My husband and I recently celebrated our 5-year wedding anniversary and we decided to knock one of our top travel goals off of our bucket list! On the heels of travel restrictions due to Covid-19, we decided to play things safe and limit our travel to within the U.S.
So, we planned our trip to Lake Tahoe and Yosemite!
We ended up taking this trip in May, which was perfect because we were able to avoid the summer crowds. They call this their “shoulder season,” and I would definitely recommend looking into traveling at this time—just make sure the activities you’re interested in are open for the season when you go!
Sunset at Sand Harbor State Park, Incline Village, NV. (Lake Tahoe)
The Background
Before we got married, Miguel and I created a list of places we’d like to travel to before we had kids. While Yosemite was a top priority for both Miguel and me, admittedly, Lake Tahoe was more of my thing (there’s a reason he calls me his “Uptown Girl,” and it’s not just because we’re Billy Joel fans).
This was our third attempt at taking a trip to Lake Tahoe and Yosemite. I wish I was kidding—but, we had to cancel our trips twice due to fires! We learned our lesson and decided that while the third time is usually the charm, we definitely weren’t going to plan our trip during fire season.
Boy am I glad those trips didn’t work out. This trip we took makes the top of our list as the best trip we’ve taken to date.
And, we paid for the majority of the trip with points!
In terms of points, my goal was to exhaust our Amex Membership Rewards Points and hold on to as many Chase Ultimate Rewards Points as possible. (I decided to save our Chase points for an international trip once things settled down).
The beautiful sunrise in Yosemite
Getting There
Flying from Florida to California is quite a distance, so we decided to knock out both of these destinations in one go. We started our trip by flying into Reno, Nevada, and grabbing a rental car to drive to Lake Tahoe and eventually, Yosemite.
We booked this somewhat last-minute, so I struggled to find any award seats for a good deal via United and Southwest. So, I booked our AA seats through the Chase Travel Portal for only 20,000 points. While it wasn’t first class, I was saving some of our Chase Ultimate Rewards points for a future trip and knew that our hotel experience would all but make up for it!
Our first flight was excruciatingly early. So, during our layover, Miguel and I made a point to stop at the Centurion Lounge and enjoy a free cappuccino and hot breakfast before our next flight.
Once we landed in Reno, we had a pretty cool experience with our rental car. Because I booked the rental with my Amex Platinum and have elite status with Avis, they kindly upgraded our Mazda CX-5 rental to a 2021 Land Rover Discovery for no additional charge! We would have never paid for this rental, so it was a fun way to spend our drives.
Where We Stayed
Looking back on this trip, the hotel that we stayed at in Lake Tahoe is hands-down one of the best parts of our entire trip.
We stayed at the Hyatt Regency Lake Tahoe. Admittedly, I was a little nervous about this hotel because it was on the north side of the lake (and every site online recommends staying in South Lake Tahoe). We also really wanted to stay near the lake, so the Ritz Carlton Lake Tahoe was quickly taken off of our list.
I booked the hotel with American Express points via their travel portal, so I could take advantage of their $100 experience credit through their “Fine Hotels and Resorts Program,” and a room upgrade with my Amex Platinum. We also got free breakfast each morning and several welcome gifts.
Upon arrival, we were quickly upgraded from one of their suites to a lakeside cottage. (!!!!). The view speaks for itself.
The hotel cost us 22,000 points per night for a total of 88,000 Amex Membership Rewards points. Generally, the Lakeside Cottages retail at $999/night or 99,900 points/night.
Note: I think this upgrade generally costs a little bit of money per night. But, the hotel was pretty slow due to Covid-19, and the person at check-in really took a liking to me and Miguel, so she upgraded us for free of charge.
The Experience
In the years leading up to our eventual trip to Lake Tahoe (remember those two attempts?!), I had become all but familiar with Expedia’s Lake Tahoe Travel Guide. I’m not kidding when I say that I probably watched that video at least once a week for 2 years.
So, by the time we made it to Lake Tahoe, we knew exactly what we wanted to do!
1) We rented electric bikes from our hotel and took a 20-minute bike ride to Sand Harbor, where we rented paddleboards.
2) Ate a delicious, but overpriced lunch at Edgewood Tahoe (a ridiculously nice golf course hotel right on the lake).
3) We visited Squaw Valley (now called Palisades Tahoe), home to the 1960’s Winter Olympics. We don’t ski or snowboard (yet), but enjoyed watching the skiers make the most of the dwindling snow on the ground.
4) We hiked the Rubicon Trail in D.L. Bliss State Park. The views here are by far some of the best around the lake. We couldn’t take our eyes off of the snow-topped mountains behind the crystal blue lake!
5) We took a drive around the entire lake and spent time shopping in South Lake Tahoe. It turns out we actually preferred Incline Village as it had much more of a slower pace than SLT.
By saving all of this money on our flights and hotel, we were able to extend our trip and spend a few days in Yosemite. We booked this portion of the trip a little too last minute, so we were stuck with glamping in Curry Village. It was slightly better than camping, but certainly not glamorous! I’ll spare you the pictures of the inside of the tent. 🙂
We didn’t have an opportunity to use points for this portion of the trip, but because our flights and hotel in Lake Tahoe were both paid for with points, we didn’t mind paying cash.
Yosemite was breathtaking, and an experience that we’ll remember for the rest of our lives. While there, we hiked the John Muir Mist Trail and spent the sunset hours watching the climbers on El Capitan. The last night we were there, we watched the sunset over Half Dome, which was incredible!
Points vs. Expenses
We used a combination of Chase Ultimate Rewards and American Express Membership Rewards points to book the majority of this trip. We chose to pay cash for our car rental to avoid losing a large number of our Chase Ultimate Rewards points. By using my Amex Plat for the rental, we scored that awesome upgrade which made paying cash totally worth it.
Hotel (in Lake Tahoe for 4 nights): 88,000 American Express Membership Rewards Points (retail: $3,996)
Hotel/Tent (in Yosemite for 2 nights): $178.12
Flights: 20,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points (retail: $860)
Car Rental: $375 (retail: $1,200)
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Summary
Like I said at the start of this post, our trip to Lake Tahoe and Yosemite goes down as one of the best trips we’ve ever taken. If we had to give you a reason, it’s probably because we were able to experience a new place (and stay in a super luxury, lakeside cottage) that we probably wouldn’t have traveled to had we been stuck paying cash for our trips.
