Took a drive to and around Lake Tahoe a couple days ago and it was (as usual) incredibly gorgeous! We love to drive to the lake (about 60 miles away) and then drive the 70 miles around.
Emerald Bay
That picture at the top is of Emerald Bay taken on 1/29/09 and as you can see, there is very little snow. It was perhaps 45° that day and the bay was calm and its usual beautiful blue. There are three areas you can stop along the road to view the bay and we stopped at all three. It's one of our favorite stops along the trip around the lake.
The beauty doesn't only include the lake, either. Across the road from the stop along the north side of the bay are some wonderful rock outcroppings and since there was very little snow, the vegetation on the slope showed some wonderful colors that lead right up to that gorgeous blue sky.
Over the years, I have taken many, many pictures of the Emerald Bay area and never get tired of it. Just across the road from Emerald Bay is a trail that I haven't taken yet, but want to when the weather gets warmer so that I can get some pics from a higher vantage point.
West Shore
We continued our drive north along the west shore and got to the point near Tahoe City where the road goes right along the lake. I was able to stop and walk down to the water's edge and get some pictures, one of which is shown below.
There was a little bit of a breeze on the lake, so there were some small whitecaps lapping the shore. But, it wasn't too cold and there was very little snow for January 29!
North Shore
We continued our drive around the lake through Tahoe City on the north shore, then through Incline Village and into Nevada. Along the northeast shore of Lake Tahoe, there is a rest stop that also has some trails around it and some wonderful vantage points for photographs.
I took this picture at that location and with the snow-capped mountains, the reflections into the lake are exquisite! I spent quite a bit of time taking pictures at this location and it was gorgeous!
East Shore and South Shore
We continued south along the east shore of Lake Tahoe and had lunch at one of our favorite places, the Zephyr Cove resort near South Shore. We usually make that a destination when we want to have lunch somewhere around the lake.
After lunch, we drove through the casino area and back into California past the redone downtown area. We found a turnoff that took us closer to the lake and found a beach where we could park and walk out onto the snow/ice of the lake itself. I took this picture looking towards the north shore.
The lake was very low and I could walk out for quite a ways on the snow/ice before I got nervous. Again, the beautiful snow-capped mountains to the north just added to the overall beauty of the place that day.
Home Again
From the south shore of Lake Tahoe, we got back to the beginning of the loop around the lake and made for home. What a great day!
PS Tryout of my new camera
This short day-trip was sort of a "shake-down" for my new pocket camera, the Canon PowerShot SD990 IS Digital Elph. I got it just before Christmas and had used it but hadn't really tried it out as my major-use camera for a day. I love it! For a camera that I can put in my pocket, it takes 14.7 mega pixel crystal-clear images, wide-angle shots, and movies.
I highly recommend any of the Canon cameras and know that if you try one, you won't be disappointed!
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