Day 20, woke up in Tahoe, what a beautiful place. We decided to drive around the lake, Maps dont show you elevation !!! We set off clockwise heading for North beach and Incline Valley. The drive was proper scary at times, literally sheer drops at the edge of the road, many a time I felt myself tensing up, our hire car had plenty of airbags but it was a parachute I wanted. On the way to Emerald bay the road, two lanes, no pavement, honestly had a drop each side, we were driving across the absolute top of one of the mountains. A ball tingling experience. We pulled over at a vista overlooking the bay. Absolutely stunning. Like Ive said before, pictures just dont do it justice. I noticed the road opposite the bay, the way we were headed, it was perched on the edge, really looking forward to that ! Walking back to the car we noticed another chipmunk, his cheeks were stuffed. All sorts of beautiful birds, lizards and plants that I do not know the name of. Our drive became even more elevated, winding up and down between the beautiful pine forests, cliffs, creeks and lake. The houses here are something else, a cross between log cabins and Swiss style chalets. Occasionally a gated driveway led to a huge designer property, it was good how everything seemed to be designed to fit the landscape. Nothing stuck out like a sore thumb. As we came back down towards the same level as the lake, properties had their own jetties, many had their own boathouses as well. It was really odd to see jet skis parked up alongside snowmobiles, as well as a beautiful summer resort, during winter Tahoe is a skier and snowboarders heaven. The nice guy at reception told us that Tahoe is a very popular resort from people all over the States, a real playground. South beach seems to be the Downtown party area, North beach is the Mayfair end. We pulled up in Tahoe City to buy food for lunch, loads of shops and supermarkets to cater for your every need. North beach was beautiful, we didnt stop long as time was catching up, we had planned a day at the beach, chilling, swimming and sunbathing but the temperature had dropped slightly and the smoke from the forest fires had cast a smokey shadow over the lake. We got to incline valley, this is where Ponderosa ranch from the series Bonanza was filmed, we found the place but everything was fenced off. We were one on the Nevada side of the lake, we parked up at another Vista and walked down, climbed down to the rocks below for a picnic. Again, this place was absolutely stunning, no stones or sand just huge polished boulders. We cracked on, I didnt fancy driving the roads in the dark, I stuck to the various speed limits 25/55mph, but took the advice of the yellow signs that suggested a max speed for bends & hairpins. Some of these roads are literally on the edge, a queue had built up behind me lol, sorry for the tailbacks, it seemed the speed limits didnt apply to the natives. A guy behind me started flashing his lights at me, my first thought was to tell him what I thought, my second was to pull over at the next available opportunity and let him pass. Theres no overtaking, simple as that. After a half mile or so I pulled over and he thanked me with a smile and a wave, bloody tourists. Talking of roads, over here they have a lot of suicide lanes, basically its a centre lane that both right and left lanes can use to make a right or left turn rather than holding up everything. Not seen it happen but been told on many an occasion vehicles heading in opposite directions do meet. The freeways here also have a Pool lane, in places youll have 4 or 5 lanes and the outside lane (pool) will be for vehicles that have at least two occupants, most of the time these lanes are empty, everybody seems to like their own space. Digressing a bit, back to Tahoe, The trip around the lake was great, it seemed really odd to have beaches so far inland. We got back to our Motel and chilled, went out for a walk, stopped off at a Starbucks for coffee and bumped into a family of RACOONS, loved it, I appreciate theyre seen as vermin here but this is their home! I love Racoons, lol theyve got so much character. We watched them for ages. Loads of shops, malls and restaurants on the main drag. We dawdled back to our room and struggled to sleep, such an eventful day and so much to take in plus RACOONS LOL. Long day tomorrow, Virginia City and then a long drive to San Francisco. Much love and hugs to Ozzy and Christie on the birth of there beautiful baby boy xxx
Posted on: Wed, 24 Sep 2014 05:07:04 +0000
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