After skipping over some times had as March turned into April, I will go straight to a recent outing, and I will herein effuse somewhat, so I hope you are enlivened by my enthusiasm for our trip to this beautiful place. We went gladly to share our friends, Randy and Buffy's 25th wedding anniversary in a spot that was very special to them. It is also special and timely to us since, 40 years ago right around this time of year, we left the East Coast in a box truck full of antiques we'd collected, and drove across the country with our daughter Kyria growing inside me, and due on May 14. I saw Lake Tahoe for the first time as we drove over Hwy 50, and got a spring sunburn on my belly when we lunched in the sun with my shirt rolled up. So we enjoyed the shared occasions with special friends in a spectacular setting and had a heck of a time hiking down to Vikingsholm, just the two of us, for a long-desired treat to ourselves.
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| Our first full day at South Lake Tahoe. We'd arrived the night before and had a pleasant sup with our friends at their condo. |
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| A man feeding the seagulls |
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| Dog's need washing everywhere we are, I guess, but this still struck me as fun. |
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| Waiting in front of our hotel for Randy to come take Jeffery skiing at Heavenly, and to give me Buffy for a girl's day out. |
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| I found Jeffery Street spelled correctly! |
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| There are aspen forests in large patches in the Tahoe area. Buffy told me that each spinney has an interconnecting root system. |
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| It's as if the trees have eyes, Buffy noticed. |
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| Buffy on the Mt. Tallac Trail |
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| We can see more of both Lake Tahoe and Fallen Leaf Lake as we get higher up. |
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| Mt. Tallac |
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| View north-west of Mt. Tallac |
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| This mountain hovers over the west side of Emerald Bay. |
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| Ghostly trees from the blustery ridge top |
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| Cool tree bark seen when I showed Buffy Emerald Bay from the Inspiration Point vista point. |
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| Jeffery and I hope to get to see this while we're in the area. It's a one mile hike down. |
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| An eye-catching business sign along the road. |
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| From this angle, all the roof-peak angles really showed themselves off. |
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| Buffy below the Cave Rock, which is also a highway tunnel, which you can't see from here. |
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| Our beverage selections at Himmel Haus. |
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| The happy four-some! Cheers to Randy and Buffy! |
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| The base of my glass |
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| Spaetzel and Schnitzel |
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| Apple Struedel to die for. |
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| Silver Anniversary Lovebirds |
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| Front light fixtures at Himmel Haus. See what the black cut-out shape is? |
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| Went to the Hard Rock Cafe just to tour it before it's gone from Harvey's. This is a Keith Richards guitar. |
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| Joe Walsh's pants |
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| Emerald Bay from Inspiration Point in morning light |
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| Winter creek running through the Inspiration Point vista point parking area |
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| The hill above us looks different in proximity to it. Very craggy. |
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| View of Emerald Bay from the parking lot at the trailhead. |
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| The morning light is harsh, but makes tree-shadows from the island's flora. |
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| There were dozens of waterways falling off the surrounding slopes as we hiked down towards our goal. |
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| Frozen spill off a flat rock |
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| I'm in this photo, down by a rock, but you can hardly see me. |
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| Poor odd tree |
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| Awesome bluff above |
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| We touch the water |
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| View from the pier with Vikingsholm Castle in the view, but hidden by trees, which is how we've seen it when we've taken the M.S. Dixie over twice from Zephyr Cove. |
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| This attempts to show you how green Emerald Bay can be when the sun lights the water from certain directions where the sandy places make the water shallower. |
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| Here's Vikingsholm! We finally made it here after years of wanting to see it close-up. |
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| Chimneys and grass and snow covered roof |
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| A window casing |
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| A doorway |
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| Oh! It has a turret! |
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| Where the castle meets the wooden section of the four-sided summer-home |
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| This view of the side of the wooden "fore-house" shows how the craftsmen textured the wood everywhere to make it gleam and ripple with the light. |
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| Came around the corner to see what Jeffery was crying out about. |
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| The entrance to the enclosed courtyard. The workmanship was astounding. |
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| close up of the roof peak |
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| Through the portico to the courtyard, which appeared to have rooms on the sides and the castle at the far end. |
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| The inside of the courtyard, the sunny side, is just as ornate as the outside. |
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| doorway carving detail |
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| Eagle Creek Falls below Hwy 89, which is in view as a railing at the right at the top of the rocky slope |
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| Zoom to show the upper cascade |
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| Eagle Creek below the Falls. Bigfoot is in this photo. Do you see him? |
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| We are officially on the Rubicon Trail. |
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| The bridge over Eagle Creek |
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| Close-up of one bridge railing shows the craftsmanship, but I couldn't capture the silvery gleam it had |
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| The island from the shore. |
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| Jeffery waves to me. Or is that Bigfoot again? |
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| Re-approaching Vikingsholm before we start up the hill to our car. |
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| This was the best shot I could get of "My room", given the dappled sunlight. |
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| The island with the Tea House on its peak |
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| You can see the snow shower happening across Lake Tahoe, perhaps in Zephyr Cover where Randy and Buffy are. |
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| The Clio Railroad Trestle Bridge was another fond memory for Buffy and Randy, so we discovered it on our way home. |
