Around Lake Tahoe

After one day of traveling, Cydnee and blogger are officially not speaking to each other, so you get to hear about the rest of our trip from me, Cydnee's almost as exciting husband.

After an exciting day in the car (do people really drive from Las Vegas to Reno, or did that end with the Pony Express), we decided it was so much fun we would drive around Lake Tahoe.  We started out going counter clockwise, but quickly realized this positioned us away from the lake, so we turned around at the tunnel (the kids thought it was exciting to go through it twice all at once), and headed the way time intended, clockwise.

The first part of the trip into California wasn't too exciting with all of the buildings and no lake, but soon we got past civilization and into the forest.  The first stop we made was at Taylor Creek.  We walked around in the forest and down to the lake.  There were some old ruins of past hotels near the lake shore, and a nice nature trail and the visitors center.

 

 Taylor and Reagan sure love it other.  Or is seemed that way until Taylor tried to trick Reagan into jumping into the freezing cold water.

 I was the only one to really get my feet wet in the water, and I almost stopped breathing for a minute it was so cold.  I'm glad I didn't pass out with Lyndsee on my back.  We left the water to wander through the foundation of an old hotel.

The kids really liked being silly.

Lyndsee was very independent and wanted to walk all of the time.  Reagan was happy to oblige and took advantage of the ride time in the pack.

While at Taylor Creek we also walked over to the Tallac Historic Estates.  Quoting from the USDA -

"A century ago, what is now the Tallac Historic Site held the 'Grandest Resort in the World' and the summer retreats for three of San Francisco Bay Area's socially elite families.  Today, the remains of the resort and the restored estates attract  thousands of visitors annually to recapture this bygone and significant era in Tahoe's history."

Inside were a lot of old vehicles.  This is Lyndsee reading the "no climbing sign" on the fire truck.  It was hard getting our kids to obey the signs because they were so excited, and other kids parents were telling them to climb on top for pictures.

 

It was especially nice on the front patio of the main home.   I would have slept here all afternoon given the chance.  It was nice and cool (a very nice reprieve from Las Vegas), and was already tired from an early morning and a short hike (maybe there is something to all the clues Cydnee has been leaving about getting into shape).

Even Lyndsee found a comfortable place to sit.

We had a snack back at the car, and headed out looking for a great picnic location.  What we found were a lot of busy state parks, and we finally stopped at Sugar Pine Point State Park.  They had some really nice picnic tables surrounded by trees.  After lunch, we stopped to use the restroom before heading out again.  While there, Taylor and Lyndsee played a game of peek a boo hiding jumping out from behind a wooden post.  Lyndsee was laughing hysterically by the time we left.

Our next stop was at Tahoe City, where the Truckee River flows out of Lake Tahoe.  We found a nice bike shop near the river, and rented three bikes (Cydnee, Eric and Taylor), and follow along bike (Will), and a bike trailer (Reagan and Lyndsee). 

When we arrived at Tahoe City, Lyndsee was enjoying her afternoon nap.  I thought I could transfer her into the bike trailer without waking her up, which I did, but then Reagan didn't like something and woke her up with her screaming.  Lyndsee returned the favor by screaming and crying the whole two hours we were on the bikes.

Taylor really enjoyed the opportunity to ride on the bike trail along the Truckee River, but got a little nervous on the steep downhills.  None of the bikes had the backward wheel brakes Taylor is used to, and we need to do some practicing with hand brakes.  Even though I started out with the heavier load of the bike trailer, I soon switched to take on the balancing challenge of having Will connected to the back of my bike.  He is not a bike rider yet, and does not understand the importance of keeping balancing while riding.  As a result, he was constantly leaning to one side or the other, causing multiple crashes throughout the day.  It wasn't malicious or anything, he was just trying to lean to the side to see past me, but it make for some real interesting riding.

After our bike ride, we went up to the city of Truckee.  Cydnee was very excited to see what she expected to be a quaint historic town.  It wasn't a bad town, but seemed more commercial than historic.  We did find an old fashioned ice cream store and enjoyed some ice cream the was it was intended.

Will was very excited to get the colorful bubblegum ice cream, but couldn't figure out what all the chewy balls were, so he kept spitting them out.

After our ice cream treat to stay off dinner a little longer, I realized in all the excitement of trying to get the kids out of the car next to a busy road without any of the aggressive tourist buses running them over, I had forgotten to pay for our parking space.  I immediately went and paid the parking fee (and added a little extra since we had forgotten, just to be nice), only to find a nice $42 parking ticket attached to our car.  Bummer.  From my perspective we could have made the whole day nicer by skipping Truckee and going someplace more uplifting, like the nearby Donner Party site.

After leaving Truckee we drove back to Lake Tahoe to continue our trek around the lake and get some dinner.  We went to Hiro Sushi to have the kids favorite food.  

 

The Miso soup was a big hit.  Oh yeah, and we had some sushi too.  Will even took advantage of the opportunity to sit and the sushi bar all by himself and order his own roll.

By the end of dinner, Will was just about done with the whole trip.  I had to take him out of the restaurant while Cydnee finished up.  He didn't want anything to do with the camera or the car.

After finally getting Will into the car with a concoction of threats and bribes, we finished our trip around the lake just as it was getting dark outside.  We have survived our first full day away from home, with many more fun filled (and I mean filled) days ahead.