Tahoe

Saturday morning at around 600am we headed out for Tahoe, our first stop.  The plan was to hang out there long enough to wear everyone out so we could go straight to sleep at our hotel in Reno that night.  Tahoe was STUNNING!  We once again were in for a trip full of windy mountain roads, but that seems to be standard for us now.  I just try not to look out the window when we’re in the outside lane. 

We dragged the girls down the path to Vikingsholm.  Promising ice cream if Lottie did it on her own two feet.  At the bottom they were able to dip their feet in the water before we trekked back up the mountain.  On the way back to our car we stopped at a waterfall.  Lottie discovered the secret to staying cool is dipping your hat in the water. 

Since we neglected to feed them an actual meal our next stop was Tahoe City in search of food.  And here is where priceless moment number one occurred.  While walking ahead of us with his Tahoe magazine a flock of geese flew over Dan’s head and pooped on the back of his pants and the magazine in his hand.  As he was cursing about this Gabby went up an grabbed the magazine and then got poop on her hand as well.  Apparently bird poop causes one to lose their filter and Dan eloquently informed her that she now had “shit on her hand.”  After scraping off what he could we continued on our restaurant search.  Lottie looked at Gabby who was biting her nails and told her “don’t put your hands by your mouth they have shit on them.”  Parenting award for Dan! 
We found a restaurant and made it through lunch although lack of food and sleep made for some unpleasantness from Lottie.  Afterwords we found a public beach and everyone but me waded into Lake Tahoe.  I wasn’t such a fan of the rocks and mud around the edge, but the view was incredible.

Then it was off to Reno.  What a dramatic change in scenery.  I have never wanted to get out of someplace so badly in my life.  Everything there just seemed dingy and depressing.  We took the girls for ice cream in our hotel’s casino, where conveniently they also have arcades set up.  This place was definitely not our cup of tea and the ice cream wasn’t even good.  We did meet a nice couple from Idaho who we kept running into.  They the first of many to tell us more efficient ways we could have made it to our destinations. 

I kinda wish there were a little more background in this one, but when people are nice enough to take your picture it's hard to complain.

First of many big trees.

Disappointing ice cream.  At least my iced tea was ok.

Hilariousness!  At least she didn't write that he got "shit on"

This creepiness was right outside our hotel. 

I could replace this with far more accurate descriptions

The Beginning

On day one of what may be the craziest trip we’ve taken yet the girls and I set out for the airport at 330am.  By some miracle both of our flights were running early and we got to San Francisco about an hour ahead of schedule.  We picked up our Chevy Impala and headed to our friends’ house.  These are the friends who made the camping portion of this trip possible. 
We started off considering a visit to San Francisco and then possibly camping at Yosemite.  At some point we considered driving across the country and stopping in places like the Badlands and Mt. Rushmore.  Because I didn’t want to risk my van dying or pay the exorbitant fees to return a car to a different state the cross country drive got the axe.  Yosemite also got crossed off the list because you can’t reserve campsites in advance and it seemed slightly less little kid friendly.  So instead we (maybe just this half of we) decided to still start in San Francisco to take advantage of our friends’ kind offer and then make a loop through the west stopping at as many national parks as we could.  At the end we would stay for a few days in San Francisco, so I could balance out all the time in nature.  We would do all this over two weeks with an estimated 2200 miles of driving. 
Our first day in San Francisco consisted of trying to shop for groceries and supplies and organize a U-Hauls worth of gear and luggage into a standard size car.  Again thank goodness for amazing friends, because I don’t know that Gabby and Lottie would’ve really been able to see me through this process.  In the end we made it work since thankfully the people in the back of the car didn’t require as much leg room. 
After a fantastic dinner and some time spent catching up we headed to bed so we could be up bright and early for our first destination.

This totally looks reasonable.  Right?

Traveling superstars!

Unflattering pictures of mom = airport entertainment

Miracle!

This one didn't last long, but points for a catnap.

These kids can step it up when they have to!!!