My partner in life, Lou, turned
60 years old on April 9th. I decided the milestone birthday needed a little
more than an average gift. Since he loves the mountains I decided to treat him
to an overnight getaway in South Lake
Tahoe.
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| The main route to South Lake Tahoe, Highway 50, has some winding curves that can scare almost anyone with the sheer drops. |
He chose the activities
which had us riding the gondola up to Heavenly Valley Ski Resort for a relaxing
afternoon of spectacular views.
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| These gondolas travel almost 3000 feet up from the edge of Lake Tahoe to the top of Heavenly Valley. Skiers, snowboarders & sightseers share the same gondolas from South Lake Tahoe. |
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Lake Tahoe is the largest alpine lake in North America. Its depth of 1645 feet is second only to Crater Lake in Oregon. Lake Tahoe is the sixth largest lake in the U.S. by volume behind the five Great Lakes.
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| Shortly before the top of the mountain on the way up, the gondolas make a stop at a circular observation deck that has breathtaking views of the entire lake & surrounding mountains (the lake is not visible from the top). We brought our lunch to eat as we enjoyed the amazing scenery at 9127 feet above sea level. |
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| Lou told me that the views of Lake Tahoe are his third favorite beautiful place in the world after Yosemite & Crater Lake. Whew, looks like I did a good job of picking a good birthday present! |
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| Back on our gondola again for the short ride to the top of the mountain, we arrived at Tamarack Lodge. It is a gorgeous state-of-the-art ski resort in winter & offers many activities for hikers in the summer. |
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| We sat here for a really long time taking in the atmosphere while we enjoyed our $6 cups of hot chocolate. They were refillable so we had way more hot chocolate than we needed to get our money's worth. But, what the hell, you only turn 60 once in your life! |
After checking into our
hotel (I splurged on the Roman Suite with a sunken hot tub!), we headed to the casinos at Stateline, just over the Nevada
border. Even though we aren't gamblers, we enjoyed the $0.99 margaritas & people watching.
Our Giants were playing the Padres in a scoreless game that went into extra innings. The game was on all the casino TVs as we wandered through. We finally saw them win over dinner at the Hard Rock Hotel. For us, that is a perfect evening!
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| Our sunken spa was tons of fun! I added some bath gel while it was filling, then turned on the jets. By the time it was full we had mounds of bubbles everywhere! There was a gas fireplace that put out a ton of heat so the room was pretty much a sauna by the time we turned in. |
The next morning we drove
around the western side of Lake Tahoe which is
more remote & often closed in winter due to snow. Lou had never driven up
that side of the lake & I hadn't done it in at least 30 years.
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| This is the Baldwin Estate, part of the Tallac Historic Site, on the west shore of Lake Tahoe. Everything was closed for the winter but we have plans to go back after Memorial Day. |
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| A beautiful deserted beach which is part of the Tallac Historic Site. |
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| Emerald Bay is a one mile wide & three mile long bay in Lake Tahoe. It is widely considered one of the most scenic spots in the country. |
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| Fannette Island in Emerald Bay is the only island in Lake Tahoe. Wealthy heiress, Lora Knight, built her home, Vikingsholm on the shore of Emerald Bay. She also built a tea house on the island. This is on our after Memorial Day list, too. |
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| Eagle Falls is a cascading waterfall that empties into Emerald Bay. It was hard to see & get photos but we did our best. |
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| Some incredible mountains along the shore of Lake Tahoe. It truly is scenery that defies description. |
