Saturday June 18th

We had a lazy morning, I made Matt breakfast in bed and then we got ready for our day in Nevada!

Drove down to Reno, found a place to park and began to explore. We were able to walk under the famous Reno arch, "The Biggest Little City in the World."


We started our casino adventure in Circus Circus, then we headed to the Silver Legacy. We both had so much fun playing video blackjack and roulette. We didn't even lose all of our money!!





We then headed down to Nevada's capitol, Carson City. When we got there we noticed lots of people in the streets, they were having "A Taste of Downtown" street fair. Unfortunately tickets were expensive so we didn't sample the food but we did enjoy some live music and walked around! We checked out all of the casinos on the main street, but they were SHADY and didn't have the games we had enjoyed so much in Reno, so we did not gamble in Carson City.





Settled in for dinner at High Sierra Brewing Company, Matt tried a honey brewed beer that we both loved. I finally tasted my first risotto (lobster) and I loved it, and felt very Top Chef esque!

On our way back to Soda Springs Matt stopped to fill up the gas tank and I enjoyed playing a little more video blackjack.

Here our some BEAUTIFUL pictures from the sunset on Lake Tahoe coming in from the east side of the lake.

Friday June 17th

Started in Jackson and headed out on Old Highway 49, it was the trail of the goldrushers in 1849. We stopped in Sutter Creek for a walk down Main Street and had lunch at the Twisted Fork, the food was full of garlic and of course super yummy.




We drove through El Dorado National Forest on our way to South Lake Tahoe. We finally arrived and could see the BEAUTIFUL lake. Matt took the opportunity to take some wonderful pictures! We finally arrived in Soda Springs and were able to find T-Bar Court but could not find T-Bar Drive (where our cabin was located.) We decided to stop at the Hostel at Tinker Station and ask for directions. The girl working told us that they had just gotten 2 feet of snow last week and that the road we were trying to find was snowed in on one side, hence why we could not find it. Luckily there was another way and we were soon at the cabin! There was 4 feet of snow from where we parked to the front porch of the cabin, we had to climb the snow bank and just walk across it to the front steps.






By this point we were pretty hungry and decided to head into Truckee, Ca and eat at Zano's Pizza and Pasta (the girl from the hostel recommended it.) We had rock shrimp, spinach and artichoke dip and deep dish pizza with meatballs and gorgonzola cheese. It was all to die for!

After dinner we went and rented a movie, headed back to the cabin, snuggled in on the couch and enjoyed our evening!

Thursday June 16th

Today we took a different way into Yosemite. Our goal was to go on all of the roads that were open, today we came in Highway 41 to the south entrance. We drove through the Sierra National Forest right before we entered the park.

Got into the park and drove to Wawona, parked and caught a shuttle to take us into Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoia Trees! In the grove we saw about 20 living giant sequoias. All of the trees were between 2000 and 3000 years old, and were 200-300 feet tall. Words/pictures cannot describe the enormousity or grandness of these trees.







The "famous" sequoias we saw were:

The Bachelor and 3 Graces- This is a large giant sequoia with 3 nearby slightly smaller giant sequoias.





Grizzly Giant- This is the tree said to have inspired Hometree in the movie Avatar. One of its limbs is 7 feet in diameter, it has a circumference of 96 feet at its base. It is around 2000 years old and is the 25th largest giant sequoia living today.





California Tunnel Tree- We were able to walk through this tree holding hands. In the early 1900's they cut a hole big enough to take old cars through the middle as a tourist gimmick to have the Mariposa Grove become a part of Yosemite National Park.





Next we drove to Glacier Point. We had a 270 degree view of Yosemite National Park, we were able to see Yosemite Village, Upper and Lower Yosemite Falls, Half Dome, Nevada Falls, Vernal Falls and the Sierra Nevada Mountains. We were told by many people that Glacier Point was a must see, and they were not kidding. It was breathtakingly beautiful and well worth the drive!

While we were up at Glacier Point we were able to throw some snowballs at each other, and have our 1st snowball "fight" as a married couple!








We finally made our way out of the park for good :( this time we left out of the only entrance/exit we had not seen yet; the Arch Rock Entrance. This was one of the first ways to get into the park and is exactly what it sounds like, a huge rock they used dynamite to blow a hole through to make the "arch."



The Merced River raging as we left the park, it was sad to see us go!


Later that evening we stopped in Mariposa, Ca and ate at the Pizza Factory. We had chicken wings and Hawaiian pizza, super yummy!

We did not check into our hotel until 12:15 that night but Matt was able to pull the honeymoon card and get us upgraded to a king bed with a fireplace in the room for our night!!

Wednesday June 15th

Here we begin our trek into Yosemite National Park. Words and pictures cannot begin to describe how breathtakingly beautiful this place was. I will try to give you a glimpse into one of the most wonderful places we have ever been!

We started early on Wednesday by talking with my Uncle Charlie about things to see and do on our adventure, and then got on the freeway and headed down to the park. We stopped and ate at In N Out Burgers in Manteca, Ca. We stopped at our first farmers market in Cali and bought some fresh peaches, oranges, blueberries and Matt got a glass jar of honey with a real honeycomb in the middle. The girl who checked us out actually had an Aunt from Floydada, small world!

Here is a picture of The Don Pedro Reservoir right before we actually were in the park!



Here we are at the entrance to the park




Next we drove on some windy roads through the park where we saw our first waterfalls. Over and over again on this trip we heard so many people comment on the amount of water coming from the falls. California had record snow this year, and it is all melting and making for some wonderful falls to look and marvel at. In these pictures you can see a waterfall in the far background and the Merced River flowing from there.




We headed to Bridal Veil Falls first, we finally got a parking spot (there were LOTS of tourist from all over the world) as we began our walk up to the base of the falls we saw lots of SOAKED people coming down. The mist was heavy and the water flowing from the falls was powerful and beautiful!




Next we parked and began a walk around Yosemite Village, in the valley. And then headed up to the base of Lower Yosemite Falls. The mist was even more powerful at Lower Yosemite Falls compared to Bridal Veil.








Here is a look of Half Dome we took on our way home that night.



That was the end of our first day in Yosemite National Park. We ate some yummy Mexican food at a local place called Cocina Michocana in Groveland, Ca. Matt got some "marriage advice" from an old man who had retired in the area with his wife. Finally we headed to Jamestown, Ca to stay in our cottage for the night.

Tuesday June 14th- An adventure trying to leave

So we are destined to leave Lubbock on Tuesday June 14th. My maid of honor, Alysha, came to take Matt and I to the airport at 4:30 pm, our flight was to leave at 5:40 pm. We arrive, check our bags, go through security without a problem. Get to the gate, settle in to reading and talking with each other, 5:30 is nearing and our plane is no where in sight.... bad sign. At 5:35 they come over the loudspeaker and announce, our plane has finally LEFT Dallas Love Field, a 55 minute flight, so we are basically an hour delayed. Problem #1 our connection in Austin was due to leave 50 minutes after we arrived. We are assured by Southwest that our flight will wait for us in Austin and we will still arrive in Sacramento at 10:15 that evening.

We finally get on the plane and fly to Austin. Once in Austin we rush to our connecting gate. Problem #2 again our plane is no where in sight. They left without us... DUH! We go to the gate desk and they instantly ask me if I am Tiffany, and tell me they have switched my flight. (They struggled with Matt's ticket but evenutally fixed it) We will leave Austin and go to Phoenix and connect in Phoenix to Sacramento. Not ideal, but we will end up in Cali right?

After a long wait in Austin and Phoenix we finally arrive at Sacramento, CA (with our bags praise God) at 1:15 am local time, 3:15 Texas time. My wonderful Uncle Charlie met us and took us back to his and my Aunt Pam's house.

Life after the "Honeymoon"

So Matt and I are officially settling in to our home in Lubbock. We were blessed with a wonderful 11 day honeymoon in California. I am going to post some notes along with a few pictures of what we did each day on our first adventure as husband and wife.

I went back through and read old post from planning the wedding, funny how things just work out! Our day went off without a hitch, it really was the PERFECT day!

Feel free to check out our photographer's blog @ lschilbergphotography.blogspot.com she has posted a few pictures from our big day!

Without further ado.... our honeymoon...