A week in South Lake Tahoe

We had a FANTASTIC week in South Lake Tahoe at the Americana Village Resort .  I had visions of completely resting, reading outside on the hammocks and swings and pretty much having a week of “nothingness”.  That didn’t really happen but we had a great time vacationing with my family.  My Mom/Dad were there the first part of the week and my sis/hubby were there the 2nd part of the week. 

I can officially say I am old – My parents wore me out and could stay up later than me LOL….I did get even though by being a morning person to get them going earlier :)  I am super proud to say I fit in EVERY Body For Life workout – yahoo!  My eats were more or less BFL friendly but I had a few indulgences….after all, you have to live life a little while on vacation.  I’ll just have to work out a little harder the next few weeks to make up for it.

I didn’t take as many scenery pictures as I did on our 5 year anniversary or for The Husband’s birthday because I figured you all had scene all that.  I also took the week off from food photography (nothing too exciting) but will include some highlights of some of my favorite things.

The Americana Village Resort was a super cute, quaint, country style place and everyone there was super friendly.

The Living Room.

The Kitchen table plus mini kitchen which included a mini fridge, microwave, blender, toaster, coffee pot and all the plates, etc you’d need.

Country style bedroom that came complete with curtains you could pull to close it off – I told The Husband it made it his “princess” room – He didn’t think it was as funny as me 😀

He did say that our room was rooting for the Cal Bears Football team because they posted a “bears” sign :D.

 

They left us a little package of homemade cookies and free shampoo/conditioner samples.

I LOVE that they use organic soaps, etc in their rooms!

       

The Husband LOVED that our resort served donuts EVERY morning so he had those with his cereal.  I was excited that they had hard boiled eggs and included that regularly with our breakfast.  Other breakfast items included my chocolate banana protein smoothies and Chobani Honey 0% Organic Greek Yogurt with 1/2 c low-fat cottage cheese. 

FOOD HIGHLIGHTS:

By far my FAVORITE breakfast ~ An Egg Beater veggie omelet with hot sauce, salt & pepper with whole wheat bread.  I did have a few bites of the spicy potatoes too – SO GOOD!

 

We both think that The Yellow Submarine is the BEST sandwich place in Tahoe.  We made two trips there.  The first trip I had a Yellow Sub Salad (there is a bunch of avocado under all those sprouts & a ton of other veggies.  I had red wine vinegar & olive oil on the side.

I got a little adventurous on my next trip. I typically get their turkey sandwich with AVOCADO but I branched out and had the Cheesy Canadian Bacon Pineapple on Whole Wheat – SO GOOD – just like the pizza but better!

My parents wanted to try out The Chart House after we raved about it the last time we went.  I knew what I was ordering BEFORE we went.  I LOVE this fish and I can’t say that I LOVE any fish (except sushi!) really.

I ordered the Macadamia Nut Crusted Mahi Mahi in a “Warm peanut sauce with a hint of Frangelico, mango coulis, coconut ginger rice” with a trip to their amazing salad bar!

 

My only complaint is that this is NOT Coconut Ginger Rice – notice the carrots and peas in there.  It is Chicken Rice Pilaf and doesn’t taste anything like coconut or ginger :(  I wish they’d put some real coconut flavor in there 🙂

  

My Sis and her Hubby came up on their 3 Year Wedding Anniversary so we decided to host a BBQ for them.  I was all jazzed when I realized that Raley’s (the local grocery store) will marinate or rub your meat for FREE!  I got a lesson on how to use charcoal to BBQ with from my Brother In Law since I was super challenged on getting the coals hot.

The Husband (testing his luck out at poker online to decide if he wanted to play for real) and my Brother In Law.

I busted out magazines and books for my sis & I – Hi Sis!!

Fantastic BBQ-Ness!  Tri Tip, BBQ Chicken & Corn Grilled in the Husk!

My plate

Plus some Maple BBQ Bush Beans that The Husband picked out.

 

I have never grilled corn in the husk with the silk but I will do it more in the future!  Look how perfect it turned out – so good!

 

Since it was their anniversary we picked out a cake that looked Wedding Like ~ An Almond Coconut Bistro Layer Cake.

That was LOADED with thick layers of chocolate inside – So AMAZING!  I had a small sliver and sent the rest home with them!

 

FUN HIGHLIGHTS

My sister and I got a facial and a massage while the boys gambled away.  We also did some shopping but I didn’t end up buying really anything.  I did get a cool new plate on clearance at Pier 1 & 2 pairs of workout pants on clearance for $3.60 – yeah for sales!

I did try out two NEW products during our trip.  I found these little Godiva Dark Chocolate pearls when we were shopping at Pier 1.  You get 8 of them for 25 calories – not too shabby!

We also stopped at Grass Roots their local health food store.  I picked up a pack of Sensible Foods Apples.  WOW – these are awesome!  They are 100% apples and contain nothing else – LOVE, LOVE, LOVE them!  I will definitely buy them again.

We chickened out on Kayaking because Lake Tahoe is COLD!  Instead, we opted for a bike ride along our favorite trail.  We always LOVE renting bikes from Anderson’s Bike near Emerald Bay.  The trail takes you past a few beaches, a few historical states and an underground water aquarium.

At the start of the trail… 

 

Pope Beach

 

The geese were not shy – they walked right up to you.

The water is really clear in Lake Tahoe. You can see the bottom just about any place you go.  We tried to convince The Boys they should snorkel but they weren’t buying it since it wasn’t Hawaii 😀

 

Baldwin Beach

 

We walked our bikes through all the estate houses.  They have a really cool Great Gatsby festival here in the summers for those of you who had to read the book.  Everyone dresses up like they did in the 1920’s and they go all out Gatsby style.  There is a lot of history that you can read about in these houses and you can see inside all of them too.

                    

The cute skinny LOVE Birds!  Seriously – My sister & I cannot be related – they both have to eat constantly to keep from losing weight! *sigh* 🙂 Love them but I want their metabolism already.

This is what happens when you take your bike helmet off while you walk around.  The Goofy Husband found it…….Note to self, keep your helmet with you!  He is such a CLOWN!

  

Next stop was The Rainbow Trail ~ Yes, the jokes were flowing!

When we walked across the bridge we saw several schools of Salmon just hanging out. 

 

When we went into the underground aquarium we got to see these Kokanee Salmon Up Close and Personal

 

We actually thought that the bike rental guy was pulling our leg when he told us that the bears were out feeding on the salmon the day before.  But, as we walked down the trail we saw this!

And there were places were the grass was completely pushed down like this.

I also learned from some other people that were sitting in their chairs waiting that the bears NEVER eat the heads off their fish – they only want the meat.  Did you all know this?! I guess it’s true because I saw this…..

I think I can see why the bears go here though – the water is so shallow and the fish are right there.    

      

We hung out for a while but no bears were scene.  I think that is a good thing because the trail isn’t that big and I do run the SLOWEST :)     

After our race back and lunch with my Sis/Hubby we headed back to town so I could get ready to go to BlogHER Food09 the next day.  It was a great trip and the weather was perfect.  I LOVE Lake Tahoe any time of the year.