Lake Tahoe

I have been away so long, it is now a new month.  The middle summer month, the birth month of my oldest, the birth month of our nation, and high travel season.

As all of you are off in Switzerland, Italy, France, Portugal, India, Spain (I hate you all by the way), I had my little summer trip to California.  Only one state away, a days drive, my birthplace and my home for the better part of my life. Well, not the "better part",  just the longest part.

As I am sure all of our travel destinations this summer will provide us with spectacular landscapes, interesting people, wonderful food and treasured life time memories...mine was special.  Really.  I mean really special, at least for me.   Because rediscovering something you never payed much attention to while it was right in your "backyard," is like finding a twenty in the jeans you forgot you had.

This was  the theme of my little summer jaunt to California in so many ways and on so many levels.  And I will share those ways and levels with you all, (all nine of you followers) in the coming days, but today I will share the biggie.  It was the reason I went to CA and what took my breath away for the  first time in my life,  although I have seen it, visited it, drawn it, learned about it since I was a young whipper snapper.

Lake Tahoe.

Lake Tahoe, California, Nevada.

About the Lake:

1.  Lake Tahoe is the largest freshwater lake in the Sierra Nevada's that  span the U.S.
2.  It is the largest alpine lake in North America at 6,225ft in elevation.
3.  It is the nations 2nd deepest lake at 1645ft, with Crater Lake, OR being the deepest at 1945ft.
4.  It is the 16th deepest lake in the world.
5.  It is known for it's clarity and gorgeous blue water.
6.  It is 22 mi. long and 12 mi. wide.  There are 72 miles of shore and the surface area is 191 sq mi.
7. The lake was used by the Washoe indians.  It was at the heart and center of their territory.
8.  Lake Tahoe is fed by 63 tributaries and has only one outlet, the Trukee River that flows northeast, which feeds into Pyramid Lake, Nevada, that has no outlet.
9.  It shares shore line with both California and Nevada.
10.  There is gambling on the Nevada side.
11.  It is a major tourist attraction for both California and Nevada.
12.  It sits in the Tahoe National Basin, which was created by faults and the extinct volcano Mt. Pluto millions of years ago.
13.  It is thought that the lake was filled with melted glaciers during the ice age.