......of pure heaven. Literally.......we were right next to Heavenly Ski Resort in South Lake Tahoe!
Jim and I did it! We managed to get away from everything (kids, dogs, work, etc...) for a total of 24 hours!!! I hope this doesn't sound horrible but we had SUCH a great time!
The entire reason for our trip was to go see Alison Krauss (my favorite singer/songwriter/musician/performer EVER) in concert with Robert Plant. I was giddy as a school girl months ago when I found out she would be in our area and blindly bought us tickets....forcing us to make it happen. And that we did..
We spent Saturday morning with the girls......taking them to Sabbath School then having lunch together. Then as soon as we had them snug in their afternoon naps, Joelle and her fiance Jake showed up and we were off! I'm sure Joelle was happy to get us out of there, it was obvious this was the first time I had ever left them overnight and I was just annoyingly obsessive about every little thing. Sometime I just don't know when to shut up!!
Once in South Lake Tahoe, we got settled into our hotel room, freshened up and then headed to the 18th floor of Harrah's Casino to partake in a totally adult dinner that equaled the amount of 10 Thanksgiving meals! We're talking steak, potatoes, bread, oysters, and some magnificent chocolate thingy, all the while enjoying the magnificent view of Lake Tahoe. YUMMY!!! It was sublime!!!
After officially entering our food coma, we headed to the concert. I'm not a big fan of Robert Plant (although he and Alison sound REALLY good together) but hearing the many solo performances of Alison made it so worth the trip. I can't tell you how many times I got goosebumps while she sang. She's just amazing!
After the concert, Jim and I refused to let our sleep deprived, over worked, and out of shape butts get the best of us. So we meandered through the casino's (where I swiftly lost $20 in less than 1 minute and realized gambling is not for me) and that is an interesting blog entry in itself. Watching people in a casino is WAY better than an airport (if you can imagine) and it was only a matter of time until we found ourselves standing in front of cheesy lounge singer/DJ. So what do we do next? DANCE BABY!! That's right.......Jim and I got out there and strutted our moves (with about 500 other people - it was PACKED).
Here we are shaking our "groove thing". :-)
Before we got married and had kids, dancing was something we did a lot. At least once a month, we would go dancing......usually salsa or something like that.....but we would dance for hours and hours. Things are different now.
After about 5 songs, we were WIPED! I was actually sweating!! How pathetic is that? So we decided to call it a night and these 2 old fogeys headed back to our room.
We slept a solid 9 hours (WOO HOO) then headed off to breakfast. After filling up (once again) on completely fat free food (hee hee) we headed to Emerald Bay for a hike. For those of you who have never been to Lake Tahoe, Emerald Bay is the most photographed and visited place in the entire Lake Tahoe region. It's crazy gorgeous!!!
We didn't have too much time, so we thought we would do a short little hike (only 1.6 miles one way), figuring we could be in/out in a little over an hour. I mean, c'mon......hiking is OUR THING!
What we DIDN'T realize, is once again......we are old and out of shape. That being mixed in with a starting altitude of 6800 feet. And to finish it off......our measly little 1.6 mile hike gained 2000 feet total. OUCH! But let me just say.....the view was SOOO worth it!
The pics below were taken just 1/3 way into the hike but what a great view of Emerald Bay. Jim cracks me up in this pictures.....he looks like Spider Man!
2/3 of the way into our hike......we came across this gorgeous alpine lake called Granite Lake. Too bad the pups weren't with us....Chase would have caused some ripples in that peaceful water for sure! :-)
While at Granite Lake......you could see our destination point through the trees. That's right......that little rocky peak in the background. It's called South Maggie's Peak and it's another 1000 feet up on the trail (we had already gone 1000 feet to reach Granite Lake). UGH!!!
(see below) Almost to the peak, this is where we reached the ridge-line and we could see the crazy view on the other side. It's just amazing how beautiful is it out here......takes my breath away. Jim, of course, had a little "tiff" with an old dead tree but he showed it who was boss and then he took a quick break before we headed off trail to climb up to the top of South Maggie.
FINALLY..........we made it. I'm just glad Jim was heaving for breath as hard as I was. WHEW! But like I said.....the view was more than we were imagining!
To get your bearings (see below): You'll see Lake Tahoe above me (obviously) with Emerald Bay on the upper left hand side. That is where our car is. Granite Lake (we reached 1/2 way through our hike) is the one on the bottom left and I don't know the name of the lake on the right. I think it's Cascade but I could be wrong.
And just in case you want to see the FULL view, here you go!
Since our "little" hike took longer than we planed (about 2.5 hours total) we made a beeline to the homestead once back to the car.
Once home.........Sweet (and totally amazing) Joelle and Jake had the girls down for their afternoon naps. It was as though we had never left! :-) Joelle filled us in on their adventures while we were gone and it was so great to hear that my girls were absolute angels (I think she's lying to me). Kellyn didn't have to use her "time out" chair once and they were like little clocks with their schedules. Joelle couldn't get over how wonderful and sweet they were (once again, I think she's lying). :-)
Jim and I just couldn't contain ourselves. We were so excited to see our little "angels" that as soon as Joelle was out the door, we bolted upstairs and woke them up from their naps. You heard me right........we WOKE UP 2 sleeping children. WHAT'S WRONG WITH US!! We missed those little toe heads more than we thought we would! It was SO wierd to go hiking and have NOTHING (not even dog leashes) in our hands. That was a first for me in decades!!!!
It was a FABULOUS 24 hours and the fact that the girls were safe and happy made it even better. Are you free next weekend Joelle??? HA!
Somehow, this guy navigated his way INTO the stadium........all the while, Lee Greenwood is blaring through the speakers. I've never been more proud to be an American, and there were many tears streaming down my face to prove it!!!
What even added to the "coolness" was as soon as this skydivers flag got into the arena, there were people running and grabbing that flag to keep it off the dirty ground and put it on display so that we could all give it the proper salute that it deserved. 
As we all covered our hearts and sang the national anthem, I looked at my family and said many silent prayers of love and appreciation for those families that are missing the heroes of our country. Although their sacrifice is something that has a lasting legacy, I'm sure the void they have left in their family is felt every minute of every hour of every day.
