Wednesday Away ~ Mt. Tallac, Lake Tahoe

A few years ago, before our sweet little boy arrived, we took a summer vacation to Lake Tahoe! It was kind of a surprise to me, because Jason planned the trip without letting me know where we were going. He wouldn't respond to my guesses until we were about a week away from the trip! I LOVE surprises, so this was lots of fun! He is very good at surprises, too! We had talked about potential places to go for vacation, and Lake Tahoe was one of the ideas, so it didn't take long for me to guess. We spent about a week exploring the area around the lake and even took a kayak trip on Lake Tahoe! One of the adventures we had was climbing Mt. Tallac! The mountain is 9,745 feet high and it's about a 4.8 mile . . . hike one way!! We started out early and spent most of the day hiking! The photo above is of Fallen Leaf Lake, which you can view along the trail up Mt. Tallac. It really does look like a humongous leaf. The lakes in that area have the most beautiful crystal clear, blue water!

The little spot, Floating Island Lake, had water so clear, and it was so beautiful. It was a beautiful spot to pause and ponder the amazing beauty around the Lake Tahoe area.
The trails were pretty dry, dusty, and rocky. The breath-taking scenery made this hike much less difficult! We really enjoyed spending the day outside!
Cathedral Lake was at a much higher elevation than where you might imagine finding a lake. It was crystal clear and amazing!
My handsome husband, Jason! We're both outdoorsy types, so this was a wonderful vacation spot! Mt. Tallac was just the right level of difficulty for both of us! I did get a little more tired than he did, but he works out more than I do. (shame on me, I know) At one point we were looking up at a rocky area that to me seemed like it could be the summit. I thought, oh great, it looks like we are almost to the top! Yay! Then, a group of hikers passed us and I chit chatted with them a little about how much farther the summit would be. They pointed at that supposed summit area, and said it's about a mile and a half beyond that area! OH! Thanks! So, at that point the trail got very steep, and we kept going another mile and a half. Sheesh. And, believe me, a mile and a half on straight, flat ground is no big deal, but when you're climbing a mountain. . . . um . . . a mile and a half UP is actually a rather big deal.
Lake Tahoe and another view of Fallen Leaf Lake can be seen in the background behind me and my husband. It was a wonderful, memorable time!
Mt. Tallac is surrounded by other smaller mountains, small mountain lakes, and along the trail we found these flowering patches of wildflowers. They seemed to be little meadows with a variety of plants and fauna.

The summit!! Well, actually the edge of the summit! It was STRAIGHT down from this spot. The lake in the distance is Lake Tahoe! The summit was basically a pile of rocks. I was not really delighted to see a pile of rocks that I would have to scale in order to say I reached the summit. They were very large rocks with crevasses and jagged edges. I didn't want to injure myself or drop my camera in one of those crevasses, or worse yet twist and ankle trying to scramble around on the rocks. Well, I was very careful and made it to the summit!

Here is the view from the summit! It was really, really amazing!

Wednesday Away ~ San Fransisco

We spent our family vacation in California two summers ago, and one of our sight-seeing destinations was San Fransisco!
Here are my top 10 favorite things about San Fran . . .
#1 ~ While walking around one of those beautiful row-house neighborhoods, we spotted this gigantic, gorgeous echeveria succulent plant! I couldn't believe how big they were! I hope to grow some of these around my house soon!

#2~ Lombard street! This is the steepest, curviest street I've ever driven down! It was very beautiful with all the flowers and landscaping around it. People live along it, so at one point we watched someone pulling out of their driveway onto it! I'm not sure I would want to live there, because tourists are constantly hanging around and trying to drive down it!

Here we are with Lombard street in the background. There were lots of flowers along it, mostly hydrangeas, and they were in full bloom!
#3 ~ Staying in the Palace Inn! See www.sfpalace.com . It's a historic hotel, and absolutely amazing!

We swam in the pool on the last day we were there!

#4 ~ San Fransisco row houses! They are EVERYWHERE!

#5 ~ The Embarcadero is along the water, and they had the most wonderful farmer's market!

#6 ~ Chocolates on my pillow! I have stayed in a lot of different hotels, but our visit to San Francisco was the first time I ever found chocolates on my pillow!

This lovely hotel also had a great view!!

# 7~ The San Francisco Botanical Gardens. We saw some of the most beautiful and unique flowers and plants there!

#8~ Skyline view of San Francisco

#9 ~ This view of the bay!

#10 ~ And of course, the Golden Gate Bridge!

Along this section of the walking trail, we saw a pod of four dolphins swimming! They even did some synchronized jumps out of the water! That was really amazing to watch!

Wednesday Away ~ Rockport/Fulton

I love Rockport/Fulton, Texas for a variety of reasons! First of all, whenever we take a weekend-get-away trip down there, it really feels like a full blown vacation! I love that feeling that comes over me as we drive into Rockport! I see wooden piers everywhere, beach-style homes lining every road and facing the ocean, tall palm trees shaking in the sea breeze, green-blue water gently lapping into the bay, every type of boat you can imagine, egrets perched on pilings, joined by white and brown pelicans, and a slow, soothing vibe you might sense while wandering around Mandeville, Jamaica. But best of all, Fulton Harbour is the amazing place where I saw dolphins in the wild for the first time! What an incredible experience!

This photo shows the exact pier in the bay where I first saw the pod of dolphins! We were setting up our food to enjoy a picnic overlooking this spot, when I glanced out on the water. Whoa!!! I couldn't believe what I was seeing!! Real dolphins! Awesome! I shouted out, "dolphins!" like a ten-year-old and went running over to the pier to get a closer look! My husband cracked up laughing as I ran without abandon! They were so beautiful and so amazing to me. I just stared and stared at them, wide-eyed and utterly speechless. I returned to our picnic saying, "That was the coolest thing I've ever seen . . . that was just so amazing . . . can you believe it . . . real dolphins!"


Rockport/Fulton area is located off the coast of Southeast Texas about 20 miles north of Corpus Christi.

We stayed at this gorgeous Lighthouse Inn while we were there last time! They had the most amazing room waiting for us. We were on the ground floor, and when we opened our patio door the picture below is what we saw. It was really beautiful, and just perfect. We could walk down to the water's edge and wait for dolphins to swim by and boats to exit the harbour. We could sit and relax in one of those white rocking chairs. After dark, there were lights down in the water, so you could walk out on those covered piers to watch fish swimming around in the ocean.

We took a bird-watching boat tour out of Fulton Harbour! Captain Tommy took our tour group out to specifically see the endangered Whooping Cranes. We headed out into the open waters and then turned into the Intracoastal Waterway. As we cruised along we saw huge tugboats pushing loaded barges, and gigantic tanker ships. We watched great white egrets, great blue herons, roseate spoonbills, and snowy egrets feeding in the marshy areas along the shore. We spotted the evasive Whooping Cranes on a small peninsula. They are huge, fascinating birds! Whooping Cranes stand about 5 feet tall and are the tallest birds in North America!

On the return trip, we watched a pod of dolphins catching fish. They work together by swimming around and around a large school of fish until they have formed a tight, swirling fish ball in the water. Then the dolphins take turn "biting off" some fish from the teeming mass. When they do this, you can watch the water being swirled around and then notice that dolphins are taking turns diving into the same spot in the water over and over. It was an incredible scene to watch! There were also two or three dolphins swimming up to the boat and jumping in the waves at the sides of the boat as we sped along. As if seeing my first dolphin wasn't amazing enough, watching them swim, feed, and jump out of the water was so, so wonderful! I love Rockport/Fulton!