20.4.2012 – 20.4.2012  17 °C

I had an early start this morning as I had told myself I was getting up to see the sunrise over Lake Tahoe.. I did get up and was super enthused by the photo-ability so went back to bed for another half an hour until the colours had improved over the lake.

After brekky we checked out and started our leisurely drive along the western side of Lake Tahoe. First stop was into Tahoe City (which sounds more impressive than it is… maybe a two horse town!) for more photos of the lake and to read about some of the history of the area. The railroad was first put thru to LT in the late 1800s to open up the lake for tourism. The first visitors were the well-to-do from San Fran who came up in the summer to go boating on the lake. Winter wasn’t too popular in the early days, and it wasn’t until the winter Olympics in the 60s that Tahoe really opened up to winter visitors.

In keeping with our skiing theme, we drove up to Squaw Valley (home of the 60 Olympics) to check out the facilities.. Quite nice, would be my estimation.. not Whistler nice but still a great ski resort.. Squaw even has a public hot tub up on the summit!!!! Considering the beauty of LT I would definitely return here for a ski in the winter season. NB According to the locals at dinner last night, the best time to ski at Squaw is end of March early April!! Cheaper, no crowds and great skiing!

Our drive down the lakeside continued, passed all of the million dollar acres (there are some pretty nice homes on the lake shore) and down to this awesome look-out point at Emerald Bay.. Gosh the lake is a beautiful place to photograph. It would have to be one of the more scenic places I’ve ever seen!

Our drive concluded in South Tahoe on the Nevada/ California border…. What a dump this part of Tahoe is!!!! The other main ski resort is at this end and it and the town are CRAP compared to the northern side.. Anyone reading this who hasn’t been to Tahoe and is considering it.. avoid the southern side and just stick to the western and northern shores.. much more beautiful! The dagginess is epitomised by the tacky casinos that grace the lake front on the Nevada side….

We ended our day early in the daggiest town ever with a plan for another full day’s driving tomorrow down the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada’s to Death Valley.

Song of the Day– All Saints, Pure Shores