This past weekend, JP took me on a surprise trip to a beautiful mountain lake. After a two-hour drive on a super rough, winding road, we arrived at our destination lake at midnight Friday night. Under a full moon, we paddled by canoe to find an island to call home for the weekend.

Skimming across the glassy water, I tried to make out the surroundings, but the reflections on the lake made it difficult to distinguish where the water ended and the mountains began.

Saturday morning, I awoke to find myself in one of the most breathtakingly beautiful places imaginable.

After breakfast, we paddled over to the East shore of the lake to set out on a “run” which turned into a hike with no trails or map.

It was fun and challenging, until my greatest fears were combined – fear of heights, and fear of drowning, as our route took us down a creek which contained many series of waterfalls. I fell behind and got lost, finding myself in a creek with steep walls on either side, not sure how to get out. I blew my whistle frantically for about 15 minutes until he came back for me, and after about a 20 minute temper tantrum, I calmed down and was able to enjoy the rest of the hike, and didn’t even freak out when we found ourselves in further precarious situations.

After the 5 hour, 6.5 mile “run” turned “hike”, we went swimming, took a nap, and chilled out.

JP made us a delicious dinner of salmon and various salads, which we ate on my favorite rocks next to the only grass on the island.

After dinner, we went for a paddle around the entire lake, checking out the shoreline and meeting some of the other campers.

JP did the dishes and we settled down to watch the sunset.   That evening, thunder, lightning, and rain kept me up for most of the night, terrified. I was convinced the lightning was going to strike the metal pole in our tent. We survived though, and after another morning paddle around the lake, we packed up our things and headed back to Truckee. It was the perfect vacation spot, and I can’t wait to go back and bring my kids next time.