Upon arrival in Truckee, after the short drive from Reno where our flight landed, we began our summer vacation by visiting the first souvenir shop the kids saw.

While my kids’ agenda was to immediately spend their $20 souvenir stipends, my wife was more concerned with finding a hat to cover our fair-skinned 3 year-old daughter from the California sun in Lake Tahoe.

My daughter wasn’t quite sold on the simple and practical sunhat my wife found. Instead, my daughter was lured by the irresistibly trendy Bigtruck trucker’s hat with a yellow flower on it.

She still had a leftover gift card from her birthday back in April; to extend beyond her souvenir budget.

It turns out she loved this “flower hat” so much, that she chose to deplete the rest of her gift card money on it!

I will admit: I’m glad she did.

What an awesome hat for a cute little girl spending a week of summer vacation in the Lake Tahoe area.

She totally rocked that hat and she knew it.

Of all coincidences, by the end of our week-long vacation, we just happened to stop for lunch at a deli right across the street from the Bigtruck Factory Store and Custom Hat Bar there in Truckee!

After lunch, my wife stayed in the truck with our daughter who quickly fell asleep for her afternoon nap.

Meanwhile, my son and I invited ourselves in for a tour; where we met Triston Sceirine, the company’s Production Manager, who was happy to show us around the place.

We had a great time checking out how they make the hats, and even learned they have a “hat bar” where customers can customize their own hats.

I have a feeling the next time our family is in Truckee again, we’ll be heading back there to make some cool hats!

And thanks to my daughter’s hat choice, we have brought a piece of Truckee back to Nashville, Tennessee.