South Lake Tahoe

Lake Tahoe was AMAZING!! For those of you who didn't know, on my dad's side of the family there are 16 cousins and we're all super close. As we got older and started doing our own thing, it was hard to visit each other as often as we wanted so I decided to plan a cousins reunion. Our first cousins reunion took place in South Lake Tahoe but we rented a house in Stateline, NV. Our house was an awesome fit and it was near everything! Zephyr cove was right there, grocery stores, gas stations, and the heavenly shops were there too. We'll definitely be back to the Tahoe Terrace for sure.

I was initially worried about the weather because there were warnings about thunderstorms all weekend, but I guess we just left Vegas at the right time. The weather in Tahoe was PERFECT. As I was enjoying the weather in Tahoe I saw all my friends back in Vegas posting photos about the crazy floods and hail storms going on. I definitely got spoiled by the Tahoe weather. It was about 77 degrees the whole 5 days 4 nights we were there with a great breeze from the lake. We all kept the windows open every night to enjoy it all.

The groceries and gas in Lake Tahoe were a little pricier than Vegas, but we found this great grocery store called Grocery Outlet that saved us a ton of money. Like I said, nearby was the Shops at Heavenly as well as the local casinos so there was a lot to see. In the Heavenly Shops they had beautiful gondolas to ride and offered other tours but it was $34 for adults and about $26 for kids so instead of JAM and I spending $60 on that, we found this this fun trampoline jump for $12 that he absolutely loved!

Afterwards, we visited the Tollhouse Cookie Shop where JAM got to choose the cookies and ice cream to make his very own ice cream sandwich! We loved it so much that we went back later that afternoon with my cousins who opted to kayak and paddle board that morning.

If you like the idea of taking advantage of the outdoors, one fun beach that we all visited was Pope Beach near Camp Richardson, which was about 30 minutes from the house on the California side. The water was initially cold, but after a few minutes we got used to it and we all had a great time. No worries, the water wasn't nearly as cold at the California beaches.

We also took a little hike at Eagle Falls to this waterfall where we took pictures and even swam at the top of the waterfall! This trail is all uphill and mostly stairs just so you know, but the view at the top is amazing. I'm not the most in-shape person and I made it up the trail. On the way down we saw a family who carried their grandmother in a wheelchair all the way down the trail just so she could see the amazing view at the top of the waterfall. Now that's a dedicated family!

We topped off our trip by eating at the Red Hut Cafe on the California side of Tahoe on Highway 50 before all of us went our separate ways. There was even a Soda Fountain attached to the cafe so we all grabbed some dessert afterwards.

All in all it was an amazing trip and it was great to see my cousins all in one house. Can't wait to see what next summer has in store for us for our 2nd Cousins Reunion in Orlando, FL!! Especially since by that time we'll be having a few new second cousins coming along for the ride. =)

Do any of you have any suggestions of where we should stay or what we should see in Orlando??