Sunday, June 30, 2013

Beach Day at Tahoe

The weather has been HOT the last few days, so today I headed up the hill to Lake Tahoe to cool off. I left Carson around 10:20 and got to Zephyr Cove about half an hour later. There were cars parked on both sides of the street, but the parking lot ($8) still had plenty of spots, and the beach wasn't too crowded either. The beach was beautiful tan sand, and the water was clear blue. There were mountains in the distance, but I almost felt like I was at the ocean. I feel so lucky to live so close to a place like this!

The day was wonderful and very relaxing. I picked a spot on the beach near some bushes and settled down with a book (Under the Dome, Stephen King). I spent most of the day reading and taking breaks to dip into the water. The water was cold, but very blue and it had that wonderful lake water texture. The first few times I only made it about halfway in before getting cold, but by the end of the day I was swimming around and the water felt fantastic.






The only downside of the day was the sunburn I got on the backs of my thighs...All day I kept reapplying sunscreen, but I realized when I got home and looked in the mirror that I forgot to put more on that one part of my body. Now it is bright red and quite painful. Probably the worst sunburn I've had since I was little. Hopefully it won't hurt too much at work tomorrow!

Rocky Mountain High

Found this post from a few weeks ago that I never got around to publishing 

June 12, 2013
This week I am visiting Boulder, Colorado to attend a short training course for work. I arrived Tuesday night to 100 degree heat, but I hardly noticed, which is a little funny since I used to hate being hot. But it seems that i have become a heat lover.I guess its a good thing, since I live in the desert now!

My rental car is a dark blue Chevy Camaro, which was a fun surprise. The rental company was one I had never heard of, so I was expecting something very basic. When the agent handed over the keys (which he had to retrieve from "the government key area"), he smiled and said I had a nice ride. He didn't say it sarcastically, but I still wasn't sure what he meant.I figured it our right away when I walked out to the lot and saw the car in spot 8A.



On Tuesday night, a colleague invited me to a barbecue at his house. There was a small and somewhat random group of people there, and we relaxed in his tree-shaded back are chatting, drinking beer, and eating grilled pork and kale salad. Kale salad was a revelation for me. I normally don't like kale, because it is so tough and bitter. But wow, kale salad with raspberry vinnagrette is delicious! 

On Wednesday evening after class I took a drive to Rocky Mountain National Park. As I left Boulder, I just kept smiling at all the beauty around me. Mountains and hills and pine trees. Even with a haze of wildfire smoke it was incredible. And it just kept going. The drive from Boulder to Estes Park ,where the park entrance is, took about an hour. I drove into the park and got up to over 11000 feet elevation on the road. 





On Thursday after class I wandered around the shops in downtown Boulder. The Pearl Street area has a ton of cool stores and restaurants. I could have spent an entire day shopping there. I had good pizza at a local pizza place, then went back to the hotel for a relaxing evening of reading.