On Lake {Alpine} Time

So, last year, for my birthday, we took a belated celebratory trip up to Lake Alpine to explore the beautiful scenery.  It is near Bear Valley, which is a popular 'escape' town, up in the Central Sierra Mountains.  I say belated, because we had planned to do this closer to the weekend of my actual birthday, but since we ended up getting rear-ended on the day before, we ran into this unexpected delay.  Anyway, here are the photos from that excursion!

These first few photos were from the Hell's Kitchen Vista Point, where you can walk around and get some amazing views.  This area is really pretty when it's covered in snow also!!

Just trying to get a unique perspective among the scenery...

Obligatory couple "selfie"! =D

Such pretty views!  I actually have a similar shot of this area, but covered in snow, taken back in February 2010.

Practicing my macro skills with this interesting branch formation...

Panorama shot, with Jacques being silly.

Seriously, I could not get enough of this area!

Here's the start of the pictures at Lake Alpine, walking around the area.  This was very serene and peaceful!

Another peaceful shot of the lake in between the trees.

Catching some canoe-ers rowing down the lake!

I liked this view of that log lodged in with the water...

Can you find the pup in this shot?! :)

Jacques & I, one of my absolute favorite photos!

Capturing a fallen tree from a different angle...

Pine cones on the ground... I love how they turned out looking like flowers of some sort!

Just another pretty view of the lake behind the trees & rocks!

Jacques & I, again with a beautiful background.

Like I said earlier, it was a really peaceful scene.

Loving the sky in this one!

... this one too!

Last one of Jacques & I - I promise! ;)

More of the peaceful lake views.

Not sure where that bridge goes, but I liked the view.

We liked the area so much that we ended up coming back about a month later, for an overnight camping trip, although we weren't prepared for how incredibly cold it got at night and ended up coming back early, rather than freezing another night.  But it was still fun!