Tahoe Part of the Trip

Abe and Klarissa always love to get out of the city whenever they get the chance--especially if we provide the set of wheels for them to make the escape.

The destination they set was Tahoe. Glen was willing to have them ride with us to Tahoe, but wasn't willing to drive them all the way back to San Francisco and then turn around and have to make the whole drive home from there. Abe was willing to get a rental car for their return trip from Tahoe.

We were off! First stop--Squeeze Inn for burgers.

Upon receiving our food, I'm thinking they should change the name to Cheeze Inn.

Smile and say cheese!!!!

We were happy to see our room at 968 Park Spa and Resort had a king-size bed in it after our double bed experience earlier in the trip.

We stayed in South Tahoe and enjoyed walking through the town. There hasn't been much snow there all winter and even though the locals were hoping for a snow storm, we were so happy we didn't have any bad weather while we were there.

There was an ice skating rink in the middle of a bunch of stores.

We saw lots of wooden statues.

For some reason nobody in the group enjoyed it when I wore Sarah's old rainbow gloves. The common consent was they clashed with Ben's old winter coat I was wearing.

Abe did not like the dinner he ordered that evening, so he insisted on going back to the Nestle Cafe to get a cookie for dessert.

Some of the chocolate-loving people I know would probably agree with this poster hanging on the door.

Breakfast was served at the Driftwood Cafe. It was my first time trying a potato pancake. Despite it looking totally burnt, it tasted surprisingly good.

Our plans that day involved driving to North Tahoe. We stopped at Inspiration Point to look around and take some pictures of the beautiful scenery.

We warmed up a little bit in a beautiful hotel before heading off for the surprise adventure Abe and Klarissa had planned for us.

Probably never would have guessed it was dog sledding they had up their sleeves for us. I love how everything they plan for us involves signing a waiver that states we could possibly end up dead. (Hot air ballooning comes to mind.)

Abe and Klarissa are getting all tucked into their sled. Surprisingly, the blanket they put over us kept us quite warm during our ride.

Our lead dog was in training and he kept getting side-tracked with anything and everything that went by. The driver kept yelling, "On by! On by!" whenever we came near any bush, tree, person, animal, etc. He had to jump off the sled and go get the dogs out of the bushes at one point.

Midway through the ride, the driver stopped and grabbed the camera so he could take some pictures of us and the dogs.

It was a fun activity. We learned a lot of facts about the dogs and dog sledding. We were encouraged to get our pictures taken with the dogs. It was pretty brave of me since I hate dogs!

This is the dog transport unit and also the dog resting place when they are between runs. Our driver called it the Winnebago for dogs.

It really wasn't horribly cold that day (notice Klarissa has taken off her snow pants and her heavy coat) and we enjoyed sitting outside for a while chatting and watching the skiers come down the mountain.

I do realize I have a smudge on the camera lens and I apologize, but it's going to be there for many more pictures to come. Sorry!

Lunch was at Smokey's Kitchen for some BBQ ribs, chicken and cornbread.

Once back in South Tahoe, we had just enough time to watch a movie before dinner. We thought it would be a good time to watch Big Miracle, the true story of how three whales were trapped in the ice and how they were rescued.

We ate dinner at Kulani's, which served up some pretty fancy appetizers.

Next morning we were bright-eyed and bushy-tailed trying to get in our last activity before leaving Tahoe.

We had grocery shopped the night before for some breakfast items to eat at the top of the mountain. We boarded the gondola and away we went.

It was beautiful up there looking down.

We found a table where the wind wasn't blowing and settled down to eat our store-bought breakfast.

Glen's breakfast of choice included everything chocolate.

Klarissa's was quite a bit more on the healthy side.

Let's just say after I ate my bagel and banana I might have indulged in some chocolate myself. My new favorite snack is little mini Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. They don't have to be unwrapped before eating. Perfect for eating with big, bulky gloves!!

I shared a few of the mini peanut butter cups with Abe. He had Klarissa throw the last one up to catch in his mouth.

The gondola took us to another stop which was where the skiers got off.

Notice me wearing my ear muffs. Love those muffs!! I don't like wearing a hat, so the muffs are wonderful for keeping my ears warm.

As we stepped off the gondola and walked down the stairs to the ski resort, there was a sign off to the right that said, "To California." Another sign off to the left said, "To Nevada."

We made a stop at the lodge and then it was time to get back in the gondola and take our ride back down the mountain.

Notice I had taken off my ear muffs and wrapped them around my arm for safe keeping. It was pretty warm at the base of the mountain that day and I knew I wouldn't be needing them when we got off.

We got off the gondola and took a look back toward the mountain to see where we had been.

It wasn't until we got back to the hotel that I discovered my muffs were nowhere to be found. Somewhere between the gondola and the hotel I had lost my beloved ear muffs.

Then, like a flash, off dashed my husband, on the run, to retrace our steps in an attempt to recover the lost item.

I knew it was a lost cause if they had fallen off my arm in the gondola.

Soon Glen was back, bearing his gift for me. The muffs were lost and now they are found.

What a great guy I married!!

He's my charming, chivalrous--and yes, even romantic--prince of a husband and I'm so glad he whisked me away on our week-long getaway. It was awesome!!

Ulterior Motive to a "Romantic Getaway"

I've come to know my husband pretty well. When he invites me on a little romantic getaway, I've learned there is usually an ulterior motive involved--specifically a sporting event of some sort.

So, when the "Honey, how about we get away for a week's vacation to celebrate our anniversary and Valentine's Day" proposal came up, I was suspicious.

And my suspicions were justified when he confirmed there may be a game... or two... that just happen to be scheduled in California while we're there.

And of course he always throws out the Abe and Klarissa trump card--how we always enjoy going to San Francisco to see them.

Thus the stage was set and the plans were made for our romantic vacation together.

We left on Valentine's Day. That's pretty romantic. We drove to Elko where we stopped for the night. Our Valentine's dinner was in a casino buffet. Some people might consider it romantic to see Keno numbers flashing above their sweetheart's head all through dinner.

The buffet food tasted better than it looked. We happened to luck out and get the huge, expensive shrimp that was ordered for the nice restaurant next door. They had an abundance and sent some over to the buffet. The shrimp was delicious and we didn't have to pay any extra for them--just the regular buffet price. YUM!

And look how happy my man is ending the meal with two soft-serve ice cream cones.

Our room was interesting. Anyone out there think it a little odd that the pictures hanging above the bed were identical? Seems a bit redundant.

Our breakfast the next day was McDonald's. Someone in this relationship loves to eat an egg McMuffin every single morning--at home or at McDonald's if we're on the road--and someone else in this relationship can hardly even stand to walk into a McDonald's, much less eat the food there.

We woke up to snow and the restaurant parking lot hadn't been cleared. So we trudged through the snow to get our tantalizingly, tasty morning victuals. UGH!

Another thing I've learned through the years is Glen may take time off to go on vacation, but he's never free from work. He answers his phone and does texting all day long and then has to get caught up on emails at the end of the day. The guy can hardly call any trip a real vacation from work.

Glen set a goal several years ago to go to 12 different temples each year. He wanted to "knock off three temples this trip." Reno Temple was the first of the bunch.

We drove to Sacramento and checked into the hotel there. How romantic is it to walk in and find two double beds? Not queens, but the small double bed. Glen declared we were sleeping in separate beds.

Next temple to attend was the Sacramento Temple.

Tahoe Joe's proved to be an excellent choice for dinner. The steaks were delicious and it got us in the mood for Tahoe later in the week.

We got our first glimpse of Abe and Klarissa when we drove into the city to pick them up for dinner and the first ball game. It's always a good thing when we can find a parking spot near the place we're going. Thankfully they hadn't planned for us to eat at the Korean Cuisine...

Fat Angel was our destination.

Just look at how beautiful Klarissa is with her pregnancy glow! (That's an announcement for anyone reading this blog who might not have already heard that Abe and Klarissa are expecting their first baby the middle of August.)

Look at us all settled on our bench ready for our after-dinner entertainment.

And entertaining it was! The guys watched BYU play San Francisco

while Klarissa and I kept getting too much of an eyeful of a spandex-clad, cape-wearing, over-exuberant, opposing-team fan. He was on his feet and jumping around and carrying on all through the game. That was entertainment (?) all in and of itself.

Since Abe and Klarissa had to work Friday, we had the day to ourselves to find things to do. Glen had the great idea of going over to the hotel where we have stayed before that is by the water and has a walking trail. We had never taken a walk in the past and decided this would be the perfect day to walk along the Bay Trail.

The Oakland Temple was where we spent the afternoon.

Then we hooked up with Abe and Klarissa for a delicious dinner at BoBo's.

We watched an extremely long and rather disturbing play that evening which we would have to give a resounding 8 thumbs DOWN review. If this play happens to come to an area near you--steer clear is all we have to say!

Saturday we drove to Santa Clara for the second ball game. We had lunch at a hole-in-the-wall Golden Crown Chinese Cuisine restaurant.

It proved to be a good choice because Klarissa got the egg drop soup she was craving. The owner of the restaurant was hustling so much (literally running back and forth) to get our order in and the food served so he could sit down with his wife (the cook) at one of the tables and watch their favorite Chinese game show while eating their lunch together.

Back in the car, Glen got all ready to back out and a tow truck drove up and parked right behind us so we had to wait a while for them to do their business and leave. Glen was very impatient and couldn't believe the gall of the man to block us in when we were in the car and ready to leave.

We had some time to kill before the ball game, so what better place than Golfland USA? It was a very beautiful mini golf course.

The boys got a chance to be boys playing games in the arcade.

Santa Clara University is a very beautiful campus.

We got all settled on our bench.

Our seats were four rows up from the floor right behind the basket. Here is my view of the game from my seat. The basket was pretty much right in the way.

I was pretty sure we were in the prime spot to be on television a whole lot of the time. This fact was soon confirmed when Abe and Glen kept getting texts from people telling us they could see us on television.

Jacob so kindly took some pictures of us to send to us and here are a few of the precious shots he took where I look so glamorous and so engaged in the game.

It was quite entertaining sitting across the aisle from the band members. The question I kept asking myself through the whole ball game was "Where's Waldo?"

The cheerleaders were right in front of us, so between the band and the cheerleaders, I had lots of entertainment to watch whenever I wanted a diversion from watching the ball game, or when the action was down at the basket in front of us when I couldn't see much of anything going on from my vantage (or disadvantage) point.

Now let's play "Where's Abe?" He's close to the middle of the screen wearing gray and Glen is beside him in the blue.

We had a late meal after the ball game at the Elephant Bar. We sat at a bar table so we could eat quicker and the table was definitely too small for all the plates that were brought to our table.

After a good night's rest, don't we look lovely on the Sabbath?

That concludes our stay in San Francisco.

End of Chapter I which included three temples, two basketball games and lots of good food and fun.

Preview to Chapter II (coming soon): slabs of cheese, many dogs, not much snow, mountain top, chocolate breakfast, lost and then found.

Quotes of the Week

"Attempt easy tasks as if they were difficult, and difficult as if they were easy; in the one case that confidence may not fall asleep, in the other that it may not be dismayed."
-- Baltasar Gracian

"There is no medicine like hope, no incentive so great and no tonic so powerful as expectation of something tomorrow."
-- O.S. Marden

"The very best thing you can do for the whole world is to make the most of yourself."
-- Wallace Wattles