Birthday Weekend at Lake Tahoe

Well, after a little prodding from my good friend, Shannon, I ended up in Tahoe this past weekend on a last minute trip for my birthday.  I mean, I'm not complaining.  I would spend every weekend out there if I could!  It's just that I'm going next weekend, too, for the 4th of July.  So I thought two weekends in two weeks might be a bit much.  But ya know, I think it's going to be just about perfect.

Weather in Tahoe for this weekend.  Perfect. 

The original plan was to take Friday off and fly to Oakland on Thursday night, but I got denied vacation on Friday because too many people were already off.  So I had to settle with leaving work around 1:30 on Friday and catching a 3pm flight, putting me in to Reno at 6:30pm.  Not bad, really.

Flying somewhere between Phoenix and Reno.

Shan picked me up and after a quick grocery stop at Wal-Mart (which she hated), we headed over Mount Rose to her place in Incline.  The drive over is one of my favorites.  I don't know why, but I get so excited when we get up in those beautiful trees.  I guess because I know what's coming on the other side.

THIS is just over the top of the mountain.  I can't ever drive by without stopping for a picture.

We went straight in to town to get some food, and ended up at Austin's for a salad.  But before we left the car, Shannon just had to show me what she got us for next weekend!!

Pretty excited for these sunglasses for the 4th of July!

I can't ever get enough of the views in Tahoe.  Even just the trees!

My avocado and beet salad with cous cous totally hit the spot.  

(As did the corn bread soaked in honey.)

We stopped at Raley's on the way up to the house for some fire wood (heater is broken and it gets cold in the mountains at night) and some carrot cake for my birthday treat.  We also grabbed a flier showing all of the activities going on next weekend...and guess what we came across!  BILLY RAY is playing on the beach in Incline.  Pretty sure we're going to have to check that one out.  Maybe Miley will make a guest appearance and teach us all to twerk! ;)

Also back at the house...  A stack of birthday presents for me!  One for each decade and one for good luck!  Seriously, Shannon is too sweet.  I told her I wouldn't even get this many presents back home!  

Since I absolutely could not stand it any longer and she was tired of my whining, she let me open ONE present.  Of course she got me a scarf.  I have a serious problem with scarves, and she knows it.  She hit the jackpot with this super soft and bright scarf from the Gap!  

We stayed up way too late chatting and catching up...and trying to fix the wireless router than wasn't working.  No luck on that, even after a 30 minute phone call to AT&T.  That meant no online shopping for us -- which was probably a really good thing.  We did, however, decide to try mountain biking tomorrow!  The Flume Trail awaits us!