california adventure

Our initial adventure started in San Jose then a drive to SB for a wedding, than a visit to LA and then a few days in the sleepy town of Twain Harte.  Our trip wrapped up with a two-week stay at the Tahoe Cabin.  Kalin and I were the first to arrive in Tahoe.  We found the cabin in it's winter hibernation form.  The shutters were on the windows, a massive amount of twigs crunched underneath our feet all over the deck.  The pollen also settled a layer on top of it all.  After turning on the water and electricity and doing our best to sweep up all the debris we opened the cabin.  A few days later, the Lundquist crew came up and the days started to fill with lots of sun, boating and delicious food.  

Keith, Kalin's Dad, Taylor, Kalin and I drove down south to Emerald Bay for a mile hike down to the Vikingsholm cabin that is part of the California State Park system.  It is this funny scandanavian designed "castle" that looks into the bay and directly to the one island in Lake Tahoe.  The lady that originally lived in the place built a tea house on the island.  Today, all that remains is the foundation as it was burned and vandalized.

The view from the trail head:
some amazing gnarled trees along the hike:We made it to the bottom (sis-in-law taylor) and Vikingsholm in the background:The falls just beyond Vikingsholm (it has that christmas card potential...)
Taylor, her friends Anna and Lu and myself woke ourselves up early for a hike to above the cabin for a view that looked out over Agate Bay and Carnelian Bay.  The scrapes and scratches from the shrub was definitely worth this peaceful view.  Although, because we forged our own trail, we ended up a bit far away from the cabin on our way back down.

This is looking toward Nevada in North Lake Tahoe.
Each year, everyone carves their name into the rock, this is the new addition, next to Kyle (bro-in-law) who's in Africa right now.

The community of Agate Bay goes ALL OUT for the Fourth of July.  We decked ourselves out in garb and walked about.  The parade ended at the pool with a tasty barbeque.

A Peep and Grampy in this one:

This trip was truly a blessing that we will remember forever.  It's the last real summer vacation of our lives.  Now, it's time to focus on the next phase in our life.  But it's going to be good.  It will mean living closer to family and also in the near future celebrating our one-year anniversary.