Tahoe - A Full Body Workout with a View

For the last few years I've played a show called Golf and Guitars in Sacramento, California at Haggin Oaks and it is one of my all time favorite shows that I have been a part of. (I'll be re-posting my Sac workout and blog on here soon, so stay tuned and you can read all about it.). One of my dear friends and his family have a condo in Kirkwood, California which is 30-40 minutes away from Lake Tahoe.

If you haven't been to Tahoe, you should put it on your radar if you like hiking, fishing, the outdoors, skiing, or just a lot of incredible beauty. We were only there for 2 days and 3 nights, and you can jam in a lot there in a short amount of time. I had been once before, but this time of year - October - when the trees are changing was absolutely breathtaking.

*Traveler's tip to Tahoe - if you stay anywhere else besides the Tahoe area, you need to have a car with a full tank of gas and probably stop at a grocery store well before you get to where you're staying.

We were smoked when we got there after traveling the distance of the entire country to Sacramento, having lunch with one of my dear friends, picking up the rental car and then driving to Tahoe, but we needed groceries and I wanted to see the lake. We stopped in and dropped our bags off in Kirkwood then made a B-line to the lake. We pulled over randomly at Beacon Bar and Grill and walked out on the beach. We were too tired to eat dinner there because we still needed to grocery shop but vowed that we would come back before the weekend was over.

After a good night's sleep-ish - we woke up bright and early at 5am because we were still on Florida time. It's a good thing we did though because I suggested we drive up to Carson's pass and watch the sunrise (see the first pic of this blog!!). It was one of my favorite moments of the trip. We stood there with our hot coffee and cold breath breathing little clouds with every exhale as we watched the yellow pour over the beautiful scene. What a great start to the trip.

We decided to come back to the condo, have breakfast and set out for a short hike before our fly fishing booking. The place to hike I was suggested was closed, so we pulled over at a random trail and just started hiking. We were definitely not acclimated to the higher elevation because both of us fitness buffs, Marcus and I, were huffing and puffing walking up the trail. We found a trail off of the trail and hiked up until we found a cave. I wanted to keep trying to go to the top of the "mountain" we were on but the trail ended there and I didn't have trail shoes on...

*Traveler's tip - if you are doing any kind of hiking - get a pair of trail shoes. Running shoes just won't cut it on the trail at all.

That Saturday afternoon we did something that was on my bucket list - fly fishing. It was everything I had hoped for. It was a River Runs Through It. It was wading through the river, fall leaves changing colors around us, climbing over rocks and learning how to cast and not looking like a complete idiot. Guess who caught 3 fish? You guessed it...this girl. We booked with Tahoe Fly Fishing and they were great. Our guide taught me how to handle the fish - if you even need to, and how to return them back to the river with the least amount of stress possible. These guys really have a great respect for their "coworkers." The whole afternoon was a complete dream come true. (Make sure to go through the slideshow below...there are a few pics you don't want to miss!)

After fishing, we knew we'd be too tired to go back to the condo and clean up then come back for dinner so we headed straight to the Beacon for some grub. Naturally I found out that they were having the Tahoe Marathon this weekend and decided to last minute sign up for the 10k that would be the next morning, so we ate had a wonderful meal on the beach with a private fire pit. The atmosphere, the company and the food were heavenly.