Hope everyone had a fine, relaxing holiday. \u00a0We did I suppose. \u00a0The “relaxing” qualifier is a bit of a stretch, but I need more activity in my life anyway. \u00a0We sort of kicked off the weekend by driving down to the airport to pick up Doni’s sister Jackie on Friday night. \u00a0It was pretty late by the time her flight got in so we didn’t do much (if anything) that night.<\/p>\n
Saturday we got up early-ish and headed up the hill to Tahoe. \u00a0That was a good time as always. \u00a0We started off on the south side as usual, with a little shopping and a little relaxing. \u00a0After that we branched out from our usual haunts and drove around to the other side of the lake. \u00a0It was worth the horrible traffic and long drive I’d say. \u00a0The views are really something from over there. \u00a0You can look down on Emerald Bay from the road, it’s quite a sight for sure. \u00a0If I had to choose between driving up there and looking down on it or taking the boat cruise around\u00a0it like we did with my family a few weeks ago, I’d probably recommend the boat ride. \u00a0Tough call though. \u00a0After a bunch of picture-taking and site-seeing, we stopped at a recommended place for some lunch, then headed back. \u00a0We took I-80 back to the house, which I’d never done before. \u00a0I think it’s faster, if not nearly as scenic.<\/p>\n
Sunday the girls hit the outlet malls for a little light shopping, after first dropping me off at nearby Lake Natoma for a little paddling. \u00a0I got a new inflatable kayak a few weeks ago, and this was my third or fourth time out on it. \u00a0So far I’ve stuck to the nice calm lake water, playing it safe. \u00a0I do enjoy it, quite relaxing and makes me feel like I’m doing at least some form of exercise. \u00a0The other times I’ve gone the water has been pretty sparsely populated; \u00a0Not so on a Saturday. \u00a0Either due to the holiday or just the weekend, it was pretty darn crowded. \u00a0Manageable though, I definitely enjoyed it. \u00a0This weekend I might take it out on the river and see how I do. \u00a0If no update next Monday you might want to be mildly concerned. \u00a0We wrapped up the day at the house with some tasty ribeyes on the grill.<\/p>\n
Monday we met up with some friends in nearby Plymouth for a “progressive picnic.” \u00a0It was sponsored by several of the local wineries, and sounded like a good way to spend the holiday. \u00a0Apparently everybody else thought so too, it was a bit crowded for my liking. \u00a0It effectively consisted of hopping from winery to winery doing some tastings, and each one had some type of food for the “picnic.” \u00a0It was a good time, and we got to visit a few new wineries in the process.<\/p>\n\n\t\t