We had a fantastic time in Lake Tahoe ~ we really made the most of our two days there.  I am definitely looking forward to our longer stay next month.  I think one of the biggest things I personally LOVE about Lake Tahoe is that it really is a place where there is something to do year round.  Summer is my favorite because you can go on hikes, bike rides and get out of the Northern California heat for sure.  I wanted to share a few highlights of our trip with you all ~ we did our fair share of eating, gambling, visiting the street fair, walking around and HIKING!

As we drove to the Eagle Falls/Lake hiking trail, we stopped to snap a few shots of Emerald Bay.  Below is the “mouth” of Emerald bay – it’s a cove that was created by glacier’s years ago.

This is Lake Tahoe’s only island ~ Fannette Island.  There is a pretty cool story about the person who owned the island several years ago and the little “Tea House” he built on top of it.

You can also tour the Vikingsholm Castle by hiking on the trail to get there.  I just settled for snapping a quick picture before we took off for Eagle Falls/Lake.

Have I ever told you that The Husband is a big animal fan?  We came across this super cute chipmunk along the way who walked right up to use.  He seriously knew how to “work it” and pose to get us to break out some nuts for him.  No worries, we didn’t touch him so nothing ‘plagued” us, we tossed the cashews out in front of him

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He quickly gobbled them up. I LOVE this picture ~ doesn’t it look like he is smiling?

These crazy blue birds also flew in and swiped the nuts away as fast as we could toss them.  I finally had to convince The Husband to stop feeding them or they’d follow us home

As you walk up to see Eagle Falls you can see the bridge you get to cross to get to the other side.

Eagle Falls isn’t much to see in the summer, but, I bet it’s AMAZING in the winter or spring when the snow is melting and the water is higher.

Before the water “falls” off the mountain, it makes its way into this pool area.  Can you believe people were actually standing in this water – it had to be so cold!

The hike out to Eagle Lake is pretty strenuous especially with the thin air due to the altitude.  However, the entire time you are in aw by the beauty of the mountains and really just how small you are.

Much of the trail looks like this ~ some rocks forming steps, some walking the dirt in the woods and The Husband swears he was seeing “bear caves” and “snake holes”  I reassured him that we were in a very public area and bears/snakes don’t usually like to hang out with tourists   He’s so funny!

When you get to the top of the mountain, you are at Eagle Lake.  It’s absolutely breathtaking with glass like water and totally worth the trip.

Ahhh ~ so beautiful and peaceful.  It is honestly the perfect place to picnic if you ever go. 

Here are some food highlights of our weekend.  I didn’t photograph everything, but, this is like 90% of everything we had that was worth talking about.  The rest was fruit, nuts and a few snacks we brought with us. 

Before we headed out for our drive, I snacked up some Strawberry Fiber 1 Yoplait Yogurt.  YUM!  I LOVED it, but, I think I may like the Key Lime just a tiny bit better – it might be the cinnamon flavor in the Lime that sells me.  Either way, it was fantastic and held me over for 2 hours before we stopped for breakfast.

For breakfast, we stopped at a local diner in Davis, Ca called Cindy’s.  I LOVE a place you can order grits (yes, it’s a rare find in California!).  I ordered an Eggbeater Denver Omelet, no cheese, plus wheat toast and GRITS.  I covered my omelet in hot sauce and pepper and inhaled it all

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Whenever we are in Lake Tahoe, it almost always involves a trip to our favorite sub shop ~ The Yellow Submarine!  They make the best “salad” sandwiches ever.  They load them up with veggies, olive oil, red wine vinegar, herbs, parmesan and pepper.  I ordered a small 6 inch turkey club with AVOCADO – it was HUGE and I couldn’t finish it all.  So good!

For dinner we went to The Hard Rock Cafe.  I stole one of The Husband’s Buffalo Chicken wings, plus celery x’s2 and a few bites of Mac n Cheese.  I didn’t like their mac n cheese at all – it was funky with salsa in it.

For my main entree, I had the grilled T-Bone Steak with mushrooms, onions and a garlic merlot butter.  It came with a 1/2 twice baked potato and snap peas.  It was one of their specials and I ordered the gigantor steak so The Husband could have it.  I had about 1/3 of the steak and ate everything out.  It was honestly amazing ~ better than alot of steak houses and that says alot.  He ate all of his plus 2/3’s of mine.

Pre-hike this morning, we stopped in at Starbuck’s ~ Perfect Oatmeal plus 2/3 of all the toppings and a grande ff iced latte with caramel drizzle.

Lunch/Dinner were eaten at The Brewery ~ this is my absolute favorite restaurant anywhere.  I wish we had one near us, but, then, again, maybe not  because I’d always want to eat there.  Everything I have had on their menu is fantastic.  We started off with their homemade chips and salsa.  They season their chips with this salty, sweet, chile spice that is amazing.  They come out super hot too!  I had more than my fair share of these.

For my main dish I ordered the Spicy Chicken Ranchero Wrap with steamed veggies.   I did steal a few of The Husband’s beer battered fries – too good!

My wrap rocked!  It had grilled chicken with BBQ sauce, tomatoes, red onion, cilantro, jalapenos, a little cheese all packed into a grilled sun dried tomato wrap ~ YUM!

Our trip to Lake Tahoe was such a fun trip and exactly what we both needed.   I am off to catch up on some zzz’s!   This week is going to be a short, but, fun, work week – I hope!

Thanks for all your great comments while I was away. I will catch up with you all soon!

See you all in the morning!

We all had a fantastic time in Las Vegas!  We opted out of going to the Grand Canyon as we heard it would take 5 hours to drive one way.  We are going to save this for another trip.

I think the best way to share our experience is through a picture recap.  You can find all our pictures in our Shutteryfly Album by clicking HERE.

I was super excited at the airport to see that they have a place that serves VEGAN eats!  You could order your Burrito, Burrito Bowl, Taco or what not with veggies plus beans or with tofu.  I ordered two chicken tacos with guacamole though LOL….but, STILL I was excited to see it. 

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I also picked up one of the funniest juice smoothies I’ve ever had ~ A "Naked” Superfood Smoothie.  It was actually a bit thick for me and I only had about 1/2 of it, but, I really enjoyed reading the bottle.

On the plane and ready to gooooo!  The Husband looks super cute sporting his Cal Bears wear and I look completely how I felt – sick!

On both trips we had a few plane snacks – YUM, I heart Popchips and these 50 calorie pouches!

We stayed at our Timeshare at the Wyndham Grand Dessert ~ I HIGHLY recommend staying here if you are ever in Las Vegas as their rooms rock. They are like mini condos complete with mini Kitchens, laundry room in your room and whirlpool bath tubs!

The dining room and the living room (there is a mini couch I didn’t snap)

Our kitchen with mini appliances

The Bedroom

We took complete advantage of our mini kitchens to stock up on breakfast foods and late night snacks.  Here is a sampling of some of the things we made each morning for breakfast.  I had a bunch of fruit, yogurt and smoothies too

Two places stand out as my FAVORITE for eating there.  Buffalo Wild Wings where they make 16 different flavored sauces you can get on your chicken, wrap, salad, sandwich, flat bread pizza!  We ALL agreed that their sauces were fantastic.  I meant to buy one and forgot so I might just have to order it.  I had a wing and a BBQ Chicken Margherita flat bread pizza with a salad – YUM!  The Husband said his Buffalo Chicken Wrap was the best wrap he has ever had in his life LOL.

The other place was the Rain Forest Cafe!  This place is soooo cool in their decorations and experience.  They make it like you are eating in a rain forest with animals all around and a “thunder” storm every 20 minutes.  I LOVED their unique combination of flavors ~ I had a grilled sirloin with coconut shrimp and jungle sauce plus shrimp scampi.  The Jungle Sauce completely tasted like the Curry Dressing I make – fantastic!

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We enjoyed a couple of shows too.  The first up was the Tournament of Kings – where the knights “battle” each other on their horses.

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And you eat your entire meal with your hands med-evil style!

We also watched the FREE Treasure Island show.  I was sort of surprised to see how this has changed since the last time we were there.  Before it was Pirates of the Caribbean like where they fought each other.  Now it’s like “adult” dancers that strip and such – still entertaining but I wonder how many parents wanted to cover their kiddos eyes LOL

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The Husband’s sis is crazy – she wanted to ride the rides at the top of the Stratosphere.  The Stratosphere is 1,149 feet up in the air – something like 109 elevator floors and the rides hang over the edge!  I gladly sat on the side and took pictures.  I made sure to snap The Husband’s picture holding her purse (I’m mean! LOL……

We did a TON of walking ~ I logged between 25,000-28,000 steps each day – yahoo!  We didn’t find out about the unlimited rides all day on the Deuce (double decker buses) until the last day – it’s only $7 ALL day!  We saw the inside and outside of almost every casino on the strip which is about 4 miles long each way.

A few casinos during the day.  Yes, The Husband’s sis and her hubby rode that scary looking ride at New York New York too!

The Casinos and the Strip at night!

I think one of the best parts of going to Vegas is to walk inside and out of the casinos.  The insides are just as amazing as they are on the outside.

Street performers are all over, but, not as much as in San Francisco.  These spray can painters are amazing!  They just use spray cans and paper to create this artwork in like 10 minutes or less – crazy!

Stone man with REAL birds!

The Husband’s sis with Little Elvis!  Ok in all fairness, she is 6 foot tall, but, still – so funny!

The Beatles Experience – this would be soooo cool to have this little walk way in your house to boogie.

The Husband being his clowny self – it was soooooo HOT there! I think we all drank a ton of water. I LOVE that he sported his Annie’s shirt there that said “totally natural, totally delicious” on the back – ha!

The Venetian ~ I was playing with my camera settings and freaked out when I thought I had it stuck in this mode

The Husband with Benny Binion ~ The owner of Binion’s where the World Series of Poker started!

Downtown Las Vegas ~ Fremont St.  I have to say I LOVE old town the best – it’s CLEANER and nicer and I just love the feel of the old casinos (plus we won $$ there so that helps!)

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I think that hits the highlights of our long weekend in Las Vegas!  It was a good time even if we were on the go the whole time. 

Have any of you ever been to Las Vegas?  What was/is your favorite thing about going? I need to remember to check it out next time!

We had such a blast on Saturday and I had a gazillion pictures to sort through between my Sis, Mom, Dad and I. But, I think I finally made it through enough to make a short slide show for you all to see and throw if a few highlights along the way.

Before I get to all the FUN, let me share my eats for the day. The morning was pretty busy with the FoodShouldTasteGood Sampling AND cleaning house before the family arrived. Breakfast was a 2 Weight Watcher Point Grande NonFat Latte.

I also opened up my final PB&Co Peanut Butter ~ White Chocolate Wonderful. I LOVE how thick and chunky this version is ~ those white chunks are White Chocolate – YUM!

I had intentions of putting it on a banana, however, my banana was not looking so hot. So, I salvaged about 2 bites of it and dalloped a big glob of White Chocolate Wonderful PB on it.

This flavor is so rich and it is definitely sweeter than the other two versions. I LIKE it, however, I think my ABSOLUTE favorite to date is the Cinnamon Raisin. We managed to rush around, clean the house, get read and snap a quick picture (with wet hair) all before the family arrived.

We ended up stopping for a quick bite at none other than Taylor’s Refresher in St. Helena. I LOVE the big open picnic area at the St. Helena Taylor’s – this is the refresher that shows up on the Food Network from time to time and makes you drool!

I LOVE supporting any business that is GREEN! All of their waste is recycled and compostable – LOVE that! My Iced Tea came in a GREEN Bio-Friendly cup.

My Brother-In-Law ordered their onions rings and made a “hoop” on my straw. That definitely means I have to eat ONE!!

I couldn’t decide what I wanted – I always LOVE getting the Ahi Tuna sandwich, but, I was really just wanting a veggie burger PLUS AVOCADO.

And, you can’t have a burger without fries….I shared this container with The Husband and Mom ~ yeah for sharing!

We were off and ready for the Safari! When we checked in, we all got cool little bracelets to wear for the day. This is my super cute niece sporting hers.

Oh and we got Bongo Buck’s to use in the giftshop too ~ yeah for coupons!

We hopped on board our super cool “Safari” vehicle and got read for our adventure to begin.

All of us sat on the bottom with the exception of my Dad and Brother-In-Law!

Our THREE-HOUR driving tour and Walking Tour was SO COOL! We got to see a ton of different types of Africa animals although I have to say I was bummed that there were no elephants. Here are just a few snap shots of things we saw on the driving portion.

Giraffes that walk right up to the CAR!

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And the Ostriches that pecked at our booties while the guide closed the gate.

Zebras ~ They look so cool!

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The nicest Rhino’s but don’t mess with their pile of Pooh! They will chase you at 29 mph if you touch it – kinda, crazy, huh?

A bunch of antelope – I couldn’t tell you all the names but they were fun to look at.

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Cheetahs!

All kinds of birds

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Porcupines, Tortoises and more!

You can stay overnight in one of their Bungalows if you want the real “African” Safari Experience.

It was such a cool experience. If you want to see more pictures, you can click HERE. I will be uploading them into our Shutterfly Album soon too – I’ll post a link when we do. Oh, and if you want to see a Video about Safari West, Click HERE. Their website Safari West also has all the details in case you wanted to learn more. It was fun, fun, fun!

During our Safari, I brought a few snacks that we all shared. I had some Tamari Almonds and shared my TJ’s PB&A Mix (my niece/nephew devoured it!) and Clif Twists (Love These!)

Ok ~ Just a couple cute pics of The Family before we headed off to dinner.

The Husband sporting his cool wristband and binoculars!

My super cute nephew & niece!

My Sis & Her hubby with only 2 of their brood of 9 kiddos!

My Dad at his Photography Best! He takes amazing pictures that are on display in galleries and such. You can check out his site by clicking HERE!

And my mom taking pics with my Dad! I aspire to take as good of pictures as they do someday.

By the time we made it to dinner, I was pretty hungry. I always have to remind myself that my body only needs the same amount of food each day no matter how hungry I get. Seriously, when you are starving, doesn’t it feel like you could it a TON?! We ended up at Mary’s Pizza Shack for some quick and delicious Italian food. I had two slices of bread and a side salad with the dressing on the side to start.

For may main dish, I spaghetti with a gigantic meatball (I had 1/2 the pasta and 1/2 the meatball)

And, that was how I spent my Saturday! What did you all do this weekend?

We had an absolute blast in Lake Tahoe. It was honestly the best way for The Husband and I to celebrate 5 years together. Our first date was to the Thunder Valley Casino. On our first date, The Husband lost $500 and I won $500 ~ it’s only fitting that he would start handing over his money right away LOL….Well, this weekend followed suit (no play on words intended).

My gambling highlights ~ I got a straight flush playing Texas Hold’em Poker earning 3% of the Bad Beat Jackpot of ($8, 568). I also got 3 of a kind “K’s” at 3-card poker getting a 30-1 payout on my $5……yahoo!!! Go me, the modest gambler….The Husband, well, I made enough to make us both in the green when we left – yeah!

Fun highlights ~ going to dinner at The Chart House where they gave us a special Happy Anniversary Menu, taking a bath in the full size Jacuzzi Tub and renting bikes at Anderson Bike Rental to ride along the lake.

Since pictures are more fun to look at than to read, I will just do some highlights and you can check out our latest at Jay and Danica’s Adventures by clicking here for all the pictures of our trip.

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We snapped a few shots of our drive up to Lake Tahoe. I think this is one of the most beautiful drives and your first view of The Lake is always breath taking.

We stayed on the Tahoe “Strip” at Monte Bleu (the old Caesar’s). We wanted to stay at the Wyndham Time Share but they were all booked. Our room was decent, but, I LOVED that tub where we lit 5 candles before using it.

We celebrated our anniversary dinner Part 2 at The Chart House. I LOVE this place – the service is top notch and the food is absolutely amazing. They really made the occassion special for us by printing up Happy Anniversary menus AND giving us a free Mud Pie Dessert ~ Yum!

I ordered the Macadamia Nut Crusted Mahi Mahi in a “Warm peanut sauce with a hint of Frangelico, mango coulis, coconut ginger rice” with a trip to their amazing salad bar! The Husband ordered a HUGE Prime Rib Steak plus garlic mashed potatoes

Here are some other food highlights of places we ate at ~ I highly recommend BOTH. After our bike ride, we ate at the Yellow Submarine. I had the best Club Sandwich there and the two ladies that run the place are absolutely fabulous. So nice and helpful even though I wanted to order one of everything.

We ate at The Brewery TWICE! I LOVE this place. For those who enjoy their brew ~ they make their own and highly recommend that you Drink Tahoe Brew! We had two versions of Hot Chicken Wings both times we were there (The Husband’s favorite). The first night I had a side salad and ordered the BBQ Chicken Pizza ~ so good and it made for great late night snacking later. The Husband ordered their BBQ Beef sandwich. The next day for lunch we shared a Chicken Club & BLT Sandwich along with a huge order of fries. Ok, not the healthiest, but, seriously the best fries ever!!!

All of this food was supplemented with snacks I brought with us ~ Bananas, TJ’s Strawberries O’s, BBQ pretzels, nuts, etc. While we were up there, I had to stop into their local health food store and picked up two new things to try. I BIG date (LOVE that I could buy only one). It was eh, ok – very, very sweet, but, I can see how everyone is digging them stuffed with almond butter. I also bought/devoured an Apricot Almond Kind Bar. I LOVED this bar – super tasty, coconutty with a hit of apricot preserves and big whole toasted almonds. Not bad for under 200 calories.

One place that is always cool to visit for a change while in Tahoe is North Shore. It is much more laid back, but, the fun part, is you can stop at Cal-Neva to take a picture right on the line where California & Nevada meet.

If you are ever in South Lake Tahoe, I highly recommend checking out Anderson’s Bike Rental. We choose to rent bikes here versus bringing our own because their prices are very reasonable and their bikes are awesome! You rent right at the beginning of the trail and cruise along the Tahoe Forest Trail that takes you to Camp Richardson, Pope Beach, Tallach Historical Site (super cool log made buildings, etc), USFS Stream Chmaber (underwater fish aquarium that you can walk through and see fish swimming), Baldwin Estates and Beach. There is also a wildlife trail that you can park your bikes and go walk. It’s really an amazing trail and is a definite must see if you are in there area. Here are picture recaps of our ride.

Ok, so I have to ask ~ how many of you actually read ALL the words or did you just look at the pictures??? I give you total kudos if you made it through everything! It was a fabulous time and I am so glad we took a long weekend to celebrate.

Now it is time to get back to the grind….so, up next will be my AM post and a little about the 30 day Transformation!

Have you all ever heard of The Mystery Spot in Santa Cruz, Ca? It is a pretty cool Phenomena. If I knew how to upload You Tube Videos, I’d do that, but, since I do not yet, here is a link to a quick 2 minute video that you can watch.

http://www.mysteryspot.com/video.shtml

There is a great story behind The Mystery Spot and it has been featured in Life Magazine and Ripley’s Believe it or not. They say there is this huge circle that surrounds this hill and the centrifugal forces cause things to stay permanently slanted even though everything you use shows they are level. The tour guide even uses a level throughout the tour to show you things are level. The original owner had actually built his tool shed on the hill, but, it shifted and became permanently slanted on the hill.

Below you will find some highlights of our tour ~ You can click any of the thumbnail pictures to make the larger.

This is the tilted Tool Shed and what happens when you walk inside. Believe it or not, we are standing straight up, but, it doesn’t look like it at all.

And standing on the walls (me!) and “Spider Man” (bet you didn’t know you’d find him here)…lol…..

Now ~ THIS was super cool! She took out this board and first rolled a pool table ball on it, but, it rolled off it going up hill. Then, she took my lip gloss and it did the same thing. It wouldn’t roll down hill for anything. The same thing happened with the pendulum ball that The Husband was playing with in the second picture – it stayed elevated. I wish I captured it on video (yes, we had our Flip cam with us but forgot to break it out – booo!).

As you are standing outside the tool shed on the level hill, they can make me and my 5’6″ self look taller than a 6′ guy. Standing in the line up from 5’4″ to 6’1″ and then, when, we switch places, the 5’4″ girl and I are taller then everyone.

It is definitely worth the $5 per person to take the tour. Plus, the added bonus, you get a cool bumper sticker The Husband also added to our penny collection (we make these whereever we go)…..

Pretty cool, right? I am telling you, if you are ever in Northern California near Santa Cruz (and The Beach Board Walk) – this is definitely worth the short 45 minute tour.

After touring The Mystery Spot, we headed to downtown Santa Cruz for some shopping off Pacific Avenue. The Husband scored a chip for his casino chip collection at an Antique Shop and I bought some cool stuff at a store I’ve never been to, Chefworks. I could have easily spent hours in this place, but, left with only a few things…..

I was determined to at least stop by The Boardwalk, but, we were pretty tired by this point. I managed to snap a few pictures as we drove by looking at all the people on the beach and the rides.

If you want to check out more pictures, you can stop by our picture site (http://jayanddanicasadventures.shutterfly.com/), however, like my blog, I am still working at organizing all the pictures.

We had such a fun time and if you are still reading after My Marathon Post and this one, you serioulsy rock!

MY LAST COOL ANNOUNCEMENTS OF THE NIGHT:

It’s here, it’s here, it’s finally here!!!

Tomorrow is the BIG DAY for Meghann’s second Blogger Bake Sale!!!

Please be sure to check it out beginning tomorrow at 8 AM as I will be making a super cool Bake Sale Package (Girl Scout Samoas PLUS Mock Tag-A-Longs PLUS any dessert item on my blog you want with any type of chocolate you want (vegan, milk, dark, white)!) Be sure to support Meghann and bid for these goodies tomorrow!

You can get all the details you need to know to bid by clicking HERE!!

AND be sure to check out my AM post as there will be another ANNIE’S GIVEAWAY to help support Meghann’s bake sale. It will be pretty simple to enter, but, if you are a blogger, you can get bonus entries.

See you all in the morning with the Giveaway Details and the kickoff of the Bake Sale Fun! I can’t wait……Phew! Night…

I was thinking that it is about time that I share some of my success pictures with you all. You won’t find these in our Jay and Danica Adventures site. I have included some before pictures below and then pictures along the way of my journey to a smaller, healthier, fitter me.

I am always a work in progress and in search of losing those final pounds, getting more toned and fit and all that. As I come across other pictures or am feeling successful in my efforts, I will share them with you. For now, you can see how far I’ve come to date.

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Here is my starting point when I was at my heaviest (213 lbs)

This was me down 25 lbs (188 lbs) with The Husband & I swear the huge lookin’ beer wasn’t ours

And here are a few of me this last year (between 158-165 lbs):

And of course 3 of me with The Husband last year:

I’d have to say that I was the happiest with how I looked in the last 3-4 photos. My new goal is to get back to that happy, content place and of course, to get back to what I weighed. I haven’t slipped to far back, but, enough that I notice and that is really what matters. One reason I started this blog is to show my journey to maintain what I’ve lost so far and continue down the scale. I will share more pictures as I go along.

Danica

We created a site to hold all the pictures of our travels and fun times. You can check it out at the link below. We will be adding pictures from all the trips we have taken in the past as well as in the future.

http://jayanddanicasadventures.shutterfly.com/

I LOVE shutterfly – we set this up in a matter of minutes – it’s such a great way to share our memories with everyone. Check back as often as you like as we will be periodically updating our pictures.