Tahoe

Well, last week, Chris, my parents, and I went on our yearly pilgrimage to Lake Tahoe, CA. We go camping at a wonderful place called Camp Shelly which is owned by the city of Livermore (where we used to live). Also camping with us were my cousins (and their families) Dustin, Jeremy, Canyon, Aunt Laurie, and family friends, The Morris's, the Pfiefers, and friends of Dustin and his wife Emily. It was a huge group, but we had lot's of fun. The first day out Chris and my parents, (and I), were the first to arrive (about 6 hours before anyone else) and we set up camp and relaxed until everyone started showing up.
The second day, Chris, Dad, Jeremy, Derek (Jeremy's son), and I went on a canoe trip to Emerald Bay. It was beautiful. In the middle of the bay was an island with a tea house of a rich lady who died in the 50's. The tea house was in ruins, but it was a nice small walk to get up there and once we were at the top, it had a nice view of the bay (if you could see it from all of the smoke that was blown our way from all of the California fires). After our canoe trip, we sat on the beach until dinner and relaxed.
The next day, Chris, Dad, Mom, and I set out to hike Mt. Talac. We started early in the morning and were dismayed to find mosquito's out in full numbers. Mom and I got bitten the most, and luckily the higher up we hiked, the less mosquitoes bothered us. Mom and Dad turned around and went back after we reached Cathedral Lake, which is about 1/4 of the hike, while Chris and I continued on. After we left Cathedral Lake, everything got much harder. It felt like we were climbing vertically up. We finally did reach the top (after many rests and a lot of persuasion from both parties) after about 3 hours of hiking. Unfortunately, when we reached the top, it was so smoky, that we could hardly see the beautiful view. So, we ate some lunch and decided to hike back down. The trip down took us another 3 hours, but it didn't seem quite as strenuous as the previous 3 hours. Luckily my Dad met us at the bottom to give us a ride back to camp where we could take a nice shower and relax. I think that this was the hardest hike that I've ever been on...
The last full day we were there, everyone went to the beach to relax. My dad brought an air mattress and the kids had fun riding it and laying on it in the water. A contest was even held as to who could balance on top of the mattress the longest. Chris beat all of my cousins with an amazing 10 seconds! It was really fun and funny to watch. As soon as we left the beach in the evening, we got a crazy thunder storm and we got poured on! We all huddled in tents and campers until the worst was over, than Mom, Dad, Chris, and I went around South Shore Lake Tahoe eating at Chevy's and walking around shops.
Sunday morning we packed up, ate breakfast, and drove out 10 hour trek home where we were met by enthusiastic pets. It was a great welcome home.
Overall, we got really red, lot's of mosquito bites, and had a blast! Thanks Amanda for watching the "pups" for us while we were gone!
Here are some pictures from our trip: