Rolling Along With The Reynolds

Jim and Cindy's Adventure Blog traveling all over the USA

Tag: Lake Tahoe

Lake Tahoe – NV and CA 

 

 

Traveled from Reno down to the southern end and went around the rim counter-clockwise. First up, a very majestic view was upon us via the Heavenly Mountain Gondola ride.  The Gondola travels 2.4 miles up the mountain up to 9,123 feet to a spectacular Observation Deck. From here, we opted to hike Martin’s Trail which was a surprising highlight. I wish this blog could feature a ‘Smell-O-Rama’ button, because the air was crystal clean and smelled so good due to the Jeffrey and Ponderosa pines. Up at the very top is the Tamarack Lodge, a cool mountain roller coaster, and zip lines; quite busy in the summer even though it’s first and foremost a ski village.  Fun photo spot: the Nevada/California state line sign.
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Moving onwards from South Tahoe, we intended to stop off at Emerald State Park, specifically to hike to the Vikingsholm Castle, but the parking lot was full with many cars ahead of us waiting for a spot to open up. Disappointed, we traveled on to D.L.Bliss State Park and took the Rubicon Trail down to the Cowlee Bay Beach. The colors of the alpine waters is beautiful and rivals the hues of the Caribbean. We stayed here on the beach for a while, dipping our feet into the chilly water, and playing on the rocks. A group of college guys were having fun just down from the beach on a large outcropping of rocks, hilariously clapping their hands and barking like seals at the moored sailboats nearby.
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We then continued our counter-clockwise rim drive and drove through the charming towns, all each unique in their own way. Finally, at the top of the circle in Incline Village, we took Hwy 431 through the beautiful Humboldt-Toiyabe Forest, briefly stopping at Mt. Rose to soak in one final and magnificent view of Lake Tahoe.  Funny moment: on our final turnout stop, we spotted our hubcap rolling off in front of the car. That’s twice now that it has fallen off and twice now that we saw it in time to recover it! It must have nine lives. LOL.
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Lake Tahoe Profile

Imagine how much water a lake this size and depth can hold. It’s capacity is rivaled in the U.S. only by the Great Lakes. There is enough water in Lake Tahoe to supply everyone in the U.S. with 50 gallons of water per day for 5 years!
Color can tell you a lot about a lake. Lake Tahoe is one of the purest large lakes in the U.S. – the primary reason for its iconic blue tint. Pure water absorbs light with longer wavelengths, such as red and green, while shorter wave-length violet and blue light gets scattered and reflected back to our eyes. 
If you were to empty Lake Tahoe, its 40 trillion gallons could fill a kiddie pool the size of California!
Lake Depth: almost 1/3 mile deep at 1,645 feet deep!
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Reno, NV 

 

 

The Biggest Little City in the World. 
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Reno, NV: gateway to Lake Tahoe. We stayed in Reno for three nights, mainly to see Lake Tahoe, which we weren’t sure we were actually going to make it there due to wildfires. Yet we did! Lake Tahoe itself was a full day trip and will be discussed on next post. This post I’ll share all about the town of Reno itself.
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We arrived in Reno in early afternoon, in time to do a little scouting before the sun went down. Still on Pacific Time, but moving eastward we’ve noticed the sunsets are arriving earlier in the day and that is a bummer. We’ve gotten used to having a long day of daylight and the many opportunities to stay out and about before dinner. We jumped in the car after setting up camp at the Shamrock RV Park (a nice campground that we’d visit again. In fact, there’s been very few campgrounds that we’ve given the thumbs down to, or at least say we’d pick another place). Headed straight for downtown and took a nice stroll on the Reno Riverwalk. Similar to Columbus boasting the Chattahoochee River, the Truckee River meanders through town, with Class 2, 3, and even 4 rapids in certain areas. Smack downtown, the river calms a bit and welcomes kayakers and swimmers. I walked in the water myself up to my knees to cool off a bit which did the trick; the water was cool and refreshing, clean too.  There are several art installations form previous Burning Man events that have made their permanent home here on the river bank. A welcome sight to see the “BELEIVE” sculpture here, which helped take the sting out of being soooooo close to Burning Man happening in a few weeks. We visited the Black Rock Desert Playa back in 2013 – hopefully next year we can make it back “home”, which would also be a 10 year reunion. Remembering our poses with the sculpture back on the Playa, we had fun re-creating them.     
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Casinos aren’t much of an excitement for either of us, but of course one mustn’t miss visiting several while in town. We found the iconic “Biggest Little City in the World” sign, and strolled into the Casino strip that is Circus Circus, The Silver Gate, and the El Dorado. Although casinos are known for cheap steak dinners, neither of these three offered ‘cheap’ meals, so we decided to find an alternative Mom and Pop restaurant. By chance, we managed to find “The Original Mel’s Diner” located in the historic Sands Hotel/Casino. Fun place! We were transported back in time to the days of tail-fin cars, drive-ins, and actual jukeboxes. Sitting down at the table, we had to play a tune or two. In honor of the recently announced theme of “Disco Daze” for the upcoming Hulaween Fest, we chose appropriate 70’s disco. Jim enjoyed Steak and eggs.
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The next day we spent the entire day at Lake Tahoe (next Blog post).
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Following that, our final day in Reno was back visiting downtown. Because of Reno’s close proximity to Burning Man there is a plethora of vintage clothing stores where one can find cool and kooky outfits for the desert. I had to swing by a few; thank you “The Melting Pot Emporium” – I found a few items, namely some disco-themed apparel for Hulaween.
Afterwards, it was Jim’s turn to choose an attraction. We visited the National Automobile Museum. Our history museum opened in 1989, it was reported to have set the standard for automobile museums around the world. Since then, it has received many accolades and today it is recognized as one of 10 Best Automobile Museums in the U.S.
The idea for this Museum developed following the death Bill Harrah and the museum still exists today thanks to a persuasive public and the generosity of many.
Bill Harrah was a prominent gaming pioneer who founded Harrah’s Hotels and Casinos and the former Harrah’s Automobile Collection. He assembled the largest and most historically significant collection in the world that reached approximately 1,400 vehicles. His legacy lives on at the National Automobile Museum (The Harrah Collection).

Enjoyed lunch on this day at another local establishment (The Thai Corner Cafe), it was delicious.