What a wonderful time of year!! Mike’s family is in town for the holidays and we spent the past week in Tahoe. On Monday we all drove up to South Lake Tahoe and opted to stay in Airbnbs since we’re a big group of 6 adults and 1 toddler. Having access to an entire house and all of the comforts of home can’t be beat on a family vacation.
Our first Airbnb was nice and spacious! After we unpacked, a few of us went to the store to stock up on supplies. What a money saver to have a kitchen to prepare meals in when traveling! After a day of traveling, we decided on an easy dinner of spinach and cheese ravioli with green beans.
We spent 3 days in South Lake before heading North Lake, despite what I always say: South Lake is for friends, North Lake is for family!
During our wild stay in South Lake, we ate at MacDuff’s (the same pub we went to in February when we went to Tahoe with friends). I love this place, particularly in the winter because it is so cozy. And what’s more comforting than a huge portion of corned beef and cabbage (my go-to order) in cold weather?
On one of the full days we were there, we walked down to the beach to get some steps in. While we were beach front, we stumbled upon a restaurant called Jimmy’s. Here we warmed up with spiked minty cocoa and hot toddies. It was snowing a little bit but not enough to stop us from sitting outside around the fire pit. Talk about a movie moment; snow, a fire pit, and boozy winter beverages. I’ll take it!
On our last night in South Lake we went to see an improv show at Harvey’s. Felicia Michaels and Gene Pompa were performing. They were both funny but I remember the show being better a few years ago when Mike and I went with different comedians performing.
On our way up to North Lake, we stopped at Free Bird Cafe to fuel up on coffee. I just happened to come across this place when I Google mapped “coffee” and I’m so glad I did. It is a little hole in the wall type place with good coffee and healthy snacks. Definitely recommended!
About half way through our drive, we stopped at Emerald Bay and went on a snowy hike. I was happy to get some exercise in after many glasses of wine and indulgences. I didn’t snap many pictures this vacation but, if you haven’t been, Emerald Bay is worth a visit. It’s gorgeous!
That night we got a severe storm warning and I was like, hold the phone, we need to stock up on water and all of the things. now. Which might have been a little assuming to the group of Canadians I was traveling with, all who are much more familiar with snowy weather than my California bones. Armed with water (and wine) to weather the storm, we spent a lazy night in playing games.
The next day, despite the snowy weather, we headed to mine and Mike’s home away from home, The Resort at Squaw Creek (you can read about our other Squaw adventures here, here, and here) for lunch at Sandy’s Pub.
While we were there, Mike and his brother-in-law hit the slopes snowboarding and, from what I heard, the conditions were perfect. We all meet them for lunch in the Village at Rocker@Squaw. Nachos ang wings all around!
On Christmas we spent the morning opening stockings and eating breakfast. A few years ago we were in Australia on Christmas (read about it here), which had a similar vibe to this year’s Christmas festivities. The day was casual (it’s hard to lug presents for everyone when traveling to different countries) and cheerful!
After stockings, we packed up and headed to Reno for Christmas dinner with my grandparents, mom and stepdad. It was great having so much family altogether. 🙂
This weekend we are off to Sonoma for New Years. Stay tuned!
** Note this blog went through a rebrand and is now veg vibes; which aligns better with the direction I organically gravitated towards. It’s all about your vibe.**
VEG VIBES 