After visiting Yosemite we were headed to Lake Tahoe, but we first wanted to see some sequoias (the grove in Yosemite was closed for rejuvenation). Our groundskeeper told us about a Nelder Grove about a 45 minute drive south of where we were.
We were headed down and saw a sign for this Sugar Pine Railroad and had to stop. And we had perfect timing because it was just pulling out as we pulled in. We managed to get a great video for Wyatt.
We made our way to Nelder Grove and I honestly had no idea what we were looking for. And, oh my goodness, I could not believe how large these trees were. I thought the normal trees were big enough.
There was a shaded mile-loop trail that we managed to walk through, even though we were pretty exhausted from the two previous days.
Most of the trees had been cut down and one time or another but there were a couple full trees still standing.
If you haven't noticed, we kind of have a thing for old barns. I think we'll probably end up with a wall collage of them.
In order to get to Lake Tahoe we decided to drive through Yosemite one last time. I wanted to see Bridalveil Falls, one of the only falls we hadn't seen, and we wanted to drive on the Tioga Pass.
I'm so glad we did! The drive on the Tioga Pass was absolutely breathtaking. I can't tell you how many times we stopped to take pictures.
Plus, we got to see Half Dome from another angle! Still couldn't see any hikers on top though.
And then we drove, drove, drove. And drove some more. Stopped in Carson City for In-N-Out (yes, our first of the trip!!), and drove some more. Finally landed at Lake Tahoe right at sunset.
Sean was kind of dared to take a swim, so he did. He actually got in twice but it was definitely too chilly to swim around in.
We continued our drive and drove up into some neighborhoods which lead to a beautiful overlook. I'd never seen water so clear and blue in my life. It was really breathtaking. It made us really want to come back in late summer and get a boat out on it.
When browsing over breakfast we found a nice 5 mile (round-trip) hike to Eagle Lake. It was a really beautiful area and so neat to see a lake just up in the mountains like that. There was a waterfall too but didn't really compare to anything we saw in Yosemite. We sat and enjoyed a little snack and some water and then hiked on back.
We continued around the lake and made a stop at Emerald Bay and saw Fannette Island. We were going to take a hike down to Vikingsholm Castle but decided to wait, we were more hungry than interested.
We did make a couple more stops for pictures and one stop to buy me a new hat. I was on day three of being sunburned. It really wasn't a good look. Actually, the lady checking us out asked if we wanted to buy some sunscreen too. Really though.
We finally made it back to our hotel just in time to shower and get ready for a pre-birthday dinner at Jason's Beachside Grille in Kings Beach. We really didn't plan to eat out on my birthday so we celebrated early. Our hotel was really close to Nevada so we hit up a casino for a bit too. I know, we party hard.
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