en vacance américain

"Vacation" is derived from the word "to vacate"... and that's just what we did over the long Fathers' Day Weekend. We left the traffic, hustle and bustle of our little Silicon Valley boomtown, Redwood City, and headed for the mountains. There we found ourselves in a peaceful little lake cabin built in 1912 on the west shore of Lake Tahoe. I can almost imagine a little "Ken Fulk" effect in this beautifully decorated tiny little homestead, can't you?

Can you hear the collective exhales as we settled in and explored our little corner of the world? After walking the beaches, the trails and wading in the streams, we made a leisurely dinner of BBQ tri-tip, wild caught salmon and chocolate cake...delicious, and what could be more American? That night...the shortest night of the year on the Summer Solstice...we headed up the nearest mountaintop to help Chris set up his camera to catch a great shot of the Milky Way! 

It was freezing up there...you can see we are all wearing jackets and scarves. We waited until 10:45 pm...then Chris got a beautiful shot! Don't miss it at the end of my post!

If you haven't discovered it yet, and if you LOVE the night sky as much as I do, you MUST download the amazing app Sky Guide. We even watched as the International Space Station made its way across the sky. Without Sky Guide we would never identified it. It will also give you more information that you can imagine about every single star, constellation, planet, satellite, comets and Deep Sky...all in real time and place. The app actually shows the satellites moving. For $1.99 it is amazing to hold the entire cosmos in the palm of your hand!

this says it all!

heading out just before dark

can you say cozy and extremely comfortable?

 vintage items from 1912, except the gramophone, which will
amplify your tunes from your tablet or iPhone

deer head notwithstanding, I love this stone hearth and mantel with built in
stone slab shelves (I know, in 1912 they shot deer for fun)

happy Lisa chatting away!

our little former ice house!

happy in the kitchen, we made bacon-wrapped corn muffins
to simply die for! recipe on Pinterest

chillin' on the front porch!

a pier on Lake Tahoe's crystal blue waters

this is an amazing home nearby, complete with two rooftop gardens!!

Nicky in vacay mode hopped up on the sofa!

Lisa's early morning rescue of Scooter!

trees decorated by nature (that's moss of course)!

the trusty Subaru took us to the top of the mountain nearby...that's the 
last light of the day on the far cliffs!

Lake Tahoe from far above just after sunset

we are freezing, scrambling around getting Chris's camera gear all set
up with me checking Sky Guide every two minutes to see just what
is where in the sky at all times!

Chris Golson shot at 10:30 pm, Nikon D810, 36 mega pix, at 64 iso, 16 seconds, 

28 mm at f2.8

In Chris's amazing photo of the night sky, he captured the Milky Way, which we could not see with the naked eye. If you look closely, he also captured many objects that are moving over the sixteen seconds exposure...especially the large satellite with the blinking red light. 

So he had a very happy Father's Day!! Hope your weekend was great too!