I'm finally getting around to blogging about our weekend in Tahoe/Reno. I've been putting it off knowing that it would be a long blog because I want to remember the trip, but alas, it is time to stop putting it off. (FYI I typed all this out last night (which took like 2 hours) and then my internet connection died when I was posting it and it deleted the post - oh I was MAD, so here is version 2).
We left on Wednesday after work; Eric had to work at the NV office on Thursday. We had both our mountain bikes on a rack on the back of our car and while driving down the highway at about 85 mph the screw that held the rack closed came loose and my bike went bouncing down the road. Sad. Eric's bike was closer to the car and fell towards the car, leaving a nice dent on the hatch and some scratches on the bumper. What a way to begin a trip :) Luckily, Eric saw my bike fall off so he quickly pulled over and ran to fetch my bike. The damage: bent handlebars, bent back wheel, and shaved seat. Could've been worse. We hooked the bikes back on and off we went.
As we were driving across the salt flats a HUGE storm rolled in. Neither Eric nor I could ever remember driving through such a crazy rain/hail storm. It was seriously insane. Reese slept through it all - I'm guessing it was some pretty awesome white noise for her:) Here's a picture of the beautiful sunset that appeared after the storm.
When we hit Winnemucca, NV we were getting a bit sleepy. We decided we'd find the cheapest hotel we could so we could get some shut eye. Well you know the saying, “you get what you pay for”? Well, even though we only paid like $35 for our room, we definitely got jipped (Eric doesn't think so, he must have not been paying attention). It was kind of scary - someone knocked on our door at like 2 am. We slept in our sleeping bag because it was so nasty, and put Reese’s bed on top of a table because the carpet was GROSS! I woke up probably every 15 minutes all night because I was paranoid about my head coming off the sleeping bag and touching the bed. Blah!
On Thursday morning we drove the rest of the way to Tahoe (about 2 ½ hours). My mom had a snazzy hotel room waiting for us. Such an amazing change from the hotel we’d stayed in the night before. My mom happened to be going to Tahoe for work so she had invited us to stay with her Thursday night. It was fantastic! The Hyatt Regency at Tahoe – I highly recommend it! They have eucalyptus scented soaps in the bathroom – YUM I love eucalyptus! My mom wasn’t going to arrive until the evening so we checked in and Eric left to work. While he was at work, Reese and I hung out at the private beach – yup they have a private beach, how sweet is that! Then I went to the little café in the hotel (which was the cheapest place to get food in the hotel) and bought a $9 turkey sandwich. I admit it, I’m pretty dang cheap, so I was stunned when the cashier said I owed her $9 for the tiny sandwich she placed in front of me in a fancy to-go container. When Eric got back we hung out at the pool for a while, where the water was much warmer than the lake water, so the three of us could swim around. Once my mom arrived we all went to The Char Pit for some delicious burgers and shakes. YUM! Then we went back to the hotel room and rented a movie on the television in the room. Guess how much……$13. HAHAHA! I guess I’m used to redbox prices.
On Friday morning the wedding festivities began. The first activity was a mountain bike ride on the flume trail. Reese and I stayed behind because 1) the trail was going to be really bumpy and would probably mess Reese’s brain up a bit, and 2) my bike was dead. Before Eric left for the ride my mom invited us down for the breakfast for her work – amazing pastries, fruit, and drinks. After we ate Eric left for the ride and from the sounds of it, it was a pretty difficult ride but completely gorgeous! While he was on the ride, Reese and I hung out with my mom while she was working. She fed us REALLY well and as always, her company was fabulous! Thanks mom for letting us bug you ½ of Friday!! And thanks for the DELICIOUS food! AND letting us stay in your hotel room with you! You rock!
Around 4 pm, Eric got back from the ride and we headed on over to Jared Swanson’s (the groom) sister’s cabin right on Lake Tahoe for the wedding BBQ. It was so fun! The company who catered it was called “Men wielding fire”, we thought that was pretty clever. We ate lots of good food and people told stories about the bride and groom, which was very fun to listen to.After the BBQ we headed on over to a campground, Sandy Beach Campground, and set up camp. The campground was right across the street from a public access to the beach, and was again at least 300 steps up from our night in Winnemucca.
On Saturday morning we got all dressed up fancy and headed to Reno for the wedding. I am kicking myself for not taking pictures of us since we looked pretty dang hot, especially for having gotten ready in our tent, oh well. Eric went into the temple for the wedding and me, Reese, and B-Money waited outside and caught some rays. After the wedding and pictures we were all starving so we headed over to a Mexican restaurant in Reno.
We enjoyed a delicious meal and everything was going well until…dun dun dun…Eric was holding Reese and I was hot on their heals as we were walking out of the restaurant. At the last minute, the rest of the gang decided to stop in the restrooms before we left. Our car and Micah’s car were parked right next to each other, with no other cars next to them. As we walked closer to our cars a Mexican guy jumped out of Micah’s passenger door. We were both pretty confused, and it took a second for it to make sense that someone had just been in Micah’s car, but as soon as it hit I grabbed Reese from Eric and Eric yelled, “Hey! What are you doing? Stop right there!” Eric ran over to him and said, “Give me back whatever you took. Empty your pockets”. The guy handed Eric a computer power cord and said, “Sorry. I didn’t mean to.” (UH…what? You didn’t mean to, whatever idiot). Anyway, Eric told him to empty his pockets and the guy just kept backing away.
In the meantime I was headed into the restaurant to get Micah and B-Money was headed out so I told him to get Micah. When I noticed that Micah wasn’t rushing out I ran in right as Dallas was coming down the hall from the bathroom. I told him to run over to Eric. By the time he got there the guy had run away. Eric had continued following the guy through the parking lot and telling him to give him whatever he took and the guy kept saying, “hey watch out behind you, my friends are coming”, but Eric didn’t believe him and realized that if anyone was coming it was his own friends. Eventually the guy turned and ran for it. At the time Eric had no idea whether he had any reason to beat him up or chase him because he didn’t know whether the guy had taken anything other than the power cord, so when the guy ran he just watched to see what direction he’d run. After Micah got out of the restaurant he checked out his car and found that the guy had stolen his GPS. This made all of us furious, especially Eric who now wished he had beaten the snot out of the punk. I was glad he hadn’t because who knows what he could’ve had on him or who possibly could’ve been coming. Anyway, the police came and took a report, then we drove to the nearest pawn shop to see if the guy had taken the GPS there, but the pawn shop doesn’t take GPS’s because they are typically stolen – go figure!
After that whole ordeal, we drove around and found a park with grass and shade so we could all nap before the reception. All of us slept but Reese, who was hyper, and Eric, who couldn’t stop thinking about how he wished he’d gotten the GPS from the guy.
Later that evening we made our way over to the National Automobile Museum for the reception. That museum is amazing! We wished we had shown up an hour or two earlier because we only got to look at a portion of the museum before the reception program started. Bee got his picture taken next to a gold Delorean, which was a dream come true. We ate lots of yummy appetizers – my favorite was asparagus rolled in cream cheese and then rolled up in a piece of roast beef, yum!
We enjoyed a delicious meal and everything was going well until…dun dun dun…Eric was holding Reese and I was hot on their heals as we were walking out of the restaurant. At the last minute, the rest of the gang decided to stop in the restrooms before we left. Our car and Micah’s car were parked right next to each other, with no other cars next to them. As we walked closer to our cars a Mexican guy jumped out of Micah’s passenger door. We were both pretty confused, and it took a second for it to make sense that someone had just been in Micah’s car, but as soon as it hit I grabbed Reese from Eric and Eric yelled, “Hey! What are you doing? Stop right there!” Eric ran over to him and said, “Give me back whatever you took. Empty your pockets”. The guy handed Eric a computer power cord and said, “Sorry. I didn’t mean to.” (UH…what? You didn’t mean to, whatever idiot). Anyway, Eric told him to empty his pockets and the guy just kept backing away.
In the meantime I was headed into the restaurant to get Micah and B-Money was headed out so I told him to get Micah. When I noticed that Micah wasn’t rushing out I ran in right as Dallas was coming down the hall from the bathroom. I told him to run over to Eric. By the time he got there the guy had run away. Eric had continued following the guy through the parking lot and telling him to give him whatever he took and the guy kept saying, “hey watch out behind you, my friends are coming”, but Eric didn’t believe him and realized that if anyone was coming it was his own friends. Eventually the guy turned and ran for it. At the time Eric had no idea whether he had any reason to beat him up or chase him because he didn’t know whether the guy had taken anything other than the power cord, so when the guy ran he just watched to see what direction he’d run. After Micah got out of the restaurant he checked out his car and found that the guy had stolen his GPS. This made all of us furious, especially Eric who now wished he had beaten the snot out of the punk. I was glad he hadn’t because who knows what he could’ve had on him or who possibly could’ve been coming. Anyway, the police came and took a report, then we drove to the nearest pawn shop to see if the guy had taken the GPS there, but the pawn shop doesn’t take GPS’s because they are typically stolen – go figure!
After that whole ordeal, we drove around and found a park with grass and shade so we could all nap before the reception. All of us slept but Reese, who was hyper, and Eric, who couldn’t stop thinking about how he wished he’d gotten the GPS from the guy.
Later that evening we made our way over to the National Automobile Museum for the reception. That museum is amazing! We wished we had shown up an hour or two earlier because we only got to look at a portion of the museum before the reception program started. Bee got his picture taken next to a gold Delorean, which was a dream come true. We ate lots of yummy appetizers – my favorite was asparagus rolled in cream cheese and then rolled up in a piece of roast beef, yum!
The program was cool; they had a video, toasts, and dancing. It was FUN to dance – just wish I could’ve gotten my groove on with something other than slow love songs ;) They did this one dance where they had all the married couples come out on to the dance floor. Then the DJ said, “whoever’s been married less than 1 year leave the dance floor”, then 2 years, 5 years… Jared’s parents almost won, being married for 48 years, but one other couple beat them with 49 years. Bummer! That made me excited though, to think that I get to be with Eric forever. That proves to me that Heavenly Father loves us, seeing as he wants us to be with those we love for eternity and allows us to if we do things His way. EXCITING!
On Sunday morning we cooked hotdogs and bagels for breakfast. It was delicious! Then we walked around on the beach for a bit and then drove home.
It was a good trip and a wedding to remember. Thanks Jared and Sarah for including us in all the festivities! We had a blast!
Reese's first BYU basketball game. She was begging to visit Papa. 
