South Lake Tahoe, CA

It took us 15.5 hours but we made it the South Lake Tahoe and it was beautiful. The lake is HUGE! It is as wide as it is deep. To drive around the lake it is about 70 miles. We stayed at Dave's Grandparent's cabin that they have owned since the 70's. I was delighted when I got out of the car in Tahoe at the wonderful smell, clean and almost sweet. I guess that there are Jeffrey Pine's that have vanilla scented bark. Dave and I did a lot of hiking and swimming all over the area. We hiked to Angora Lakes and jumped off some rocks into the water. We also walked throught the burn area from the Tahoe fire 2 years ago (which was not very far away from the cabin). I felt like we were walking through a cemetary or something with all the burned trees and ash on the ground.
One day we visited Uncle Andy and Susan that live about 1 hour west of Tahoe. They took us to a park with a river and we just relaxed in the water and caught up with eachother. For dinner we went to In N' Out Burger. Very delicious but thankful we do not have them in Colorado.
One day we drove around the entire lake. It was pretty fun to see all the towns around and we stopped in Tahoe City. There is a bridge where you can look over and see trout that are over 2 feet long and weigh over 20 pounds. They are protected so the fish just keep growing! It was funny though, Lake Tahoe is so big I almost felt like we were at the beach without the salt water:)
We also went to Emerald Bay which is a tourist sight to see in the area. The bay is beautiful and there is an island (the only island on the lake) in the middle.
I thoroghly enjoyed playing in the water everyday. In Colorado we do not have natural lakes like this. Here are some pictures of the trip:

The Cabin


Camp Richardson, Lake Tahoe


At the Hippie Pond (where the Tahoe Fire started)


Burn area


The butt burning hike up to the lakes.


We jumped off the rocks across the lake in this picture.


Angora Lakes


Dave with his Old Man Pipe and the old Green Chair at the Cabin.


The Beaver Pond. Dave in his sweet Rockies Floppy Hat!


Fallen Leaf Lake


Old Ski Lift = New Swing


Awesome Sign!


Sunset over El Dorado Beach, Lake Tahoe.


Yes!


Fallen Leaf Lake (Papa's Secret Spot)


Tahoe City: doesn't this look like the beach?


Above Emerald Bay.


We saw this boat while we were in Emerald Bay. I think it was called the Queen Tahoe.


Dave and SMokey just chillin'


After our only dinner out, we went to 'The Brewery'. Yummy beer:)


Freakin' HOT in the desert of the drive home!


Asher missed her mom while she stayed in Berthoud for the week. This is the drive home:)

Hot Springs Pictures

Starting out.



The trail, there is an old cabin on the left of the picture.



The two smaller pools.





Happy to be done!


On our way home, we went from Aspen to Leadville over the Contenental Divide. Very beautiful up there, but windy!!

Conundrom Hot Springs: Aspen, CO

This past weekend Dave and I got the chance to get away from the city and heading for a little mountain air. We have been wanting to do a little backpacking before the end of the summer and the weather forecast looked good (no rain), so we went for it. We drove 3.5 hours to Aspen early Saturday morning with a hike to Conundrom Hot Springs in our sights. We have been waiting to do this hike because of all the hipe about naked hippies in the natural hot springs... no just kidding, but the hike was appealing with a great reward to soak in the hot springs.

We stopped in Glenwood Springs on our way to Aspen and to our surprise there was a Kawana's Pancake breakfast!!! We were able to fill up our bellies for the long hike ahead and it was the most delicious pancake breakfast I have ever been to!!

We arrived at the trail head in Aspen and started hiking around 10am. The hike is approximately 8.5 to 9 miles and it took us 5 hours to make it up. We were each carrying a backpack full of our camping gear, so our shoulders and hips were getting pretty sore as we neared our final destination. Dave did a great job encouraging me to push through the pain and make it to camp. The trail you follow on this hike winds with the Conundrom Creek and there was one river crossing without a bridge. The bridge had been washed out and not replaced by the Forrest Service yet. We had to go through calf deep freezing cold water but we survived the trips across.

To have a fire up there, you had to camp at least 1/4 of a mile from the springs (which was fine with us) because camping is not camping unless you have a fire.

Up at the hot springs, we were greeted with an open valley with the springs flowing down the side of the mountain. There was one large pool (about the size of a small rectangular pool) and 3 smaller pools (hot tub size or less). The springs are supposedly over 100 degrees. The springs we much smaller than we anticipated but it was still great to soak in. The views from the hot springs were amazing. Massive mountains surrounded the area and it was great to just relax and take in the fresh air. Also, the springs did not smell funny at all...I thought they would be sulfury, but to our luck, nothing.

Well, that was our weekend in Aspen.

***I will post pictures when we get our computer fixed.

Another happening:
I ran a half-marathon on August 8th, then Dave and I played in an Ultimate Frisbee tournament. My race went great and the tourney was fun, but I was very worn out! My full marathon in on September 20th in Boulder, so come cheer me on if you are in the area!!


Also, we are headed to Lake Tahoe, CA, this week! Dave's Grandparents own a cabin there, so Dave had a week off of school so we're drivin' to Tahoe!!! I am very excited!