I found my way out of Hawthorne and wound my way to Lake
Tahoe, one of the many things I really wanted to see on this trip. I had never
seen Tahoe before. Taking the advice of friends, I avoided South Lake Tahoe by
winding through the mountains south of the lake. My first glimpses of the lake
were as I was driving north on Highway 89. At that moment Highway 89 was two
narrow lanes with a steep cliff on the uphill side to my left and a major drop
off on the downhill side to my right. There were places where the asphalt had
dropped off the precipice, taking the fog line with it. A sign said to share
the road with bicycles. Better a bicycle than an oncoming car, or worse yet, a
speeding semi!
Lake Tahoe is drop dead gorgeous.
It would be magic,
other than the throngs of tourists who ruin the place. Any place worth seeing
had no parking spaces, there was road construction with delays in 4 separate
places, and… well my list of whines could go on and on.
I did actually get down to the lake at one point. It was a
pebble beach; no one else wanted to be there. But I can say I have put a digit
in Tahoe! (“Toe in Tahoe” would be too corny!)
Don’t let my complaints dissuade you, at any time Tahoe is
worth the visit, but if you pick your time better than I did, it really could
be magical.
From Tahoe I went to Carson City. A small city like many
other small cities; for some reason this picture captures the feeling I got
better that any other I took.
I pressed on. Zak warned me that Virginia City was tourist
kitsch, but I had time to kill so I went anyway. He didn’t lie.
What he neglected to mention was that the trip to (Silver
City and Gold Hill) and the trip from (views of Reno) made it worth all the
tourist traps.
And to make the day great, a visit with Zak and Whittney and
the bunnies!
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