California & Nevada

Re:California & Nevada (ScreamingChicken)

Mon, 26 Nov 2012 08:42:31 GMT

Very nice job, Kirstine! I'm hoping we get some snow around here very soon!

Did you stop for some tri-tip in Virginia City or just get a photo as you drove past?

Re:California & Nevada (kirstine)

Sun, 25 Nov 2012 19:31:02 GMT

Oh trust me, I'm not knocking the scenery in my part of the world, it is stunning and we really do appreciate it! :-) I was just trying to say that the scenery of large mountain ranges and thousands of trees along with the resort towns and large cities that we witnessed in California isn't something we are used to in Northern Ireland. Everything is on a much smaller scale here and ski resorts we definitely don't have the pleasure of due to the tendency for rain the majority of the year and a generally warmer climate. :-)

Re:California & Nevada (ann peeples)

Sat, 24 Nov 2012 19:03:13 GMT

Thanks for taking me to parts of my country I have never seen! My brother traveled to Ireland and thought it was absolutely breath taking!

Re:California & Nevada (BuddyRoadhouse)

Sat, 24 Nov 2012 14:18:39 GMT

kirstine
We don’t have such scenery here and certainly no ski resorts as it just rains all the time. And as for food, there is a lot less choice in NI.

Not much scenery?!? Maybe you're a little too close to the scenery to realize it's there. I'll grant you, we've only traveled the southwest part of your country, approximately from the Ring of Kerry up to the Mullet Peninsula, but speaking as a tourist, you live in one of the most beautiful places on Earth! Furthermore, based on what I've seen in travel documentaries and read in the travel guides, your part of (Northern) Ireland is considered to be one of the most picturesque parts of the whole island. The Giant's Causeway alone is worth a trip up there (next visit).

I'm not knocking California or your experience (very nice report, BTW), I'm just saying you've got it pretty good where you come from scenery-wise.

Buddy

Re:California & Nevada (MetroplexJim)

Sat, 24 Nov 2012 11:50:17 GMT

Great report; thanks!

Re:California & Nevada (pnwchef)

Sat, 24 Nov 2012 09:47:30 GMT

Kirstine, great report, looks like you had a great time.

Re:California & Nevada (CajunKing)

Tue, 20 Nov 2012 17:32:56 GMT

Kirstine

Welcome back stranger!!

Your report looks wonderful, I am glad you had such a god time. I would do Oktoberfest next year. It is a GREAT place to be, Munich and Bavaria are BEAUTIFUL during that time of the year, and the food is good too.

Re:California & Nevada (kirstine)

Sat, 10 Nov 2012 16:11:53 GMT

Thank you for the replies guys and apologies for my delay in replying, it’s been a busy week of conquering jetlag and returning to work.

Yes the marionberry pie was fantastic, really wish it was available here at home!

California I found to be quite a bit different from Northern Ireland, the weather tended to be a bit more varied, the state itself is bigger than the whole of NI and the scenery and the cities really are something else. We don’t have such scenery here and certainly no ski resorts as it just rains all the time. And as for food, there is a lot less choice in NI.

We plan to return again in the future at some stage as we really did fall in love with Tahoe. My other half is into skiing and was really impressed with the resorts in the area so that may be on the agenda! We definitely would take a longer trip there next time as there’s just too much to cram into 10 days. Although next year we’re still deciding whether to go to the east coast or a little trip to Germany for Oktoberfest.

Re:California & Nevada (mr chips)

Mon, 05 Nov 2012 23:58:04 GMT

Great report and great photos. Will be delighted to see more from you

Re:California & Nevada (kland01s)

Mon, 05 Nov 2012 10:02:46 GMT

Thanks for the nice post and photos!

Re:California & Nevada (mayor al)

Mon, 05 Nov 2012 07:22:51 GMT

Kirstine
An excellent report. Thanks for sharing. I am always interested in how international visitors "see" the USA. What cultural difference did you find in the Mountains of CA-NV to compare to your home environment?
If you were to do a second tour to the same area, what would you add or delete from your trip?
Thanks again for a fine journal !
AL

Re:California & Nevada (1bbqboy)

Sun, 04 Nov 2012 22:38:01 GMT

Did you like your marionberry pie?

Re:California & Nevada (mar52)

Sun, 04 Nov 2012 22:13:50 GMT

What a nice trip and report! You should really stick around and do some more of your trips.

I love Virginia City. Fun town!

Beautiful pictures.

Thank you for taking the time to share them with us.

Re:California & Nevada (chefbuba)

Sun, 04 Nov 2012 17:06:01 GMT

Looks like you had a nice trip! I spent a lot of time in and around Tahoe/Reno/Truckee and lived in San Francisco and surrounding areas for several years.
San Francisco is the only thing that I miss about California.

California & Nevada (kirstine)

Sun, 04 Nov 2012 16:20:52 GMT

It feels like forever and a day since I last posted on here, but I thought I’d share a few food and scenery pictures from a recent 10 day trip to California and Nevada. We stayed in the South Lake Tahoe area at Basecamp Hotel (fantastic place, really recommend) and also spent a night in San Francisco. It was a fantastic trip and not one bad meal was had! :-)

The Food
Our first stop for food was at In-N-Out Burger in Placerville, CA on the way to Tahoe, I had heard about In-N-Out Burger and always fancied giving it a try. We both ordered cheeseburgers and were happy campers, the food was very good and freshly prepared. Just a shame we didn’t make it back to order from the not so secret menu!

Now for the rest of the food places in no particular order as I’m still suffering jet lag lol.

Basecamp Pizza- South Lake Tahoe, CA.

http://basecamppizzaco.com/

I ordered the personal size Smoky BBQ chicken pizza, its ingredients were Oven roasted chicken, crisp bacon, red onions, hickory BBQ sauce and smoked gouda cheese.

And my other half wanting something simple went with the personal size Classic Margherita pizza, its ingredients were margherita sauce, chopped garlic, diced roma tomatoes, and fresh mozzarella cheese, finished with a touch of basil.

Both pizzas were fantastic, very flavoursome and well put together. We didn’t have enough room for dessert so just finished our meals with a couple of local ales which were also very good before retiring to the hotel for the night.

The Getaway Café- Meyers, CA.
We decided to try this place as we were struggling to decide where to go for dinner and it had great reviews.

http://getawaytahoe.com/

I had the bourbon BBQ ribs, the picture doesn’t really do this meal justice, but it was excellent.

My other half, Neil had the Buffalo Chicken Sandwich- Battered chicken breast dipped in Frank’s hot sauce and topped with crumbled bleu cheese, bacon, avocado and onion strings.

We were completely stuffed after our mains but had to make room for dessert so we split some marionberry pie;

We loved this place that much we returned another day for lunch.

Neil still not over how good his last chicken sandwich here was ordered another one, this time the Ragin Cajun which was a blackened chicken breast on a French roll with pepper jack cheese, tomatoes and onion strings and citrus honey aioli.

I went with a bacon cheeseburger cooked medium rare with onion rings

We were both completely full but again had to order dessert remembering how good it was last time.

Bread pudding

This was easily the best dessert we’ve had in a long time!

The Bridgetender- Tahoe City, CA

http://tahoebridgetender.com/Site/Welcome.html

This place claims to have the best burgers in Tahoe City, I don’t know how true this claim is but they sure dish out an excellent burger, probably the best I had on the entire trip and perfectly cooked. It was very busy and seemed to have many locals when we visited so I guess that’s a great sign.

Cajun Bacon Cheeseburger

Neil had a pulled pork sandwich and fries, sorry no picture!

Stateline Brewery- South Lake Tahoe, CA

http://www.statelinebrewery.com/

Chipotle Chicken Pizza

Quesadilla

Melon Wheat Beer

Fantastic food and atmosphere in this place, definitely a nice place to have a casual but tasty meal and an excellent microbrew.

The Red Hut Café- South Lake Tahoe, CA.

http://www.redhutcafe.com/

We both went for simple cooked breakfasts and coffee, great breakfasts and a hit with the locals. Just regret not taking the time to try to soda fountain in this place, it looked fab.

IHOP, South Lake Tahoe, CA.
A chain I know, but my other half fancied an omelette and I wanted to try some pumpkin pancakes. No complaints from either of us and the pancakes were perfect.

Sno-Flake Drive-In- South Lake Tahoe, CA.

http://www.yelp.co.uk/men...ve-in-south-lake-tahoe

After a long drive from San Francisco we were shattered and couldn’t be bothered heading out for dinner so we grabbed some beers and got some burgers to go from one of the many burger shacks scattered throughout South Lake Tahoe. Excuse the very poor photograph.

Tahoe Burger- Sauteed mushrooms and onions topped with monterey jack cheese

My other half just had the bacon cheeseburger, forgot to get a picture of this though.

Pumpkin Beer

There were a few visits to chain restaurants as my other half lived in Portland, Oregon for a few months and wanted to try some of the places he and his colleagues used to frequent again.

The Cheesecake Factory- San Francisco & Roseville, CA.

Applebees, South Lake Tahoe, CA
Apple Crisp

Chocolate Meltdown

Can't go wrong with dessert and drinks!

Baja Fresh, South Lake Tahoe, CA

The Scenery etc!

Lake Tahoe

Virginia City, Nevada

Genoa, Nevada

San Francisco, California

Squaw Valley, California

Truckee, California

Reno, Nevada

More pics on my Photobucket account;
http://s39.beta.photobuck...user/Kirstym1/library/