All the Way Around Lake Tahoe....

Monday morning dawned bright and sunny in South Lake Tahoe for our trip.  Our plan for the day was to ride a gondola at Squaw Valley and to drive the full length around the lake...72 miles! Our chosen driver was Randy...and he did an excellent job of showing us the sights.  

I took some shots showing a few piers as we were leaving town. Lake Tahoe is a freshwater lake that is located in the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range, at an elevation of 6,225 feet. It is partially in California (2/3) and partially in Nevada (1/3). At a depth of 1,645 feet, it is the second deepest lake in the United States (Crater Lake is 1,945 feet). After the five Great Lakes, Tahoe is the sixth largest lake by volume in the US at 122,160,280 acre feet.

 It was formed about two million years ago, with the shape being formed during the Ice Ages.  The Native Americans called it Dao W a ga (meaning Edge of Lake) which was later mispronounced as Da ow, which later became Tahoe.  It is most notably known for the clarity of its water and the view of the surrounding mountains on all sides.

Lake Tahoe is fed by 63 streams and two hot springs.  It has a volume of 39 trilllion gallons of water.  If it was ever drained, it would take around 700 years to fill it again entirely.

On June 30, 1864, President Abraham Lincoln signed a bill granting 39,000 acres of Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Big Tree Grove to the State of California as the first state park in the world.

We stopped at the Lake Tahoe Dam to see how the water flow is controlled.  It was completed in 1913 on the Truckee River.

There are many fish in Lake Tahoe, including Mackinaw, Rainbow Trout, Brown Trout and Kokanee Salmon.

Here are some other facts that I found about Lake Tahoe:

• The sun shines at Lake Tahoe for 75% of the year, or 274 days.
• At lake level, annual snowfall averages 125 inches. At alpine skiing elevations, the snowfall averages 600 inches per year.
• At the surface, Lake Tahoe’s water temperature varies from 41 to 68 degrees F. Below a depth of 600 to 700 ft, the water remains a constant 39 degrees.
• If you were to pour Lake Tahoe out onto an area the size of California, the water would still be 14 inches (36 cm) deep.
• The amount of water in Lake Tahoe (39 trillion gallons) is enough to supply each person in the U.S. with 50 gallons of water per day for 5 years.
• The amount of water that evaporates from the Lake each day (330 million gallons) could supply a city the size of Los Angeles for 5 years.

We continued on with our drive and had planned to stop at Squaw Valley.  In case that sounds familiar to you....the 1960 Winter Olympics were held there. 

They were the first Games to be held in Western United States.  The other firsts that happened with the Squaw Valley Olympics: first games to be televised, first time computers were used to tabulate results, first time a woman took the Olympic oath on behalf of all the athletes, and the first time all athletes were housed under one roof.  Also the first time that the U.S. won the gold in ice hockey (defeating the Russians during the Cold War with a close 3-2 win).

This was part of the Olympic village. Our plan was to ride the Gondola up to the top of the Squaw Valley, but unfortunately the winds were too high that day.  They will not run the gondola's in high winds.  We were disappointed, but just for a little bit.  There are so many things to see and do in this area, so we knew that we could find an alternative activity.  We continued our drive around the lake....

Just a few pictures from driving around this area....

This is Cal Neva Resort Spa Casino, it was once owned by Frank Sinatra from 1960-63, and frequented by his Rat Pack buddies. The 10 story hotel has 219 rooms and a 6,000-square-foot casino, and is also reported that there are underground tunnels to get between the casino and cabins. It straddles both states, but the casino is in on the Nevada side. It is reported that Marilyn Monroe would stay in Cabin 3, and was at Cal Neva the last weekend that she was alive (you can search on YouTube and see the videos of her there). I have read that the casino was being renovated and should be done now.  Continuing on....

We also stopped to visit a friend of Jan's, Nancy---who gave us a tour of Squaw Creek Resort...oh my was it gorgeous!  I didn't take pictures there, but it was amazing! http://www.squawcreek.com/

Then we continued on our drive....

 

We stopped at an overlook area when we were almost back down to South Lake Tahoe!  The beauty of the water and surroundings made us all want to take some pictures....

Not sure who this crazy guy was...but he posed for a picture!!  Just kidding!!  That's Terry looking all cool....

Wow....wow....wow.....

Hey...let me take a picture of you taking a picture of me!! Haha!!

Hi Jan...you're a photo bomber without even realizing it!!!

Oh my wonderful beautifulness....is that a word???  It is in TAHOE!!

I know....but really I couldn't stop taking pictures of the water splashing on the rocks!!

Yes....selfies at Lake Tahoe....why not???

Look at that color!!!  I mean....WOW!!!

The boys....Terry watching Randy taking pictures!! (and no...Terry isn't actually going to the bathroom it just looks that way!!)

The final picture at this site....just amazing and so beautiful!!

I snapped this one as we continued on our way back to the condo!  What an amazing day of driving the 72 miles around Lake Tahoe....a dream come true!!

Join me in the next installment when we take a ride on the Tahoe Queen and go to Emerald Bay to see Vikingsholm....truly awesome!

The final part is a short video taken when we stopped at the lookout point....enjoy....