Day Trippin'

Back in mid January The Cyclist had a day off of school for MLK Day.  I was scheduled to work but at the last minute (seriously last minute...as in texting the boss-man at 5PM the day before) I took the day off so we could take a day trip.

The Cyclist picked a destination and didn't tell me what it was.  We jumped in the car, grabbed coffee's for each of us and hit the road.

Last minute day trip adventure! #happywife

— The Cyclist's Wife (@TheCyclistsWife) January 16, 2012

We were heading East towards Tahoe.  For those of you not familiar with old Sac Town, we are sort of right smack dab in the middle of San Francisco and South Lake Tahoe (not a bad place to be!).

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When going from Sac to Tahoe, you would typically drive straight up Hwy 50, but we decided to take the more scenic route, via Hwy 88.

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We ended up at Bear River Lake Resort which was (obviously) dead at that time of year, but looked like it could be a cool place for summer if you are into ATV's - it appears to be an ATV friendly campsite....we prefer more granola style camping.

We were both shocked by the lack of snow and water.  The Sierra's saw so little snow this year and really didn't get any until March, which is very weird.  It looked like a moonscape out there.

What, you don't see it?

Enjoy that postcard from the moon.  

There was a dam at one end of the lake so we sauntered over to check it out.

We walked up and over so I could snap some more pictures.

The spillway was sadly not even close to spilling anything.  We crossed over to the other side and this is when my hind quarters started to tingle.  Is it weird for someone who's nearly 6 feet tall to be afraid of heights?

I think so.  It's a good thing the rangers used their giant label maker to put up that sign.  Wait....err.  Nevermind.

I got brave and bellied up to the barrier....then zoomed in....

That shizzle was a long way down.  I also wouldn't want to be the poor soul who has to cross that rickety little bridge to get to the water house station dealio.  No way!

We perused the scary side of the spillway, took a picture of our shadows....

....and headed back to the car, passing some cool stuff along the way....

We started driving again and passed a couple of frozen lakes....

The Cyclist didn't want to get out of the car anymore, so I snapped all these through the window...

...and then I made him stop....the frozen lakes looked cool and made me think of ice skating in the Olympics.  Because I am so coordinated I thought that seemed like the perfect job for me as a little girl. Seriously.

We kept seeing trees that looked like this....

Was that snow, or were the trees just super dry?  It did look like this after all....

....lots of dirt where there should be snow.  After passing enough of the trees we determined it was actually snow stuck to the very tippy tops of the trees.

We ended up heading home down Highway 50 and took a detour at Ice House....

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We attempted to bonzai down an ice covered road that went past the lake, but I got scurred so The Cyclist backed her up.  Then this guy came along and we agreed that if he went for it, we would too!  But alas, he backed her up as well.

Adventure complete and tired of driving we headed home.  Then I got bummed because we spent most of the day in the car and I would have liked to do more hiking which resulted in me whining (annoyingly) to The Cyclist.  Fail.  So, for our next day trip adventure, I pick hiking at the ocean!!

Where do you day trip?

Oh by the way, my Marinara #1 is being featured over at The Tasty Alternative today!  Check it out!