Lake Almanor has always had a special place in my heart. Not only did Joey propose there two years ago, but I've been going there every summer of my life. My family has a cabin on the water that my grandpa and his dad built many many years ago and it's a very important part of my mom's family. After missing the cabin last year (due to going on our Honeymoon and limited vacation time), Joey and I were counting down the days until we'd be on our way. And to make the vacation that much better we would be celebrating our very first ever Wedding Anniversary!!! The trip went a little something like this...
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| Pit Stop |
Givens Family road trip tradition ~ Fast Food Frenzy!!! This year's (and probably the best yet) combination? Burger King Chicken Sandwich, Taco Bell Crunchwrap Supreme, Carl's Jr Sweet Potato Fries, & Mc Donald's Fries, Nuggets AND Strawberry Shake. Heart attack on a dashboard, but fitting because it kind of set the standard of our week to come...
Upon arriving at the Cabin...
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| View from the Deck |
Perfection. Joey and I unpacked the car after our 5.5 hour ride and after eventually digesting the fast food feast, we headed out the door to the local Pizza place Buffalo Chips.
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| Pizza, Beer & Giant's Game! |
The right half of the pizza (Cabin Fever) is possibly my favorite pizza EVAR. White garlic-y sauce, cheese, meat and avocado!!! I crave it all year long until this very moment. Deliciousness!!!
Monday was our actual anniversary and our wedding baker (shout out to Sweet Tooth Confections in San Jose!!!) baked us a complimentary anniversary cake!!! Chocolate with Peanut Butter Mousse and it was as amazing on our anniversary as it was on our wedding day!
Just so you don't think we only ate food on our vacation, let it be known that we also went wake boarding. Although the pictures make it look like a calm, spa-like experience, it was extremely intensive exercise and we burned at least five million calories doing it. Okay maybe not but after falling as many times as I did, I certainly felt like it and the next 3 days of advil kept reminding me.
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| Joey's strapping in |
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| Joey wakeboarding! |
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| Yours truly, right before I ate it |
Most of the other time at the cabin was a bit more laid back lazing around and looked a little more like this...
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| Dominos & Bud Light |
Let it be known that I am a far greater Dominos player than Joey, mostly because he's not here to type otherwise. Later on in the week our friends came up to visit!
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| Drew, Me, Joe & Joan |
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| Cornhole on the Deck |
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| Joan & Drew Lounging at the Fire Pit |
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| S'more time! |
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| Joey & Drew - Domino Tower Builders |
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| Joey |
Joey must have spent hours like this. Impressively though his back was not lobster red (thanks only to his SPF fanatic wife!)
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| The Dock! |
Noodles, floaties and enough Us Weekly's to last a lifetime... So basically, my personal heaven.
One night we decided to have a slider competition so we all set out to the market, got our ingredients and came up with this...
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| Almanor Slider Taste-Off '12 |
Clockwise from top left: Turkey burgers with brie, carmelized onions & honey (Jen) - Lamb burgers with hummus & eggplant buns (Gluten-Free Joan) - Sloppy Joseph's Beef patty with caramelized onions, cheddar cheese & pickles (Joey) - Beef patty burgers with BBQ sauce caramelized onions (Drew). By the end of the tasting we decided everyone won, even though we all ended up with a serious case of the meat sweats.
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| The Girls: Addie, Joan, Me, Ali & Des |
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| Cool pic of Alison Joining the Lake Crew |
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| Joe & Mike |
And just to wrap up the trip, Joey and I re-visited the spot where he got down on one knee two years earlier to propose, just down the street from the Cabin.
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| Happy One Year Anniversary!!! |
*Sidenote: everyone please notice Joe's shirt... "Bachelor Party in Mexico, What Could Go Wrong?" Classy.
What a vacation! Can't wait to see what next year brings and all of the anniversaries to come!
