Okay~! I promise this is the last trip for this summer…
I went to Napa with some girl friends today, we had a fun trip.
The first winery we visited was Trefethen.
(can I stay here forever please?)
It costs 10 dollar to do a tasting (4 kinds)…
I tried 2006 Dry Riesling, 2005 Chardonnay, 2006 S.I.N. Rosé of Pinot Noir, 2003 Merlot, and finally decided to get bottle of 2006 S.I.N. Rosé of Pinot Noir.
The grapes, they are super SWEET!
Robert Mondavi Winery was the next one since it is so famous.
I tried 2003 Pinot Noir, 2005 Chardonnay and 2005 Moscato d’oro. Moscato d’oro was suggested by the server since she sew we are all young girls and might be interested in somehow a sweeter wine, the result was, WE ALL LOVE IT! Each of us bought this wine in the end.
WE had our lunch at Rutherford Grill, kinda pricey BUT good food!
Grilled ostrich.WE had our lunch at Rutherford Grill, kinda pricey BUT good food!
Grilled ostrich.
Leg of Lamb.
Sashami Tuna Salad.
Oreo ice cream sandwich.
Because the girls (two of them were just visiting) wanted to see Snoopy museum, we didn’t have time to make anymore stop at Napa valley but just go straight to Santa Rosa after lunch.
The museum was getting closed in 20 minutes when we finally arrived there…
There was no point to buy a ticket to get in and seeing things in rush, we just hanged around the gift shop and take some pictures then head back home.
Trip to Napa and Santa Rosa
Bicycle trip from San Francisco to Sausalito
Today is the last day of school summer break, Sheron, Calivan and I had a little biking trip to Sausalito. It was a nice and easy ride, with only three small sections of up hill.
We had a nice breakfast at Olympic Flame Cafe, then took F line street car to Fishermen’s wharf. With the coupon I printed out form the internet, we all got a $5 discount for our bike at Bay City Bike.
Ghirardelli Square– we shared a banana boat and ice cream together, enough for our little sweet teeth.
Golden Gate Bridge from Fort Mason.
Golden Gate Bridge from Fort Point.
Look up.
Look down.
Although we stopped a lot, it only took us 3 hours to get there, 8.5 miles in 3 hours, you can tell how easy it is.
we had our lunch in a Café that has turtle shell light and antique ship parts as decoration. I think it is pretty cool.
After lunch, we visited some cool shops and gallery…. This would be the coolest thing we found…LOL
We almost missed the Blue & Gold Fleet so I didn’t get a chance to take a photo of it….
I always love to be on a boat, love the wind!
We got back to San Francisco at about 5pm, the sealions are welcoming us….
Kings Beach to Home (day 4 1/2-5)
We headed north to Kins Beach after lunch, because lacking of sleep, I had a bit of rest on the bus. Pretty soon, we arrived the place we were going to stay for the night, Tahoe Inn. The girl gave us a big room with a queen size bed and two twin size beds, couldn’t wait to sleep.
Sheron said she really wanna go to the artists’ market on the beach, but I just felt soso about it. Since she was so anxious about it, I asked her to find the bus by herself so I can take a breath. We kinda got misunderstood at that time, end up with no farther discuession on our plan. Sheron got disappeared in the crowed when we just arrived the artists’ market; I couldn’t find her at all and got bored soon after I finished walking through the venders.
There’s probably some problem with her phone or something, I couldn’t reach her cell at all. Having no idea where she is, I could only just set on the picnic table watching people playing on the beach.
We ended up with getting too late at the beach; the traffic is getting slow because there’re too many people coming to Lake Tahoe for the weekend, we waited and waited, but the trolley had never came. I was starved and in a very bad mood, didn’t want to say anything, I decided to walk back to motel by myself; Sheron was following behind me, silently.
It was a 1.5miles walk, uphill, non-stop, without a word.
We had our dinner at Cafe Biltmore in Tahoe Biltmore Casino. We ordered the food, almost still no conversation at all (Oh, yeah, DRAMA). I started the talking after I finished the food…, I was prepared to face the worse fight, and anything could possibly happen to our friendship…. I was very surprised that we actually talked about our feelings honetly and soloved the misunderstandings! It was a very nice conversation, I got a lot from it and I must say, Sheron is the most amazing friend I have!
I had a sound sleep that night.
It was our last of travel on Sunday, the distention: Incline Village. We put our bags at the activity counter of Hyatt Regency (free storage service!); then walked to the beach, it was a windy day, we only stayed there for a short time.
The lunch was very nice! (of-course! we ate at Hyatt!)
Found nothing else to do around town, we hopped on a earier shuttle back to Reno. Got a little rest beside Truckee River again at Reno, then was on Grayhound for almost 6 hours before you finally got back to San Francisco at 9pm.
Tahoe City to Kings Beach (day 4 1/2)
I didn’t sleep very well at Pepper Tree Inn, it was way too hot in the room even we already truned the heater off. I decided to go out and take some pictures of sunrise since I had been awake from 4am. I left our room at about 5:30am; it was still very dark outside, the tempture was only 50ºF (10ºC). I lost my wind-jacket at the bus station yesterday, so all I had on me was only a T-shirt and a sweater, cap and jeans, shoes, my camera in my hand bag and my tripod on the right hand.
It only took me 3 minutes to get to the lake shore, the railing on the walking path was short; I decided to climb over it so I can get a better view of the lake. I didn’t know it was wet and slippery on the rock, unexpectly, I fell on the rock and almost touched the water edge.
Luckily I didn’t get hurt too bad, my leg was a litlle bit twisted but truned out okay after a little rest; I even didn’t notice the small scrape on my elbow a lot later.
The sky turned brighter and brighter, the color was gorgeous!
About a half hour later, I figured I won’t see the sunrise from where I was; I need to go somewhere without trees blocking my vision. I gathered my stuff and climbed up carefully to the walking path, then started walking to the another side of the path. Just few steps away, I discovered a huge dump of…er…poop. I was courious at the first, then terrified, because it could be a bear poop! OMG! I walked away almost immediately, didn’t dare to look back, trying not to run…, my heart was beating as fast as hell! It was just a short walk, but I felt it tooks me FOREVER to get back to the main road!
I could see the sun is about to rise, but just didn’t dare to go back to the lake shore!
So I gave up, I went to Starbucks coffee to get some food-therapy; I was cold and scared, with my legs shacking. After I finished my Mocha, I broght back a cup of ice-cocoa to the motel for Sheron. She was still sleeping, I tried to wake her up to go to the beach with me, but didn’t work at all. I gave up waiting then went out again; the sun was up on the sky, it is getting warmer, should be a good day.
I went back to the shore, still didn’t dare to walk any farther, I took a photo of that dump from a far distance. (zoom…zoom…zoom…) (please don’t think I am crazy, don’t you wanna know what it is anyway?)
I walked around to the other side of the path (non-poop side) for about an hour, got some more photos taken until I was satisfied.
Sheron was probably too tired, it was hrad to get her up. 
We walked to Truckee River Dam at about 8am, and spent some time in the woods.
Truckee River is super crystal clear!
There’re lots of nice little trail to walk along the river, people were biking and jogging, we also saw some people rafting down the river. Little animals like birds and squirrel were everywhere, what a beautiful morning we had!
The dam was kinda small but very cute, Truckee River is the only “outbound” river from Lake Tahoe, that’s why it is so special, it flows all the way to Nevada, pass trough Reno.
We went back to Pepper Tree Inn before 11am to check-out, then had our lunch at Sol y Lago in The Boatworks Mall. We were the first customers of the day, so got this nice view.
I was so tired of eating meat, so decide to order something called “Quinoa Gratin” (I had no idea what Quinoa is). It was good though, its funny texture was quite impressive I must say..
The tree kept staring at us, so spooky. (they are Quaking Aspens)
South Lake Tahoe to Tahoe City (day 3)
After saying goodbye to Doug, we started our first day in Lake Tahoe. With no street light at all (tons of star hanging on the sky! so it is one way or the other), it was too dark to tell where we were when we arrived here last night; the truth is, Doug’s house is in the woods! Oh no wonder it was so hard to find!
We had our breakfast at a small cafe beside Sky Run Marina. I wish I have time and money to get one the cruise….
The Transportation System in Lake Tahoe area is WEIRD, very unorganized. There’s saveral bus companies providing different trips between town to town, the travel routes are overlaped with different fares and services with either buses or trolleys, stop at different stops. Realized that Heavenly Gondola isn’t too far from Sky Run Marina, we decided to walk and leave the confusing bus routes behind. Then here we are!
There’s one thing tricky: you MUST get off at the first stop of the Gondola, because there’s nothing but a expensive restaurant at the second (final) stop, and there’s no stop on the way back!
This is Lake Tahoe from Heavenly Gondola. (Please do enlarge the Panoramas, see the large size to appreciate!)
Esaily enough, we found Cedar Inn and said goodbye to Elly and her housband. If it wasn’t them, it is hard to imagine how to get ourselves to Doug’s in the dark last night. THANK YOU!!
We hopped on a trolley heads to Emerald Bay, according to Elly, the Vikingsholm there is the sopt we must check out.
The driver dropped us off at the top of the trail to Vikingsholm, from there we need to walk 1 mile down to the water, where the Vikingsholm is located.
The “castle” isn’t that “magnificent” in my modern perspective; it was closed for repair now, so we didn’t get a chance to see the inside. Emerald Bay is truthfully beautiful, I had a good rest on the beach before we head back to the top of the trail. (which was such a struggle…)
Because we (especially me) were carrying our (way too) heavy backpacks, this 1 mile was just like an endless hell. When we finally got back to the trolley stop, I was DYING, but luckily enough to cought on the next trolly.
Without paying too much attention to the map, we didn’t realize we missed the transfer stop to Tahoe City until it was too late; the worst thing was we won’t be able to make our connection to Tahoe City before dark. What should we do next? We decided to ask around for a ride….
There’s one passage I really like from a book by Paulo Coelho called “The Alchemist”, here’s how it goes: “When you aspire for something with passion, all the universe conspires to make it happen…” I strongly believe in it, this even could be my motto for anytime in my life.
And it just works! There’s a nice cuple, Jennifer and Bill, were willing to help us! At first they thought I was just asking them to take a photo for us, then I expained “It is a even BIGGER favor….”, they said “SURE!” with no second thoughts. How lucky we were! They were just the first and only cuple I talked to!
We talked a lot on our way to Tahoe City; Jennifer and Bill are travling from Florida, they usually spend a week in Lake Tahoe each year. We also talked about the concept of “Karma”; Jennifer and Bill have a pair of young adult son and daughter, they believe when they need help, there will be someone giving them a hand just like they did to us; and it was what I always keep in mind when I was helping people, too. We got Jennifer and Bill’s email and promised to send them the pictures I take in this trip as a gift.
The place we were going to stay in Tahoe City is Pepper Tree Inn, just one block away from the lake, chreers! We had a big dinner (haven’t eat since breakfast)at Roseie’s Cafe; we walked alone the shore for a while after dinner because we got so full. 
I got some nice shots of the lake and was trying to capture the moon, but didn’t turn out well. (the tiny white thing at the center)
This is the panorama of Lake Tahoe from west shore at Tahoe City.
