Lake Tahoe is another place that had been on my list for a while. I don’t think I appreciated how close it is to the Bay Area – hm, if I lived in the area I could get to a ski area pretty easily. My inn was on the north shore of the lake, on the California side, and the next day I circumnavigated the lake! It’s about 72 miles around, with beautiful views from many vista points, though many of them are summer-only. I stopped at a couple of parks, including one with an old Swiss chalet on its own little island in a pocket of the lake. I stopped at Heavenly, a ski resort on the south side. The top of the gondola there was also in a cloud, but this time I didn’t go up; I just walked around the shopping area.
You can tell where the Nevada border is – there are casinos right across the line. South Lake Tahoe seemed unattractive, with large tourist hotels, chain restaurants and no real charm. Onward! Somehow the undeveloped Nevada side seemed different too – maybe there were more parks and open space on the California side? I raced (at the speed limit, that is) on up the Nevada side, whereas I had meandered down the California side.
With fewer stops than I expected, I had time to go over the mountains and down into Carson City, Nevada – and see another State Capitol! There I took a self-guided tour; it hadn’t occurred to me before then that the Silver State is right next to the Golden State. Carson City is an Old West town, with long blocks and low buildings – and more casinos. A quiet town, too. The state line on the north side of the lake was more interesting – only a few hotel/casinos, and they looked to be of Frank Sinatra vintage (in fact, I think one of them may have been owned by him). Kind of a Palm-Springs-in-the-Pine-Trees vibe. One hotel, the CalNeva. straddled the border – the casino was on the Nevada side of the building and the rest of the facilities were on the California side. Pretty cool! I put a quarter in a slot machine, but didn’t win enough to offset any trip expenses. I thought about cross-country skiing, but didn’t really have the right clothes for it. With my side trip, the total for the day was 110 miles.
That night it snowed – it seemed charming and picturesque– and by the next day about eight inches were on the ground. Great if you are in a ski area and can get to the slopes. Not so good if you don’t have chains (you need them on both sides of Lake Tahoe). Not only that, but I realized that when you rent a car in Southern California, they don’t put a snow brush in the car! Who needs one in Southern California? Fortunately, the inn manager lent me his – which was fine in Lake Tahoe, but how likely was it that I wouldn’t encounter snow for the rest of the trip?
I had a couple of days of leeway in my schedule, but I did have a plan to stay in a ranch in Nevada that night – I had to call them and tell them I wasn’t coming. And then I spent the day inside my room, catching up on email and researching the next legs of the trip. Nothing else I could do about it! Zero miles. What made the travel in Thailand and Indonesia work was that about once a week I took a day to catch up and plan ahead. I did a lot of planning at Martha’s, but I hadn’t scheduled more planning days. This was an enforced one! I also worked on a Morocco slide show to show along the route, and I read some of Annals of the Former World. Good thing I had those new boots – I went for a little walk in the fresh, deep snow – it gave the lake a sapphire-blue color. I went to a laundromat and washed a small load. I even had another job interview! Kind of. Anyway, the sky cleared, and at night I was treated to the sight of the full moon over the lake.
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