Sunday was my friends graduation, so in between packing and cleaning, me and the roommate went down to watch her walk and receive her diploma. Afterwards, her parents invited me to join them and their friends and family for a celebration meal which I happily accepted! We had planned on packing up the car and driving to Sacramento to meet our two friends to go to Tahoe the next morning. Didn't quite work out! We ended up not leaving campus until around 11pm so we ended up staying at the motel that her parents were at and got up the next morning at 6.30am to drive to Sacramento!
We arrived at Lake Tahoe, on the North Shore which is close to the border of Nevada, at about 2pm, unpacked the car and the infinite supply of food (that would have fed eight people for seven days, not four people for three) into my friend's uncle's cabin and rushed to the lake. It was just so gorgeous, though a bit windy! We walked down a pier and put our feet in. Then promptly took them back out as the water was freezing. Like heart stopping freezing! we hung out on the dock for a while in the sun, getting sufficiently burnt, and then headed back to the cabin for a BBQ, smores, drinks, and Parchisi! A lot of games were played this trip.
Tuesday morning we went swimming in the communal pool for all the cabins in that particular area. I just love the water. We spent a good hour or so there before heading back, eating again, and watching the England game that the lone guy on our trip desperately wanted to do, with a beer in hand. We decided to go for a bit of a hike up the Tahoe Rim Trail, however this epically failed as we were being dive bombed by mosquito's and I was being eaten alive. We decided it was because foreign blood is a delicacy in these parts! We ended up just walking through the cute little town and along the shore, which were thankfully mosquito free.
Wednesday was definitely the best day. Again, we got up and went swimming where two of us perfected our dives and trick routines with rubber rings, while playing 'Monkey in the Middle'. I tried arguing that it was 'Piggy in the Middle' but was laughed out of the pool. After lunch we went back down to the dock area and spent the next few hours jumping off of it and into the freezing water! It was pretty exhilarating, and after a while, our bodies were so numb that you didn't feel the cold so much. Luckily the water was completely calm and the weather was boiling hot. We took plenty of photos and videos of course. You should see the tan lines on my back; I have a proper razorback from all the time I have been spending in the water this year, and after a bit of burning on this trip, I am going to be even darker! I just hope it lasts for the next two weeks so I can show it off to people at home who believe I would never be anything more than paper white.
After we had sun-dried we travelled to Squaw Valley, the Olympic Village which was where the Winter Olympic were held in I believe 1960. Gorgeous place but expensive to live. We looked. We then went back into town and had some dinner at a place called Rosie's, and then we border hopped into Nevada! I can now cross another state off of my list! We went to a couple of casino's where my ID worked just fine (21 age limit and all that), and I was very proud of getting my 21 and over wrist band at the Hyatt Casino! A secutiry guy even came up to me and when he saw that I had already been carded said "Wow, you look so young", to which I replied, "Well thank you!". The great thing about these casino's is that you get free drinks all the time. They just come round while you are sitting at the slot machines or tables and ask what you want! This made up for the fact that I sucked badly at all the slot machines and lost all my money! One of my friends came our $2 richer than when he went in! Winning.
This trip to Lake Tahoe was such a great way of spending my last few days in California and with some of my friends that I have made here in America. I hadn't thought I would make such good friends with only being here for just less than a year. I am going to miss them a lot and I am very excited that one of them is spending the year in Berlin starting in August! I am currently sitting in Sacramento airport where they dropped me off on the way back for my flight to Seattle. I won't lie, my eyes were a bit watery! Though now that I am leaving California, and will be home in less than two weeks, I can really get excited about seeing my friends and family that I have missed so much! For now, onwards and literally upwards to Seattle, then tomorrow down to Skamania Lodge. More swimming, more lakes, more water. WATER BABY.
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