Sunday was a big day! We woke up bright and early to rent jet skis off the Marina on South Lake Tahoe. We had to meet at the lake at 8am for our tour. The morning weather was quite cold and the lake water even colder! Upon getting fitted for life jackets, we hopped on our high-output jet ski and followed our guide over to Emerald Bay, about a 20 minute ride from the Marina. After touring the bay, our guide set us loose for an hour out on the lake with our jet ski. This was by far the best part of the trip! I have never driven a jet ski in my life, but took it upon myself to fly at 50 miles an hour across the lake hitting every wave in my way! Pictures of this part of the trip were taken with a waterproof disposable camera so as not to ruin my digital camera, but they will be up shortly as soon as I get them developed!

After the jet ski tour we hit up The Cantina, a local Mexican restaurant for some lunch.

We split a massive chicken burrito and I of course got a strawberry margarita because “I’m on vacation.” Then we headed over to Horsetail Falls, a massive waterfall off a mountain southwest of Lake Tahoe.

If you look carefully you can see Horsetail Falls dead center in the background of this picture; it’s white in color because the water is rushing at an incredible rate down the mountain. Upon seeing the beautiful waterfall we decided to make it to the top, yes the top. We had heard there was a gorgeous lake at the start of the falls called Avalanche Lake and we were determined to make it there for a swim!

The hike started off relatively easy, we walked near the water to see the falls and kept pushing our way to the top.

The trail soon became more difficult to find and we had to rely on stacks of small rocks built by hikers before us (as seen in the picture). This clue ended up being a total lifesaver later on in the hike!

During the whole hike we had fantastic views of the waterfall!

It was at about 2 hours into the hike when the trail disappeared, and we were on our own. We had heard from other hikers coming down the mountain that the hike got more difficult along the way, but we had no idea what we were in for. We climbed up the side of the mountain using rocks and boulders to pull ourselves up. Some of the rocks were slick from the nearby water making this was an extremely dangerous and terrifying experience that I had neither the skill nor the endurance for. The sign at the trailhead stating that “there had been many fatalities on this hike” was clearly not kidding.

But we kept seeing hikers descending the mountain reassuring us that we weren’t too far from the top and that the view and lake at the top of the waterfall was well worth the climb. So we continued on our way…

3 hours, 2 Cliff Bars, and not enough water later, we finally reached the top!

And low and behold, the incredible breathtaking Avalanche Lake!

The water was FREEZING, but as tired and hot as I was from the climb, I jumped in anyways! I even swam out to a little island in the middle of the lake!

After a nice long swim we came across two other hikers making there way to the top who were kind enough to take our picture at the peak of the waterfall! Luckily they were more experienced hikers and kindly led the way back down the mountain as we followed.

This hike was definitely not what we had in mind…

Anticipated length of hike: 1.5 hours
Total length of actual hike: 5.5 hours

Anticipated difficulty: moderate
Actual difficultly: more difficult then you could ever imagine

In sum: totally worth the time, effort, and 3 days of muscle soreness to follow!

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Our trip to Lake Tahoe this past weekend was amazing! We had such a blast! Unfortunately I was unable to connect to the internet at the inn as planned. But nevertheless, here are the pictures at long last!

We arrived in South Lake Tahoe late late Friday night. After an hour drive from the Reno-Tahoe airport we finally arrived at this cute little inn where we stayed called Alder Inn. Alder Inn is owned and run by the the most amazing family with incredible hospitality. Our stay at the Alder Inn was wonderful!

Each room at the inn is themed. Our room had a wild west theme that was so cozy and welcoming! Not to mention the complimentary Bare Naked granola and Craisins greeting us on the bed as we walked in!

Saturday morning we rode bikes over to ride the Heavenly Gondola. The gondola is most commonly used in the winter time as a ski lift, but in the summer it still runs to bring tourists up the mountain for an incredible view of Lake Tahoe.

The ride up the mountain had the most amazing views of Lake Tahoe!

I couldn’t stop taking pictures…

The first stop off the gondola was a lookout point over Heavenly mountain and Lake Tahoe. The temperature dropped about 15 degrees and the wind picked up due to the change in elevation by the time we reached the lookout!

 
Here I am looking for Emerald Bay, which we are going to be touring tomorrow on jet skis!

The second and last stop on the gondola was the top of the mountain. Here you can hike a couple trails (which would otherwise be ski runs in the wintertime). We hiked both the East Peak Lookout on the Nevada side of the state line, and the California Trail Lookout on the California side of the state line.

Both trails were extremely hilly and offered a great workout to start off the day!

   
Taking a break from hiking the hills of the mountain…

After our hike we went to Riva Grill, a restaurant on the Marina not too far from our inn. I ordered the most incredible pizza; shrimp, avocado, tomato, pesto, cilantro and mozzarella cheese! This pizza was by far my favorite meal of the trip! I can’t wait to get home and make one of my own!

 
After a nap after lunch, we drove up the east cost of the lake to Sand Harbor, where the outdoor Shakespeare Festival going on! The stage itself was set up quite simply, but with an amazing backdrop of the lake! The showing for Saturday night was The Complete Works of Shakespeare (abridged). Three actors set out to cover all of Shakespeare’s work in under 2 hours, quite a feat right? The show was extremely entertaining – the actors put a modern comical spin on Shakespeare that made his work accessible to everyone regardless of how familiar you were with Shakespeare’s work.

We got to sit on beach chairs in the sand and enjoy our own dinner and wine. We had stopped along the way to pick up some tortilla chips with guacamole, some crackers and cheese, and a bottle of white wine from the cutest wine cafe near our inn called Apres Wine Company.

And yes, those are glass cups borrowed from the inn. Cheers!

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Lake Tahoe, here I come!! I’m going to Lake Tahoe, CA on vacation! The perfect end to a perfect summer. We’re going to be hiking, bike riding, white water rafting, and jet skiing! Since the weather out there is warm during the day but cool at night, I packed all sorts of stuff, probably more then I need.

However there were a few essentials that needed to be included: sunscreen, bug repellant, water bottle, water-proof camera, and of course, miniature travel-sized everything!

I think I packed enough Trader Joe’s Trail Mix and Cliff Bars to feed an army!

Oh and I couldn’t pass up this adorable straw hat while shopping yesterday.

What do you think? It totally says “a weekend at the beach” right?

Hahaha I love it. Next time you hear from me I’ll be in California! Which is a good thing because it looks like it’s going to rain in Chicago!

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Hi guys! Last night I made the most incredible blue cheese burgers on the grill, but of course, forgot to take a picture of them!!!

Let me start off saying that I am usually not the biggest fan of blue cheese, I only like it in SMALL amounts. However, I thought I would give these a try and they were to die for! That being said, I will most likely make them again before the summer is over and remember to take a picture for you guys!

I found this recipe in the August edition of Better Homes and Garden magazine. The recipe was actually for meatballs, but I turned it into burgers instead!

Ingredients:

• 1 lb beef (organic, grass-fed preferably)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup parsley, chopped
• 2 Tbsp red wine
• 1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp pepper
• 1/4 cup blue cheese crumbles
• 4 buns (I used Trader Joe’s pretzel rolls!)
• Whatever burger extra fixings you prefer

In large bowl combine garlic, parsley, wine, Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper. Add beef and mix with hands until well combined. Carefully mix in the blue cheese and form into 4 burger patties. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour before grilling.

I served mine with some corn on the cob, grilled zucchini, and fresh fruit. These burgers were so flavorful all by themselves that I totally forgot to put ketchup on mine! You HAVE to try these, they are YUMMY! I love summer grillin!

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I finally got around to making my first recipe from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar! I made these Mexican Chocolate Snickerdoodles! These cookies have a unique cracked cinnamon, sugar top and a spicy kick following their sweet chocolate flavor.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
• 3 Tbsp nondairy milk
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp cayenne

Preheat oven to 350*F. Mix 1/2 cup sugar and 1 tsp cinnamon and spread on a dinner plate. In large mixing bowl mix oil, 1 cup sugar, syrup, and milk with a fork. Mix in vanilla extract. Sift in the remaining ingredients. Mix until dough is pliable. Roll the dough into walnut sized balls and pat the dough onto the sugar/cinnamon plate to flatten it into a 2-inch discs. Transfer the dough balls to a baking sheet covered in parchment paper sugar side up (sticky, non-sugar side down) about 2 inches apart. Bake 10 minutes, remove and let cool on wire rack.

The cayenne pepper in these cookies was definitely unique, but a little too spicy for my liking. I also overcooked some of the cookies, so next time I may pull them out of the oven a little sooner so that they stay soft. If you’re looking for a delicious cookie that is unlike any other, give these Mexican Snickerdoodles a try!

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