Lake Tahoe

I've been thinking about South Lake Tahoe for the past few days.  Not sure how much this trips fits in with my blog, seeing that it's not easy to replicate this experience, and if you were to, it would not actually be cheap.  A friend used to let us borrow his vacation house on occasion, which is right on the shore of Lake Tahoe, where there aren't that many other houses (compared to the North Shore).  Lake Tahoe is beautiful, as you can see, but what I like so much about it is that it's surrounded by gorgeous mountains.  Other than living in a rental house for free, we usually eat in (it's more fun to cook in a gorgeous kitchen) except for one meal at Burger Lounge (try their garlic fries!) and except for an afternoon shopping trip, most of our activities have only cost gas and time.

Emerald Bay from Vikingsholm

Emerald Bay from Inspiration Vista Point

Emerald Bay at nearly sunset

Lower Eagle Falls overlooking Emerald Bay and Lake Tahoe in the back

Eagle Falls

Eagle Falls

Eagle Falls

The hike up to Eagle Falls was pretty quick, like 15 minutes, and the payoff was amazing.  It makes a difference when you visit.  The waterfalls are all in this area all depend on the snow to melt.  As a result, June is probably the best time to visit because it's warm enough for more snow to melt.  Once when I was there, I saw the mountaintop covered with snow in the beginning of the trip but by the end, there was barely any snow left.  The snow provides a beautiful contrast with the mountains.

My nephew, luckily the second time around he chose to pose in a safer location

Lower Glen Alpine Falls, near Fallen Leaf Lake

Lower Glen Alpine Falls

Fallen Leaf Lake

Rainbow Trail

House

A view of Pope Beach from the dock

Almost sunset on the dock

Booking Flights

Who loves booking flights?  The thrill of looking at prices and schedules, so exhilarating, right?  Not me.  Especially when it was my dollar.  Even when it was someone else's dollar at stake, it's not a good feeling to spend that much.

This weekend I looked at a myriad of flight combinations.  I need to go home early June before my precious sister goes to Taiwan for a mission trip (the girl has been selling candy and gum at her high school, with little luck, in efforts to raise money.  What a persistent and driven young'un!!) and then I need to book another ticket to go home when I finish my work here.  So 3 flights.  I have the option of booking (a) 1 RT flight for the first two and a one-way for the last one, (b) a one-way for the first flight and RT for the last two, (c) a multicity ticket or (d) 2 one-way tickets.  It all just depends on what's cheapest (and least inconvenient for my dad who has to take me to and from the airport).

Searching for flights was a nightmare and for reasons what I'm sure you have experienced.  The prices change as your search.  Ever had that experience where each time you look at the prices, it keeps increasing?  Sometimes there's a fix for that, sometimes.  (TIP!) Clear your cookies!  Some site track what you've been searching and will raise the price so that you sense that the prices are on the rise and book sooner.  Other flight search nightmare, the website that you counted on so faithfully to deliver you the best prices, doesn't, and you discover that seconds before you were about to book.  That is a blessing in disguise although you feel like an idiot for wasting so much time.  OR, you've looking ferociously at flights even though you don't have the permission for time off, therefore wasting your time because prices changes and all of that time spent searching was for nothing.  Yes, I think we've all been there and done that.  For me, it was all three this time (and the changing prices could not be cured with a simple clearing cookies exercise).

I trusted Kayak to give me the best prices.  I used to rely on STATravel.com and StudentUniverse.com for the best flight prices, but then I realized that kayak.com sometimes had better prices so I could just depend on kayak to do the legwork.  Nope.  I never click on the additional search option from other sites, but I forgot to uncheck it by accident.  I was astounded to see that priceline had better prices than kayak.  Sometimes STATravel also had better prices (there's the under 26 option so it's still okay for me to use that site).  I was also disappointed because it meant that I could not use kayak as a one-stop-shop anymore.  Oh well, at least I would be assured that I indeed found the best price.

FYI, in my efforts to find the best prices and trying to book with United to make use of my credit card that gives me free checked bags, it made the most sense to book 3 one-way flights, with the flights home with United so I can start taking stuff home in checked baggage, free.  Then, taking the cheapest flight back here, with another airline.  Also, most likely, I'll be booking a red-eye flight leaving at night and getting back in the morning.  Anyone have experiences with these flights?  I'm a little concerned because sleeping in airplanes can be hard for me (mostly the regional jets).  Also, concerned about sitting/sleeping next to a creep..  However, I could make it to work late morning and take one less (half)day off.  We'll see.

An hour later...

Booked flights to and from Sacramento at $190 each, aisle seats for all my flights.  Unfortunately long layovers but oh well!  Lots of magazine time at airport bookstores, I guess. 

California Redwoods

I grew up in the Central Valley of northern California, the bread basket of the state and if accounting for international trade, many countries as well.  During long drives to LA I'd stare outside the car window and watch the neat rows of the orchards or fields zoom past me.  I found agricultural landscape to be quite beautiful and mesmerizing.

Portola Redwoods State Park

My favorite part of California though are the redwood forests.  It's not enough to see one tree, it was seeing the entire forest and smelling the forest that captivated me.  The redwoods give off a fresh and clean scent.  Too bad we haven't gotten to a point where we can pass scents through the internet.  Aside from their scent, they are famous for being the tallest growing trees.  Its cousin, the sequoias, don't grow as tall but they grow to be very wide.  Redwoods need a moist foggy environment to grow and what's fascinating is how it grows in a dry state like California.  When we were hiking in John Muir Woods National Park, one minute we were in a damp redwood forest and as we ascended, we exited the redwood forest where we look ahead and see the yellow hills and look back and see the lush redwood forest.    

John Muir Woods National Park is famous for its redwood forests however it can get quite crowded there, to a point where you are too distracted by the conversations of the fellow hikers ahead and behind you...  (It's especially hard to enjoy the forest when others are complaining about how hard the hike is the whole time.)  Don't limit yourself to Muir Woods!  You can also find redwoods in the Santa Cruz area, near Palo Alto and of course, further north.  Here is a map from Save the Redwoods League on where to find redwoods:

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