Lake Tahoe!!

On our way to Lake Tahoe, leaving Mariposa, we started being passed by firetrucks and utility trucks on some pretty narrow roads, soon to see the cause was a huge fire in the mountains. The fire had just started and the roads were being blocked so we were forced to turn around. We stopped at a lookout to see scouting planes and helicopters surrounding the smoke. Then we took off to follow Wanda's lovely back roads into northern California. Once again, we found ourselves passing wakeboard boats galore and realized that instead of Home Sickness, we were both getting 'Lake Sickness'.

The first thing we did once in Tahoe was head to the closest dog beach to let Cohen run around before we went to find our hotel. After getting settled, we met the British crew again out for drinks and dinner. We spent the next day back at the dog beach lying in the sun and in the water. The lake was so shallow that it took about 20 yards of walking to get the water up to your chest, which Cohen loved. He also loved the fact that the temp was the same as bath water. Later that afternoon, we met up with everyone for lunch on a pier.

Later that night we went to Zephyr Cover to board a catamaran and headed out onto the lake. We had arranged a sunset sailing cruise on the lake with complimentary drinks all night. Trust me, we took advantage!! After seeing the amazing sunset, we headed back to shore where we found a taxi and stopped at the Hard Rock on the Nevada side. Stumbling back to our hotel, later that night, we said goodbye to everyone from England and spent our last night in Tahoe, ready to leave early the next morning.

Mariposa and Yosemite

Wanda strikes again!! On our way from Porterville to Mariposa, CA, instead of the interstate, we found ourselves on a winding back road through the hills of Mariposa, both dirt and badly paved. We had been invited to a house rented by friends from England whom we met on our past cruise. They had their son and his girlfriend with them, and it was their son's birthday, which led to a scavenger hunt from market to market in the surrounding towns, which were at least 15-20 miles apart.

After finally finding the main town and a cake we followed some back roads to find the place we would stay. The house turned out to be gorgeous with a great patio and an even better view. However, it was a different story, once inside. The house was rented out by a family who had obviously not had the time to take down their christmas decorations for the past 10 years, for the house was still fully decorated, complete with festive spiderwebs. Along with the silver garland, there were pictures in every room of their family that seemed to go back to the 70s. These pictures would have been fine, if it was not for the fact that they are one of the creepiest families around. Soon, we found that every drawer in the house was full of the family's clothing, the hot tub did not work, there was really no internet service and 'central air' just meant open all bedroom doors and put all the window ACs on high. Despite the disturbing stay, we were only a half hour from the enterence to Yosemite.

Yosemite National Park was truly amazing with great views. Unfortunately, most of the park's waterfalls are dried up by August, which is the time we arrived, but there was still plenty to see. As soon as we got into the park, we headed to Glacier Point, one of the most popular lookout points. The drive was to take about an hour to reach the point, but of course we hit construction, so it took us 2.5 hours to get there. The view point looked out over the domes which the park is known for, and this picture, which is the half dome. Half of this rock came off in a landslide years ago. They told us that if we zoom in on our pictures we will see the crazy people that hike up the side of it and camp at the top.

While exploring the rest of the views and walks throughout the park, Marc came across his future profession. We saw a female park ranger walking amongst a crowd of tourists, carrying a paintball gun. She was casually telling the people how she had just shot a bear with her paitball gun. Apparently, her job is to deter bears from the road ways and hiking paths by shooting them with clear paintballs.

We spent our second day in the Mariposa River. This river runs along the road that brings you from Mariposa to Yosemite. We drove along the road until we found some suitable rocks we could sit on along the river and we climbed down the cliff with Cohen to the water. The river was too fast to put in floats, but the sun was hot and the water was warm, so we sun bathed, waded and swam and picniced on the river for the day.

Big Trees

Tuesday morning we left the OC and headed into LA traffic. Finding yourself in bumper to bumper traffic is inevitable, even though we precisely timed it out to avoid the morning, lunch, mid-afternoon, and evening traffic. The wait wouldnt have been so bad if it hadnt been for the view of smog that surrounded us and blocked any chance of scenery of the city or the mountains. At first we couldnt tell if it was clouds or smoke, two cleaner alternatives. Finally, after getting out of the traffic, Marc got to get his first 'In and Out Burger' experience. Truly amazing as always and curing any hangover one might have left over from the previous night's poker/drinking gathering.

After hearing about the absurb amount of bears that bother you while camping in the Sequoias, we opted out of the tent idea and got a sketchy hotel in Porterville, CA. On our way there, we passed every citrus tree imaginable, to the point where if there was a game called 'name that fruit tree', we would master it.

Sequoia National Park was typically what we expected, lots of really big trees, some amazing views, a drive through tree that our car couldnt fit through and some really windy roads.

keepin up with the crew from the OC

After leaving Vegas, we left the lights and the triple digit temps and headed towards Orange County to visit some of Marc's high school friends for the weekend. The weather was still in the high 90s during the day, but at last we had a chance to breathe in some cooler air once the sun was down, allowing us to head out to some 'east coast' bars and meet some of Lindsay and Matt's friends. This night was filled with alot of drinking, del taco and even shopping carts and left us with a nice head ache the following day.

Our second night there, we headed to the Orange County fair. This was definetly one of the biggest fairs we have been to, complete with nightly concerts, huge sausages and turkey legs, and of course, beer. All night we had alot of fun, won a banana, went on a crazy ride with a great view of the area, almost got foot fungus, and got to see some reality stars trying to act 'normal' while walking the fair grounds with a giant crew of cameras taping their every move.

We spent the rest of the weekend relaxing and catching up with friends... aka recovering.