Celebrating 40 years!

Bob and I took a tour of California in the past week, that included a weekend at Lake Tahoe with all of Bob's family, celebrating his parents' 40th wedding anniversary! I have so many pictures that show all the fun we had, but I'll try to pick out a few to show you some of our adventures.

First, we had a short retreat at a monastery in the desert near Palmdale. It felt great to review our goals, set a plan for the next year, and be able to pray together in such a peaceful place. Here is a picture of us sitting by the pond there.
Then, we headed up north up 395 along the Sierra Mountains. We stopped to see my cousin Cara, who also lives in this beautiful but desolate desert. We camped for the night at the base of the mountains--our first time camping together! It was our first time using our new tent, so it was somewhat of an experiment...we didn't sleep to well on the hard ground, but it was still fun to be outside and have such a great view. We didn't bring supplies to make a fire, so we huddled in the tent and read Severe Mercy with our small flashlight till we were tired enough to go to bed. :)
As we headed north again the next day, we took the June Lake Loop and stopped to see Mono Lake along the way. We also stopped at a mysteriously famous restaurant at the road that goes into Yosemite from the East. The Mobile gas station restaurant. Their menu includes things like "Legendary Lobster Taquitos" and "Kansas City Steak Ceaser Salad", and it truly smelled delicious. Too bad it was only 10am when we went through!
We made it up to Lake Tahoe Friday afternoon to join Bob's family. We took in the beautiful views, played tennis, cooked together, watched The Man from Snowy River, and played Taboo...just to name a few things. :)

Walking across Fanny Bridge

We took a beautiful hike together on Sunday morning--The Rubicon Trail. The views of the lake, the trees, and the mountains were spectacular. Here are a few pictures from that:
We could walk down to the lake from where we stayed, and there was a long pier for enjoying the views of the lake. People use rocks in the shallow water to write names and messages...a challenging task given how cold the water is!
Sunday night we had a barbeque to celebrate Bob's parents' anniversary. A scrumptious meal and an even better reason to celebrate. :)
On Monday we celebrated our 1st anniversary--how did a year go by already?? We went to beach with Tiffany and Jon and Bob's parents...Bob swam, but the water was a little cold for me.

Look how blue and beautiful the water is!

We began our journey home then, with a stop near Sacramento to spend the night with a friend. We felt like we received the royal treatment--a swim in her pool, then a delicious dinner on the deck...a wonderful bed and breakfast. :)
So--that was our big road trip for the year! We were very grateful that our car made it the 1000+ miles without any trouble, and that we got to spend time with people that we don't see very often. Now we are catching up on things like laundry and paying bills, and glad to be home again. :)