By the time we got to the free continental breakfast, most of it was cleared out. We hit the McDonald's down the street and boy do I have news for you. Somehow, someway, the other day I was thinking about McDonald's breakfast on a boring part of our drive and how awesome it would be to actually put a hashbrown in your egg mcmuffin. Well, let me tell you...I did it today and it was glorious. Seriously. Stop reading and go to McDonalds and do this!
Anyway- the drive from Napa to Lake Tahoe was quite nice at points (first picture) but rather uneventful until we climbed to about 7000 ft and saw the view from the top (second picture)
Lake Tahoe is the largest alpine lake in the world and the second deepest in the US, with the deepest point being 1645 ft. Its average depth is 980 feet! It contains enough water to cover California at a depth of 14.5 inches. Tahoe is home to a number of ski resorts and of course is a fantastic summer play place for water sports and outdoor activities. While Tahoe gets quite cold and snowy in the winter, the lake actually never freezes, because its so deep, there is enough water movement to prevent freezing. Conversely, because its so deep, it doesn't get too warm either. The water in Lake Tahoe is so clear, at some points visibility is to a depth of 67 ft. Pretty amazing.
We stopped at numerous view points overlooking Lake Tahoe, here's a sample of some of the views...
Lake Tahoe's Emerald Bay
Settlement of Tahoe started growing in the early 1900's with homes like the Vikingsholm Castle, home to the Knight Family. Mrs. Knight was a pretty high-end lady, and actually had a small teahouse built on the only island in Lake Tahoe just a short boat trip across from their castle.
You can see the teahouse on top of the island in the picture below. Also note the floatplane in the foreground...what a shot! The colour of the water here earned this area its Emerald Bay name.
The Vikingsholm Castle- some say, the best example of Scandanavian Architecture in the US.
We decided to stretch our legs and went on a nice hike down about 600 ft to the shores of the Lake to look at the Castle, which was closed for tours unfortunately. There were some trails, a great beach an a nice river/waterfall to look at though .The hike back up was not nearly as enjoyable as the one on the way down!
Viewpoint from the start of the hike
Me at the shore, representin' the Pack.
A little more history on Tahoe
When the 1960 Winter Olympics were held in Squaw Valley, public appreciation for the Lake Tahoe area grew and the population exploded over the next 20 years from 10,000 to 90,000. It has remained relatively flat since 1980 due to land use controls.
Lake Tahoe is surrounded by beautiful mansions ranging from those built in the early 1900's to estates like Fleur-de-Lac (recently demolished for condos...damned developers) that was home to the Coreleone family in 1973's Godfather II.
We drove around the west side of the Lake and saw a number of a massive mansions under construction as well as beautiful homes on the hills overlooking the Lake. What a place to live!
When we reached Tahoe City, at the northwest end of the Lake, we stopped to grab a late lunch and went for a short walk in town, which was OK, but not nearly what we'd expected considering the clientele in the area. Again, great views though!
On to Reno we go!!
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