Super Duper Vacation Party Times

Let summer vacation begin!  This weekend in honor of summer and Fathers' Day I flew out to Reno to meet up with my parents here in beautiful Truckee, CA for some relaxing family fun time.

My flight out of PDX went off without a hitch, besides a thorough pat-down, which just about fulfilled my hook-up quota for the month.  The Reno Airport was such an effin' trip.  I will take photos when I fly out on Tuesday, but needless to say it is full of slot machines and people shoving their hard-earned money into them.

On Friday night I cooked dinner for my parents, which consisted of grilled veggies and from-scratch fried chicken, which was ridiculously good.  There was some experimental store-bought cornbread involved but it sucked.

On Saturday morning Mom and I woke up early and hit the lake (Tahoe) for some totally extreme, hardcore kayaking.  Okay, perhaps it wasn't extreme or hardcore, but we did have fun!  It was also a good chance to show my poor Northwestern feet the ever elusive sun.  Kayaking is so much fun, I could've gone on all day.

After running some errands in downtown Truckee later in the afternoon I stopped at Starbucks for an iced coffee (hold the simple syrup) and ran into none other than one of my best childhood friends who grew up across the street from me.  She was busting ass making frappacinos, but we had a chance to meet up later that evening to catch up.  What a fun and fortuitous reconnection!

The rest of the day was spent relaxing, napping, reading, vacationing and eventually I dragged my behind to the gym.  It's been a while since I've worked out in a proper gym, and I was pleased to find out that I can still lift and run.

The Clan

We went to fancy dinner, which in Tahoe means really complicated, tiny portions of cold food!  At one point during dinner I was spacing out, staring intently at a waitress holding a tray of lemonades, and as if I had cursed those glasses with my mind, they fell all over the lap of a tweenage girl.  It was hilarious!

Luckily our drinks were exactly what they were supposed to be--full of booze.  I got a cocktail with watermelon juice and basil in it, which I will now attempt to recreate every Friday for the remainder of summer. (Yes, I do understand that summer hasn't officially begun yet, because it's only the 17th of June, but who are we kidding?) As we were leaving the restaurant, headed back to the cabin, the sunset over Martis Valley was absolutely off-the-hook.  Dad snapped this picture of me doing the classic LH pose.

What a Couple of Dorks!

This morning was Fathers' Day, so we played a family round of golf.  As usual I hit all my tee shots really far and really straight and the rest of my game was pitiful at best.  Nevertheless, we had a darn good time.

 Tonight my dear dear friend Rae and her brother will be joining us here at the cabin on their route from Mendocino to Albuquerque.  I cannot wait to see them.  Now it's time to make some real cornbread from scratch and black bean chili and a big old green salad for the whole clan.