Vacations, you look forward to them for months…even years…and then they arrive, and are gone before you know it! This can definitely be said for my most recent vacation last week. Me and 4 good buddies from high school made our way out west for…well, not most people’s typical styled vacation. We headed to Lake Tahoe (South Lake Tahoe specifically) in California and made our way to and/or through Nevada, and down into Yosemite National Park! There was no relaxing or sleeping in on this trip, we were busy every day!

We arrived on Saturday to get our cabin and acclimated. Not too many hiccups other than Giegel arriving about 6 hours late due to a faulty Verizon cell phone and terrible customer service! On Sunday we rented a boat, what an awesome time! However & unfortunately, this can’t be said by Craig. After about 30 minutes on the water, he got seasick and we had to take him back into the marina. We headed back out onto the lake for a few hours to tube and check out the beauty of Lake Tahoe (by far the bluest and most clear water I’ve ever seen in my life!). On Monday we had a screw up w/ a ropes course in Squaw Valley (yes, the same Squaw Valley where the 1960 Winter Olympics took place!). We didn’t have reservations but the course didn’t look too impressive, so we moved on. We decided to drive around the 70 mile lake to check it out. We made a stop along the way to a sweet overlook!  From there we proceeded to Carson City, Nevada for what we all agreed was the most fun event of the trip….GUNS!  We set up a session to fire weapons through the Nevada State Gun Club.  We meet outside of Carson City, somewhere in the hills, and in the desert.  We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into driving out there!  The shot gun holes in the road signs probably didn’t help our nerves!  However, as you will see from the videos below, we had a blast!  We shot roughly 10 – 12 different guns; everything from pistols, to a shot gun, to assault rifles, to fully automatic machine guns, and rounded the day out w/ a Desert Eagle!  The following day (Tuesday) we headed to the overall highlight of the trip, Yosemite National Park!  The plan was to arrive on Tuesday afternoon, hang out, camp that night, and then complete a round-trip 16.5 mile hike known as the Half Dome Trail.  Well, we did it, even after a few minor set backs!  What a trail too!  This was probably one of the most physically exhausting activities I’ve ever completed; it took us about 10 hours to finish, but it was worth it!  The beauty of the park was astounding, the physical effort, the stories and jokes w/ the guys, just a great time!  We drove back that night and got back to the cabin around 2 a.m.  Luckily our plans for Thursday were for late in the afternoon.  On Thursday, we had a tee time set for 3:15 to golf!  A beautiful course, the Lake Tahoe Golf Club.  What was truly unique were the views of the mountains, the all flat course, and the fact that since we were about 4,000 ft. elevation, my drives were going 325+ yards….and straight!  We weren’t able to finish the round due to darkness (we tried our best though hitting golf balls in the pitch black!) and finished up somewhere in the middle of the 16th fairway?  The next day, Friday, was our last.  I’ve never been on a more quick vacation and it sure felt like it.  Craig and I had to leave a day early for some activities on Saturday and took a red-eye out of Reno that evening.  What a great trip, I only hope I could make it back there someday!

Enjoy the pictures and videos:

2010 Lake Tahoe Vacation Pictures

2010 Carson City, Nevada – Firing Range Videos

2010 Lake Tahoe & Yosemite Videos

Here’s a teaser of me firing a Fully Automatic Mac11! Check out the links above to see all the other videos!

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