Before continuing with the gift guides, I thought I’d pause to share some photos from our visit this past week to Lake Tahoe and our holiday with friends and family. The lake was so calm and beautiful!

School was cancelled on Friday, due to our having “the worst air in the world” as a consequence of the wildfires, and we so we couldn’t have been more grateful to get out of the valley and into the mountains. You could tell the visibility across the lake was still impacted a bit, but what a difference. Our longtime friends (since college), came up with us for the first few days, and we of course took them up Eagle Rock to check out the view.

The kids had a blast together, and are getting old enough that we can let them do some wandering on their own—it actually tends to make days easier when there are more playmates around!

After the hike, we pulled over at the West Shore Market and stopped at the beach in front of Sunnyside for a quick fishing lesson at the pier. The market was swarmed (everyone was escaping to Lake Tahoe), but the beaches were quiet.

In the afternoon, the kids would play games and work on various backyard projects, before we’d show a movie (Shaun the Sheep is our go-to these days for a big age range) and slip off to the jacuzzi.

Then we all went on a walk down the road into Ward Creek Park. I loved walking behind these two little girls as they held hands. It was so nice for Skyler to have another girl her age—she’s often the only one.

In the evening, after the kids were asleep (which took a long time the first night, with all the excitement), we played games, sipped Irish Coffee, and worked on a 1000-piece puzzle until way too late.

On Sunday, we visited Sugar Pine Point State Park for the first time. I’m not sure what took us so long! We walked through the forest until we came to a crossing at General Creek. Hudson says that following the creek bed and cracking the ice that had formed on its surface was one of his favorite parts of the weekend.

Many of the trails are loops, some used for cross-country skiing during the 1960 Winter Olympics.

Then, once you cross the road, it’s a 3/4-mile walk out to the beach, historic Hellman-Ehrman Estate, and pier—where the water was indescribably beautiful.

We stopped for a snack and the kids looked for any remaining signs of crawdads.

The sun felt warm but the water was probably around 50-degrees F, so we we were pretty shocked to see some brave souls making the jump!

Back at the cabin, we basically repeated the events from the previous day. (We finished the puzzle!) And the boys tried to set up a “Nature store.” “Open till 7:30pm for some of the day.” They got one customer for $1. Can you guess who?

Our friends left early in the morning on Monday—and so did Aron. While he worked, the kids and I had a lazy morning at the cabin, before a Ward Creek walk, and brunch at the Firesign Cafe.

Then we headed over to the Tahoe City Waterfront to play on the playground and look for more ice along the shoreline.

They were pretty darn cute together.

We didn’t find much ice along the lake, but Ward Creek was filled frost. It felt really special to catch it just before the first snow was to fall on Thursday.

That last night, we went rock skipping in Hurricane Bay, and then showed the kids Annie for the first time. Though I’d forgotten just how naughty Ms. Hannigan is, it was such fun seeing their reaction to all of the kids dancing and making messes in the orphanage. They loved it.

And then this year, rather than staying up in the mountains for Thanksgiving, we drove back to Davis on Wednesday. Snow was just beginning to fall as we went over Donner Summit and the much-needed rain was arriving in town as we were.

Aron was on call and worked for the first half of the rest of the break, so we had plenty of time in our PJs on rainy mornings.

We were so happy to come back to clear air. The trees around town look especially beautiful on overcast days.

Finally, for Thanksgiving, we joined my and Aron’s parents and many close friends for dinner at a long table in Aron’s childhood home—just as I would have wished!

It was a memorable holiday week—a nice moment to slow down as we ushered in the season. I hope those of you who celebrated had an enjoyable one, too!

P.S. Thanksgiving in Tahoe last year. Also, all of the Lake Tahoe travelogues (including a guide to Lake Tahoe in the winter), and our cabin’s rental listing.

 

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