To Tahoe

Yesterday, I got up (voluntarily) before the sun so that I could drive to South Lake Tahoe to visit with my friends Shae and Shay.

Shae, you see, is a fabulous lady I met through my NASCAR addiction, about a decade ago (wow!). We were both members of a message board for Dale Earnhardt Jr. fans, and over time, we both left that one to join a smaller, private board with several other women. The boards have mostly died out, but we all migrated to Facebook, so I'm still in touch with most everyone.

Shae visited California in 2007, when I showed her around San Francisco, and again in 2011, where we found ourselves at the Pez Museum in Burlingame.

Anyway, Shae's best friend since college is Shay (they're both named Sharon and they call each other Ditto), who I went to San Francisco with back in April for a day of Rugby. They've been South Lake Tahoe all week, catching up, relaxing, taking in the gorgeous scenery. Yesterday, I joined them for a lovely day of catching up. I didn't take a ton of pictures; I mostly just enjoyed chatting and being in a gorgeous place.

I stopped at a Vista Point overlooking Donner Lake.
This pic was taken with an iPhone. A PHONE.

From here on out, all pics are from my Nikon. This
was taken at a rest stop near Donner Lake.

Donner Lake again. So gorgeous! It was still early, obviously.

Cali Swimmy bloated up at altitude.

Stopped for road construction, I got a pic of the
Squaw Valley sign.

Stopped for yet more construction on Highway 89.

Sign pic.

South Lake Tahoe. Simply gorgeous.

Cali loves fountains, but was too bloated to swim.

Hello, Nevada. I stayed for about thirty seconds.

Snow's a'comin'.

California here I come...

We ate lunch at a great brewery, and I loved this fresco outside.

Shae has an Adipose (basically a large fat deposit,
apparently from Dr. Who) she calls Toki. Cali enjoyed
meeting a new friend.

Shae and I went to a small gallery where some Dr. Suess prints were on
display and we both loved this one, "A Prayer For a Child."

So Shae bought it. : ) She was near tears with happy excitement! It's her
first "big art" purchase.

The day certainly wasn't long enough, but I had to get on the road by 5:00, so I could make it home with enough time to get ready for a full day of teaching today. I arrived home, happily exhausted, at about 7:30. Needless to say, after yesterday's adventure and today's teaching, I'm ready for bed early on this Friday night!