Tahoe in the Summertime

Last weekend we camped on the shore of Lake Tahoe (along with about 37 million other people and a few bears) and had a lovely time.

We hiked up into the Desolation Wilderness,

From Tahoe

and went swimming in a clear mountain lake,

From Tahoe

with a lot of nibble-happy fish.

From Tahoe

We spent some QT at our campsite where we explored uses for the bear bins other than protecting food,

From Tahoe

and we finished our day on the beach.

From Tahoe

The next day Chris went on another "top five" mountain bike ride up the Tahoe Rim,

From Tahoe

and down to the Flume Trail,

From Tahoe

with its amazing views of the lake,

From Tahoe

while Olivia went to the beach.

From Tahoe

Tahoe weekend!

Colorado in July

July is, without a doubt, the best time to go to the Colorado Rockies. I've been promising Olivia I would take her to the mountains in July ever since we met. Finally, last weekend, we hit Colorado in July to visit my parents.

From Colorado 2009

First, Western Colorado has had a bumper cherry crop. We picked cherries and tasted wine at the Mountain View Winery in Olathe.

From Colorado 2009

The next day we drove to Crested Butte for some mountain biking and hiking.

From Colorado 2009

From Colorado 2009

Finally, we hiked to Ice Lakes Basin in the heart of the San Juan Mountains to see the best of the Colorado wildflower show.

From Colorado 2009

From Colorado 2009

From Colorado 2009

We had a great time!

Ice Lakes Basin

Low hanging fruit

Cherry picking

July weekends

We had a great summer weekend in San Francisco.

Beverly Beach, Crater Lake, Shasta, Bumpass Hell and Lassen

We tacked a few days onto the Independence Day Holiday and took last week as our summer vacation.

We left K&M at the Golden Gate Bridge,

From West Coast Road Trip for Website

and drove north through the Central Valley (it was hot there!)

From West Coast Road Trip for Website

Late that night, we arrived in Beverly Beach State Park, a lovely spot just a few miles north of Newport, OR. We spent the next few days enjoying the cold Oregon sun,

From West Coast Road Trip for Website

exploring tide pools,

From West Coast Road Trip for Website

drawing in the sand,

From West Coast Road Trip for Website

and camping kid-style.

From West Coast Road Trip for Website

From West Coast Road Trip for Website

It turns out Oregon Coast is a cold and windy place in the summertime,

From West Coast Road Trip for Website

but we found ways to enjoy ourselves,

From West Coast Road Trip for Website

and even managed to fly this kite with a considerable amount of skill.

From West Coast Road Trip for Website

We warmed up at the coffee shop,

From West Coast Road Trip for Website

and parted ways, with O and I driving east to Crater Lake.

From West Coast Road Trip for Website

From West Coast Road Trip for Website

From West Coast Road Trip for Website

Crater Lake is very blue. Do you know why?

From West Coast Road Trip for Website

Olivia tried to find out by taking a swim,

From West Coast Road Trip for Website

but it turned out the only way to really understand the blueness of the lake was to jump in.

From West Coast Road Trip for Website

From West Coast Road Trip for Website

Yeah. Pretty awesome.

Crater Lake also has a lot of mosquitoes this time of year, so we spent a lot of time in here:

From West Coast Road Trip for Website

To avoid the mosquitoes we drove south, around Mount Shasta (which, incidentally, makes Chris' Top 5 Mountains list),

From West Coast Road Trip for Website

and went swimming in Lassen Volcanic National Park.

From West Coast Road Trip for Website

Lassen is also a pretty volcano,

From West Coast Road Trip for Website

with a lot of snow,

From West Coast Road Trip for Website

and a place called Bumpass Hell,

From West Coast Road Trip for Website

which is like a mini-Yellowstone.

From West Coast Road Trip for Website

From West Coast Road Trip for Website

The summertime meadows were beautiful.

From West Coast Road Trip for Website

From West Coast Road Trip for Website

We ended our trip with a climb up 10,500 foot Mount Lassen,

From West Coast Road Trip for Website

From West Coast Road Trip for Website

From West Coast Road Trip for Website

and drove home.