Saturday, July 27, 2013

Back to Lake Tahoe

We spent last weekend up at Lake Tahoe with friends, and stayed in Truckee on the northwest side of the lake.  We had a blast hiking, river rafting and hanging out by the lake.  And the weather was incredible with temps in the 80s at Tahoe vs. the foggy, 50-60 degree weather we're having in SF.

Day 1: Hike around Lake Donnor





Day 2: Rafting the Truckee River






 

Day 3: Hike to Five Lakes in the Granite Chief Wildnerness & Enjoying Lake Tahoe
 

 
 


Briley was not in Tahoe (I wish she was!), but Lauren sent me this photo of her at the beach.  Can't handle the ponytail, bikini and belly!

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

We're back!

JULY 2013 - Happy 4th!
Mike and I spent the July 4th holiday weekend in North Lake Tahoe.  We had the best time!  We floated down the Truckee river, hiked two different trails, enjoyed two fireworks shows, and soaked up some sun at King's Beach on the lake.  A perfect holiday...and the best part is it's only three hours from the city!
 
Happy Independence Day!


The start to the three-mile hike up to High Camp in Squaw Valley.  Beautiful waterfall along part of the trail.

Wow, we have a way to go to reach the top!


Two miles into the hike we reached a small lake....gorgeous!


This lil' fellow hanging out and giving us quite the stare as we stopped to eat lunch.

Getting close to the top....when you've reached snow on a mountain in July you know you're at a high elevation.

We did it!  Boy were we exhausted!

King's Beach


View from the top of our second hike in Northstar.
 
JUNE 2013
June was a fun month for us because we got to spend quality time with family.  I went to Wilmington, NC and Mike went to the Hall family reunion in Minnesota.  Mike didn't take any photos at the reunion (boo Mike!), but I'd love to have some pics for the photo album I'm making.  If you took photos at the reunion and can email them to me I'd greatly appreciate it!
 
Wilmington, NC
I spent the first week of June visiting my family's new home in Wilmington and enjoying some great time at the beach.  It was a wonderful visit and I can't wait to go back!
 
My first day!  Oh how lovely it was to step of the plane and feel warmth, unlike SF where it's in the 50s this summer!!!!



My BFF!

 
The beautiful great-grandmother visiting from Florida!  Briley has Lauren's and Grandmother's blue eyes.

Check out that belly....can't handle her bikinis!

A beachbum in the making just like her mama (and aunt!).

Sisters!
Granddaddy, Grandmother and Briley....miss you all!

The girls

Random Tobella Pics
These are some random pics of Toby and Bella.  What a crazy lil' duo.
Mike took this photo....haha!

I caught them playing.  Check out Toby's toy (aka his treasured baby he won't go to bed without) on top of Bella's back.

Such a studious pair always there to help me study.

MAY 2013
May was a fun and busy month for us.  Mike continued his work in Seattle and one of the fundraising events I manage wrapped.  And we took a much-needed getaway to northern California to visit Lassen Volcanic National Park located about four hours north of San Francisco.
 
A picture I took while walking the pups at the beach before I headed into work.

I wash our couch cushions every month or so, and this is what I came home to after work. Miss Bella decided to have a field day with the cushion and tear the top to bits.

Here she is lying on top of her masterpiece.....I was not happy, but you have to admit she's so darn cute!
 
This picture was taken at the Williams-Sonoma flagship store in downtown SF.  We held a cooking demo the day before the Gala with our Celebrity Chef Emcee (he emcee'd the Gala the next day), Sam Talbot, who supports JDRF because he has type 1 diabetes.

Cheers!  It's time to relax now that the auctions/dinner/live program has concluded at the Gala which raised more than $1M for diabetes research.
Memorial Weekend at Lassen Volcanic National Park
 



Check out this lava flow from a few hundred years ago!

One of the park's cinder cone volcanoes which erupted several hundred years ago and is considered extinct.

We decided to hike to the top of the volcano.  You can't appreciate the height or distance of our hike from this photo, but let's just say it's one of the harder hikers we've experienced.  It's extremely steep and you're walking on cinder...basically taking two steps forward and one step back.  But the end result was totally worth it; especially for this volcano-obsessed gal!
 
We made it to the top!  The caldera on this volcano was huge!  I can't even explain how excited I was to see this up close.


You can appreciate it's size in this photo....that's Mike standing next to the caldera.

Mount Shasta (pictured in the distance) is a dormant volcano that erupts approx. every 600 years.  It's last eruption was 200 years ago and it's one of the tallest mountains (more than 14,000 ft) in the Cascade Mountain Range which connects to the Sierra Mountain Range.  Experienced mountaineering hikers climb to the top of the mountain in two days, but we decided to tackle the first two miles up the volcano.  Here's the start to our trail....notice the mountain is covered in snow.

And we've hit snow!  Thank goodness we're wearing good hiking shoes and have our walking poles.

Holy moly we're on a ski slope...literally.  The snow was deeply packed.  At this point, day hikers are strongly advised to turn around as climbing the rest of the mountain is for the professionals. 

You can't see them in this photo, but we saw folks climbing up/down the mountain.  Most of whom has camped for one night at 10,000 feet before finishing the ascent.

Beautiful waterfall.

On our last day, we decided to visit the other side of Lassen Volcanic National Park.  Little did we know that we'd be met with freezing temperatures and an insane amount of snow as our elevation increased.  Most of these roads are closed for the better part of the year due to up to 30 feet of packed snow.  This road had just opened...as you can see, they had recently bulldozed through the snow pack.

This picture provides some perspective....Mike is 6'3" and check out how deep the snow is!

And you know I'm LOVING this....it was all over the news, but a couple of weeks before our trip an earthquake hit NorCal about 30 minutes away from Lassen Volcanic National Park.  Due to the earthquake, these signs were posted near the hydrothermal areas.

APRIL 2013
 
Mike's Parents Vist
We enjoyed a great visit with Jim and Kathy in late April.  The weather could not have been more perfect!  They took in the sights and sounds of the city and we also went to Napa and Half Moon Bay for some delicious seafood.  Come back any time! 
 
Alpha Omega Winery

Enjoying a delicious picnic at Pride Mountain Winery.

Pride Mountain Winery

Great couple with a great view of the city!
 
 
Francis Ford Coppolla Winery in Sonoma
We've heard great things about this winery, mainly the amazing resort-style pool they have on property.  Guests can rent a cabana for $100 for the day; however, we learned the cabanas sell-out for every weekend during the summer months in March.  I've already marked my calendar for March 2014 to schedule a cabana reservation.
 
All of Francis's Oscars, Emmys and other film awards.


Enjoying wine and a cheese plate at the yummy restaurant on site.
 
MARCH 2013
We were told by several folks to visit Truett Hurst Winery in Sonoma. It's now one of our favorite wineries!  The winery backs up to the Russian River and there are red adirondak chairs to lounge in along the river front...it's fabulous!  And I also threw in some puppy pics of Toby and Bella.
 

 
 

 
 
FEBRUARY 2013
I had attended a conference in Phoenix and decided to tack on a few days with a visit to DFW.  My family sold their home in TX in January and moved to Wilmington, NC in March, so this was my last trip to TX with my parents and sister living in the Lone Star State.
 
Precious baby girl

Aunt Erin loves Briley! 


Me pictured with Joe, the family dog.  Love you Joe!
 
JANUARY 2013 - Happy New Year!
For the third year in a row, we've experienced amazing weather in the Bay Area....sunshine and perfect temps!  The below pictures were taken just north of the Golden Gate Bridge at a park called the Marin Headlands.  It's gorgeous with tons of hiking trails all throughout the hills that border the coast. The Marin Headlands are also the site of what was military defensive positions back from WWII to protect the bay.
 





 
 
DECEMBER 2012 - Christmas Holiday
I took quite a few pictures during the holidays, but selected just a few.  It took quite some time to go through all of the Europe photos I posted below, so if I'm ever going to finish this blog I'm going to post just a few pics from each month.  As always, we had a wonderful time during the holidays spending quality time with family and friends. 
Happy 1st Birthday, Briley!!  And, you took your first walking steps on this special day!

Deck the Halls!!!

The best present in the world!

Somebody discovered the milk and cookies left for Santa.  I love how she has a cookie in each hand!

Nom nom nom nom nom.....so delicious!  Briley is savoring every morsel of these cookies.
 
We saw our fabulous Aggies BTHO OU in the Cotton Bowl at Cowboys Stadium.  WHOOP!

NOVEMBER 2012 - THANKSGIVING IN EUROPE
We were fortunate to experience a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Germany and Switzerland thanks to my parents.  My dad has been doing work in Switzerland for quite some time and wanted to bring the family over to experience a place he frequents several times a year.  We had a fun time and created such wonderful memories.  Below are just a select few of the hundreds of photos taken from our own version of the "Griswold Vacation".
Munich, Germany


Cheers, Briley!  Enjoying dinner at the famous Hofbrauhaus Munchen.

Salzburg, Austria
Fortress Hohensalzburg

My heaven...a Christmas ornament shop...ahhhh!!!!!!...sooo many ornaments and holiday delights, what's an obsessed  holiday addict to do??!!

Davy posing in front of the city lights of Salzburg.
Happy chunk!

Neuschwanstein Castle in southwest Bavaria, Germany (known as the Cinderella Castle)




Munich, Germany (Thanksgiving Day!)


Cheers!  We're back the the Hofbrauhaus to replace the traditional, American turkey dinner with German sausage, pretzels and beer.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Zurich, Switzerland

Beautiful Christmas tree in the Zurich train station where a holiday market was set up.




Jungfrau Mountain in the Swiss Alps

Swiss Alps are in the distance.


Riding the train up the mountain.


Jungfrau Mountain behind us.

Walking inside a glacier in the mountain....pretty neat and slippery!

At the "top of Europe"!


Mount Titlis in the Swiss Alps



Snow bunny!


Inside an ice cave.




Lead the way, Briley!