South Lake, from the Mountains and the Boat

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So Hope and I have been in Tahoe for a week and we're keeping busy. Since we feel like we're only here for a short time, we’re pushing ourselves to take in as much as possible. Furthermore, most peoples out this way are very active, either biking, hiking, rock climbing, kayaking, or skiing. The weather has been just about perfect too. I've seen maybe six clouds the whole time, highs in the 80's and dropping to the 30's at night. No climate control needed.

The initial physical challenge for me was getting acclimated to the altitude. We are roughly 6 - 8000 miles above sea level. The thin air takes a major beating on the lungs, too many Cuban cigars in Toronto, I guess. But after a week I'm feeling less hindered.

So Marissa and Travis took us on a pretty fun hike last Sunday, a few miles in total. The pictures from the mountain are mostly of Upper Echo Lake. The pictures where we are hanging by the water are of Lower Echo Lake.

Also, Marissa has been showing me some moderate mountain biking trails. I've even dragged Hope out in our backyard and she's hanging in there. (It’s pretty awesome when your backyard has several miles of really fun trails.)

We spent Monday night on Marissa and T's friend's Shannon and Eric's boat. They run a ski school on Lake Tahoe. We took a beautiful trip and you'll notice via picture the forest fire smoke mixing in with our clarity. (I’ve heard that its forest fire season, we've already seen a few. I guess that’s the downside of perfect weather.) We stopped at Sunny Side restaurant on the West Shore of Lake Tahoe. The fish tacos were pretty tasty, but the maitre d' was too cool for school and a bit of an ass. He assumed our crew couldn't swing the "pricey" dining room menu, pointed us toward the bar. But no worries, we enjoyed ourselves. The trip back in the dark was hairy, but Captain Eric pulled it together and negotiated us back safely along the shore.

Wednesday Marissa took Hope and me bouldering. Bouldering is like rock climbing without the heights and ropes. We drug a mat out to smaller rocks. We shuffled our way up and across the rocks. It’s harder than it sounds and my hands still hurt from gripping for my dear life. To be honest, I'm not much of a rock climber. I spent most of the time swearing and scraping my nose and knees. Both the ladies made me look a bit silly, as they scurried up the rocks with a greater ease than I. But we had an excellent time doing it and I think in the next three months, with enough practice, I should be able to actually climb something.

Check back in for more fun...

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Comments

[Patrick]

Look out, its FrankinHope!!
Hey guys, looking good. glad to see you're taking in the landscape. Did you happen to see the gemini bridges in Moab? anyway, hope all's well and would liike to make good on comming out for a few days. Piece from Detroit PK

[FrankHope]

Don't recall seeing the gemini bridge. visit anytime, bra!

[cowboy]

yo
frank i love you with your shirt off. tahoe looks awesome. hope cali is treating you well. go blue

[FrankHope]

you can't get enough. go blue