stain on.  So far... I LOVE IT!

BEFORE: 

Pre sanding... it was in rough shape.  

After just one coat of stain!  

I will have to wait a while to really let the stain dry thoroughly, and then I guess I'm supposed to put a coat of polyurethane.  I'm hoping to do that later this week.  Then... it will be time to start the next piece.

 This is the "other" piece of furniture that doesn't quite match the bedroom suit.  It's a big piece... it's going to be a big project.  But, as you can see: it really needs to be refinished.  

It looks good from far away...
but not close up. 

The other thing we have been wanting to do for a while is to get a TV cabinet.  I found one in a store in South Lake that sells antiques and refurbished furniture and my sweet husband went out to get it for me!  Love him.  

This is before:

 And after... 

Naturally, I'm watching FRIENDS on tv! 

I really like it!  Our living room feels a little smaller, but it also feels more "finished."  The top part of the cabinet has doors that close to hide the tv.  

Anyway, stay tuned for more progress on these projects!

Shoulder Season

The ski resorts are officially closed.  The only place to find snow is in the highest elevations.  It's no longer the "high tourist" season but it probably should be, because the weather here is PERFECT right now.  It's warm, but not hot.  It's sunny and breezy.  Simply perfect.  So what do we do during shoulder season?  We hike!

We live at the top of a mountain pass where there are tons of hiking trails, one of which being the Tahoe Rim Trail which goes around the lake.  There is a short loop of this trail right beside our house and Zater and I went for a walk there the other day.  I love that we can walk to these trails and that because we are higher elevation than Lake Tahoe, we get awesome lake views from many of these trails.

A lone tree growing out of a large rock.

Mike and I took Zater for a hike to Castle Rock.  We did this hike last year too.  It's super close to home and has fantastic lake views.  

Zater always leads the way. 

Stopping for a water break. 

We passed our neighbors on the trail... climbing rocks. 

Castle Rock

You can see the mouth of Emerald Bay across the lake.

Sunday we hiked Horsetail Falls. It is a short, but pretty intense hike. 

The falls are just outside of the Tahoe Basin.  So, not walking distance from our house but that's cool because the trail is pretty tough.  It's a short hike but it's pretty treacherous.  The falls are HUGE and beautiful and totally work the difficult hike. 

At the bottom of the trail. 

LOVER'S LEAP (the big cliff face in the center of the pic)

Mike leading the way with Horsetail Falls in the background. 

You can hike to the bottom of the falls, which isn't too bad.  But if you want to go to the top of the falls you have to follow a tiny trail over HUGE boulders.  We used our arms almost as much as our legs.  We scaled big boulders like spiderman. 

Closer to the top! 

 This is where I stopped.  The trail was covered in snow and I just wasn't motivated to keep going so I sat on a warm granite rock while Mike climbed the rest of the way to the top.  It was nice because we could see each other the entire time... we didn't have to worry about losing each other... getting hurt and not being able to signal, etc.  

 It was really windy and as we were hiking back down, we noticed the winds seemed to be picking up.  There is some weather blowing in from the west and we could see the clouds along the crest. 

 I took most of the pictures on my phone since it was readily accessible in my pocket, and I couldn't have my camera around my neck as I was crawling over large boulders.  When we stopped for lunch, I broke out the "real" camera for a few more pictures: 

Lower part of the falls. 

Not a bad view. 

Had a quick snack... and a quick glance at the map. 

The top of the falls where we ate our lunch.  

This hike takes you into Desolation Wilderness which is a place we hope to hike more of this summer.  There was a point, while sitting at the top, that I felt so small and alone.  It was amazing and slightly scary at the same time.  I love seeing these places that not everyone gets to see.  It feels exclusive.  But, with poorly marked trails, it's easy to see how people get lost out there.  I was grateful to get out of desolation... fill my belly with some amazing sushi... and to have a long soak in the hot tub for my achy feet.   

It was definitely an adventurous hike and I'm glad we did it.  There were times it might have been a little more adventurous than I would have liked, but there is no one else in the world that I would rather take these adventures with than Mike.  He looks out for me and makes sure we stay safe, etc.  I feel so blessed to have him, to live here, and to have family that supports our decision to live this far from home.