Day 4 - Emerald Bay State Park

I was excited to get everyone moving this morning so we could get on our way to Emerald Bay State Park. The state park is about 10 miles south and is home to Vikingsholm. 

Below is a great description of Vikingsholm by California Parks site. I'll let them tell the story and let our pictures paint the canvas. 

"Vikingsholm is one of the finest examples of Scandinavian architecture in the western hemisphere. Mrs. Lora Josephine Knight purchased the property encompassing the head of Emerald Bay and Fannette Island in 1928 for $250,000. 

Before starting construction of the summer home late that year, Mrs. Knight and her architect traveled to Scandinavia to gather ideas for the construction of the house. Work on the home ceased at first snowfall in the winter of 1928, and was started up again in the spring of 1929. 

Two hundred workers were brought to Emerald Bay and started hand hewing the timbers, carving the intricate designs, hand planing the wood for the interior walls, and forging the hinges and latches. Most of the materials to construct the home came from the Tahoe Basin. 

Trees were cut for their size and lack of knots, and the granite for the foundation and walls was quarried from behind the house. The ideas for the construction came from buildings dating as far back as the 11th century. Some sections of the home contain no nails, pegs, or spikes. 

One of the interesting architectural designs is the sod roof which covers both the north and south wings of the complex. The interior of the home has paintings on some of the ceilings and walls and two intricately carved dragon beams. The six fireplaces are of Scandinavian design with unusual fireplace screens. " Source - www.CA.gov

We hiked down to the lake from the park entrance which was a little over a mile away. It was all a bit odd because it was about 60 degrees outside and most of the path still had a good layer of snow on it. Everyone just took in the scenery and all the wondrous views. As we got closer to the bottom, the snow pack started to get thicker and some sections were one to two feet deep. Every now and then we would venture off the main path, your leg would step into a deep snow pack.

After about an hour or so on the lake basin, we slowly meandered on back up the mountain. We reached the parking lot around 1pm and the stopped one more time at Eagle Falls. Can I just say - Beautiful!!!

Olivia took this shot . The size of the tree is not well visualized by the picture.

You would think they were sisters the way they were acting - for the moment. (Near the lake basin)

My favortie daughter having a great time on the way down to Vikingsholm.

On the way down to the lake.

Down on the lake. They had a very nice floating dock. We hung out and feed the ducks and geese for a bit.

On the lake basin near the water maybe 20 yards away.  Mom headed out after she saw a new trail.

She could have sat there for a couple of hours. 

The view from on top of the falls was heart pounding. One can only imagine the roar of the full snow pack melt coming down.

Day 3 – Sushi on the mind

Mosaic on Sushi Kai floor

Seeing that we had nothing on our minds for the past 6 hours than fish, it was fair to say we were looking forward to eating some sushi for lunch. Everyone was excited to go to Off the Hook, but when I pulled up the directions it showed that they wouldn’t open until 5pm. After a small shock, we looked up the other sushi restaurants and it seemed that all of them in the area did not have the affinity of lunch time sushi eating as we did. So we decided on the next best thing – Thai.

My Thai was a cute like place a little outside of town. Really yummy and very reasonable! With some Pho in our bellies, Anna and LT went up to the room and chilled for a while. Olivia and I hit the Tahoe strip for some window shopping. Olivia found a cute shirt and we found what could only be described as the coolest candy store in the state.

Now that Mama and LT had some rest and relaxation back at the resort, we walked over to Harrah’s casino where we had a reservation at Sushi Kai at 6:30pm. Since we didn’t have sushi for lunch, we made sure we were going to have some for dinner. The restaurant was uniquely furnished and creatively decorated. It had mosaics on the floor, fish scale wallpaper, Japanese writings on the ceiling, stone towers for wall dividers, a massive wall aquarium and about a dozen more fcrazy designs. The grub was good, well needed and it definitely filled the sushi void!

With dinner behind us, we all walked around the casino for a bit. Olivia found an arcade and we let our inner child out. What a fun time! It wasn’t long before the tokens were replaced with chips. The kids headed back to the room and Anna & I stayed for a little bit of slots, roulette and blackjack. The casino doesn’t lose very often, but they did this night – I don’t think they will be  missing any of our winnings though.

Day 3 - Trolling for some trout in the AM

Due to the temperature, you wouldn’t figure there would be a lot of fishing charters going out this time of year on Lake Tahoe. Fortunately, we were right. Although they do fish out here all year long, the winter months are a bit slower for the fishing charters.

Before heading to the docks, Anna, LT and I had some quick breakfast and then Anna ferried us to Sky Marina. The captain asked us to be at the docks around 7:40am this morning and we arrived right on time. The charter was a group charter and we ended up have six on the boat, including the captain. The other anglers were a family from San Francisco up just for the day.

The weather was perfect and it was very comfortable out on the water. No wind to speak of and the water was glass. We didn’t venture out too far on the water before the captain rigged the lines and we dropped the bait. On the lake, the fishing technique was trolling and it was done on an average depth around 250ft. The fish species we were going for were Brown Trout, Lake Trout (Mackinaw) and Rainbow trout. Lake Tahoe also has a Kokanee Salmon, although we did not fish for those. They apparently have scarce due to the lack of snow melt over the past few years.

The boat ride was totally amazing only enhanced by the the views, which were simply breathtaking. Even though the trip was five hours, ti wasn’t long before the charter came to an end. Between the six of us we only managed to wrangle in three Brown Trout. All of us thought we would have caught far more than that, but some days are just not as plentiful. We arrived back to the docks a little before 1:30pm and were happy to find the ladies were waiting for us with opened arms.

 

Day 2 - Powder Hounds!

Olivia, LT and Big Papa were hitting Heavenly Ski Slope today. Luckily we rented all the equipment yesterday, so all we needed to do today was to get the lift tickets.

Anna and I got up pretty early and went down for breakfast at 7am. Our body clocks were still a bit out of whack, not truly knowing what time it was. I called the kids at 7:15am to wake them, as the rental place was opening at 8 and we wanted to get our skis early. They managed to drag their rumps down a few minutes later and we all took advantage of the continental buffet.

With bellies full and  gear on, it was off to the rental place. Everything is very close here, literally within a really short walking distance. Once out of the hotel, we basically went less than a block and grab the rentals, purchased the lift tickets and started to get in line for the Gondola. Thomas has already gotten in line a few minutes prior, but as Olivia and I were walking to the back of the line a ski instructor approached us. “You guys taking lessons?” he asked. Olivia and I both responded with an enthusiastic – Yes! “Follow me,” he said and took us to the front of the line. Guess that was just - Schiffers' luck!

The ride up on the gondola was amazing! Beautiful first time views of the entire lake and mountain scape. Pictures really don’t do the views any justice. The ride took a little over 10 minutes and once out, Olivia and the boys split ways. Olivia’s ski lesson started a little before 10am, so LT and I hit the first ski lift we saw. It was all powder from there on out!

Everyone, including Anna, meet up at the ski school around 12:30 for some snacks. Afterwards the kids and I ended up doing a couple more runs. Anna and I headed back down the mountain around 2:30 and the kids stayed and skied for another hour or so. Beaten and whooped there wasn’t much energy left in any of us.

Olivia, Anna and I went to grab a bite at the Lucky Beaver a little later and slowly made our way back to the room only to call it an early night.

I'll be updating the post with some additional photos and videos in the upcoming days. Internet usage and technical obstacles are not allowing me to put up all the images I would like today.

Day 1 – Off to Lake Tahoe

Amazing huge metal statue on the side of the highway

The day started early as we woke the kids around 5am. We wanted to have enough time to get the last minute things together and not feel rushed. The clan was off to the airport at around 6:15am and still had plenty of time to pack away some calories at 1897 restaurant. Breakfast didn't take long and before we knew it, we were off to our first stop - Denver. There wasn't much time to waste as the layover was quick. Back in the air we went and onto Reno.

Touched down in Reno at 1pm local time and everyone was excited, as the vacation had officially begun! With a quick stop at the Thrifty car rental to pickup our Forerunner, we were off to the races. 

Anna posing with the friendly bear

Lake Tahoe is about an hour’s drive south of Reno. The route took us south on a gorgeous drive on I-580 until it ended and dumped into State Highway 50. The change of highway went drastically from the valley floor quickly up to a mountain climb. The trees and landscape changed dramatically. It was wonderful to see. Everyone couldn’t wait to breach the mountain top to get a glimpse of the majestic lake and it wasn’t long before the crystal blue waters made their appearance.

For first leg of this trip we are bunkering down at the Lake Tahoe Resort Hotel. It sits directly on Stateline Drive, where one side of the street is in California and the other half in Nevada. There is no gambling in California, but you can walk out of our resort's front lobby and walk about 20 yards to reach the doors of Harrah’s.

We checked in to the hotel and shortly after stopped in at California Burger, a local burger joint. We sat outside and wolfed down some well needed nourishment. The joint was really hyped up by several people, so we were expecting a WOW factor. The outdoor patio was awesome – The food was okay, unfortunately no WOW though!

California Burger Restaurant - Sun shining and a beautiful 60 degrees

After the early dinner, Anna and I ended up heading to Harrah’s for some quick sin, as the kids went back to the hotel for a little rest. Anna managed to win our retirement, so we took our winnings and headed to the ski school and signed Olivia up for a short lesson for the following morning. I think she will definitely get a lot out of some personal coaching. Once we got her set up, I took the kids down to the rental place at 6:30 and we all managed to get fitted, ready for the morning.

Seeing that we rolled back three hours today, everyone was starting to fade around 8pm. It wasn’t long and the jammers were on and all were checking their eyelids for holes.

Lights out and ready for some amazing views tomorrow!

Day 19 – Mini-Golf and the day of the Saw Fish

The kids stayed with Carla’s last night so Anna and I had the morning to ourselves. Actually, there was no difference, except weren’t here. We had some coffee, showered and then drove over to mom and dad’s. Aunt Christy is staying over at Parker Lakes and she was the first one we saw when we entered mom and dad’s. We all chatted for a bit and left around 11am. Mom had a nail appointment and dad went off to exercise.

Off to Carla’s we went to have the girls with some shopping. Amanda and Carla still needed to buy some stuff for Carl’s Celebration of Life, so they had plans to get all the shopping done today. Anna and Olivia went with the ladies. Eric was busy fixing some things around the house for Carla, so LT and I decided to take the boys play mini-golf.

After a little golf the boys and I headed over to Lakes Park for a little ice cream. It only took a bottle of water and about 7 napkins to wipe the boys down. It took 8 napkins to wipe me down. Yummy and messy!!! That’s the way we like the ice cream!

LT and I headed back to the hotel around 2pm to wet the lines a bit. I went out to cast net for a bit, caught some bait and then started fishing. LT came out about 30 minutes later. Beginning the angler LT is, it wasn’t long and he hooked into a Red Fish. He baited the hook and through it back out and within a couple of minutes the pole bent. It was a Saw Fish!!!! This guys was AMAZING!!! What a catch! I only wish I would have taken a video. We had to cut the leader because the last thing you want is to get hit with one of their teeth.

Thomas holding a beautiful juvenile Red Fish. Gorgeous black spots!

 

3.5-4 foot long Saw Fish caught by LT.

LT headed in a short time after and I continued to fish without success.

Day 17 – All about the “Fam”

Yesterday we planned to go jet skiing this morning at 9:30am. The weather had other plans. It was raining cats and dogs and there was no way we were going to go out on jet skis. There was a tropical storm heading in towards Fort Myers. 

Since it was raining, the kids (Lane and LT) just wanted to hang in the room and have some reprieve from the sun and sand. Olivia was still sleeping when Anna and I decided to head over to Sanibel and do some shell searching at Blind Pass Beach - Anna called it Stupperd's Pass. 

We had a nice ride out to Sanibel and Captiva, but it was raining most of the way so we decided to skip the shelling and went to "The Mucky Duck". Anna took me there on my first visit to Fort Myers some 17 years ago. Nice little spot out on the island. We just got some appetizers - Duck Shrimp and Mussels. After about an hour on the island we started to head back home.

Little Rosie getting photographed by Olivia from the bottom of the pool.

Stopped by the Goodwill and Whitney's bait and tackle shop before leaving the island. 

The rest of the day was all about the family. Right around 3pm it seemed Fort Myers came to visit. It was great! Amanda, Eric and kids, along with Hayli, Danny, Aunt Christy, Mom and Lane were all over throughout the day. Pool time, grilling, chatting and fishing were the activities of the day!

Olivia and Thomas enjoying some pool time.

Aunt Carla and Anna posing for their swimsuit shoot.

My two little sunshines!