Day 2 - Lake Tahoe to Monterey - Part 1

I’m not sure what I expected of Lake Tahoe, but whatever it was, it did not match up to what the place actually is. Lake Tahoe is - to describe it in 1 word - BEAUTIFUL!

Lake Tahoe with snow covered mountains in the background - Beautiful

Things I knew about Lake Tahoe:

1. It’s a lake

2. You get ski resorts nearby (like Heavenly and Squaw Valley)

3. It is in Nevada and California.

What I didn’t know:

1. It is stunning!

2. You get sandy beaches by to the lake

3. You can rent a boat and go fishing in it or just cruise the lake

4. You can travel all around the lake and visit all the cute little shops

5. If Aspen and Las Vegas had a baby, its name would be Lake Tahoe because it has the style and class of Aspen and the fun and party feel of Las Vegas

Sandy "beaches" in Lake Tahoe

We checked out of the hotel and headed to the car. I realized then, for the umpteenth time, that I did not bring a coat or a jacket (what a doofus!), so I had to do what I could to keep warm. Unfortunately it resulted in a many layered and not very stylish look - oh well, at least I was warm-ish.

After making a few photo stops at Lake Tahoe (we didn’t do the drive around the lake this time, but we will definitely go back to do it next time), we decided to make our way to our next stop, Monterey, CA. The mountain pass was quite interesting to say the least. It was very pretty, but the roads were so tiny and dodgy, with huge potholes, that I could not imagine how long it would take people to get to the slopes. (by the way, this dodgy road theme continued throughout California - they really don‘t have the $$$ to fix their roads).

Yay Green!

When we finally left the mountain behind, I felt like a kid on my way through Willie Wonka’s chocolate factory. Everything was so green and there were cows grazing everywhere. There is an advertisement on American TV that says “Happy cows are from California”. Oh my word - that is so true, I swear I could hear Bessie and her friends giggling as their little tails moved/almost wagged with happiness.

Reality check on the green-ness of the landscape: I was told that this is not a year-round occurrence…BOOOOO!!!! Oh well, it made me truly happy to be surrounded by so much green - even if it only lasts for a few months.

Vines...love

The first sighting of a vine sent me into an unexplained feeling of total bliss and belonging. Yay grapes…yay wine…I felt at home. Right then and there I decided that one day…I would like to live in California.