Mountains, large bodies of water, and windy roads don’t usually go hand in hand with wheelchairs.

But when work offers to send you to Tahoe for a class, you don’t refuse. We were able to stay a few extra days to soak in the scenery and do some exploring.

Our big trip was met with an obstacle as I (LeAnne) came down with the stomach flu the day before we were to leave. Determined to not let a nasty bug stop us from our FIRST ALONE VACATION SINCE OUR HONEYMOON, we survived (but didn’t thrive) our travel day to Tahoe with lots of prayers, fluids, and plain rice from the airport gift shop.

As newbies to Lake Tahoe, we were thrilled to discover that Incline Village was an adorable little town with tasty restaurants and wonderful sunsets.

For the first 3 days, Derek found himself in meetings and I by the pool answering emails and staying up with work. In the evenings, we bopped around with our friend Ryan (Derek’s coworker) enjoying the fresh mountain air.

I also went on a Pinecone Hunt and shipped back some adorably huge (some bigger than my head!) pinecones for winter decor. Derek was embarrassed but I felt it was a very good use of my time. Does he even know how much those pinecones would be at Hobby Lobby?!

5 Things We Learned in Lake Tahoe

We called ahead to Enterprise and let them know that we would like hand controls on our rental car. They added them free of charge!
Driving and eating are always accessible.
Lake Tahoe has a group of dogs called “Geese Patrol” that scare away the geese. We want Barkus to be on the Geese Patrol next summer.
October is the “downtime” of Tahoe. It was nice and quiet but a few of the things we wanted to do were closed due to it not being tourist season.
We need to continue to grease Derek’s wheels. One of them got stuck on his chair and it took us a solid 1.5 hours to “unstick” it!

We quickly learned that just because we are on a vacation doesn’t mean we get to leave the disability at home. Isn’t that just how life goes? Often times we believe we can be free our issues through a trip or avoidance. I learned this week that like it or not, this disability isn’t going anywhere and it is just an extension of our story and who we are. Not something to be escaped but something to be praying over, that God would use this thorn to teach us new lessons and help others.

We had a wonderful time and are very thankful for the opportunity to spend a little 1:1 time together.

Have you ever been to Lake Tahoe? And if so, did you swipe some pinecones too??

With Love,

The Lavenders