In Exile at Lake Tahoe

Spence and I recently returned from a lovely week at Lake Tahoe. It was a 'free' week at an RCI resort which we received when we sat through one of those traditional 90 minute sales pitches in Mazatlan, two years ago. (We went there with our whole family, minus Courtney.) When I say 'free' I really mean that it is free except for the $189 reservation fee, but face it...how else would I get a week at a 5* hotel in South Tahoe?

On our way up we stopped in Sacramento for a visit with our friends, the Morikonis (probably spelled that one wrong), and Diane fixed us a superb salmon dinner. We worked together at the lab for many many years, before she got smart and got another job....which ended up with her getting a lovely husband. Bonus for signing on!

The weather in Tahoe was about 80 degrees when we arrived, which held for the next day. But we were so bushed the next day that we did practically NOTHING. I did get up and do my water aerobics in the morning, however.

On Tuesday, we took a lunch cruise on the lake (paid for in advance by promising to attend another 90 minute presentation), which was lovely. The weather was about 72 and the skies were blue, and if I can figure out how to do it, I will post some pictures, Emerald Bay was exquisite.
On Wednesday the temp dropped to the 50's, but it was still gorgeous so we took the day and drove all around the lake, stopping at every Vista and eating Chinese for lunch. We took a couple of short walks at various points...Spence climbed down some rocks to water's edge, but I respected my knee and hip and just stood topside photographing his efforts.

We took enough food with us that I fixed almost all our dinners in the room. One night we decided to splurge, but got downstairs too late....Tahoe closes up at 9. They recommended dinner at a casino, but.....didn't want to do that so we trudged to McDonalds (conveniently just across the parking lot from the hotel.) The next night we went downstairs plenty early and enjoyed a superb dinner at the in-house restaurant. We each ordered different entrees and then discreetly SPLIT them...yum. When the waiter came by and asked if we wanted anything else, I asked for the recipe for the tomato bisque....but he never came back with it. We split a dessert, which the waiter threw in for free, and then enjoyed a 15% discount for beings guests. NOT bad....

On Friday we drove up to Virginia City, which was a cool trip. I love old western towns and Spence loved the Radio Museum we discovered. He spent 1.5 hours just looking and talking to the proprietor. I thoroughly enjoyed sitting and talking to his wife. We had lunch in one of the oldest buildings in town, and then, in a shop, watched a craftsman making a beaver hat (they turn the fur into felt), which was really interesting. We also bought ice cream and homemade candy at the local store. The only disappointment was that we never did see Little Joe, Hoss or Mr. Cartwright. In fact, we couldn't figure out where the Ponderosa could have been. They always talked about going to town (Virginia City), and the Ponderosa was in the pines, but there were no pines within 20-25 miles of Virginia City....that must have been some trip into town.

The trip home was a delight. I talked Spence into traveling via the 395, which is a scenic route almost all the way to Palmdale. The weather had turned yucky over the weekend (started raining on Friday, intermittently), so the first half of our trip was in slight rain, and then snow, as we crossed over the two summits. I have great pics of that and here is one.
As is always the case, it is GOOD to return home....and especially to sleep on my own Select Comfort bed....I never do well in hotels.

So it was farewell to Tahoe and lovely memories...