Day 37 HOME SWEET HOME

Joshua and I got up at 1:45 am after about three hours of sleep to drive the 13.5 hours home. Which since I don't drive stick and I was sick Joshua did the whole thing! Usually i always stay up when Joshua was driving but this time I left on my Pj's and put my seat all the way back and got out my sleeping bag! I had a hard time sleeping but got a few hours off and on. At one point we almost hit a bird and that scarred both of us but other then that it was a pretty uneventful drive home just very very long.

When I got home I went and got out my precious pup and he was so excited to see us he peed in three different spots in the driveway while running and jumping around.

Joshua and I had such a blast traveling and seeing family and friends. We thank you all who were praying for us and checking in! It is nice to be home and back in the routine but I will sure miss traveling the country.

                                                                home sweet home

Day 36 Lake Tahoe

So even though I slept over 13 hours last night I still woke up sick this morning. Krista and Michael had gotten up early to go hiking but we had passed on that and the rest of the family decided to go play mini golf. Since I was not feeling well I wanted to stay home and rest and Joshua stayed with me and packed. Below are some pictures from their outing.

When they got back from golfing we packed up lunch and headed to the beach. Even though I was beat it was still nice to lay in the sun. Joshua and Willie went snorkling and some very few fish but the water was very clear and it gave them something to do for an hour. My sisters and I laid in inner-tubes and floated around.

Tristan wanted to get on the inner tube with Krista and he insisted on wearing my snorkel mask even though he would not put his face in the water. It was a little big and his upper lip would get caught in it haha.

Joshua and I enjoyed soaking in the last of our sun before we had to head home!

When we got back to the condo we finished packing up and played games the rest of the evening. We had decided to leave in the middle of the night to make it home by four tomorrow so Joshua could go to the union hall and fill out some paperwork he was supposed to have in.

Day 35 Lake Tahoe

Today we decided to go to visit some wineries and fruit farms and have a picnic lunch. Another activity that my sister had researched and found. It was about an hour drive out into the country but we got see seem some beautiful property. My favorite spot was where we had a picnic lunch. The grounds were very pretty and they were preparing for a wedding that weekend.

They had this darling sign posted

After lunch while some of our family was doing tastings Joshua and I played with Tristan. He decided it would be fun to run up to Joshua and push him down and make this growling noise. Well the first time Joshua dropped to the ground really quick which made Tristan fall on top of him. After that every time Tristan would just run and jump in the air and fall on top of Joshua while he pushed him. He was having so much fun it was a joy to watch.

After we left there we went to a fruit farm and picked up a huge basket of Jalapeno's for 50 cents! And we got dressing and marinades! Yummy.

At the last winery Joshua found this great garlic olive oil for dipping! We got a lot of great things today!

When we got back to the condo I realized I did not feel good so I decided that even though I wanted to stay up and play games I had better go to bed. So I turned in at 7 pm :( while Joshua stayed up and had fun. 

Day 34 Lake Tahoe

My older sister Krista and her husband Michael have turned into hiking Machines so they picked out another hike for today. We decided to drop one car at the base on the hike today and drive to the top so that we only had to hike one way. It was going to be a 4.5 mile hike and we had afternoon plans so we did not want to hike all the way back.

We were hiking along the ridge of Lake Tahoe and the waters were VERY clear and beautiful. I wish I had my swim suit!

It took Willie several tries to get this photo because he kept having to climb on a rock and set up the camera and then jump down and run over. Unfortunately he is in the shade :(

Tristan got pretty tired on the hike and took a nap but made sure to keep a grip on Willies tripod. He was actually pretty funny about his backpack carrier. He did not want to be in there at first but after about a mile he settled in and did not ask to walk any more!               

The problem with this hike is they do not label the trails very well there. My sister kept assuring us that the parking lot was somewhere before we would at a old house. So when we arrived there we were a bit confused where to go next and there were not any signs. We knew we had hiked more then 4 miles and still had to make it up to the parking lot. We continued on our trail until we realized we were almost at a campground that we knew was about .5 miles down the road from the parking lot. We turned around and started asking people and finally found out we had to go back to the house and go straight up a small service road for about a mile. The bad news for me is that Joshua took off running up the hill so he could go to the lower parking lot and drive up to get us to save time... unfortunately he did not know my inhaler was in his backpack. So I spent a long mile uphill hike wheezing and being pathetic but I made it!!!! And of course when i got to the top I remembered that I had felt a little sick that morning so I had cough drops in my pocket... which I would have remembered that have a mile earlier. The methanol cleared me up in no time! We think we ended up hiking about 6 miles. It sure was beautiful views though.

On our way home we stopped at an awesome burger joint for lunch! They serve you HUGE burgers and   plates of fries. We got garlic fries and pesto fries yummy. We all ate WAY to much but it sure was good.

We met up with my mom and aunt Becky and Lexi to go up to Skaw Valley where they had the winter Olympics years ago. 

    Tristan was very excited to ride the gondola and so were we......................................

                            

At the top we looked around and went in the Olympic Museum. 

My Aunt Becky and Lexi went in the pool up there but I thought it was a bit to cold and windy. 

The best story of the day was when we were getting ready to leave. Tristan was running on the gravel and fell and cut his hand an knee. We were trying to catch the gondola so Michael picked him up and carried him while he screamed. When we got in line Tristan could have calmed down but was still upset. So we were standing there looking at a full car of people while Tristan screamed his head off. Michael and Krista tried to reason with him and give him choices. they explained we could either stop crying and ride the car on we needed to wait for the next one. Well my precious nephew decided to say in the most whinny voice...."I wanted to cry in the car going down" and then continue with screaming. That got several laughs from the people already inside the car and made it clear we would be waiting 20 min for the next one to come. Another awesome day on the Meeks Road trip.

Day 33 Lake Tahoe

Today was a wonderful day. In the morning we walked to a local coffee shop and spent a little time there. Then we went to look at some shops for inner tubes. We passed an art gallery that had a painting of a close up of several children's books on a book shelf. I thought it was so cute and may replicate it with a picture for a future kids room decoration. We were unsuccessful at finding inner tubes that were a reasonable price so Joshua called tire shops and found a place selling them cheap Yay! My sisters, Willie, Lexi, and my Aunt Becky went with Joshua and I to float a river. It was a two and a half hour float and very relaxing. The end of it had a part with a lot of rapids and rocks and I felt out of my league being in a small black tube. As I was going down the rapids as I watched a girl in front of me wipe out.... but we all made it! Joshua and I went back to the condo and made enchiladas for the family and we celebrated Michael and Joshua's birthday. Tristan wanted to help blow out the candles. We ended the night with a family game! 

Day 32 Lake Tahoe

Happy Anniversary Meeks'!!!!!

So we woke up Sunday morning for an early hike to a waterfall in Tahoe. The signs said the trail was easy-moderate, but I'm thinking it was more like moderate-difficult. Mom came expecting it to be fairly easy on her foot which underwent surgery not long ago. Not so much. Sorry mom. But she did make it through alright. We reached the waterfall, hung out for a while, took a few pics and shot back to the trailhead. We hadn't gotten enough sun on the trail, so we went from there to a local beach to hang out in the cool Tahoe water for a while. Willie and I made it through the shallow waters to the deep blue, before I regretted not bringing the snorkeling gear. Hopefully next time. The fam all hung out for a while in the water before Allison and I took a nap in the sun for an hour or two. Not really sure how long, actually. Time flies when you're sacked out under the sun. No sunburn though. Thank you Jesus! For dinner we had an awesome barbecue in the picnic area of the condo and some good ol' family fellowship. In the evening Lexi and Becky went to a magic show, while the rest of the fam went to take pictures of the sunset. Allison and I opted out and instead walked to Starbucks and the grocery store to spend some anniversary time together. Off to a great start at Lake Tahoe.

Day 31 Lake Tahoe

Joshua and I got up early and packed up the car to get ready to leave. We stopped by the hotel Lobby for breakfast and were lucky enough to see Scott and Ryan and get to have breakfast with them. We then hit the road to drive to Lake Tahoe. We got to drive in between Death Valley and Yosemite National Park. It was amazing views of peaks and lakes. We saw one field that looked like a huge salt and mineral lake and was very mysteriously pretty. We arrived in Lake Tahoe in time for dinner with the family and make plans for the week. I am so excited to be on vacation with them.