California Day 4 - Squaw Valley

For our first full day in Tahoe we decided to take in some of the sites nearby. Our first stop was Squaw Valley - the site of the 1960 Winter Olympics. We parked in this one area that we thought would lead to a trail where we could do a little hiking, but it turned out to be a golf course next to one of the Squaw Valley resorts. The view was still very beautiful though.


I got a nice shot of all of the cousins in front of the snow-capped mountains. Since it isn't really skiing season it was pretty dead. We seemed to be the only people there.

The resort area had some shops, so while the rest of the cousins went looking for maps and potential hiking trails Phil took a little detour for some cranberry muffin - he's always thinking about food...

After hitting a dead end at the resort we headed over to the actual area where the Winter Olympics had been held back in the '60s. It was built up very nicely, but again since it's May there wasn't really any skiing going on so it felt a little like a ghost town.

Phil tried his best skiing pose in front of the Olympics symbol hanging by the ski lift.

We walked around for a bit in Squaw Valley before we headed back to the area by our cabin to do some sight-seeing there. You could see Lake Tahoe across the main road near our cabin, so there were lots of nice places to take pictures.

We found stairs that led down to a walking path along the shore of the lake. And a nice stone wall patio type area ooverlooking the lake, perfect for a group photo! (perfect, minus that random twig of a tree next to Phil) ^__^

There was a nice little shore type area that led straight into the water. Everyone was right when they said Lake Tahoe was beautiful.

Some of the cousins tried their hand at some karate/yoga-type poses on the big rocks by the shore.

Phil insisted that I couldn't do it because I'm pregnant and therefore unbalanced, so of course I had to prove him wrong. ^__^

Another group photo!

As you keep walking along the path there was a little playground area for kids. Complete with a climbing rock. Definitely something for the bigger kids, which was perfect for us. Phil's cousin, Kevin, and his sister, Winnie, working their way up the climbing rock.

Cousins on a bridge overlooking the water.

Airtime picture of Lucia jumping....You can kind of see Phil jumping in the background too. So silly ^__^

Phil looking off into the distance next to a giant wood carving. Somehow it seems kind of silly to have a wood carving of wood...

Phil and me overlooking the view. It looks colder than it was with us bundled in our jackets.

On the way back to the cabin Phil of course had to stop by the ice cream shop that was on the way. I don't know how he can eat so much, but he looks so happy with his ice cream.

After a full day of sight-seeing we headed back to the cabin for another home-cooked meal - Chicken, potatoes and veggies, and home-made fries!

And of course strawberry shortcake for dessert. At least I think it was strawberry shortcake. Either way, it was strawberry and delicious!

Later that evening a couple of us sat down for a game of poker, specifically Texas Hold'em.

I'm not a big poker player, in fact I was one of the first to lose all of my money. But luckily there were extra chips so I got back in the game and played as cousin Chris, who wasn't able to make it on the trip. With some luck from Chris I beat the rest of the cousins. These winnings are for you Chris! ^__^