Other Pictures from Lake Tahoe

This was only our second trip to Lake Tahoe - a world famous place. I've lived in California since I was three, but our first trip was only a few years ago. Why did it take us so long to check it out in the first place since it is in our home state? Well, one reason might be because it's not really easy to get to. We are in SoCal, so it's a bit of a drive, around 270 miles. It's pretty high in the mountains, over 6,000 feet, close to Donner Pass, and we all know what happened there! But it is beautiful, crowded, but beautiful. My husband and I had such a good time the last time we were there, that he insisted we include a stop during our vacation this year since Yosemite isn't really that far away. In our travel atlas, all the roads from the national park to the lake were marked with little circles, meaning it was a scenic road. Well, it is scenic providing you can peek between your fingers. Let me leave it at - we had a most interesting drive over. Once you get there, if the altitude doesn't take your breath away the scenery will.

Our first day at Lake Tahoe, we rode a Duck, which delighted my grandson. (The Ducks are U.S.
Coast Guard Certified WWII amphibious trucks.) We drove from our campsite to Heavenly Village where we met up with the Duck that drove us over to the Tahoe Keys Marina where we entered the lake. The boat ride was pretty short, but long enough for the kids. The captain, a real character, told some interesting, some funny and some historical stories about the lake.

Friday we spent at Kiva Beach which you read (or can read) all about in last week's blog. We rode the Heavenly Gondolas on Saturday. If you want some fantastic views of the lake, be sure to put this 2.4 mile ride on your itinerary. (It's about a 12 minute ride.) Be sure to get off at the observation point before riding to the top.

The weather was perfect in Tahoe, but up there, 9,123 feet high, the wind blew and there was still quite a bit of snow on the ground so we felt chilly. Luckily, they had great hot chocolate (and other drinks to warm you up) for sale at the observation deck.  Walking around at the top was pretty slick. We had to be careful walking around in our Crocs and flip-flops but we did see a few people slip. 

The hiking trails were closed because of the snow but I bet it would have been beautiful. A cool part of being up there is seeing the California/Nevada border like no place else. We spent quite a bit of time looking at the beautiful lodge and watching a lone coyote before riding the gondolas back down to the city. My hubby doesn’t like heights but this gondola kind of hugs the ground so it didn’t bother him like he thought he would. (This is the guy that has a hard time on large ferris wheels.)

Sunday, we planned to check out Vikingsholm but we didn't realize it was so popular and there was absolutely no room to park. So, we took a bike ride to Richardson’s Resort for ice cream, instead. The resort has been around in some form since the early 1920's. It's a fun place to check out but it is not a place for your dog. They do have a nice camp store, though, where I found a nice Lake Tahoe jacket - made in the USA!

Finally, on Monday, after breakfast at the Red Hut, we left early enough that there was still room in the parking lot at Vikingsholm. The walk down to this interesting estate, that still grows grass on the roof, is no problem - walking back, it is steep and can be hot and hard to do if you aren't wearing  comfortable walking shoes. Even though it's not an easy trek, the view of Emerald Bay from this angle is beautiful and the closest you can get to Fannette Island, the only island on the lake.

Lake Tahoe is one beautiful place - a little trecherous to get to from SoCal, but once you arrive, the views make all your troubles disappear. It isn't a real dog friendly place, as far as things you can do with your pet, although you'll see many dogs being walked on the street. If you love trees and lakes, Tahoe is definitely a place to put on your "bucket" list.

Our Latest RV Trip - Part 2

I have been struggling with this for a week! Looks like it's finally going to work. So, here goes...


Our next stop was Lake Tahoe and our first day was not a dog day. Everybody rode the Ducks, so I stayed in the motor home.

But the next day, I thought I heard my name and wondered,

"Am I going somewhere?"

Next thing I knew, we were at Kiva Beach, a dog's paradise. I met big dogs, little dogs, dogs who never barked, fat dogs, skinny dogs, even a lab that let me play with his ball - that was fun. Most of the time, though, I played with the people that brought me.

I found that stick, but everyone else wanted to play with it, too!

After a while, I got tired of the sun, which happens when you always wear a fur coat. Luckily, I found some people who didn't seem to mind sharing their shade.

 

Then again, maybe they never even noticed me!

That was such a fun day, but I spent the rest of the afternoon like this:



That was the highlight of my stay in Lake Tahoe.   ~ Archie

Kiva Beach, one of the few Tahoe beaches where dogs are allowed on the California side is a mile north of Camp Richardson Resort off Highway 89 on the southwest shore. Dogs are allowed only from Tallac Point at the end of Kiva Beach south of the Camp Richardson Resort fence. - Dana

Sorry...

Well, for my birthday, my husband bought me a Tablet (Xoom) with a hot spot - so that’s what I'm now using to hook up to the net.

Any of you who are over 50 can sympathize - every time I get some new technological gadget, it takes me awhile to get the hang of it. Part of my problem this time I’ll blame on communication. The young man who "helped" me seemed to know what he was doing, but when I asked for more of an explanation, I had to reinterpret what he said to make sure I understood. I even took notes but something got lost in part of the process.

Now, Mike knows when I’m trying to learn something new, especially when it comes to technology, to just stay out of the way because there’s going to be a lot of “huffing and puffing” - if you know what I mean. But no matter how hard I tried, I could not get my computer to hook up. When I went back to my cell provider the next day, the young lady who helped me wasn’t as patient as the fellow who was going to get my $. As it turned, out I missed one very important point some where along the line - you have to actually turn on the hot spot in the Tablet.

Since that was my actual birthday day-day, we had some activities planned so it was a few hours before I actually got to try out my new directions and I still had a hard time getting my lap top to hook up to the net. So, I got out my notes from the previous day and the most recent ones and blending both set of instructions, I finally got it to work!

Now, I have to get used to doing things differently than when I just used a BroadBand card. (We don’t have internet service at the house because we are on the road a lot and I didn’t want to pay for two different internet services as I already pay enough $ to my cell provider as it is.) So, yesterday, I thought I’d never get hooked up and when I finally looked to see what the problem was, the message said I needed to make my lap top able to “receive” the hot spot connection - BAM, of course. That little pesky satellite symbol that I usually had to take off when I used my card now has to be on. Today I forgot that I have to turn on the “hot spot” in the Tablet so the lap top can connect. I’m sure I’ll forget something else tomorrow.

As for the Blog, over the last few days, I’ve been trying to do it but the icon that downloads pictures wasn’t working for me. Once I hit it, a big empty square would come up but none of the other parts. So, tried again today and it came up like it’s supposed to but then the smaller square that’s supposed to get the picture I chose in it, just kept having that little orb spinning and spinning and I waited a good 15 minutes. So, I have given up for today.

But, I thought maybe I should let people who’ve been checking in know that I am still trying and, hopefully, I’ll get it all together soon. If you’ve read this far, thank you for listening to me whine.

Pictures from Yosemite

Archie is taking the week off and I have jury duty, so thought I'd just post some of my favorite pictures from Yosemite National Park. Not that I'm a great photographer, but the subjects are just awesome.

As seen from Tunnel View:

Bridalveil Fall:

Lower Yosemite Fall:

Half Dome:

Glacier Point had such a long line, we almost didn't bother, but I'm sure glad we decided to be patient:

I hope these pictures will inspire you to visit our national parks. These parks are a true national treasure that I think sometimes, we fail appreciate how wonderful they are.