Tahoe in September, Part 1

This time last week I was walking along a trail with my family surrounded by pine, boulders, and the most azure water In California.  This time last week the temperature was hovering around 80 degrees and the only sounds I heard were birds chirping, the wind rustling through the leaves and my children's excited voices as they took in all the great scenery. This time last week, I was on the Rubicon Trail in Lake Tahoe.

The Rubicon is considered the premier hiking trail in the Lake Tahoe basin. It follows the cliffs surrounding the west shore from Rubicon Point all the way to the famed Vikingsholm Castle providing some of the most beautiful views of the lake around.  The trail is about 6 miles long and a wonderful day hike. It is also extremely popular and can be exceptionally crowded on summer weekends. But on a Monday afternoon in September there is hardly another soul to be seen. Obviously we couldn't do the entire length of the trail with a couple of two year olds unless we felt like carrying them on our backs; which we didn't.  Since this trail isn't a stroller friendly one, we chose to do the simple 2 mile loop near Rubicon Point in D.L. Bliss State Park. Everything about this trail is gorgeous. The scenery was both awe inspiring and mesmerizing.

Another amazing view around every turn.

There were plenty of boulders to climb on, play with, and squeeze between.

The trail does hug the edges and there are cables in place on particularly steep edges. For this reason it is important to pay attention to where your children are. I don't think it is unsafe  as long as you keep an eye on them. I never had a fear that a child was going to launch off a cliff and into the lake!

There are also lots of steps to climb and count.

And its a long way down to the bottom

It really was a nice easy afternoon hike that I would love to continue when the kids get older and can go for longer.

After the hike we headed over to the South Lake Tahoe near the Nevada border to check in to our motel and relax a bit before dinner. I will be writing up a review of this motel soon on Travel Savvy Mom so look out for it. It was a great deal, clean, and had a perfect location so I will let you guess whether or not the review is positive.

We decided to walk down to the casinos and hit up Cabo Wabo for dinner. It was a very short walk and I wish we took the camera with us because I think we missed out on some cute shots of the kids chasing birds. It was kinda depressing to walk right past the Heavenly Gondola and see what we were missing out on because it only runs Thursday through Sunday. Oh well, another time. Dinner was good, the margarita was great and the kids loved their Mexican feast.  My only complaint was the lighting was so dim. I could barely read my menu. I felt like an old person squinting and moving the menu back and forth away from my head as I tried to figure out what was for dinner.

After dinner we walked down to the private beach the motel has access to. The sun had just set and the view was amazing. Ben was not entirely thrilled about the sand and stood paralyzed in it with no intention on walking through it.

Paul helped him over to the playground so he could have some fun with his sister for a bit. Then we headed over to the water where we got lots of great shots.

Truly an amazing sunset on an amazing day.

Stay tuned for day two!