Walker River Resort

The other night I was playing on my computer and stumbled across the photos from our camping trip to the Walker River Resort last Labor Day weekend. It was such a fun weekend spent with family. My sister and brother in law have joined my cousin and her husband's family for the past 3 or 4 years on this trip. My first time joining them was in 2011, and it was a blast. Last year, Andrew was able to drive up from San Diego and meet us for all of the fun.

I don't know if I would really consider this a camping trip, since we sleep in my sisters mega 5th wheel trailer, a different kind of camping I guess.

The Walker River Resort is an RV Campground along the Walker River in Nevada. Most people go for a weekend of fun with ATV's, but there are many other fun activities as well.

There's a "park" near the camp ground where my cousins go down and do jumps and ride their dirt bikes throughout the day. As well as a pool, shooting range, and the river for swimming and fishing.

Usually one day, the entire group gets together for a longer ride. This year, we were on the lookout for a ghost town that we thought was nearby.

The whole gang before we left for our ride

Ready to go! Maybe a little nervous too...

Me and Sister

Since my sister was pregnant with Phillip this year, she stayed back at camp and relaxed by the pool while the rest of us went out for a ride.  This worked out well because Andrew was able to ride her quad, and Josh borrowed a friends for me to ride. Since this was my second year going, I was much more comfortable riding this time around.

We set off in the morning after breakfast in search of the ghost town. We had the camp host point it out on the map, so we were confident we knew where we were going.

Pit stop for a cold beverage

Me and Josh, my brother in law

Brendan and I

My cousin, Colleen and I with dirt mustaches 

After a few hours of riding, we made it to the ghost town. It wasn't much of a town, but still pretty cool to see. We stopped there for lunch to eat in one of the abandon buildings and get out of the heat for a bit.

I didn't even write that! And it's even spelled with an "h"

Since it was starting to get late, we thought we'd take a different route home, since the ride there was longer than we anticipated. One of the guys thought that we could meet up with a trail we had ridden the previous year, so we all got our gear on and headed back for camp. We saw another abandon building a couple miles up, so of course we stopped there to explore. After a few pictures, we were off!

Unfortunately, the trip home wasn't quite as simple as we had hoped!

Luckily, we were with very experienced riders, who were familiar with these trails. My cousin and Josh would ride ahead and scope the trail, then come back and get the rest of the group once they knew it was the right direction and that the trail was wide enough for the larger quads and ranger.

At least we had beautiful scenery when we were lost!

What was originally supposed to be a 20-30 mile ride, turned into a 63 mile, all day adventure that included flat tires, running out of gas (we had to siphon gas from my quad), and generally not knowing where the heck we were! 

Syphoning gas and putting air in the tire!

Finally, we made it back to camp, tired, hungry, and ready for a beer (and a shower, clearly)! It was a long day, but it made for fun memories and a great story.

I love my family and all of the crazy adventures we have together! Thankfully Andrew had a great time too and is ready to go back again this year :)

xoxo,

Theresa

Camping in Tuolumne Meadows

Hello, hello! How are you this beautiful Tuesday afternoon?

It is so lovely in San Francisco today, I wish I could be somewhere outside, enjoying the sunshine. Luckily there are two big windows in the office so I can at least see how beautiful it is outside. Actually, I'm not sure it that's better or worse...

. . . . . . . . . .

Last week, I posted about my love of Tuolumne Meadows, and my day spent rock climbing there last summer. Today, I thought I'd share the rest of my week in Tuolumne. It really was a great vacation. Even though it wasn't exactly glamorous, getting away from work and "unplugging" for a week was exactly what I needed.

Thankfully, many of my friends love the outdoors as much as I do. One of my best friends from college, Shannon, planned a trip with her family to Tuolumne Meadows for a weekend last July. They reserved a group campsite, and invited all of our friends to join them.

It worked out that my parents would be camping there around this time as well, and their reservations overlapped with Shannon and her family by one day. So I planned my trip for a week, that way I could spend some time with my friends as well as continue tradition and camp with my parents as well.

It ended up that not too many of our friends could join us that week. But since my friend Danny was going, who lives in the Bay Area as well, we decided that we'd make a road trip out of it and drive together.  Andrew was still living in San Diego at the time, and wasn't able to join us until later in the week. He missed seeing Shan and her family, but spent the end of the week camping with my family.

Danny and I left on Saturday late morning for the drive to Yosemite. It was quite the entertaining ride with good music and scenery. We didn't arrive too late, just in time for dinner. I hadn't stayed in the group campsites before, and they're quite different. Although it is great to have such a large area, the sites are noisy and not quite as picturesque. (I guess I am my mother's daughter. She gets up at 6am to reserve a site in "A Loop" every year. They're the most beautiful campsites along the Tuolumne River). Having the group site was great though, we were able to all stay together and cook meals, and have campfires in the evening.

It was quite a week so I'll share a few of my favorite memories...

Hiking to Glen Aulin with friends.

I was excited we decided on this hike because in all of my visits to Tuolumne, I hadn't been to Glen Aulin.  I don't think any of us realized we were in for a long, twelve miles when we left, but it was a beautiful hike. The trail takes you through the meadow and then drops down into the canyon, ending at the Glen Aulin High Sierra Camp. It was such a fun day, but man were we tired!

Hiking Lembert Dome (or O'Brien rock as my family calls it).

When we're in Tuolumne, we never miss the opportunity to hike up Lembert Dome. There are two trails you can take to the top, but the O'Brien route is up the front. I would be nervous to do this without my Dad, but it's actually not too steep or scary if you follow the right path.

The views from the summit are spectacular, you can see all the peaks that surround the meadows. I think I impressed Andrew with my knowledge of the peaks, after all the time I've spent up there, I would hope I could recognize them all by now :)

We have a tradition of taking a picture on a boulder that sits on the summit, who knows how many versions there are. It would be fun to do a side by side comparison sometime. So of course, I had to initiate Andrew, and make him pose with me.

 

Swimming in Tenaya Lake.

We have a family tradition of swimming in Tenaya lake on every trip. We even have a specific rock we jump from...and then warm up on after the icy dive. Man, glacial runoff is COLD! But, it's too much fun to miss out on tradition.  As soon as you hit the water, it takes your breath away it's so cold, but always a fun little jolt of adrenaline!

Sometimes I want to chicken out, but peer pressure gets me every time!

There were so many other highlights during the week, its hard just to pick a few. We went to Olmsted Point so Andrew could get a view of Yosemite Valley and Half Dome, spent two days lounging by the river and Tenaya Lake, took a day trip down to Yosemite Valley when we were met with thunder storms, and of course, rock climbing.

It was such a wonderful week. We've started planning our trip for late this summer, and I can't wait. I can almost taste the soft serve ice cream from the Tuolumne Meadows Grill after our long hikes! Plus, it will be Phillip's first trip to Tuolumne Meadows!

Do you have any favorite camping destinations? Have you been to Tuolumne Meadows or Yosemite Valley? 

I'll leave you with..."Cheese Ball Stance!" haha 

Andrew brought these with him, and my cousins thought he was the greatest thing ever! They ate over half of that thing in three days, well some of them were lost trying to throw into each other's mouths, or roasting in the fire. (Gross!) 

xoxo,

Theresa

A Southern California Wedding Weekend - Part 2

Staci and Wesley’s wedding was so beautiful. It was perfect for Staci, just how I would imagine her wedding to be. It had a beach theme, and there were touches throughout the decor that really showed Staci’s personality.

Staci has always LOVED Disneyland, so there were a lot of little Disney elements throughout the wedding, but it wasn't overdone. She walked down the aisle to a Disney song, and their engagement photos that were taken in Disneyland were on display as well. I loved this one of them on the teacups!

Adam Kent Photography 

The venue was in Malibu, right on the water, with huge windows overlooking the ocean. During the ceremony, they kept the windows open so you could hear the waves crashing in the background. Wesley kept mouthing, “I love you” to Staci during the ceremony, it was so sweet. You could really see how happy and excited they both were.

It was so nice that the venue was the same for both the ceremony and the reception. They had taken the first look and other photos before the ceremony, so they just went down to the beach for a few minutes to get a some shots as the sun was setting.  They had a bar and appetizers so their guests were able to get a drink and visit while they were outside taking pictures. There was also a nice deck wrapping around the venue so we took some pictures outside with the sunset, and spied on Staci and Wesley taking their pictures down on the beach.

Once they announced the new couple, they had their first dance. I’ve truly never seen Staci happier, and I am just so excited for them! I know they’ll have a long and happy marriage.

After the first dance as a married couple, and father daughter dance, we were seated for dinner. Another Disney element was the table names. They were all named after Disney couples, we were seated at "Lady and the Tramp". The dinner was excellent; they served chicken, salmon, pasta, potatoes and salad. Everything was really good.

After dinner and the cake cutting, we hit the dance floor. It was SO much fun spending time with my college girlfriends. We hadn't all been together for quite a while, and it was just like old times. We kept requesting all the songs we’d listen to when we went out to the bars in college. At most times we were the only people on the dance floor, but we didn't care. We were in our own world!

It was a great wedding, and we all had a blast. I am so happy for Wesley and Staci. They make a really great couple and its so great to see Staci so happy. She was truly a glowing bride.

The weekend went by so fast. I can’t believe I’m back at work already. Even though it was a long drive for only a weekend away, I am so glad we got to spend so much time with our old college friends. Its fun to look back and see how far we've all come. I can’t believe it has already been 7 years since we graduated. I never would have guessed back then that Andrew and I would end up together. Things always have a way of working out, and I’m so glad it’s turned out this way.

Congratulations to Mr. and Mrs. Wesley Snyder! 

Do you like going to weddings?

I LOVE going to weddings! They're always so much fun :) It's a good thing too, I have three more this summer! 

xoxo,

Theresa