Wow! Thanks so much for so many birthday wishes! :)
I'm not one to make a big deal out of my birthday, but I sure have been touched by the comments and emails and Facebook messages.
For the record, I'm 46. Still lots of years to explore our wonderful world, and we did a little more of that today.
We were up early for breakfast at the Tahoma Meadows Cottages.
They serve breakfast buffet style, and we were the first to arrive. Actually, only one other couple joined us while we were there - a couple from Philadelphia. As often happens, they left with our story and an RV-Dreams.com business card. :)
This morning's breakfast consisted of fried potatoes, a Bacon & Tomato Egg & Cheese Bake (wonderful once I picked off the tomatoes), a Bacon, Corn, & Pepper Fritatta, and a German Pfanna Kuchen (a German pancake that was more like a flan).
It was a little fancier than I like, and I'm not usually a big fan of breakfast items with the texture of quiches, fritattas, souffles, and flans. But these dishes were a bit more hearty and less fluffy than I expected, so I enjoyed them. :)
After breakfast, we decided to go ahead and vacate the Tahoma Meadows Cottages and chose a hotel at the Incline Village on the North Shore for tonight. The plan was to be near the picturesque East Shore on Thursday morning.
Again, without a real plan, we headed south along the West Shore. The number of activities around here are quite overwhelming, and having only a day and a half makes for tough choices.
We ended up at the Emerald Bay State Park. The parking lot is right on Hwy 89 tucked between the granite mountains and the lake.
We arrived around 9:30. Once we paid our $7 entry fee, we visited the overlook near the parking area where we had a good view of Emerald Bay and Fannette Island (the only island in Lake Tahoe).
Off to the right, between the highway and the lake, we could see Eagle Falls.
Other than the bay and the falls, the other highlight of the state park is the Vikingsholm "castle" down on the shoreline. It was built in 1929.
We walked the mile-long trail down to the beach, stopping to take pictures along the way.
There is a little museum and visitors center where you can buy tickets to tour Vikingsholm - considered one of the finest examples of Scandinavian architecture in the western hemisphere. Ultimately, we opted out of the tour and just got photos of the exterior.
There is a nice little beach in front of the home and there is a "tea room" built on top of Fannette Island. But there are many more accessible beaches and the island is only accessible by your own boat as there are no tours out there from the park.
We made the one-mile, fairly steep climb back to the parking lot. By the time we got there, the lot was full and people were parking and walking in from everywhere. Looks like we arrived just in time. :)
We continued south up the hill along the granite to Inspiration Point. Inspiration Point overlooks Emerald Bay, and is the spot where every tourist must stop and take photos. :)
That's if you can find a parking place. :) But, if you can, the views are quite beautiful.
This shot shows where we were about a half hour earlier.
Everyone was offering to take photos of each other, so we joined in. :)
Back in the Jeep we continued on around the South Shore after turning on to Hwy 50. It is quite a bit more developed, but not as much as I had expected. I expected a lot more new construction, but it still has the feel of an earlier time.
With at least four state parks around the lake, maybe more, there are still a few thousand acres of preserved landscape. That was nice to see. But the lake is crowded in summer no matter where you go.
We by-passed the South Shore including the casinos just across the Nevada state line. We drove on up the east side of the lake where the highway departs from the shoreline. Eventually, we came to Hwy 28 which goes back to the lake, continues up the East Shore, and across the North Shore until it intersects with Hwy 89 in Tahoe City. The total drive around the lake is 72 miles.
The East Shore is rocky with gorgeous water, but it is not nearly as accessible. This is where you can find a little bit of seclusion if you are up for a pretty good hike.
As we approached Incline Village on the northeast section of the North Shore, Sand Harbor State Park came into view. That's a place where many of the Caribbean-clear water photos are taken and a place I thought we might stop today. But, oh was it crowded! And there was at least a mile of traffic coming from the north waiting to get in. Yikes!
We drove on into Incline Village to look for our hotel for tonight. I figured it would be easy to spot, but we drove right past it. We ended up in a very wealthy neighborhood section.
Linda commented "If you had continued to kill yourself working, we could have had one of these homes." I looked at the expansive estates on the beach and replied "Probably not." :)
As we turned around, we noticed a little boy on the sidewalk selling lemonade. We couldn't resist and pulled up alongside. He was so cute. :)
Now Linda took that picture, so you can't accuse me of just getting a photo of the mom. :)
With our lemonade in hand, we eventually found our hotel. It was only about 1:00, but our room was ready and we checked in. Nothing special, just a room that was about $200 cheaper than the ones at the Hyatt a couple blocks away. :)
Clouds moved in and we got a little rain. We didn't know if our outdoor activities for the day were over or not. But we were hungry, so we drove west over to Jason's Beachside Grille in King's Beach.
The view from our table on the patio would have been pretty good if not for the clouds and the parking lot between us and the lake. :)
Lunch was tasty although a bit overcooked. Still, the prices were reasonable and it was nice to sit outside with a lake view.
We headed back to the hotel for a nap and to wait out the rain. Eventually, we went over to the casino at the Hyatt. They were having a $25 buy-in blackjack tournament, and that seemed like a good way to pass time.
Unfortunately, it was sold out when we got there. And our time at the casino ended up costing us a lot more than $25. Oh well. :)
By the time we left, the clouds had cleared. I'm not sure where I was going, but I drove west on Hwy 28. We crossed back into California through several small communities just taking in the sights.
Eventually, we ended up in Tahoe City where we started our journey around the lake yesterday. We had made the entire loop.
It just so happened that Wednesday nights are when Tahoe City has "free movies on the lake". We found a parking spot and walked through the lakeside park. I took a couple more photos.
We got to the area where they were having the movie and saw the big inflatable movie screen and several people gathering.
What the heck. We didn't know anything about the movie being shown - "Inkheart" - but we grabbed chairs out of the Jeep and joined the locals.
We didn't have plans for dinner, but there were some local eateries selling food. Let's see. We had some Chicken Marsala and I had a slice of pepperoni pizza. Then I got us a couple of ice cream cones for dessert.
Yeah, it's a tough life. :)
While waiting for it to get dark enough for the movie, I took some more photos as the setting sun turned the clouds pink.
We really hadn't come prepared, but at least we had our chairs and our jackets and a couple of beach towels. Linda was already bundling up. :)
The sky was clearing and the half-moon was up.
Soon, as the moon shifted and the stars started to appear, it was dark enough for the movie.
The film wasn't really my cup of tea, but who cares? We were sitting out by the lake on a gorgeous night watching a free movie under the stars while flocks of geese flew in honking their arrival. Another memorable experience. :)
We made it through the movie although we were pretty cold by the end. We walked back through the park looking at the lights dotting the shoreline.
Soon, we were back in our room. A hot shower with incredible water pressure was just the ticket to end a wonderful day.
Ah, it was a great birthday. Not really what I expected when we started out this morning, but that's why we love to wing it. You just never know what might happen. As the movie said in one part "It's not nearly as exciting when you know the end of the story". :)
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