Week 3 Of Summer

Well, for our third week of summer vacation we decided to stay close to Tahoe.  For some reason, time seemed to go especially fast this week.  I am so fortunate to have a month off from work, but I can't believe I only have 1 week left!  Time flies when you're having fun I guess.

So, here's a rundown of our week:
Monday, I can't even remember what we did.  I'm pretty sure we spent the day recovering from last week/weekend.

Tuesday we went for a sunset mountain bike ride near our house.  We are fortunate to be able to ride our bikes right from our house, just a few miles up the road, hop on a trail, and then it's miles of fun downhill riding.  We end up right at the bus station, where we pay $2 to get back home.  This particular trail offers beautiful views of the lake and since it faces northwest: we also were treated to a beautiful sunset.

Wednesday we opted for a longer mountain bike ride.  We left right from our house again.  This time, we rode the Tahoe Rim Trail to Star Lake.  I love going to Star Lake but it's not very easy to get to. Luckily, it's all downhill from the lake.  Unfortunately, I took a wrong turn at a fork in the road so Mike and I ended up on different trails (well, mine was less of a trail and more of a dirt road).  Oops. We weren't too far from each other so I rode a connecting trail over to where he was.  When we finally met up again, it was 6:15 which gave us 2 options: 1) ride as fast as we can and try to make the 6:30 bus back up the hill, or 2) take our time and just settle for taking the 7:30 bus.  We were both hungry, and tired, and we smelled HORRIBLE so we agreed we wanted to push through and try to make the 6:30 bus.

BEAUTIFUL STAR LAKE

So, we finished riding the trail and pedaled across town as fast as we could.  I was behind Mike but I couldn't pedal any faster.  As I turned the corner, the bus passed by me, but I still had 1/4 mile or so (of uphill) until the bus stop.  So, I gave up and started walking.  Luckily, Mike made it on the bus.  It took him a little while to load up his bike and pay the fare and I was steadily getting closer to the bus.  So, I hopped on and started pedaling my heart out again.  I was super close when the bus pulled away.  Oh well.  I was so exhausted that I just stopped and LAID DOWN in a parking lot on the side of the road... where I waited until my sweet husband came back down to pick me up.

The whole ride was 25 miles and I was exhausted.  We went straight to the hot tub for a nice long soak, followed by a delicious taco dinner.  Soooo good.

Thursday was recovery day.  We spent the afternoon on the beach soaking up the sun and swimming in the lake.

Friday we went grocery shopping.  BORING.  But, we are trying a new budget so it was still an adventure (a trip to Wal-Mart is always an adventure) and we came home to dog poop in the house (sweet little Zater had a tummy ache)... so what do you know?  Life is an adventure, even when you don't expect it to be!

Friday night was a BLUE MOON.  We loaded up the paddle boards around 9:30 and headed to the lake.  We paddled under the beautiful full moon and stars, and even saw a shooting star.  The moon was so bright you could see everything around you, even the rocks in the bottom of the lake.  So beautiful and peaceful.

Saturday we were ready to ride again so we did a 17 mile ride on one of the trails we ride frequently.  It was another great workout followed by a delicious lunch and another hot tub soak.  We cooked a new recipe and sat outside on the deck to enjoy the sunset with a glass of wine.  It was lovely.  We didn't take any pictures though because we were racing against a thunderstorm for most of the ride.  Luckily, we didn't get caught in the storm.

EVERY NIGHT IS A BEAUTIFUL SUNSET!

Sunday morning, Mike woke up early to go skiing with some friends. Yep, snow skiing.  There is still a patch of snow (believe it or not) in the higher elevations and they hike up to ski it during the summer months so that they can say they've skied every month of the year.  I'm not that dedicated.  But, I'm sure Mike will have some pictures on facebook.

Well folks, that's all from Tahoe for now.  We have ONE more week of freedom before I head back to work and allow Mike some peace and quiet at home so he can work.  So stay tuned!