My Wardrobe, Myself

NOTE:  This post was originally published on my previous blog, Recovering Shopaholic. 

In my last post, I debriefed what I packed for my recent trip to Lake Tahoe and the San Francisco Bay Area.  I appreciate all of the great comments and packing suggestions I received on that post.  Some of you are seasoned packing pros who have gotten things down to a fine science!  I’ve found it helpful to take some time to review what I’ve taken on my trips and how it worked out (or didn’t) for me (you can read all of my posts on packing for travel here). I made some mistakes this last time, but I now have a better understanding of how to pack for travel during a “cusp season.” I feel confident that I will fare better with packing for my next similar trip.

I finally had a chance to review and edit all of the photos I took on my trip.  While I didn’t take as many as I did on my September 2015 Tahoe trip, there were still quite a few to look at from my time away.  I decided to share my favorite photos with all of you in today’s “photography interlude” (see previous editions here).   I also highlight some key information about the locations shown for those who are interested in learning more.

Incline Village, Nevada

My family lives in the town of Incline Village, which is on the north shore of Lake Tahoe.  This town is over a mile above sea level (6350 feet / 1940 meters), so it takes a bit of adjustment to get used to the elevation.  In fact, I virtually always get a migraine when I arrive there and this last time was no exception.  If any of you have suggestions for acclimating to high altitude and avoiding migraines with elevation changes, please share them in the comments section of this post.   I love visiting Tahoe, but the migraine issue is always something that gives me grief when I go there.

Incline Village has the distinction of being the place where I met my husband 17 years ago on the Fourth of July.  We met while watching the fireworks at Incline Beach, which is shown in the photos below.  He was a friend of a friend of my brother’s and we ended up sitting next to each other for the fireworks – and the rest is history!  I always visit Incline Beach on my trips to Tahoe, both for sentimental reasons and because it’s a very beautiful place.  It wasn’t especially warm during my last trip, but some brave souls still went sunbathing and swimming on Labor Day weekend (the average lake temperatures are 65 to 70 degrees F – or 18 to 20 degrees C – in September).

I didn’t get to see a sunset as amazing as the one last year (see this post for a few images), but I did enjoy hanging out at Incline Beach and taking photos a few times on my recent visit.  Here are some of my favorite photos that I shot:

Hyatt Regency Lake Tahoe Resort

Just a short walk from Incline Beach is the Hyatt Regency Lake Tahoe Resort, a four-star hotel located right on the lake.  This hotel includes one of my favorite restaurants, the Lone Eagle Grille, which is a great place to sit and have a cocktail or a cup of coffee any time of day.  I have a friend who works there and she told me this last time that it’s the most profitable restaurant of the entire worldwide Hyatt chain!  Based upon location alone, it’s no surprise that it does so well.

Here are a few photos I took of the beach outside the Hyatt Regency.  As you can see, there are lots of lounge chairs and cabanas available for guests to use.  My photos were taken late in the day (my favorite time to go to any beach) when the beach was fairly deserted.  During the prime daytime hours in the summer, the chairs shown would mostly be occupied.

Sorensen’s Resort

As on my last trip, my mom and I drove around the lake, which generally takes around 1.5 hours.  However, we opted to do the drive on the Sunday of Labor Day weekend, which wasn’t the best idea.  There was a lot of traffic and little to no parking at the vista points along the lake.  Consequently, I didn’t get to take many photos this time around (you can see quite a few in my 2015 Tahoe “photography interlude”).

Midway through our drive, we stopped at Sorensen’s Resort, which is located 20 miles away from South Lake Tahoe in Hope Valley.  We stopped there for lunch midway through our drive around the lake.  Sorensen’s offers an assortment of log cabins, lots of cozy places to sit, and 165 acres of pine and forest for fishing, hiking, snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, bicycling , or simply unwinding in a hammock.   A variety of events are also held at the resort, including workshops on writing and photography (right up my alley!).  While my mom relaxed in one of the chairs shown below, I wandered around and took some photos, a few of which are included here. I love the cute bear topiaries that are scattered around the resort!

Emerald Bay

I featured Emerald Bay in my Tahoe photo post last year, but I wanted to share a couple of photos I took this year that I think are better than the previous ones.  Emerald Bay is a National Natural Landmark that is 1.7 miles (2.7 km) in length and about two-thirds of a mile (1 km) at its widest point.  Located on the shore of Emerald Bay is Vikingsholm, a 38-room mansion that was built in 1929 by Lora Josephine Knight to be used as a summer home.  Mrs. Knight and her husband Harry were the primary backers of Charles Lindbergh’s non-stop solo flight across the Atlantic in 1927.

You can see lots of great photos of Emerald Bay via Google Images, but here are my two favorites that I took on my last trip:

Half Moon Bay

At the end of my trip, my mom and I drove from Tahoe to the San Francisco Bay Area, about a four-hour drive, and spent a few days there.  I grew up in San Carlos, which is located halfway between San Francisco and San Jose, and that’s where we stayed.  During our time there, we met up with two of my friends and visited some of our old haunts.  My mom moved from the Bay Area to Tahoe seven years ago but has been back to visit a number of times.  In contrast, I hadn’t been there in six years, so it was nice to spend some time there again.

One of my favorite places in the Bay Area is Half Moon Bay, which is located about thirty minutes from where I used to live.  It’s often cool and foggy there, so it’s not what one usually imagines when they think of a California beach.  I love it there, though, and spent many weekend days there during my childhood and through my early thirties. It’s actually where my husband proposed to me, too, as he knew how much I loved it there.

My mom and I drove over to Half Moon Bay, visited one of my favorite jewelry and gift stores (where I used a gift card I was given by my friends in Texas), and ate dinner at the Miramar Beach Restaurant, which is right on the water.  While we were waiting for a table, I walked down the beach and took a bunch of photos, my favorite of which are included below along with some notes on what is shown.

Conclusion

I hope you enjoyed seeing some of my photos and learning about Lake Tahoe and Half Moon Bay.  Before I close, I want to share one more photo just for fun.  One of the places I visited in the San Francisco Bay Area was Stanford Shopping Center, one of my favorite shopping locations while I was growing up and in my twenties (I did a lot of damage there!).    Every year as it gets close to fall and Halloween, they feature a large display of glass pumpkins in the courtyard.

A few years back, I bought a small one that is now displayed in a case in my bedroom along with my glass cat collection (what can I say? I love cats…).   The pumpkins above are all for sale and are not guarded all that carefully.  I love the variety of colors and designs and opted to snap a photo from my phone on this trip.