Lake Tahoe has always been on my list of places I want to visit, so imagine our excitement at last year's ASFMRA national meeting in Indianapolis when we discovered that the 2013 meeting would be held in Reno! We have been counting down the days since then!
ASFMRA stands for American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers and Colin has gone for the past 4 years and I have been blessed enough to attend with him. He is the President of the NM Chapter, for like 7 years running, and he gets continuing education credits for work, besides all of the networking he gets to do with colleagues. This year, we actually went up two days before the conference started, so we could take advantage of being in Reno and drive the hour up the mountain to see Lake Tahoe!
We left El Paso at 5:30am last Sunday morning, after getting the kids situated with Gramma Suzy Saturday night. We arrived in Reno that morning around 10 and first thing we did after getting our rental car was go find some breakfast because we were starving. The Black Bear Diner and their sweet cream pancakes did the trick! After a stop at Cabela's, it was off to Lake Tahoe! Now the lake sits halfway in California and halfway in Nevada. We had reservations to stay the night at South Lake Tahoe, NV, which was on the very southern tip of the lake. When driving in from Reno, we started at Incline Village, which is on the very northern tip of the lake. So, that afternoon was spent driving south, around the Nevada side. These pictures below were from our first stop, so these were our first views of breathtaking Lake Tahoe:
Besides the size of the lake, the large rocks everywhere and the clear water just amazed us!
The self-timer on my camera got a lot of use!!
We arrived in South Lake Tahoe between 3 and 4 that afternoon. Our room was at the MontBlue Resort and Casino. This was the view we had from our room of a local golf course and the lake behind:
After resting up for a bit, we drove into town in search of the Brewery at Lake Tahoe - a local place recommended by some good friends of ours. It didn't disappoint! Colin and I LOVE margherita pizza and not everyone does it right, but that place had the best we had ever eaten! I enjoyed the housebrewed pumpkin beer, too! ;-)
The next morning, after breakfast at Starbucks, we enjoyed walking around town, shopping at the quaint boutiques and seeing the sights. There is a gondola that runs there, but it was closed for the season:
We added it to the list of things we want to do when we bring the kids back with us one of these days. Another thing on that list was to go on a lake cruise on one of the Mark Twain paddle boats they have, like this beauty:
Supposed to be a fun place in the summer, too, if you like huge crowds and traffic jams:
Everyone told us we went at the perfect time of year - before the snow and start of the ski season and after the crazy summer season.
The previous day, I had seen some bear crossing signs on the road, something we had never seen before and we were very hopeful we would get to see a bear:
We really got excited when a young man who was working in town told us that it was the season for the spawning of the salmon and if we were going north, around the California side of the lake (which we were), to stop at take pictures at Taylor Creek and see the salmon spawning and very possibly, a mother bear teaching her cub to fish! We were so excited and headed on our way! Taylor Creek was just a few minutes away, not long after we crossed the California State Line.
This is where the salmon are all hatched in the spring and then they make their way to the lake. Then, in the Fall, they turn red and make their way back to their birthplace, where the females lay eggs and then both males and females die. You can see the red salmon in these pictures, as well as many, many white, dead ones floating on top. It was very late in the season and we were grateful to have been able to see this:
No bears, though, although we saw a lot of sign that they frequented that area - tracks and the remains of leftover fish on the creek banks. There were just too many people there for them, I think. We did see a lot of beaver sign, too, which is always fun. Especially this funny tree:
I love aspen trees - they are one of my favorites, but I hate how so many people carve things on them and disfigure them. On our way back to our rental car, however, this symbol caught my eye on one of the trees and I thought it was beautiful:
We then continued on our drive around the California side of the lake, which was just gorgeous. So many fun places to stop! These next pictures were all taken of Emerald Bay, probably one of the most photographed and picturesque places at the entire lake:
The island in the middle was just so beautiful, with all the green trees and the blue, blue water, except for a few green patches around the island. At the top of the island is a little rock house that used to be used as a tea house:
I could have stayed at those vistas and taken pictures all day long!! The opposite side, away from the lake, was pretty too! Look at all those fall colors:
We stopped in Tahoe City for lunch - another local brewery with delicious fish tacos- and then continued on our way.
As we were getting closer to the north point of the lake, which was where we would head back to Reno, we were getting worried we wouldn't get any pinecones to take home with us. The pinecones there were amazing and HUGE! Some were the size of pineapples!
Here is my sweetie climbing back up the side of a steep mountain where he went hunting for pinecones for me (I was wearing heeled boots - yeah, really!):
We packed them in our carryon suitcase and managed to get all but a few home without a scratch on them! Can't wait to use them as part of our Christmas décor!
Before we drove to Reno to check into our hotel, we decided to drive a little ways past and visit Virginia City - yes, the Virginia City they refer to in Bonanza. We didn't see Little Joe or Hoss, and all the shops were about to close when we got there, but we enjoyed seeing the historical town:
The kids would have really loved it - another thing added to our list of things to do!
Then it was time to get back to Reno and check into our room where we would stay through Friday. The conference was at the Peppermill Resort and Casino, one of the newest resorts in Reno and the top-rated one for the past 5 years, at least. Our room was the most gorgeous room I've ever stayed in:
Very large and decorated Tuscan-style. The bathroom was my favorite:
Jacuzzi tub, separate shower AND a flatscreen tv you could watch and enjoy from the tub!
The view from our window:
The famous downtown Reno sign:
Tuesday evening was our first conference event - a welcome dinner sponsored by the California ASFMRA Chapter, held at the Reno National Automobile Museum (one of the 5 greatest car museums in America!) Colin was excited to go see all the vehicles and we were both excited to see our friend, David, and meet his new wife, Janee. They live in Texas (formerly of Oklahoma) and Colin and David met through their ARA classes and got their designations together in Florida 4 years ago. Here is a collage of some of the neat things we saw in the museum:
They had one car you could sit in and have your picture taken:
Here are David and Janee:
On Wednesday, I tagged along with Colin on the Ag Tour, something we do every year. It's always fun to get away from the touristy stuff and see more of the surrounding areas of the places we visit. The first stop was the Fallon Naval Air Station - yes - where Top Gun was filmed!!
The rest of the week was spent with me shopping while Colin attended sessions and then us going to eat good dinners with friends. I was thankful for a rental car that got me around from mall to mall! :-) On Thursday, Colin was finished by 3 and he went around town with me. One store we checked out that we had no idea what it was, was a huge store called Scheel's that was very similar to Cabela's, except that it had a full size, working ferris wheel right in the middle of it!
Another place we definitely want to take the kids.
On Friday, I did some more shopping while he finished up at his conference that morning, then we ate lunch together and he went and did a little more shopping with me before it was time to head to the airport.
We were very ready to get home, despite the great time we had. We missed our kids very much and it was a long and emotionally-draining week for me as I lost a very dear childhood friend last Tuesday evening to cancer. She was only 36, with two children very close to Colton's and Cady's age. I was blessed to have gotten to see her, although briefly, last month at the livestock sale at our fair. I knew then and I definitely know now that was a true gift from God and I will treasure those 10 minutes forever and ever. The services were Friday and we looked into getting me a flight out on Thursday, but there arent' many options from Reno, with connecting flights to El Paso and the one and only one we found would have put me home at 1am Friday morning and it just wasn't going to work. I am so thankful to Colin, who was so supportive and caring during my sad times. I love him so much and Cissy, I love you and will miss you. Over 90% of my favorite memories from childhood and especially high school, have you in them!! Please pray for her family during this time, and take comfort knowing she was a Child of God and is with him in Heaven right now, pain free and at peace.
