Sistertime!

"Okay, our turn is coming up soon. There's a sign that says we should get in the left lane."
"That's not it, is it?"
"I don't think so - it looks like a driveway."

We continue down the road, now with no other left turns in sight. "I think that was it."

Erin's iPhone rings and I pick up since she is driving. It's Dan, my brother who is riding along in the car with Paul, my brother-in-law. While we have not been caravaning, they have somehow crept up behind us. "You missed the turn!"

"Yeah, yeah, we know - we're just looking for a place to turn around."

By this point, there is a barrier in the middle of the road and we are descending down, down, down to the capital of Nevada. "My car's not going to like going back up this." Erin has a sweet, little grey Hyundai Accent, which is great for getting her where she wants to go, but not necessarily very fast - I believe she said it goes zero to sixty in ten minutes.

We finally see a place to turn and go back up the thousand feet of elevation that we've lost, motioning Paul to keep going - he's got a Hyundai Accent too, but somehow his is a little zippier - maybe because it has a manual transmission. From this side of the highway, the turn is well-marked with a large sign pointing the way. After another uneventful fifteen or twenty minutes of driving we reach our destination - Incline Village on Lake Tahoe.

I have been going through sister withdrawal. My sister Erin moved to California two and a half years ago and I miss playing in our fake band, running into her at the dock, late night happy hour at Ray's, impromptu sailing trips and other last minute get-togethers. That's why, even though I just returned from Oakland, I immediately booked a ticket when she told me she had a week off at the beginning of May. While I had a work obligation today that I couldn't skip, I was able to take Friday through Tuesday off for a long weekend of sister fun. We didn't want to drive more than a few hours each way and neither of us had been to Tahoe.We even extended an invitation to the guys, though they could only stay one night.

Lake Tahoe's beauty is breath-taking - or maybe it is the elevation gain. While it is approximately the same length as Lake Washington, it has almost 6 times the area and has a surface elevation of 6,224' compared to the 16' 1" elevation of our nearest large lake. The water color varies dramatically from brown to aqua to a deep blue and is so delicious that Erin and Paul were tempted to return with several gallon jugs to take home with them. The beaches look nearly tropical, especially Sand Harbor (with its unusual rock formations) - until you notice the snow-capped Sierra Nevadas encircling the lake.

One summer whilst visiting relatives in Eastern Washington, we played a game called "ah, this is the life" where Erin played an heiress relaxing in her mansion, as I, her loyal servant adjusted the blinds and brought over refreshments (yes, I know that it is strange that both of us enjoyed the game). Every once in a while, she would sign and say "ah, this is the life". Well, even without a servant to cater to my every whim, I found myself breathing deeply several times throughout our trip (usually in the hot tub of the spot we reserved from airbnb) and murmuring that very phrase.

While I won't go into all of the details of the trip, I will share some vital statistics (while I think they might be enhanced by an infographic, I am too lazy to create one, so you will have to use your imaginations).

• Road kill spotted: too numerous to count - I think the springtime has the rodents blinded by love and ignoring the freeway.
• Bears: one, a super-cute design on my mocha from I.V. Coffee Lab - sadly, neither Erin nor I had our cameras with us and when we returned, a different barista was on duty
• Missed turns: 2
• Times in the hot tub: 4 in 3 days
• Ethan Hawke movies watched: 2 (but only after Dan and Paul were away)
• Money lost by me at the slot machines: $1 (I really don't like gambling)
• Beaches: 5
• most Safeways visited in a day: 2.5 (there was a strange mini-mart Safeway adjacent to the Safeway gas station in South Lake Tahoe, which we quickly exited before finding the real store)
• Inedible gluten-free waffles: one, before we switched to pancakes

Where was your last family vacation?