california — Patti Part Two

Long time no blog. Sometimes the best of plans and organization and good intentions are thwarted when life happens. While on my trip to gorgeous Lake Tahoe my sweet Dad took a turn for the worse. It was touch and go that entire week so as soon as I landed back in Kansas City I headed to Illinois to spend what I was hoping would be a few days encouraging him to keep fighting and get better. But that was not God’s will, and he continued to decline and was moved to hospice. I am so grateful to have had those days with him before he passed and was reunited with mom. He was truly a man that lived for others, and set such a great example of work ethic and selflessness. He was almost 91 when he died so lived a long full life, but that doesn’t make it easier. Miss you Dad!! Rest In Peace.

So I have a lot of catching up to do and will start with Tahoe. This was my first time there and I found it to be even more beautiful then I anticipated. Here are a few quick facts - Lake Tahoe is a large freshwater lake in the Sierra Nevada Mountains straddling the border of California and Nevada. It’s known for its beaches and ski resorts, and is the largest alpine lake in North America. It has a depth of 1645 feet making it the second deepest lake in the US after Crater Lake in Oregon.

The challenge for me is to limit the amount of pictures I post - as I think it’s impossible to take a bad picture of the area. With every step and every direction you turn it just takes your breath away - truly spectacular!

Taken from Heavenly Mountain as we were heading up to take a gondola ride.

The trip to Tahoe was our annual high school girlfriend trip - and this year we were so lucky to have Liz offer to host it at their lovely Lake Tahoe home. It’s located on the Nevada side of the lake in an area called Glenbrook. Liz was such a gracious hostess - she had fully stocked the kitchen with food and plenty of wine!! She even cooked dinner for us a few times and she’s a great cook!! Thanks so much Liz! I am willing to make a return visit anytime.

This trip was all about hiking - which was fine by me. After my trip to Peru hiking is high on the list of activities I enjoy - and you would be hard pressed to find a prettier place to do it then Tahoe. And so many choices of hikes with varying levels of difficulty. I think we all did great - and took on some pretty challenging terrain.

Heavenly Mountain is a ski resort - so we did some hiking there and then took the gondola ride up to 10,000 feet. Spectacular views of the lake and a fun thing to do!

Not easy to get this picture since the gondola keeps moving as you jump on!!!

Elevation of over 10,000 feet - a little short of breath but made it!

We spent the bulk of an entire day hiking at Emerald Bay State Park. Not a hard hike but we covered a lot of ground and saw spectacular panoramic views and waterfalls.

We also hiked down and toured the amazing Vikingsholm home which is build on the isolated head of Emerald Bay. It was built in 1928 to replicate a Scandinavian mansion by the architect Lennart Palme. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and was really beautiful and interesting.

Some of the other areas we hiked were Eagle Rock, Shakespeare and Spooner Lake. And we had quite a variety of weather - even snow!! It was beautiful, challenging and gave us a good reason to eat and drink as much as we wanted.

We didn’t just hike - one day we drove over to Truckee which is a fun quaint western town with cute shops and restaurants. The girls knew of a restaurant there that was featured on Diners, Drive-In’s and Dives so that was a must. The food at Jax was great! Typical diner fare.

We ate a fun lunch at The Beach House, In n’Out, Sunnyside, and dinner at the Glenbrook Club and Eaglebrook Bistro.

I was too hungry from all that hiking to take pictures of the food - so this is us at the restaurants.

And we did celebrate Julie’s birthday that week - in true Julie fashion!

We’re never too old to make a snow angel!!

It was a wonderful trip even in spite of the stress and worry about my Dad. I know my Dad was happy I was getting to see the area and have time with friends I have known for over 45 years.

Next post - Tampa Bay!!! Happy Thanksgiving! I am counting my blessings today and every day.

What a great week it has been in Southern California! We really lucked out on the weather - kind of unseasonably warm and clear for February. We (me, Jim, son Tom and niece Angela) have been staying at my time share - the Marriott Newport Coast Villas in Newport Coast. This is my 4th time here and I like it better every time. So beautiful and a wonderful location - tucked between Newport Beach and Laguna Beach. One of my best friends from high school - Liz Tutton - lives in Newport and is a fantastic resource on what and where to go! Plus I get to hang out with her as much as possible! Here are a few pictures of the resort.

Really pretty villas overlooking the ocean and great amenities!

It's a very easy walk to the beach - less then half a mile and we are right at Crystal Cove. That's a beach area that is owned by the parks system so a public beach. I try to walk down there as much as possible - or take a run which is great too!

One of my most favorite things to do here is walk to the beach and eat at the Beachcomber. It is literally right on the beach and the food is great - but the wait is usually long so we try to go for breakfast and get there as early as possible keeping in mind we are on vacation and no one likes to get up too early! We got there about 8:30 Monday morning and only had about a 20 minute wait - totally worth it!

The walk back! Got to burn off those beignets!!!

As mentioned my good friend Liz and husband Bill invited us to go sailing Monday afternoon and that sounded great! Something we don't get to do in the Midwest. Well when we got to the boat they discovered a problem with the motor - but were able to borrow a Duffy Boat from a good friend in the harbor so that saved the day. I had never heard of a Duffy Boat but they are basically an electric cocktail cruiser - so fun!

Liz and Bill with the Duffy Boat after we went sight seeing in Newport Harbor. Saw where John Wayne and Roy and Dale Rogers lived!

Tuesday we went to Balboa Island for lunch. If you ever watched the show "Arrested Development" one of the characters worked there selling frozen bananas. It is so retro - an old Fun Zone arcade and a Ferris Wheel. The easiest way to get there is to take a very short ferry ride from the mainland - three cars at a time. We took the ferry and played some games in the arcade - then Tom and Angela rode the Ferris wheel. Kind of touristy but still fun. If you remember Tapanga from Boy Meets World you will be interested in knowing that she walked right past me there - looked exactly like she does on TV - celebrity sighting!!

That's a pic on top of the little ferry!

Tuesday night we celebrated a birthday for Jim at a pretty famous restaurant in the area called Javier's. It's an upscale Mexican restaurant that has an awesome atmosphere and the food was delicious!

Tom and Angela and I got up early Weds and drove to Ruby's Shake Shack for breakfast overlooking the beach! Such a cool place and you can get shakes at 8 AM!! I can't think of a better way to start the day!

Ruby's is overlooking Crystal Cove about a mile before you get to Laguna Beach.

Weds afternoon Angela and I were going to try Stand Up Paddle Boarding with my friend Liz - but the weather really didn't cooperate. That afternoon it got cloudy and windy and even rained a bit. So instead we had a great lunch at a place called Greenleaf. You guessed it - great salads - my favorite lunch! It was in Newport and had a great atmosphere. The people who worked there were pretty cute too!

Then Liz took us to a few more beautiful spots around Newport and Corona Del Mar where she walks with her friends. Spectacular views of the beach and ocean.

Weds night we took another of Liz and Bill's recommendations for dinner and tried Bandera's in Corona Del Mar - perfect for a rainy night as it has a wonderful warm atmosphere. We had to wait about 20 min for a table so had a drink by the fireplace!

Wonderful food and yes that salmon is mine!

Thursday we did some shopping at Fashion Island and then Jim and I went in to Laguna Beach to walk around that cute artsy beach town. I think Laguna has a much different feel then Newport although I really like them both. Laguna has so many cute little restaurants, shops and art galleries - feels quite a bit more laid back to me.

Thursday night was lots of fun! The 4 of us went with Liz and her son Marshall up to the Comedy Club at the Irvine Spectrum. We had dinner before at the Cheesecake Factory and as always it was delicious. In fact it sparked my next countdown idea - I'm going to eat my way through their entire dessert menu one week at a time! Starting next week! The Comedy Club had a special show featuring only female Asian comics - and one man that is in the process of becoming a woman. No it's not Bruce Jenner! It was a fun and different thing to do.

Friday was BIG!!!!! The high point of the trip for Tom and Angela was to skydive for the first time! They had reservations at Go Jump Oceanside which is south of Laguna but not as far as San Diego. The three of us headed there first thing Friday morning on a spectacularly beautiful and perfect day. I wanted to be there to see it but it was not something I myself wanted to do. They were really excited and nervous - me too! It was a very professional operation and great group of people that made you feel calm and secure immediately. Most people will not believe me but I think I could have done it! And maybe one day I will! Tom and Angela had a phenomenal experience - it exceeded their expectations and they said the feeling was incredible!

Tandem jumping so each jumper has an instructor with them,

After the jump we headed to Carlsbad for lunch. Such a cute beach town! We found a great place thanks to Tom and Yelp - as you might guess neither one of them had eaten much that morning. We ate and then walked around the cute village area and to the beautiful beach.

Friday night was our last night. Jim's friend Todd who lives in Newport had just gotten back to town so we planned to meet him at Javier's for a drink. Liz and Bill joined as well so it turned out to be a very fun conclusion to a great week.

Bill was taking the pictures so we forgot to get one of he and Liz!

It wouldn't be a trip to California if we didn't make it here at least once!

This was a really relaxing vacation for me. The weather was perfect almost every day, great food, beautiful walks and runs at the beach, wonderful friends and lots of fun! My next big trip will be quite a bit different. Mid April I leave for two weeks in Europe - traveling solo and heading to Barcelona, Madrid, Lisbon and Paris!! If you want to come along subscribe to my blog and you will receive an email when I update my blog - which I will try and do every day. Just click on the SUBSCRIBE link at the top and enter your email!!

"I do not bring back from a journey quite the same self that I took." W. Somerset Maugham