Category Archives: Exploring

Exploring

October 25, 2014 San Juan Capistrano

We left Huntington Beach and drove the short distance inland to Caspers Wilderness Regional Park in San Juan Capistrano. It is hard to find a campground with available space on the weekend, so we settled on this campground for a three night weekend stay. It turned out to be a great campground at a reasonable price with spacious sites where we could hear coyotes howling at night.

On Saturday we drove into town to the Mission San Juan Capstistrano. This mission was founded on All Saints Day, November 1, 1776 by Spanish Catholics. It is a beautiful mission and is the oldest building in California, the site of the oldest ironworks in the state, the oldest winery in the state. In 1812 a massive earthquake destroyed the Great Stone Church and the ruins of the church are visible today. Ruins such as these are usually only seen in Europe and these are the only such ruins in the United States. Because of the Great Stone Church’s decay the walls and ceiling were not rebuilt. Today there is a new chapel and school next door.

A close-up view of the ruins of Mission San Juan Capistrano’s “Great Stone Church,” destroyed by earthquake in 1812

A view of the ruins of Mission San Juan Capistrano’s “Great Stone Church,” destroyed by earthquake in 1812. These bells are located where the bell tower stood.

The two original small bells and copies of the large bells from the destroyed bell tower

Located in the Serra Chapel is its spectacular retablo, a masterpiece of Baroque art, the altarpiece was hand-carved of 396 individual pieces of cherry wood and overlaid in gold leaf in Barcelona and is estimated to be 400 years old. It was originally imported from Barcelona in 1806 for the Los Angeles cathedral but was never used and was installed in the Serra Chapel around 1924. This chapel is still being used today.

The centerpiece of the chapel is its spectacular retablo which serves as the backdrop for the altar

The mission is most famous for the return of the swallows each spring on March 19th, Saint Joseph’s Day. Swallows always return to their nest and they return to the town from March until October when they fly south to Argentina for the winter. Each spring the entire town celebrates the return of the swallows with a parade and celebration. One problem the mission and town are encountering is that during efforts to preserve the mission ruins, some of the swallow nests were destroyed and many swallows stopped coming to Capistrano. The mission has tried various ways to persuade the birds return, including building fake nests, creating mud puddles to provide nesting materials, and throwing ladybug, their favorite food, on the ground to entice them to come back. Nothing has worked. Some swallows do return to the town each spring but are choosing to build their nests in the eaves of downtown buildings, under freeway overpasses and along creek beds. Experts say Southern California is seeing a sharp decline in swallows due to urban sprawl.

In 1939 songwriter Leon Rene wrote a love ballad called “When the Swallows Come Back to Capistrano” which was later recorded by The Ink Spots, Pat Boone, Glenn Miller and Gene Autry.

San Juan Capistrano was a lovely, quaint town and we enjoyed lunch on a balcony overlooking the town after taking a guided tour of the mission. We had a really nice weekend stay in the area.

October 20, 2014 Huntington Beach, California Part 2

1 Reply

While staying at the Bolsa Chica State Beach campground in Huntington Beach, we decided to make the forty minute drive over to Yorba Linda to tour the Richard Nixon Presidential Library, Museum and Birthplace.

The library is located on the former site of the Nixon family nine acre citrus farm and includes the birthplace our 37th president. We were able to tour the house where Nixon was born and lived as a small child.

Nixon was born and lived as a child in this very house on this very location

The library and museum had many exhibits beginning with his birth and childhood to his years as a lawyer and naval officer as well as his early years in politics. There were large exhibits on his years in the White House, including his foreign travels and diplomacy with China and the Middle East, as well as space travel including the moon landing. And yes, there was a large exhibit on Watergate. Other presidential libraries had replicas of the Oval Office and how it was decorated during each presidency, but Nixon chose to have a replica of the Lincoln Sitting Room which is where he enjoyed working and spent a lot of his time.

This is the Lincoln sitting room, Nixon’s favorite place to work on the second floor of the White House

We were also able to climb aboard the Marine helicopter used by Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon and Ford and was the helicopter Nixon boarded when he departed the White House for the last time.

This is the helicopter that Nixon used when he left the White House for the last time

On display was also the armored limousine used during the Nixon presidency. The grave markers for President and Mrs. Nixon are located near his birthplace.

It was very interesting to see the library and museum of this complex man during such a tumultuous time in history.

October 18, 2014 Huntington Beach, California

1 Reply

We left our beautiful campsite in Ventura, California after ten wonderful days overlooking the ocean where we could hear the waves crashing against the rocks and watch surfers riding the waves. We drove south to Bolsa Chica State Beach Park in Huntington Beach. While we could see the ocean, this campground was not nearly as nice as the county park at Ventura. The camping sites were similar to a parking lot with sites very close together. The worst part of this campground was its very close proximity to Highway 1, the Pacific Coast Highway. Traffic noise was constant with only some relief in the early morning hours. We have found that while the beach campgrounds offer beautiful views of the ocean, they are also located close to the Pacific Coast Highway and therefore have traffic noise. The breathtaking views we enjoyed while driving along the coast earlier this year come at a cost to beach campers. We did enjoy a few beautiful sunsets while we were there.

Sunset from the shores of Huntington Beach

While in the area we decided to drive to Long Beach to do some sightseeing. Our first stop was the USS Iowa battleship. It is known as the Battleship of Presidents and is the only battleship on the West Coast. She was the lead ship in her class of battleship and the fourth in the US Navy. She is the last lead ship of any class of the U.S. battleships and was the only ship of her class to have served in the Atlantic Ocean during World War II. During World War II she carried President Franklin D. Roosevelt across the Atlantic to Algeria for an important meeting in 1943 in Tehran with Winston Churchill and Josef Stalin.

President Roosevelt used the USS Iowa in 1943

They installed a bathtub and elevator on the ship to accommodate Roosevelt. In 1944 she was sent to the Pacific Fleet where she shelled beachheads in advance of Allied amphibious landings. She also served during the Korean War and was reactivated in 1984 in response to an expanded Soviet Navy. The Iowa was decommissioned for the last time in 1990 and was moved to her current location in 2012.

This is a 2,000 pound 16 inch shell

The USS Iowa guns shot 16 inch shells with six bag of powder

The USS Iowa guns shot 16 inch shells and six bag of powder

Phalanx system protects the ship with firing 3,000 22 mm rounds per minute

The protected bridge area of the ship is a vault with 16 inch walls

The bridge is enclosed by 16 inch walls

Next we drove seven miles to the RMS Queen Mary where we took a guided tour of the transatlantic ocean liner.

She primarily sailed on the North Atlantic Ocean from 1936 to 1967. She was officially retired in 1967 and has been moored in Long Beach since October 31, 1967. The ship now serves as a tourist attraction with a hotel, museum and restaurants. The ship is on the National Register of Historic Places and is also listed as a part of the Historic Hotels in America. In 2008 the ship was listed by Time Magazine as one of the 10 most haunted places in America. The Queen Mary’s original professionally manned wireless radio room was removed and later an amateur radio room was created and is manned today by volunteers from a local amateur radio club.

Established in 1979, W6RO was the first permanent amateur radio station to be installed aboard a museum ship and is manned most days by volunteers

Bill particularly enjoyed touring this room. We learned during the ship’s tour that legend has it originally the ship was to be named the Queen Victoria but when ship representatives asked King George V if they could name the ship after Britain’s greatest queen, he assumed they were talking about his wife, Queen Mary, and no one had the nerve to tell him otherwise.

The one and only Queen Victoria – SORRY – Queen Mary cruiseliner

It was interesting to hear how the ship had first class sections of the ship that were off limits to non-first class passengers. Each afternoon, while the first class passengers were enjoying high tea, the other passengers were allowed access to one of the ships two swimming pools. Of course each day the water had to be drained and refilled since the first class passengers could never swim in water where other passengers had been swimming!

We enjoyed our time in Long Beach touring these two historic and very different ships.

October 12, 2014 Ventura Beach, California

1 Reply

Hello from beautiful Ventura Beach! We thought we would do a quick blog update to fill you in on what we have been doing since leaving Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Park.

We headed first to Santa Maria, California, a farming community about twelve miles from the ocean. We planned on hanging out there for a few days until the beginning of the Winnebago rally we had signed up to attend. While in Santa Maria we stayed at their nice fairgrounds with full hookup sites. Even though the fairgrounds was right across the street from the Santa Maria High School, it was very quiet and peaceful and we certainly enjoyed our stay there.

Craving the beach, we spent a few days at the state park in Pismo Beach enjoying the ocean views and incredible sunsets.

Next we headed to Paso Robles, in the wine country of central California. We attended a California state Winnebago rally there. We were a bit like fish out of water because everyone else was from California and knew and traveled with each other on a regular basis. We were the strangers from Florida, but everyone was very welcoming and friendly. Each night at dinner we were able to sit at a table with new people so we got to meet a lot of people and learn about their beautiful state. California was having record breaking temperatures while we were there and daytime highs were near 100 each day. The saving grace was it would cool down to the 50’s at night. Even so, we longed to get near the ocean.

Our next stop was Ventura Beach. Bill read where Ventura County had several county parks right on the beach with full hookups. The tricky part was they are first come first serve and you take whatever site is free when you get there. We decided to take a chance since we had a back up plan in case the park was full. As it turned out the first night we had to take a less desirable site but the next morning someone left and we were able to grab a site facing the ocean with full hookups. We fell in love with our site where we could see the ocean all day and go to sleep at time to the sound of the waves crashing on the shore. We loved it here so much we decided to cancel our reservation at an RV park in Malibu and stay in Ventura Beach for ten days instead of the scheduled three.

On Sunday the waves were higher than usual and we watched surfers riding the waves from our front window. Suddenly we saw several dolphins swimming along with the surfers, occasionally jumping high out of the water. It was an amazing sight and it was as if the dolphins were showing the surfers how it really should be done. Every time a dolphin would leap from the water the crowd of people standing nearby would cheer. It was all very exciting but unfortunately it all happened too quickly to grab a camera as the dolphins quickly disappeared from sight and continued on their journey.

The beach here at Ventura is different than any we have been to thus far. There are huge piles of rocks which form a barrier between the water and the land. Normally there are steps at the campground which take you down to the beach. But during high tide the waves crash on the rocks and block access to the beach since the bottom steps are covered with water. Once the water subsides and you can access the beach, the sand is very hard and easy to walk on. You are literally walking on the bottom of the ocean floor. There is no loose sand to walk through to get to the water. We loved it because it made for great beach walking. On Sunday during high tide some campers were standing on the top of the steps fishing and watching the surfers. Suddenly a huge wave came crashing in and splashed water over top of them. It was the first time I had seen the waves that high and it was funny to see the startled looks on their faces. Nobody was hurt but they were drenched and the first thing they all did was check their cell phones to see if they were damaged. That was another one of those times when I wished I had gotten a picture of their startled faces. This is the first beach we have been to that did not have 24 hour beach access, and we did have to plan our beach walks around low tide when the steps and beach were accessible.

We loved, loved, loved our time here at Ventura Beach. We easily could have stayed a month or longer, but they have a 14 day limit and we had reservations at other parks we didn’t want to change. There have been many places in our sixteen months on the road that have been hard to leave, but leaving this beautiful area was downright painful!

September 22, 2014 Sequoia National Park

1 Reply

Also while camping in the park we left Kings Canyon National Park and passed through to Sequoia National Park, the second oldest national park in the country, to see the General Sherman Tree. Named after the Civil War general, it is the world’s largest tree because of its

Sequoia World Records

General Sherman Tree

volume of total wood. It is 275 feet tall, has a trunk weighing 1,385 tons, has a circumference at the ground of nearly 103 feet and is estimated to be 2,200 years old. Its largest branch is almost seven feet in diameter. Every year the General Sherman grows enough new wood to produce a 60 foot tall tree of usual size. The tree is located in the Giant Forest and there was a nice paved trail on the half mile walk to the

Sherman Tree Trail

tree. The trail drops 200 feet down into the forest, making for quite a hike on the way back up. The trail was busy with many foreign tourists who enjoy renting RVs and camping in our national parks, especially after Labor Day.

General Sherman Tree

We stopped by the Visitors Center in Sequoia National Park and saw several great movies, including an excellent one on bears. Each campsite in Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks is equipped with a bear box for food storage and it is the law here that all food be properly stored. Bears have been known to break into cars so signs at parking areas throughout the park warn drivers to be sure all food is hidden or secured if in your car. We learned from the movie that the Grizzly Bear was hunted until they were all eliminated in California. If you look at the California state flag, adopted in 1911 it is a Grizzly Bear. Sadly, we did not see any bears while in either park.

We certainly enjoyed our time in both Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks. Now that our summer goals have all been met, we will head back towards southern California for part of the winter. We are a little sad that our travels to the Pacific Northwest, Northern Cascades, Mount St Helens, Mt Rainier, Mt Shasta, Glacier National Park, Yosemite, Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks is over. It will be very hard to find places in the future to match their beauty! Our travels will slow down for the winter season and our blog posts will be less frequent. But stay tuned. We do have a few surprises coming up!

General Sherman tree is biggest by volume

The tree is eight horses wide

This is a US half dollar

September 20, 2014 Kings Canyon National Park

1 Reply

We left Yosemite and fortunately did not have to travel back on the same curvy mountainous road we arrived on. Instead we took the road through the park which involved driving through four park tunnels which fortunately were high enough for the RV to pass through safely. We had planned on stopping by Mariposa Grove as we exited the south entrance of the park. Mariposa Grove was such a long drive from our campground we decided to wait and visit the grove as we exited the park since it was on the way. Mariposa Grove is the park’s largest stand of 500 giant sequoias. Since it was after Labor Day and not the weekend we felt confident we would have no problem finding a parking place for the RV and car. To our amazement, as we neared the parking areas of Mariposa Grove, all the parking lots were full and rangers were directing traffic to other areas of the park. This meant we would have to somehow find a parking spot for both vehicles and catch a shuttle bus to and from the grove. This was all a bit much for a travel day, so we decided to save the grove for when we come back someday to see the falls in the park in late spring or early summer.

We continued on to Coarsegold, California where we spent one night at a very nice Escapees park. We were warmly welcomed and immediately invited to their Happy Hour which we attended after getting settled into our campsite. We enjoyed meeting and talking with many of the people living and visiting there. We are so glad we became members of Escapees since we have enjoyed their parks, rallies and went to Baja Mexico with a group of Escapees last February. The Coarsegold area had recently been impacted by wildfires and the air was a bit smoky while we were there.

The next day we left early for several days of dry camping at Azalea Campground in Kings Canyon National Park. Once again we had to unhook the car and drive separately as we had a steady climb of 6,000 feet on Kings Highway to reach the campground along a curvy mountainous road. We expected the park to be fairly empty since this park is not as popular as Yosemite and it was after Labor Day. We didn’t have a reservation and we were quite surprised to find the park very crowded with weekend campers. We had to ride around the campground for awhile before finding a spot that would work for us. This is a nice campground but it is challenging to find level spots. We finally settled on a spot that was not as level as we would have liked and we were unable to get satellite tv. The next day was Sunday and the park emptied out and we were able to move to a much nicer site that was level and the satellite tv worked great.

Sunday after changing campsites we decided to spend some time exploring Kings Canyon. Kings Canyon National Park is located in the southern Sierra Nevada mountain range. It includes some of the largest trees in the world, one of the deepest canyons in the United States, and some of the highest mountain peaks in the contiguous United States. We started by watching the movie on the park at the visitors center and then set out for General Grant Grove to see the General Grant Tree, the second largest living tree in the world.

General Grant Tree

It is 267 feet tall, over 3,000 years old and is known as our nation’s Christmas Tree. General Grant Grove is comprised of 154 acres of magnificent sequoias and there are paved walkways where you can stroll the area.

Trees from the Grant Grove parking lot

The through the tree view

Inside the tree that is as big as a large room

General Grant Grove is part of King’s Canyon National Park and was established by Congress in 1890. John Muir first visited KIngs Canyon from Yosemite in 1873 and lobbied to have the area preserved. We are so very fortunate that our forefathers had the wisdom to preserve these beautiful parks so many years ago!

When we first started up the pathway Bill was stung on his hand by a bee. He never saw the bee but only felt the sting. Later, on our way back down to the car I suddenly felt a terrible pain and stinging on my inner arm. I looked down and saw what appeared to be a yellow jacket. I think he must have been on my arm and when I put my arm down to my side he was trapped and stung me. The strange thing was the bee would not let go or stop stinging. As much as I frantically tried to get him off he was fighting to hold on and kept stinging. I finally turned to Bill in desperation and he managed to get the bee off. By this time the pain and stinging was horrible and I stood there amid the sea of tourists in General Grant Grove sobbing. What a sight! Fortunately we had a cooler of cold drinks in the car with several ice packs and I was able to get ice on my arm right away. Even with the ice the stinging pain continued for several hours. Never thought I would encounter killer bees in General Grant Grove! Do you think it is because I am from the south?? This grove was named for Ulysses S. Grant and there is a tree in the grove named Ulysses.

There were many activities to choose from in the park and we debated whether we should next take the 46 mile round trip on Kings Canyon Scenic Byway into the canyon since the road was a curvy mountainous road which dropped 3,000 feet onto the canyon floor. We were so glad we did since the views of the canyon were magnificent. Bill is a wonderful photographer but even he found it difficult to capture the beauty of the canyon on camera. I have no words to adequately describe the wonders of the canyon. The canyon valley floor was carved by glaciers during the Ice Age.

Roaring River, very clear water

Looking into Kings Canyon

Along the way we stopped at Roaring River Falls. We were skeptical whether we would see any running water but decided a little exercise wouldn’t hurt and made the short hike to the falls along a nice paved trail. We were pleasantly surprised to see a rather nice little falls.

Roaring River Falls

We continued driving on the canyon floor until we reached “The Roads End”. Here they had many parking areas and a small building where you could get wilderness permits for overnight hiking trips into the canyon. They had trails, one of which led to Muir’s Rock, Muir talked many times from this rock, the same rock where a picture of John Muir was taken and later used in the film on the park at the visitors center.

Muir rock, where he and others sat and enjoyed the Kings Canyon

We headed back and marveled at the views of the canyon from the opposite direction. It was now late in the day and the sun was reflecting off the canyon walls.

September 18, 2014 Yosemite National Park Part 2

September 16, 2014 Yosemite National Park Part 1

1 Reply

We had two main goals for our summer travels. One was Glacier National Park in Montana and the other was Yosemite National Park in California. Bill in particular had been wanting to visit Yosemite for some time. Just as wildfires in the northern Cascades altered our route to Glacier,

We finally made it to the world famous Yosemite NP

we followed closely and somewhat anxiously the wildfires near Yosemite. A couple weeks before our scheduled arrival, we read news reports that hikers had been evacuated from an area in Yosemite. We checked the latest reports on the Yosemite website and proceeded with our travels. Little did we know the stressful trip to follow.

We decided It was best not to take the route which would have taken us through all the traffic in South Tahoe, especially since the road is hilly and they were having a big bike race on our travel day. We took Highway 88 toward the Nevada/California border. After passing into California we had to cross Carson Pass with an elevation of 8,573 feet. With a grade of 8% for twenty miles, our brakes overheated twice and we had to stop to let them cool. As if that wasn’t enough, we still had to make the climb into Yosemite. We had been warned about New Priest Grade Road to Yosemite from a fellow RV blogger, so when we reached the foot of the mountain we unhooked the car and I drove the car to help minimize the pull on the RV. There was a sign warning drivers to turn off their air conditioning to avoid overheating, and there was a place you could stop and get water for your radiator if needed. We began the steady six mile climb up the steep winding road with a grade of 6% to 7% and a hundred curves some of which were hairpin curves. I am sure the scenery was fabulous, but with constant curves and no guardrails, our hands gripped the steering wheels and our eyes never left the road. When we reached the top we felt both a sense of relief and victory. We had conquered the road from hell!

After driving an additional twenty miles we finally arrived at our campground which was conveniently located five miles from the west entrance to Yosemite National Park. Over seven hours after leaving Carson City, we arrived at our campsite as the sun began to set.

After our stressful travel day, we decided to rest the next day. We did drive the five miles to the visitors center at the entrance to the park to get a map and some information so we could plan our next several days.

Our first day into the park we decided to drive to the Yosemite Valley Visitors Center. At 747,956 acres, Yosemite is huge, and since 94% of the park is protected wilderness, most of it is never seen except by back country hikers. There are some roads you can drive in the park, but it takes quite a bit of driving to get anywhere. The park does offer a free shuttle bus which takes you to various places in the park, but we preferred the flexibility of using our own car which was a luxury since gasoline in the park was $4.79 a gallon. It was a 23 mile drive each way to Yosemite Valley, but the views were well worth it. We were surprised at how much traffic there was even after Labor Day, and we could imagine how crowded it must be in the summer. There were many turnouts to stop and take pictures, including massive cliff faces such as El Capitan and Half Dome, two of the most popular icons in the park. El Capitan is a massive granite monolith that stands 3,593 from base

7,569 FT El Capitan has a 3,000 vertical face

to summit. Half Dome is Yosemite’s most distinctive monument. It was shaped by forces uplifting as well as erosion from rivers and glaciers. While it appears to be a dome that was

Upper Yosemite Falls is dry in SEPT

The Iconic “Half Dome”

broken off to leave a half dome shape, scientists now think the half dome is the original shape.

We stopped at Swinging Bridge to have lunch. We couldn’t figure out why it was called swinging bridge since the bridge didn’t swing, but could only guess that the swinging bridge washed away and was replaced by this more permanent bridge. We tried to have lunch at a nearby picnic area but the bees swarmed over the food to the point we were afraid we would swallow a bee so we had to retreat to the car to finish eating.

Swing Bridge doesn’t swing anymore

Diane in the Yosemite valley

Bill in Yosemite valley

A parked deer

We arrived at the parking area for the Yosemite Valley Visitors Center which was crowded with cars and people. There is actually a half mile walk from the parking lot to Yosemite Village where the visitors center is located. This is truly a busy little village for tourists with the visitors center, gift shops, a nature center, art gallery, museum, theater, Indian Culture exhibit, Wilderness Center, a market, restaurant and post office. We have found that the national parks have excellent movies on the parks, and we watched two outstanding movies on Yosemite Park at the visitors center.

The idea of establishing a national park first began with Yosemite. A man named Galen Clark was disturbed by the logging he witnessed in the park and lobbied to protect Yosemite Valley from development. This led President Lincoln, in the midst of the Civil War, to take time to sign the Yosemite Grant in 1864 to protect the land. Yosemite became the nation’s third National Park in 1890. We have been hearing a lot about naturalist John Muir since we first visited the Redwoods several months ago. Muir had a major influence on enlarging Yosemite, including a three day camping trip in the park with President Theodore Roosevelt. John Muir said of Yosemite, “It is by far the grandest of all the special temples of Nature I was ever permitted to enter”. During their camping trip which included weather so cold they bedded down with forty wool blankets and awoke to five inches of new snow on the already five feet of snow already on the ground, Muir showed Roosevelt the beauty of the park and convinced him of the need for further conservation. Roosevelt signed the Yosemite Recession Bill in 1906 which expanded the park boundaries. During his presidency Theodore Roosevelt signed into existence five national parks, eighteen national monuments, fifty-five national bird sanctuaries and wildlife refuges, and one hundred and fifty national forests. President Roosevelt said, “There can be nothing in the world more beautiful than the Yosemite, the groves of the giant sequoias….our people should see to it that they are preserved for their children and their Children’s children forever, with their majestic beauty all unmarred”.

September 13, 2014 Carson City/Virginia City, Nevada

2 Replies

We certainly enjoyed our time in Carson City. Even though it is the capital city of Nevada, the city itself was quiet, friendly and the traffic was unbelievably light. They had plenty of restaurants, stores, an occasional casino, and we were able to do our Walmart grocery run before we left, but what amazed us was the lack of traffic, even during what would be normal rush hour times. Both the capital building, completed in 1871, and the State Legislature building have beautiful silver colored domes visible throughout the city. The Kit Carson Trail runs throughout the city.

Before arriving in Carson City we spent one day and night in Reno for the purpose of getting some repairs done on the RV. Reno was the closest place in our travels to have an approved repair facility. Bill and I are not gamblers and the lure of the casinos and all that goes with it did not appeal to us, so one night and day was definitely enough in Reno.

On our last day in the area we decided to make the fifteen mile trip over to Virginia City. Just the mention of Carson City and Virginia City took our minds back to one of our favorite childhood TV shows, “Bonanza”. As we neared Virginia City we were surprised at the 15% grade climb to get up to the city. Along the way we saw mining operations since they are still mining for some gold and mostly silver in the area. The mining operations is bringing the mountain down around them.

Comstock Mining harvesting gold and silver

Chollar Mine shaft as seen from town

Virginia City itself was even more touristy than we expected with every gimmick imaginable to get money from the tourists. There were carriage rides, train rides, ghost tours, souvenir shops, fake gunfights and saloons galore. We walked the main street wooden promenade and tried to imagine what life was like in the days of our beloved Bonanza, but it was hard to all imagine with all the tourist attractions. The one attraction advertised that we really wanted to do was ride in a stagecoach with Bill riding shotgun. I had read great reviews of this attraction beforehand. When we arrived we were disappointed to learn it was one of the few attractions closed for the season. Bill had to be content with having a beer in one of the saloons and imagine that Miss Kitty would come along. OOPS! Wrong western!

We managed to grab a geocache before heading back to the car and back to Carson City. One thing we really liked was every few feet along both sides of Main Street they had banners with the names of men and women from the area who have served our country. In one storefront we saw a small memorial to Sept 11. The Comstock Lode definitely had a huge impact on the area. George Hearst, owner of the newspaper and father of William Randolph, became rich from the Comstock Lode. Many people came to this area in search of gold and silver, but we believe many more left disappointed than wealthy.

September 8, 2014 Lake Tahoe, California/Nevada

1 Reply

Carson City, the capital of Nevada, was our home base during our visit to Lake Tahoe. We settled into a small no frills but very comfortable campground. The owner was very nice and accommodating and we knew right off we had made the right decision to stay in Carson City which is about a twenty minute drive from Lake Tahoe.

Lake Tahoe is very pretty and South Tahoe is very much a resort area with casinos, hotels, restaurants, plenty of souvenir shops, and a lot of traffic. We looked hard for a campground that could accommodate the size of our RV and was away from traffic noise. Not being able to find anything that worked for us in Tahoe, we decided on Carson City.

A nice view on the pass from Carson City to South Lake Tahoe

We drove from Carson City to Lake Tahoe twice. The first day we purchased an audio tour to use as we drove the seventy-two mile loop around the lake. It gave us the history of the lake as well as some fascinating stories about some of its inhabitants over the years. Lake Tahoe is basically made up of five distinct sections; South Shore which is the most touristy area, West Shore with private homes, Truckee River & Squaw Valley with its famous ski resort, North Shore with Tahoe City, and East Shore. The traffic in South Tahoe was almost bumper to bumper and since this is off season, we could only imagine how bad it must be during the summer and busy ski season.

Lake Tahoe, named “Big Water” by the Washoe Indians, has enough water to cover the entire state of California with fourteen inches of water. The water in Lake Tahoe is said to be 97% pure, almost the same as distilled water. It is twenty-two miles long and twelve miles wide, with one third of the lake in Nevada and two thirds in California. It is the third deepest lake in North America with an average depth of 989 feet. It is fed by sixty-three streams and two hot springs.

Kayakers enjoying Lake Tahoe

Kayakers enjoying Emerald Bay

Lake Tahoe’s water is very clear

Lake Tahoe sits at an elevation of 6,229 feet in a valley between Sierra Nevada and the Carson Range. The mountains surrounding Lake Tahoe are usually snow capped, but we did not see any snow since we were arriving in late summer. The lakeshore gets an average of 125 inches of snow with the surrounding mountains getting an average of 300-500 inches. The lake is also surrounded by three national forests; the Eldorado, the Humboldt-Tolyabe, and Tahoe. Since 25 percent of the lake is privately owned the lake was never able to become a National Park.

On our second visit to Lake Tahoe we took a narrated boat tour of the lake aboard the MS Dixie II paddlewheel boat.

Having a party on Lake Tahoe

It was a leisurely trip out to Emerald Bay which is one of the most photographed places in the world. Once we reached Emerald Bay

The famous Emerald Bay and Fannette Island

the boat entered the bay and circled around Fannette Island, the only island on Lake Tahoe.

Fannette Island

Fannette Island with Mrs. Knight’s Tea House at the top

Fannette Island

We were also able to get a great view of a castle named Vikingsholm. It was built in 1929 as a summer home, and the owner and her guests would often be rowed over to the Tea House on the island for Sunday tea. The castle is said to be one of the finest examples of Scandinavian architecture in the United States. Today it is maintained by the California State Parks Foundation.

Vikingsholm is now a California State Park

Vikingsholm is located at the head of Emerald Bay in Lake Tahoe, California

We loved seeing the beautiful Ponderosa pines along the lakeshore. Back in the late 1800’s miners were lured to the area with the promise of gold and the discovery of the Comstock Lode (the first major discovery of silver ore in the United States). As a result almost all the pines around the lake were cut down to support the mining industry needs in nearby Virginia City. Most of the Ponderosa pines we see today are second generation plantings.

Castle Rock with highway tunnels

Kayakers enjoying Lake Tahoe

Lake Tahoe is beautiful but it doesn’t begin to compare to the majestic, breathtaking beauty of Crater Lake.

Some Lake Tahoe tidbits:

Lake Tahoe was originally called “Dao w a ga” by the Washoe tribe. First pioneers mispronounced it as “Da ow” and the name was eventually changed to Tahoe because it was deemed easier to say.
Mark Twain loved Lake Tahoe calling it “the fairest picture the whole earth affords”.
The 1960 Winter Olympic games were held in Squaw Valley. It was the first games to be televised and the first time the U.S. won a gold medal in ice hockey.
The Ponderosa house, used in the TV show, “Bonanza”, was moved when the show ended to the area and until recently was open for tours until it was sold.
If Lake Tahoe was drained, it would take 700 years for it to refill naturally.
The evaporated water from Lake Tahoe each day, could supply the daily water needs of the city of Los Angeles for five years.
Tahoe Tessie is a prehistoric fish which legend says lives in the lake.
Jacques Cousteau made a deep water dive in the mid 1970’s and when he came up he refused to share any of his underwater photos. He said, “The world isn’t ready for what was down there”, and never spoke of it again. Some speculate he came across someone in “cement shoes” since the Mafia loved Lake Tahoe, while others guess he saw Tahoe Tessie.
Speaking of the Mafia, the movie “Godfather II” was filmed at Lake Tahoe, as well as “The Bodyguard” with Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston. Also filmed in Tahoe was “City of Angels” with Nicholas Cage and Meg Ryan.

Through the Eyes of the Selphs

Bill and Diane's travel notes and pictures

Category Archives: Exploring

October 25, 2014 San Juan Capistrano

October 20, 2014 Huntington Beach, California Part 2

October 18, 2014 Huntington Beach, California

October 12, 2014 Ventura Beach, California

September 22, 2014 Sequoia National Park

September 20, 2014 Kings Canyon National Park

September 18, 2014 Yosemite National Park Part 2

September 16, 2014 Yosemite National Park Part 1

September 13, 2014 Carson City/Virginia City, Nevada

September 8, 2014 Lake Tahoe, California/Nevada