Our 1st Anniversary Lake Tahoe Trip

Paul and I took a four-day weekend and made our way to Lake Tahoe in celebration of our first wedding anniversary. Fallen Leak Lake, just southwest of the big lake, was the site of our first, big out-of-town date. We hiked through Desolation Wilderness and had a picnic lunch (one I toiled over for days in an attempt to impress my then-boyfriend with my wife-worthy culinary skills). He did say that is was the best cold fried chicken he'd ever had! Anyway, Tahoe and the area have now become a bit a of an annual ritual for us. We chose our wedding date (May 19) while vacationing there, and we love the seclusion of Fallen Leaf Lake and the adjacent Stanford Sierra Camp.

This year, we drove up Saturday morning and spent the day hiking up to Lily Lake and Desolation Wilderness. The weather was cool and invigorating, quite a welcome change from the 100+ degree weather we left in Woodland. We gazed at waterfalls, watched birds of prey, and came to appreciate the effect of elevation upon one's breathing capacity (7200 feet at Tahoe is quite humbling to us flatlanders). Once we had tired ourselves, we retreated to our favorite little hotel, The Royal Valhalla Motorlodge. It doesn't sound terribly glamorous (though "Valhalla" is the Norwegian Viking heaven), but it's situated at the stateline, right across the street from the big lake. Each evening, Paul and I were able to sit out on our balcony or on the private beach across the street and watch the sun set. How magnificent!

Lily Lake, Desolation Wilderness, CA

Sunday, we decided to take a trip to Virginia City. Situated only about 40 miles east of Tahoe, Virginia City is an old mining town and was once home to Mark Twain. It is also the home of Saint Mary's of the Mountains, the oldest active Catholic church in Nevada. It was built in 1869 by Father Monague who later became the first bishop of Sacramento. It's a beautiful church that has survived fires, earthquakes, mad monks, and other perils. I had been to Virginia City before and was hoping to show Paul the church's interior. Low and behold, much to our delight, not only was the church open but we were just in time for the one and only Sunday mass. The congregation is so small at St. Mary's that the Reno diocese has a priest that covers St. Mary's as well as 18 other rural parishes in the state. The priest, from Nigeria, had the sweetest demeanor and gave quite a moving homily. Mass was the best part of our day!

St. Mary's in the Mountains

Sunday evening, Paul and I got dressed up and walked up the street, from California into Nevada, and spent the night on "the strip." Neither of us are big gamblers, but we had some awesome luck that night! To us, "gambling" is spending $40 on the nickel slots and enjoying the aspiring songstresses in the casino lounge acts. However, luck was on our side that night, and after winning some major moo-lah on the penny slots (sense the sarcasm!), we stumbled home just as the sun started to rise. Boy, we're getting too old for that kind of thing! We went to bed just as the birds were waking and slept-in to enjoy the beginning of our one year anniversary.

Oh! That morning, we opened a little goodie box that my sweet mom had sent for us. She had kept some of the items used on our wedding day, all of which she created. She took the "lunch box" from which our picnic lunch reception was served and filled it with our Save-the-Date card, wedding and reception invitations, wedding favor bubbles, and an anniversary card. It was a beautiful reminder of our special day and really helped to bring back some wonderful memories of the days and months of preparation leading up to May 19th. Thank you so much, Mom, for the sweet surprise!

Mementos from our wedding day...thanks, Mom!!!

May 19th proper was spent sleeping in, sitting on the beach, and watching bad cable. (Yep, we don't have cable television at home, so hotel cable programming is a treat when we travel). It was a lazy and relaxing day, one we both have needed for a while and one that allowed us to sit and be still with one another, marveling in the year that had been. We had a quiet dinner together at Chevy's (mmmm, fresh guacamole!) and then retired to our comfy bed with a pint of Haagen Daz cookie dough ice cream. Already an old married couple!

The view from our beach

We had a great trip! We took in some amazing sights, indulged our "wild side" (sense the sarcasm, once more), and truly enjoyed being on vacation with our best friend! Now, back to reality.

Wait, I can start planning our Kauai trip!!!