The awful fires taking place in Napa and Sonoma have been going for a week now and a lot of the smoke drifted down into the Bay Area--I didn't think much of it until Thursday when I started feeling lightheaded and couldn't stop coughing. Rob suggested we get out of town for the weekend so we booked an Airbnb in South Lake Tahoe (it was actually another little studio cabin attached to the place we stayed last time).
I felt a little silly leaving because of the smoke when so many people actually had to evacuate because they were in real danger, but we figured with me being almost 35 weeks pregnant, it was better to be safe than sorry; so on Friday morning we packed up the car and the pup and hit the road. We didn't really make any plans since this wasn't supposed to be a vacation (and we were just in San Luis Obispo a couple weekends ago), so we brought a bunch of snacks and drinks with us and decided to do a lot of relaxing at the cabin.
There was another Harry Potter marathon on TV (apparently we're really good at going to Tahoe for Harry Potter marathon weekends) so we hung around for a while before going out for a pretty mediocre dinner at Cold Water Brewery. I think we got the wrong stuff--Rob got a flight of beers and didn't really like most of them and then he had a pretty expensive burger that left a lot to be desired. I ordered soup and a salad that was super boring, but on our way out we saw a couple with some delicious-looking pretzel bites and $4 pints...I think we'll do that next time.
I woke up early the next morning and took Ender for a long walk--it was 25 degrees and the fresh air felt so amazing after a week of smoke. We went back to the cabin and I made a pot of coffee and some cinnamon rolls and sausage (we stopped by Safeway after our sad dinner and bought some milk for coffee, stuff for breakfast, and a couple pints of Ben & Jerry's...Pregnant Megan is a real sucker for junk food).
We wanted Chinese for lunch but the place we looked up was closed, so we drove down the road a bit and stopped at a little place called My Thai instead. The Pad Thai was super delicious (although next time I'm going to ask them to make it spicy), and the portions were huge so we brought a box home and had it for dinner later. After lunch we went to South Lake Brewing Company and Rob tried a few beers and I had a sparkling tea which was a little weird, but nice--I always appreciate it when a brewery or winery has a non-alcoholic option that's not water. I wanted to go to Free Bird for an afternoon chai latte but they close at 2PM so we ended up being basic and driving through a Starbucks to split a Pumpkin Spice Latte.
I thought I would do a lot of reading, writing, and getting ahead for the week but it ended up being a weekend full of naps, Harry Potter, and chilly walks with Ender and Rob in our cute neighborhood full of cabins or down by the lake--not super productive but pretty awesome. And I still got that Free Bird chai latte on Sunday morning (seriously, if you're in South Lake Tahoe you need to stop by--it's the cutest little place and the coffee and tea are really good.)
It's kind of fun finding new getaways when you move to a new place, and even though we hadn't planned on being there this weekend, it was nice to escape to a place that's starting to feel like a home away from home. (Although I think having the sweetest husband and cuddliest pup to hang out with helps a lot.) I'm already daydreaming about bringing the baby there when some of our friends come to visit this winter (after a stop at some of our favorite wineries in Sonoma and Napa, of course). It's weekends like this one that make me feel like we're really making the most of our time in California.
Wishing you all a cozy, safe week.
