The Birthday Trifecta

Today is Melissa’s birthday. She’ll never announce it and she’ll never ask for recognition. But that’s part of what makes her perfect. She can be beautiful, brilliant, and beloved without ever seeking praise. The world would be more gentle, more patient, and more thoughtful if we could all see it through her eyes.

To celebrate the occasion, we completed the last two parts of the Lake Tahoe trifecta. The first part of experiencing the lake is to drive the full perimeter, giving you every angle and view of the lake that exists from two states, a drive that takes about 3-4 hours and that we had already done twice, both directions, several days earlier. The second was to go up high, to see the lake from above, either by helicopter or hot air balloon or some other means, to take in the full scope of the lake at once, so we took a gondola ride up to 10,776 feet, to a point where someone told us there were mountain lion cubs somewhere nearby, if we were willing to walk just far enough. The third and final element of the trifecta was to actually go out onto the lake itself, to swim it, to kayak or canoe it, so we took a sunset cruise into Emerald Bay and rode at the front of the boat, which offered the perfect silhouette of the birthday girl (above).