When the hype of Hurricane Irma spread through the Tampa Bay area, Townsend was quickly insisting that I get out of town with Leon and Galilee because he didn't want us to deal with all the hoopla with a 5 week old. At first I thought this was overkill but then I decided.... VACATION. So my Mom and I spent hours and hours searching for flights to any destination where we had family to stay with and finally were able to find decent flights to Sacramento, and then drove to Lake Tahoe to stay with Townsend's aunt.
Considering we had absolutely no time to plan or scout destinations, I think we fared pretty well and ended up seeing the most beautiful places.
Our first day we found a small hike to Chimney Rock Beach, about a 10 minute walk down to the crystal clear water of Lake Tahoe. We sat on some rocks and had a picnic while I wished and wished that I could just jump into the lake. This is a great hike for kids because it is short and easy!
That evening Aunt Cat took us to a lovely spot to watch the sunset where I even got a pic of the three of us where neither of them are looking at the camera! Score!
The next day we went into town and rode the gondola up to the top of Heavenly Mountain where they had all kinds of summer activities like zip lines, ropes courses and rock climbing. Needless to say I HIGHLY recommend this for kids. Leon had a BLAST and went on the ropes course a million times, then the zip line a million times, and then the tube a million times. I mean I have never seen this boy smile as much as he did that day. He was so worn out he passed out while we were being evacuated off the mountain due to inclement weather, ironic, and slept in my moms arms for 2 hours straight.
One thing we both really wanted to do while we were out there is go to Yosemite. I love national parks in general but I have been dying to visit this particular park because it is one of our nations oldest parks and it just has so much to offer. We barely brushed the surface in our one day trip, but we thoroughly enjoyed seeing the redwoods in Tuolumne Grove and driving through Yosemite Valley. Thankfully my mom was on the same page and happily stopped for tons of photo ops. Leon behaved because we bribed him with a whistle which turned out to be a reeeeeeally bad idea for the rest of the trip, but you win some you lose some.
Oh and we saw a bear.
On our last day, we really wanted to go to some of the "must see" places in Tahoe. So we went to Emerald Bay State Park and took in the sweeping views. Sand Harbor State Park was next on the list and if I had been cleared by my doctor to swim, I would have because it was so gorgeous! Watching Leon in his element is my favorite thing ever.
