Tahoe & CA Trip

Our annual pilgrimage to the west coast for was expanded for 2019 by doing 3 trips in one. We first started off with a stop in Reno/Lake Tahoe to spend time with Dahjo, Meme, Aunt Sha, Uncle Cameron and cousin Torin for a week. After a layover in Chicago we arrived in Reno and spent the first night there. The next day we gathered our stuff, stopped by some stores for food and supplies, then headed to our AirBnB in Tahoe. Between going to the lake, eating at our favorite spots, and just relaxing, the trip was setting up to be a very “normal” trip…however, it only went downhill from there.

2 nights before we were set to leave Nora starts throwing up just after midnight. The next day as Nora is recovering Cara is stuck in the bathroom and shortly thereafter Shauna finds bedbugs in her bed. Needless to say, we had to get out of there and our only option was to head back to Reno to stay one more night before we all headed out. On the way out of Tahoe, even with Cara still not feeling well and the kids passed out in the back, I get pulled over for doing 69 in a 50 as we were heading down the hill. Maybe the cop felt sorry for us (as Cara holds a bag just in case) or was just a nice guy but he only wrote me up for doing 55 in a 50. To top it off, shortly before that we got word that Torin was throwing up in the other car.

We finally made it to the hotel and got everyone settled in. The next day was our travel day and we were all doing what we could to not continue this sickness. Dahjo and Meme drove back to Boise while the rest of us boarded our flight to San Diego. All was well as we washed our clothes and wiped down everything just in case we were exposed to the bedbugs as well but then the sickness bug hit me. Luckily for me, it was a “one and done” and all was well.

We spent about 3 days at Grandma and Grandpa’s house and got to see Aimee at Balboa Park and went to the San Diego Fair with Grandpa, Uncle Rory, Aunt Melissa, & cousins Kayla and RJ. Next, we headed up to Temecula to another AirBnB for a family reunion with Cara’s Mom’s family. We spent the next 6 days relaxing by the pool, checking out parts of Temecula/Murrieta, going to an Alpaca farm, and just hanging out at the house.

Lia rode the giant slide at the fair. Her face doesn't really show whether she liked it or not but we're still proud of her for trying it.

I headed back to Georgia while Cara stayed another week with her Mom and got to see more friends and family in that time. Cara and the girls met some more friends at SeaWorld and while Lia was running around she ended up tripping and falling to the concrete below busting her chin and requiring stitches. After getting initially treated by First Aid at SeaWorld, she had to go to Children’s hospital where she was a trooper waiting to be seen then going through the procedure for getting the stitches in place.

All in all, it wasn’t the trip we were expecting but it definitely was one we’ll remember forever.