Day 32 - 24th May - Lake Tahoe

It was a quiet day today. Just a 150 K's drive from Sacramento to Lake Tahoe. A very pleasant drive it is too.

We started out a bit after 9am, had breakfast and turned up at the first of 3 quilt shops at a bit after 10am. Shops tend to open at 10am here in the USA. 10 to 6 is common with the smaller stores, the biggies always seem to be open. On Sunday when we arrived in Sacramento we went out to dinner around 6pm and saw some stores nearby. Old Navy, Barnes and Noble and Frys Electrical were all open, very convenient.

Around 1pm we were on our way up Highway 50 towards Lake Tahoe. The drive across the Sierra Nevada Mountains is quite a sight with the American River following the road for much of the time and much snow. The road narrows and winds its way through the mountains. Numerous stops at the regular 'cutouts' were required to make the most of the incredible views.

The highest point you reach on Highway 50 is at Echo Point where you are at 7377 feet. The highest point in Australia is at Mount Kosciuszko which is 7310 feet. The last few minutes drive into South Lake Tahoe is a steep decent with the lake in site, very impressive.

You drive into South Lake Tahoe which is in California. It is a skiing community, many hotels, shops, etc. Very touristy! At some point you cross the border into Lake Tahoe which is in Nevada. The first thing you notice is larger hotels and casinos.

Our hotel is the Montbleu Casino and Spa. Scott got it for us for 2 nights at $45 a night. Very nice place. We checked in at a bit after 3:30pm.

We settled into our room and I have to admit to a power nap before at 5pm we headed down to the hotel buffet only to find it is only open Friday and Saturday nights. Bummer.

So it was back up to the room to get the car keys and we then drove 300 metres back down the highway and back into California to do a Carrows for dinner. The service here was second to none, fantastic. Food was great too.

After dinner it was back to our hotel in Nevada, I love this state hoping. We were back into the hotel at 7pm where Rayls watched movies on TV whilst I flaked out.

Tomorrow we check out Lake Tahoe, there is a chance of snow. Wednesday we head for Cedar City.

Photos later.

Day 33- 25th May - Lake Tahoe

We were both affected by the Lake Tahoe altitude today and struggled to make the most of our day. We slept badly and generally struggled through the day. From experience we know to drink lots of water and hopefully after a day or two our bodies will adjust.

We did go out around 9am and headed to a couple of quilt shops for Rayls and generally looked around the Tahoe area. By noon we were back in the hotel room where we rested up. A combination of the altitude and poor night’s sleep made us tired.

Around 3pm we headed out again and this time drove up Highway 207 looking for some views of the lake. Then we came down looking for access to the lake. This was surprisingly hard to do due to the fact that the beaches are privately owned. We ended up going to Zephyr Point where the guard on duty was not there and we were able to drive down to the beach. We had a short walk, we had hoped to walk further but came to a no trespassing sign so our time at the point was short. Probably just as well because the weather was closing in.

We looked around a bit more and at 5:30pm were at Carrows for dinner, we enjoyed our dinner there last night so went back for seconds.

By 7pm we were back in our room, hopefully we will have a better night’s sleep tonight.

Tomorrow we drive 540 miles to Cedar City in Utah. We aim to leave at 7am and have breakfast in Carson City before heading across Highway 50. We will be staying the next few days with our friends Amy and Steve. Poor Amy has probably been a bit wary these past few days as we have a record of arriving early or even unannounced. Not this time, we should arrive around 4pm to 5pm – I just remembered we lose an hour along the way – bummer, make that 5pm to 6pm.

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