LAKE TAHOE, CALIFORNIA
It’s been nearly six months since my last road trip to Arizona (and to Zion just a week or two before that). My, how time flies! Well, the tavel bug bit us again and this time, taking us within the California borders to the beautiful Lake Tahoe. I have never been to this lake that stretches 22 miles long and 12 miles wide, and I was so glad to have visited, even if only for the weekend.
The Adventure Begins
As I mentioned, our trip was a weekend trip. We left L.A. on Friday morning (oddly enough, no traffic!) and headed up north with a couple of road trip detours in mind. One of them being Red Rock Canyon State Park. This canyon was right off the 14 freeway so the convenience of its location made this place an easy priority to stop by. It is a rather small canyon so we didn’t do much except get a closer look at the various red hues that ran along the canyon’s rigid walls.
Next unexpected stop was Mammoth Lake. I was actually in the middle of a nap when the decision to go to Mammoth Lake occurred, but I’m glad that my boyfriend Joseph made it without my consent. Being on a time crunch, we decided to go on a 5-mile loop trail that led us to the Rainbow Waterfall. The way that the rainbow appeared over the mist of the waterfall was mesmerizing, as if it was dancing just ever so slighty.
It would have been nice to stay a little longer and see what other things Mammoth Lake could offer us, but time was against us and we had to be back on the road. After the long walk, I was ready to hit the hotel shower and head to bed! But right off the freeway was another neat nature feature – Mono Basin Lake. I wish I knew enough about this lake to personally tell you about it, so I’ll just redirect you to Wikipedia.
it was another two hours to our hotel destination in Carson City. I was really sleepy by this point, and I’m pretty sure I took another nap (aren’t I a great companion for road trips?). When we finally got to Carson City, Joseph checks us in to Holiday Inn Express, or so he tried.
Apparently, our hotel reservations wasn’t in Carson City. In fact, it was in another city all together! That other city was another thirty minutes worth of driving. In my tired mind, I couldn’t help but laugh at the situation. And it was a good thing that someone else was driving and not me. On the positive note, our actual hotel was smack dab in the hub of South Lake Tahoe!
Ah, a new and fresh day to continue the weekend trip. We drove around the lake for a bit, seeing the beauty that is Lake Tahoe.
This part of town is called Emerald Bay. This is the only part of the lake that goes off by itself, and happens to be my favorite place out of the whole Lake. We spoke to a random kayak store worker and he said that his store wasn’t the best around. In fact, he told us that we should pretty much just go to the one near Emerald Bay as it has the prettiest views.
And so that’s what we did. The trek to the shores of Emerald Bay wasn’t the easiest to get to. There were parking lot battles and a steep 1 mile hike down (though think of the hike up!) but it was so worth it.
My first time kayaking! Oh, it was so much fun. I wish I could say I was the main rower of our two-person Kayak but the work was all Eagle Scout Joseph’s. Even though I am fairly afraid of lakes because of their ominously dark waters, this lake has such a beautiful dark blue/green water color that it just called to me and made me a little less afraid.
Afterwards we drove through the complete loop of the laaaaarge lake, had some bbq at a not-so-nice-place-even-though-they-had-good-yelp-reviews, and headed out of South Lake Tahoe to our next hotel destination in Rancho Cordova.
On Sunday, we made it home late at night due to a not-so-quick detour to Soda Lake (roughly an hour’s drive from San Louis Obispo). From Google images, I was promised a field of flowers by this dry and salty lake. But that wasn’t the case at all. Still, being able to see a ground of white salt for as far as the eye can see was quite a sight.
If you want to read a more detailed account of our trip to Lake Tahoe, visit my personal and travel blog.