TBT: Lake Tahoe, part 1

Today's Throw Back Thursday (TBT) includes photos from our trip to Lake Tahoe, California in 2008. It was so gorgeous there! The water is clear and such an amazing shade of emerald green. The climate was perfect -- not too hot, not too cold. We got to enjoy biking, hiking, kayaking, and even a couple's massage while we were on vacation there. It was a memorable time together. Little Isaac was only a glimmer in his Daddy's eye at that point. We were newly weds married (still are..ha ha) for about two and a half years on this trip, and loving some rest and relaxation in such a beautiful place! 

Our first view of Lake Tahoe as we were driving in from Nevada. There are so many evergreen trees in that area it is almost the only type of tree you see! They are huge and healthy out there, too!

At this point we were walking along one of the roads to get to our bicycle rental place. The views out there were amazing!

Me enjoying Lake Tahoe!

Mountains, blue water, and a perfect climate! What's not to love!?  It is a lovely vacation destination!

Handsome Jason with one of the bikes we rented. We really enjoyed exploring the lake by bicycle.

The water color is like the ocean in the Caribbean! It is not warm, however!  That water was very cold. It contains melted snow, so it's no wonder the temperature of the water remains pretty cool all year round. We never officially swam in it, and neither did very many other people. We did enjoy kayaking on Lake Tahoe, but I will post our kayaking photos next week for Throw Back Thursday! 

I love the sun's reflection on the Lake Tahoe! You can not see that beautiful emerald green color as much in this photo, but the sun is putting on a nice show! 

Beautiful Lake Tahoe!

TBT: Yosemite National Park

Today's Throw Back Thursday (TBT) is some of my favorite photos from our 2009 trip to Yosemite National Park. I was pregnant with Isaac at the time and very happy and excited! We flew out to the San Francisco area and then took our rental car around to see some amazing and beautiful places in central California. One of those gorgeous spots we visited was Yosemite! I did not even know what I had been missing. I had heard of this park all my life since it is one of the most popular vacation spots in the country, but man oh man --I was shocked by its awesome beauty. Jason had been there before when traveling with his brother a few years back, and so he knew the best spots to get these incredible vistas. Wow! And, actually WOW was not enough to describe how incredibly pretty it is in this park. After driving around and doing a little light hiking I labeled this park as the most beautiful place I had ever seen. It was THAT GREAT! Here are a few of our favorite snapshots from our day in Yosemite: 

Parrots, Parrots, Parrots!

We spent the three-day holiday in Corpus Christi area and loved being in one of our favorite weekend get-away destinations! Our first day was spent visiting the South Texas Botanical Gardens and Nature Center. We did not know what to expect, but the place blew us away with all the beautiful flowers and animals to see! When we first arrived, we saw lots of beautiful Plumeria trees, amazing parrots, reptiles, butterflies, orchids, cacti, and a really unique playground! They had sunflower seeds and popcorn you could feed to the parrots and giant collard green leaves to feed the iguanas. Feeding and holding the parrots were definitely the favorite highlights of our time there!

Plumeria at the South Texas Botanical Gardens and Nature Center. They were everywhere! So beautiful!

This place has the largest grove of Plumeria trees in the United States. They were gorgeous, and smelled amazing! 

More Plumeria . . . I just could not stop taking pictures of them!

Isaac and Jason ready to go exploring! 

I never knew parrots like to eat popcorn! It was so cute to watch them gently grab the popcorn in their beak, then reach their claw up to hold it. They would take little tiny bites off the piece of popcorn while holding it in their "hand".  It was so fun feeding them and watching them. Sometimes they would squawk really loud if you did not give them another piece fast enough, or worse yet if you or they accidentally dropped it and it fell into the bottom of their cage. God was very creative when he made parrots--they have such beautiful colors and very unique patterns.  

I got to feed an iguana two giant collard greens leaves. They were so cute tearing the leafy parts off the stalk. Did you know they are vegetarians? I remember seeing iguanas in Cozumel on our honeymoon.
There were 6-7 of them in the side yard of our hotel, and they were grazing on the grass like cows 

Isaac really enjoyed the parrots! He even got to hold this one!

Jason enjoyed holding this young parrot. He was kind of playful and kind of "hyper" like a toddler. 

Isaac could not get enough of feeding the parrots sunflower seeds! He kept wanting to feed them more and more! 

The smile says it all! 

Feeding parrots at the South Texas Botanical Gardens and Nature Center.

The botanical gardens had an entire green house filled with all different types of orchids. They were gorgeous! I love to take pictures of flowers so much! Here are a few I took of the orchids. 

We enjoyed a moment in the shade on this whimsical butterfly bench. 

Zinnias in the botanical gardens

Not sure what Type of flower this is, but it was really beautiful! 

Butterflies in the butterfly area of the botanical gardens.

Flower in the butterfly area in the botanical gardens. Not sure what type it was, but I love this very pretty color! 

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The playground was really cool, with a really tree house. The house part of the playset was built
on a really huge and really old tree stump from a redwood tree from California. 

Isaac loves any and all playgrounds!

A beautiful bushy clump of flowers in the botanical gardens. I don't know what type it was, but I snapped this picture of it.

I saw this and thought it was some well placed art. This sculpture blended in with this marshy area. So lovely! 

Becoming a butterfly. . . except the "mini-butterfly" was getting very tired and fussy. Good thing lunch and the hotel pool was next on the agenda, because that perked him up really quick! 

TBT: San Francisco, part 2

Today's throw back Thursday (TBT) is from our 2009 trip to San Francisco. We had so much fun exploring the wonderful San Francisco area! I was pregnant with Isaac at the time, and so excited! Here are a few more of our favorite photos from our site seeing adventure in SanFran.

Ferry Plaza Farmers Market on Market Street on the Embarcadero. That sandwich may look like we were eating swamp grass, but it was sooo good! It was not food from Shrek's kitchen either . . .it was scrumptious chickpea curry medley wrapped in thick flat bread. We also tried the tofu salad, which was awesome, and some fresh juice specialty. Wow, we were eatin' good in the neighborhood! I want to go back there just for the food! We also got the best brownie I ever tasted at the Scharffen Berger Chocolate vendor. I didn't get a picture of it . . . sorry, but trust me it looked like an ordinary brownie but tasted extraordinary and absolutely amazing!  

Breakfast at the Marriott in downtown SanFran! It was so yummy and we really enjoyed that view! 

View from our room in the Marriott of downtown SanFran. Lovely!

We stayed in The Palace, a historic hotel built 1875. It was so gorgeous! 

The Palace hotel in San Francisco, the dining area.

The Palace hotel in San Francisco, the lobby.

The Palace hotel in San Francisco, the lobby. I was so in love with those gorgeous fresh, fragrant roses! 

San Francisco neighborhood. Those row houses are very unique!
 It was so interesting to see how different each one looked. 

Views of Lombard street in the distance (left), and the Golden Gate Bridge.

Tractor Tugs in the canal near the Embarcadero. They were huge! 

Tractor Tugs and other ships at the docks along the Embarcadero.