California Adventures

Whoa! What an adventure! That is the only way to describe the past five days we've spent out at Lake Tahoe and briefly in San Francisco. We left Friday morning at an hour no one should know exists and arrived back into the Tampa Bay area late last night.

Marc's cousin Brian picked us up from the airport and we went over to his apartment so he could finish packing and so we could catch up with his lovely wife Iris. We stopped by this incredible burrito place, Papalote (http://www.papalote-sf.com/). This place was so good, it has been on Throwdown! With Bobby Flay...and they won (Food Network, February 2010). I have no doubt that this was not on our “diet”anywhere. But it tasted amazing. Then Brian and Iris kindly took us over the Golden Gate Bridge, simply because we asked. It's a pretty neat and they're pretty awesome.

^Brian and Iris

Afterward we drove up to South Lake Tahoe and did some grocery shopping. Brian's cousin (on the other side of the family – get a marker...I'll draw you a flow chart) Si Si met us at the cabin we rented. Iris made some pasta with snazzy sauce (jarred sauce with some seasonings) and then we settled in.

The next day was suppose to be skiing/snowboarding at Kirkwood, however, they didn't rent ski suit clothing and Marc and I didn't particularly feel like investing in the clothing and then finding out we hate the sport. Brian's friend Rodrigo also met us up there, so Marc and I drove back into Tahoe. We were able to snap some good pictures on the way home and get a closer look at people ice fishing. Marc and I brought the spice rub for the blackened chicken with us, so that was cooked that night. (Recipe forthcoming...I promise!) Rodrigo's wife made some amazing organic oatmeal. I'm currently waiting on the recipe for that one and can't wait to make it here. It was nothing like the “traditional” oatmeal that you heat up and whatnot.

^Kirkwood

^Kirkwood

Sunday was a quiet day. We attempted to do some hiking but found the snow deeper than anticipated. I would say it was approximately thigh deep based on falling into some: We got some nice pictures on Emerald Bay (part of Lake Tahoe – Google it if your curious, otherwise here are some of the pictures).

^Emerald Bay

^Lake Tahoe

^Thigh Deep in Snow

We did find a paved path that led down to the lake, so we went for a hike that way. It was really weird to be on the beach with snow at the same time. We also found random people hanging out, lounging on the beach that were really nice. 

^The water was incredibly clean

Monday was the real adventure. We went over to Northstar and went snow-shoeing. Thankfully snowshoes have been modernized past the tennis racquet looking things. So, snow-shoeing. It's winter hiking, but you strap these shoes to your feet in order to disperse your weight and not sink the snow. It also helps get to areas that would otherwise be inaccessible. On top of this, we went geo-caching. It's basically a high-tech scavenger hunt using a GPS. You enter in coordinates and then go find a box full of trinkets. You take a trinket and leave one. It wasn't an easy trek. We were high up (thin air) and it was super dry; two things that you won't find in Florida. At some point we managed to climb over a hill that had a, “Danger Keep Out” sign on the other side. Oops.

Some of our expedition:

^ Our intrepid adventurers

(L-R) Marc, Nicki, Iris, Brian and Sisi

^Opening a geocache

^We were pretty hardcore

On top of all of this, according to the Self.com calculator we burnt approximately 1,680 calories over a three hour span. Woooo! Overall, it was an amazing vacation. It was a great combination of relaxation and adventure.