Johnson Family Trip 2010

We were able to go on a week long vacation to Lake Tahoe with the extended Johnson family. We loaded up and headed out the morning of Aug 7th. It was hard to say good bye to my kidos for a week but it was nice to have the relaxing time.

Day one- It ended up taking us 14hrs to drive to Tahoe due to pulling a boat. All 12 of us were caravaning and Uncle Todd was pulling the boat. At first the cover wouldn't stay on and we stopped every 15 min to put it back on. Finally an hour into our trip we stopped at Lowes in hope of finding stuff to help keep the cover tied on. Nope 15 min later we stopped once more luckily this time to pull the cover off. Thinking we had all our boat troubles behind us we continued on. Not even an hour later we saw sparks coming from the rear right tire. Turns out not only had we blown the tire on the boat trailer but also the U-bolts holding the trailer off the ground were gone. We had to drive 40 min into the closest town to try finding some dang U-bolts. You think this would be easy but sadly our luck was down on this particular day. Finally we called a mechanic shop and begged the man to sell us some. Lucky for us he did. After our four hour delay we started back on the road. Although it ended up being a very long drive I can't complain to much because we had great company to entertain us and entertained we were thanks to Dave who is absolutely hilarious. All of us in our rig decided we were hungry and pulled of an hour before we made it to the cabin. We ate a delicious dinner at PF Chang's. We made it to our cabin and that night I slept nice and sound!

Day 2- We hung around the cabin for most of the day. Most of us went grocery shopping to buy groceries for the week. It was pretty interesting having eight of us all shopping, and four carts full of food. We got some pretty funny looks!

Day 3- August 9Th- Happy Eight year anniversary to Us. We took a beautiful drive on our way to drop Justin, Chad and Debbie off for a 7 mile hike. I kissed my honey good-bye as he headed down the trail thinking he wouldn't be gone to long. We had tickets to a dinner cruise that night. I went shopping downtown Tahoe with Jackie, Sadie and Jamie. While Jarome and Dave went to try their luck at the casinos. A couple hours later we went back to the cabin only to find that the others had not got back from their hike yet. Well to make a long story short it took them longer then they had thought, and they hiked a mile in the wrong direction trying to find the car. Turns out they almost missed the dinner cruise. Thanks heavens they finally made it and we were able to celebrate some of our anniversary together. The dinner cruise was fun and a great way to see the Lake. We also share our anniversary with Grandpa and Grandpa Johnson so that was pretty fun all celebrating together.





Day 4- We did some sight seeing around the Lake. First off Lake Tahoe is defiantly not what I was expecting. It is huge!!! Also there is a ton of commercial stuff around and tons of people too. That day we drove all the way around the lake. We stopped at Donner's pass. Then went to lunch at a place that had been featured on Food Networks Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives called Burger me. It was fun to see what the area had to offer. The water in Lake Tahoe is beautiful. Very blue and clear






Day 5- We woke up early and took the three and a half hour drive to San Fransisco. It was Justins and I's first time there. It was a freezing cold day. We went down to the piers and walked around, took a boat tour around Alcatraz and under the golden gate bridge. Then took a bus tour around different parts of the city. It was a quick day and fun to see San Fransisco.

Day 6- In the afternoon we (Chad, Debbie, Justin and I) went and rode our bikes down around the water. We took our time enjoying the sites and nature. I had forgotten how much I loved to ride bikes. We found a sand trail and followed it down to the water. It was a pretty secluded beach with only a few other people on it. (A lot of the other beaches in the area are packed full of people so this was a nice surprise.) We stopped and played in the water and sat on the beach for hours. The water was pretty cool because it was only knee deep for quite a ways out. So we walked pretty far out into the water. We rode our bikes back to some Tennis courts. Jarome and Jackie met us there. They all played tennis while I read my book and Jarome chased Sadie around. It was so nice and relaxing.





Day 7- The next day we went golfing. I had such a blast and absolutely love to golf. Afterward we went and watched the movie Inception. Such a great movie! Of course by this time Justin and I were missing our kids a lot but it was so nice to be able to do all these things.

Day 8- Homeward bound. The drive home only took ten hours much better then our drive there. We were all pretty tired. It is always fun to be in a car with good company though. Chad, Debbie, Jamie, and Dave rode with us home. We had a lot of laughs and good conversation. We arrived home around 6:00 and went down to my parents house to get the kids. We were so excited to see them and Kamden and Karson came running to us as soon as they saw us. Oliver was almost mad at me and would not come to me. It took a while for him to warm up but then all the sudden he was kissing me and hugging me and so excited. It was really interesting how it was like suddenly he remembered who I was. We had such a great time on our trip. It was nice to strengthen family bonds and get some good sleep. I had a great time with Justin and it was so nice being able to do things as a couple. Our trip was a huge success and I am already looking forward to the next one we go on.