Deck the Halls!: South Lake Tahoe

We just spent 3 nights/days in gorgeous South Lake Tahoe. It was Erin's first visit (Mike's second) to the lake during the summer....we both agree that summer is our favorite time to visit Tahoe since we're not into cold weather or skiing (although that's fun here too). We love what the south part of the lake has to offer....awesome mountain views, hiking, water activities, and great restaurants/casionos within walking distance of where we stay (the Hilton Embassy suites with points). And to think this awesome destination is only four hours from San Francisco! An unexpected surprise of the trip was going to dinner with friends from college who were staying next door to us. They live in Atlanta....small world to run into them! All in all, we had a wonderful trip and are thankful Mike's job earns reward travel to allow us to spend time together since he's gone during the week. We both look forward to going back to Tahoe!

THURSDAY

First glimpse of Lake Tahoe as we drive through the Sierra Nevada mountain range.

Gorgeous! The water is varying shade of blue...reminds me a bit of the Caribbean.

We arrived Thursday afternoon and headed straight for the "beach" to lay out lakeside.

View from Erin's chair.

Pretty funny to see a seagull in the middle of a mountain lake!

FRIDAY

We decided to hike the Pyramid Creek Trail up to Horsetail Falls. Here's a view of the waterfall before we embark on hiking up the mountain. Can you see it? It's in the middle of the photo.

And we're off...

This was a gorgeous hike. It was interesting because at times we're crossing large boulders like this one, and other times we were in the forest. It must be crazy to view this mountain when the snow is melting...we could see where the snow has melted and cascaded down the waterfall in the boulders year after year.

We're getting closer! Kind of...I zoomed in on this photograph. :)

This photo provides a bit more perspective on how much farther we have to hike to the waterfall.

The water was crystal clear and ice cold. Stunning!

Cascading waterfall down the mountain.

We were told by hikers who had reached the top to stear clear of the waterfall and instead climb up a fallen log to then cross over to the waterfall. Ummm, really? Mike went first and after talking Erin into following (this took about 15 minutes of convincing), she finally started the almost vertical climb up the log AND boulders/rocks.

Here she goes...

Whew, we made it up the log and some pretty steep rocks. Stunning view below!

So, we didn't quite make it to the top of the mountain. We were about 30 minutes more of hiking away, but Erin didn't have her best hiking shoes on and we didn't pack a lunch and felt the super steep climb wasn't safe. We've already decided to hike to the top of the Falls on our next visit to Tahoe when we're better prepared.