Birthday Trip to Tahoe!

Just got home from such an amazing trip to South Lake Tahoe for my Birthday! It was the first time to Tahoe for both me and Seth. Definately won't be the last! It is so amazingly beautiful there. It makes you fall in love with yourself, each other, mother nature, and those around you! Not sure if that makes sense, but that is the feeling that I had.... just pure LOVE for everything! It reminded me once again that.... LIFE IS GOOD!

We left the house at 10:00am on January 14. And yes... that is later than the planned 8am departure, but oh well! We were off! Getting onto the freeway I am thinking... "YAY!, I have both cameras...I think, plently of gas in the tank, do I have the hotel confirmation? I think so. The money was left for Katchie (animal-sitter), I left very detailed instructions for her on what to do with all the animals. Gosh I hope all the animals are okay. Did we pack enough warm clothes? Am I going to have to buy chains? No... I don't want to put chains on. I won't! We will just turn around and come home. Man, this breakfast burrito is going to be GOOD! RANDELL- STOP! You are thinking too much! You are on your way to Tahoe for your birthday! It's going to be fun! So sit back and drive... 41 to 99 to 50! Easy!" Awwwww! This is nice!

And down 41 we went! And then... BAM! The fog has us going about 15 miles per hour. Seth and I look at each other. We can both tell that we are thinking the same thing; this is going to be a LONG day! A little ways down, there is an accident and Highway Patrol has us pull off the freeway and take a detour on the old freeway. So, about twenty minutes later we are pulling back on to the freeway. Still, however, driving 15 miles per hour. And then, all of a sudden, NO FOG! Sunny skies! And we're off.....again!

On to 99. Wow! These people drive like maniacs! I HATE 99! After driving in two lanes the whole way, people spending past like the traffic will not affect them like it does everyone else, cardboard flying out of trucks and slamming into my windshield, I see it! The sign that says 50- South Lake Tahoe! Yay!!!!!!

On to 50! Almost immediately it begins to get beautiful! 30 minutes later I am out of the car already, snapping photos. Let the photo taking BEGIN!

We get into Tahoe and it is beautiful! People walking around dressed in "snow gear" with their boards in hand. I notice that everyone else seems to be as happy as I am! This is going to be a good time, I can already tell.

We get to our hotel, Harrah's Casino. Check in with no gliches! Get to our room. Very nice! His and her bathrooms! What a wonderful idea! A woman HAD to have thought this up! He can leave his seat up and toothpaste in the sink... and I DON'T CARE! :-) And the view from the room was gorgeous! See...

We relaxed for a little bit (ten minutes was all I could handle), and then it was off to explore! We decided to go ice-skating at an outdoor ice rink. It was a 2 minute walk from the hotel. So after dropping a couple of bucks into some slot machines (penny slots of course), down the street we went. I was SO excited! Of course, that is because I thought that I would be good at it and that I would even be BETTER than SETH! This was SURE to be fun for me! :-)

Well... that is not exactly how it ended up happening. :-) I was AWFUL! Seth was abnormally good! I would have sworn that he had once been in the olympics for figure skating. Okay- not that good, but pretty darn good!

Seth continued to speed past me, going what seemed to be 70+ mph, while I hung on for dear life to the side as if falling would mean DEATH! Every once in a while, speeding past me (don't forget- at 70+mph) just was not good enough for Seth, and he would add in a little fast turn, ice flying every where, trick in there. I swore if I ever made it away from my little 3 foot high "security blanket" wall, out into the center of the rink where he was...I was going to KILL him!

Then it happened. I fell. HARD! Everyone gasped! It was, well, wet and cold! Right then, Seth came speeding up (70+mph) and took my hands and pulled me up. AS HE WAS SKATING BACKWARDS... CHEWING BUBBLE GUM! That's enough I thought! :-)

I told Seth... "it's because you tied your skates better!" :-) So off the rink we went for him to tie mine "better."

Well... that wasn't it! hehehe

I never did get much better. I stayed to my wall and did a sort of walk/shuffle thing. Seth continued to get better. Which was something that I did not think was possible at the beginning.

I finally decided that the REAL reason that I wasn't doing good was because the ice wasn't fresh. It had skate marks in it! All those damn little kids had skated around too much on it. :-) Yes- those LITTLE kids were SKATING AROUND! The whole time thinking I am sure... "get off the ice ol' lady!" hahaha

It didn't matter who was better (which is what we say when Seth is the one that is better), We both had a BLAST!

Then we were off to Harvey's Casino for dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe. This place always makes me miss my Mom and Dad! We sat at a cute table for two, and enjoyed our big ol' cheeseburgers and fries. I was freezing the whole time, and even asked the waitress if there was a hidden fan blowing. Just on me. :-) We later realized that I was so cold because I was WET from ICE-SKATING! hahahaha

After dinner we went back to the room to get dressed and relax before our 9pm comedy show. The "big" comedian was the Dad off of the show Thats's So Raven. Super funny! We laughed the whole show!

After the show, we were EXHAUSTED! We knew we needed a good nights rest for the upcoming day. BIRTHDAY DAY!

Then, Birthday day is here! YAY!

We woke up early, by alarm even, that day (8am). We got ready and went and ate breakfast at the Forrest Buffett. It was on the 18th floor of our hotel, and had amazing views!

We had been told that it was the best buffett in Tahoe and that we had to try it. Boy, were they right! Corned beef hash and bisquits and gravy Birthday breakfast, and this girl is HAPPY! :-)

Once we were as full as we could get, we headed out for the day.

We went to Heavenly Village and purchased tickets for the Gondola, and the Zip Flyer! We couldn't wait to ride the Gondola up this beautiful mountain and then zip line back down half of it. (The longest zip line in theUnited States).

So, up we go...

We got to the mid point of the mountain, and you can get out to take pictures and what not. Wow!
Then, back on the Gondola for the rest of the ride. We got to the top and it was so beautiful! We immediately went to check in for the zip line. It was 10am. The guy, armed with a sad face, informs us that the zip line has been closed due to high winds! He said that we should wait around until 1 to see if they opened it again. And, that if it was not open at 1, then it would be closed for the day. :( So, since we don's ski.... we grabbed some Starbucks and took a seat to people watch!

We started to get a little crazy around noon.

At 1:05, we walked up to the zip-line shack and was told the bad news. No zip line today! So, we were refunded our money and... back down the mountain we went!

We then walked around some shops. Found a LOT of snowboarding clothing that I SO wanted. Problem is... that I don't snowboard. :-)

We then went back to the hotel, and I was DETERMINED! I just KNEW that I was going to win big. Because, come on, it's my birthday! So, we played some slots. I was up a few times, down a few times, back up a few times, and in the end.... DOWN! But- I had a hell of a time losing that money! :-)

We then went to the room to get ready for dinner. I wanted to go to a nice little Italian restaurant for my birthday. We asked the conceirge where to go and she said she had the "perfect" place. Man was she right! It was a cute little place named Scusas. It was DELICIOUS!

We had an appetizer of roasted garlic. YUM! I had the carbonara, which was to die for. Seth had shrimp scampi linguine. He said that it was also to die for! We then had a dessert of our choice, on the house, since it was my Birthday! I chose the brownie with homemade ice-cream and raspberry syrup! Double YUM! And, the best of all, NO SINGING! :-) We will definately be going back here on our next trip!

We then went back to the room, changed, and headed to Cabo Wabo! This place also made me miss my parents terribly! There was a middle-aged gentleman that continued to throw up his "rocker fingers" every time a song came on that obviously took him back in time. Man, where is my Dad when I need him! :-)

There was a live band there, and they were really good! It was a great time! I had some birthday drinks, and was having a blast! What a good ending to a great birthday!

I crashed hard that night! We were both so tired! When we woke up the next morning (traveling back home day), we grabbed some Starbucks breakfast downstairs (at noon). We checked out :-( and got in the car to drive around the town a little. We stopped at a couple of places, and went into a couple of stores. Then, headed home. It was a little sad driving away from town, and seeing the views disappear in the rear view mirror, but we both knew that it would NOT be our last time in Tahoe. And, we still have plenty of things that we want to do next time! And that damn zip line better be open! :-)

We had a good drive home. Stopped in a cute little town, Placerville, on the way home for some In-N-Out Burger! Yum! And finished home.

The dogs and cat where as excited as ever to see us walk in the door, which is always nice to come home to. And, the "report card" from the dog sitter was glowing! :-) She said that Chloe's barking was down to a minimum and that she was now even letting her scratch her head and chin! :-)

We were TIRED! We munched on some snacks, looked at our pictures on the computer, and then crashed for the night. The next morning was back to work for me. :-(

What a good birthday trip! Anyone ever need a place to go and "get-away," I completely recommend Tahoe! And, can I go with you? :-)

As I got into bed that night, I couldn’t help but think, man, LIFE IS GOOD!