| We met up with friends at Incline Village, Lake Tahoe and stayed
a few nights in a timeshare which gave us a break from trailer life. We also
got a break from driving since they drove us around. We started exploring
the area by going west
to Truckee in California. As with many towns around Lake Tahoe it is now
primarily there for the tourists, but it is in fact quite old. It is close
to the Donner Pass, the site of one of the more tragic frontier episodes
when pioneers were trapped by snow in the high pass and most died. |  |
 | Art is widely sold
since this is a playground of the wealthy. Some of the glassware was quite
attractive but with prices to match. Jan rather liked this one. |
| Close by is Squaw Valley, a ski resort with a village built for a
recent winter Olympics. Every mountain has a ski lift to the top and then
ski runs down. It is also autumn and the nights are dropping below freezing.
Cue the colour change in the aspens which makes for some attractive scenery. |  |
 | The buildings look
quite alpine in their styling. This was the calm before the storm. The ski
lifts were closed for maintenance but in a month's time this place will be
bustling. |
| Such places always attract art and there were several animal
sculptures made from metal scraps. This elk was one of the better ones. |  |
 | Lake Tahoe gets lots
of snow so the roofs are designed to handle the snowfall, which can
result in some futuristic looking buildings. |
| But the roads all lead back to the lake which is the deepest
freshwater lake in the US. It also never freezes, because it is so deep, so
we found it surprising
that the overnight air temperature was falling below zero. |  |
 | Driving down the
eastern edge of the lake does have some beautiful views from the road as it
clings to the edge. |
| The lake is large enough (80 miles circumference) that as the sun
sets you can get some spectacular sunsets, but not with this much cloud. |  |
 | Climbing up the Mount
Rose Highway above Incline Village gives spectacular views over the lake.
The village is well hidden in the trees. This road leads over the mountains
to Reno, reaching almost 9000ft on the way. |
| Another view of the Lake as the sun gets lower. This shot was
taken a few days later. |  |
 | So that the
snow ploughs know where the edge of the road is, they mark the edge with snow
poles. Mostly they are a few feet high, but this road has many at twelve
feet and the tallest ones are an amazing EIGHTEEN feet. |
| In the car park at the top we found this huge truck which was
extremely well loved and polished by its owner. We wondered what it carried
and why it was up at 9000 ft. |  |
 | The answer was this
little Honda piloted by some Japanese engineers who were testing its
performance at altitude. The FCX stands for Fuel Cell eXperimental. It was
powered by hydrogen and the waste product is water. I suspect the car cost
more than the truck! |
|