Today's post is the second half of my trip to Lake Tahoe to visit the HGTV Dream Home with Delta Faucet. Besides the amazing fact of being able to tour the home and go on my first all expenses paid blog trip, I have to say that our stay at the Ritz-Carlton and the time I got to spend with Brent was (dare I say) even more spectacular.
Living in Sacramento we have made many trips to Lake Tahoe and even stayed at some pretty nice places. But this trip was different. We saw Lake Tahoe through the luxury of the Ritz-Carlton. Usually we pack the day with snowboarding, site seeing, or shopping but this time around we drove no where. We stayed at our hotel and enjoyed the amenities nearby. It is sometimes a challenge to really relax on vacation. But this trip was different. Because of the circumstances, location, and hotel we got put up in, this trip by far will stand out as one of the most fun, relaxing, and bonding weekends with my husband. I loved the blogging experience but strengthening our marriage is life changing.
We were quite pleased with the view from our room. We spend a large majority of all of our vacations just taking pictures. It's our passion. That's our new Fuji XE-2 Brent got for his birthday and we are in love.
We arrived early and were able to check in early allowing us almost an entire afternoon checking everything out on our day of arrival.
One of our new getaway staples is packing a picnic lunch. I got this great picnic basket for my birthday that is both cute (for all these photos) but insulated and practical for travel. We usually pack some crackers, cheese, salami, fruit, and chocolate along with our sparkling drink of choice. It makes for a sweet and romantic meal that also saves us money by not eating out for one of our meals.
From the hotel, there is a gondola that runs down the mountain to The Village at Northstar. The village includes an ice skating rink, places to eat and shop, as well as skiing amenities. It is like it's own little town and very fun and family friendly.
We went up and down quite a few times. The ride itself is an event and quite breathtaking.
We headed back to our hotel for the evening, just in time for their "Marshmallow-ology" which included gourmet marshmallow fixings. I have had homemade marshmallows before but none quite like these. They came in original marshmallow flavor, raspberry, and caramel. Oh my goodness.
We then headed inside for dinner. They have this fun restaurant with open couch seating with windows overlooking the mountains. Considering that it was the Monday after Thanksgiving, the place was pretty quite so we enjoyed an intimate little meal.
We finished off the evening back down to The Village to see it all lit up at night.
Back at the hotel we took a little dip in the hot tub surrounded by the snowy mountains of December. Pretty perfect if you ask me. And again, we had the whole place to ourselves!
The next morning, before I headed out to visit the Dream Home, we woke up to a fresh blanket of powder. It was the perfect backdrop for the Dream Home as well as a great way to end our mini vacation.
By that morning, all their holiday decorations were up just in time for us to see and enjoy it. Between this and the Dream Home, talk about decoration inspiration overload!
After visiting the Dream Home, I met up with Brent again for one last trip down to the snowing Village and lunch.
I am still in awe and amazement over this spectacular trip and opportunity. Every Christmas season I daydream about taking a romantic winter trip. This year I even had a few links to deals that we could have taken but because of a car purchase this year, the extra trip just was not financially feasible on top of the anniversary trip we already took. So to arrive in Tahoe and have a more glamorous weekend trip that we would be able to afford right now was such a huge blessing and gift. At some point during the weekend, Brent turned to me with a smile saying, "See, you got your winter getaway after all!" What a dream.
