Phew! What a whirlwind it has been! I arrived back from DC (well, Bethesda, MD) around noon on Friday and by 3p I was in a car en route to Tahoe. Drive by kiss with the hubby, a couple pats on the heads for the pets, re-pack, and go!
The weekend was FANTASTIC! I love going to Tahoe, perhaps more in the summer than the winter. Most likely because I love relaxing on the beach and going on scenic hikes more so than falling on my bootie over and over again on the mountains while snowboarding.
Friday night was pretty much a wash, so we got some rest and woke fairly early Saturday morning to get our hike on! We were staying with Andrea’s Grandma on North Lake in Incline Village where there are nearly as many trails as trees. We decided upon hiking half-way up to Marlette Lake. Here are a couple of the views we encountered:
Spooner Lake en route to Marlette Lake
Meadow half-way up
Not bad views, eh? The trail became increasingly more steep as we went on and we had to determine if we wanted to make this a 10+ mile roundtrip hike or half of that (to hit the beach sooner!). So here we are at our turnaround point:
Happy hikers
After covering about 4.5 miles of hills at elevation, we headed back to the house, changed in our suits and settled onto our beach towels. Unfortunately we were subjected this view:
A heck of a beach view 
We didn’t mind 
Beach bunnies
But let me get to the highlight of the weekend: Paddleboarding! Have you done it? It was so incredible. Words cannot describe. I have seen it a few times before, perhaps you’ve seen Jennifer Aniston paddleboarding in one of your People Magazines. I was a bit nervous because I didn’t want to fall in the lake. Why? Because I didn’t want to get my hair wet it’s FREEZING! Seriously so cold hypothermia would set in. That was motivation enough to make sure I was steady on the long board. It was a wee bit cumbersome putting it in the water since the waves wanted to push it to shore, but eventually it was water bound and I was kneelin’ on top with paddle in hand. After getting out past the dock, I took my first trepid step to stand. What do you know! It’s not too hard!
Such fun!
Even with the somewhat rocky water (due to all the boats’ wakes), I was able to engage my core and remain grounded. I think all my yoga certainly helps Paddling through the water felt so zen, words cannot describe. Yes it was work, but there is something surreal and unworldly about standing on water! Andrea and I could not get enough and traversed the shoreline back and forth more than once.
Go Go Paddleboard PowerRangers!
We upped our challenge by doing some yoga on the boards:
Paddleboard yoga -- a new sport!
Andrea captured at full arch
I am so eager to paddleboard again. I loved the calming lull of the waves, the beyond gorgeous views, the sun beating down, and how my body had to adjust with flow of the water. My abs and shoulders felt incredible afterward, as did my glutes Killer workout after our hike! Paddleboarding made an appearance on the 4th as well but no photos were taken.
After an entire day in the sun, we showered up so that we could prepare to make dinner for Andrea’s family and some additional guests. It was our way of saying Thank You for letting us partake in this very special holiday and for being such a gracious host. It was yet another Eating Well recipe which I will showcase on Wednesday (since this is already a long post). Please stay tuned, and think pasta, blueberries, chicken, and feta. Wait for it!
Saturday night there were fireworks about 50 yards from Andrea’s Gma’s house (which is on the beach). They were pretty darn spectacular. However, silly me, happened to have too much vino and champagne (Gma loves her champagne!) and started feeling motion sick! How lame am I? Haha…
Now, onto the 4th of July!!! It was another early morning and this time our “workout” consisted of walking 2.6 miles (one way) to the only Starbucks in Incline Village. Apparently every other resident and guest had the exact same idea since the line was about 30 people deep. Phew! We got our iced coffees to go, made a pit stop to pick up beach-time magazines and headed back 2.6 miles once again. Easy way to start the day and beach bound by 11am!
Pictures were a little less frequent yesterday, but here are a few:
Happy Birthday America!
Cheers to you!
There was plentiful eats all day long and I let the healthy-Shanna go by the wayside. Heck, we gotta have a day off now and then, right? The spreads were all American: burgers (veggie too!), hotdogs, corn-on-the-cob, pasta salads, watermelon, baked goods galore, etc, etc.
And as I’m wrapping up this post, I came across another photo I snapped that brought a huge smile to my face This little dog was one determined pup. This limb (not stick mind you) was 3-4 x’s it’s size and he took it from beach to beach, making just one pit stop to catch his breath. Determination comes in all forms
Never too small to achieve your goal
Well I hope everyone had a wonderful long weekend filled with family, friends, good eats, and play-time outside.
Have you Paddleboarded? Or do you want to? Did you take on a new adventure over the 4th?
