Father's Day in Tahoe

On Saturday, we loaded up the car and headed to Tahoe.  It is our first time venturing outside of our county and it felt strange.  We needed to go to fetch our ski stuff after the season came to an abrupt end, but we also were in need of some change of scenery.  

Here's Serafina's back seat selfie. 

 When we got there, we stretched our legs with a walk near the ski house. 

 The kids did a short walk with us but then Tom, Mousse and I went a little further. 

 On Sunday, Father's Day, Tom made his own breakfast because I'm not the best at making eggs.  He didn't mind (or at least that's what he claimed).  We headed out for a hike.  On the way to the trailhead, we could see that Donner Lake was really crowded - lots of people all along the shoreline and especially at the beach.  It was alarming to see.  Coronavirus is still raging in California and it worries me so much that people are behaving like the pandemic is over. 

Fortunately, the trail we chose was pretty empty and even when we did encounter people, the trail is wide enough to pass with plenty of space.  It's a hike I've done before by myself.

Here we are just starting out. 

 Mousse loved the snow melt springs.

 After plenty of whining from the kids and none from the dog, we made it to the top. 

 Mousse enjoying the view. 

 Tom got up even higher to take in the view of Donner Lake. 

 Another stream stop on the way down. 

 The dog was so tired from all the fun adventuring, he let the kids do this to him on the drive home. 

 After a little rest at home, it was off to see the big lake - Lake Tahoe and pick up a pizza from our favorite spot. 

 The beach at the lake was way too crowded for me.  People were spaced out but it still makes me uncomfortable.  We did stay long enough for Mousse to play a little.  He's still unsure about deeper water. 

Monday morning Tom had to do some work and Leo had to sleep in, so Serafina and I did the Shirley Canyon hike, which we've done a couple times before. 

 The dog loved it. 

 And Serafina told me after that she really liked scrambling on the rocks, which is my favorite part of hiking too. 

 The nice thing about this hike is you have tons of opportunity to get near the water no matter how far you take the trail.  We didn't get too far because it was starting to get hot and a little crowded. 

 Tom was able to take a break from work so we headed to Donner Lake to visit a part of the shore that we knew is dog-friendly from a prior visit.

I don't have too many pictures because I was wading in the water and we were all encouraging the dog to get in, but he wasn't too interested. 

 Tuesday we headed home but Serafina and I made time to re-visit the Shirley Canyon hike with the dog.  A hike so nice we did it twice! 

 We got a little higher up the second time because it was earlier in the day and not quite as hot yet. 

We packed up all our ski gear and headed home. The drive was smooth and we were home before dinner.  It was a nice change of pace but it was definitely hard to see so many people out and about when the threat of Covid is still very real.