Lake Tahoe Camping

Sunday - 30 June 2002: South Lake Tahoe, California - I don't know if anyone will even want to continue reading - this is another day with no excitement and no photos.

We needed some moisture. And I don't mean beer. It seems we have had enough of the desert - sneezing, dry skin, bloody noses and the scent of sunscreen. We drove 40 miles to Lake Tahoe! We are at 6,000 feet, but the curl is back - a bit - in my hair. In Tahoe, you can actually smell the moisture in the air - and I guess you have to be an Oregonian to understand what I mean. It is hot during the day and cold at night. Very pleasant. Everything is very green also.

Today started with a trip to a supermarket. This seems to be our routine - we are not always sure where we will end up at the end of a traveling day, so we make sure we have food - and bottled water. We went to the local Albertson's. As of Wednesday, Albertson's requires a "card" too! We wanted to refuse this ridiculous requirement again, but a case of bottled water was $4.99 with the card, or $18.99 without. What a racket. Is Albertson's now going to track what I purchase? Will they call Anheuser-Busch to report my weekly activity? Report to Kleenex my superlative consumption? Call Jimmy Dean to account we never purchase pork? Anyway, according to our receipt today, we saved $5,463 in super-saver purchases on a $60 bill... or something like that.

We asked where we could buy fireworks and were told that fireworks are banned in Nevada. Prostitution is legal, but no sparklers. Go figger.

We had reservations at a 5-star campground in South Lake Tahoe. Tahoe Valley Campground is a very traditional campground, but we are camped in dusty dirt. We do have (nearly) all things needed for our life support systems - 50 amp service, water, sewer and cable. The only thing lacking is a phone line at our site, but they have a row of modem connections in the laundry room - which seems to be the norm these days (circa 2002) at most campgrounds.

We relaxed this afternoon by watching the Mariners lose to the Colorado Rockies. Silvana her-own-self recommended a restaurant for us tonight. The Shoreline Grill must have been a Denny's at one time, but now it is a nice cafe, with views across the lake. Our waiter was overly-friendly. We were in the restaurant for one hour and I can tell you that he was raised in Hawaii, paid $89,000 for his house here, recently bought a home outside of Honolulu, has two children (boy, 5 - girl, going to UC-Santa Barbara in the fall), was once in a bar fight in Hawaii which looked to turn nasty until he began speaking Hawaiian to the thugs and the day was saved. He can also speak in a perfect Donald Duck voice, but I am unsure if he can speak Hawaiian in a Donald Duck voice. He was been married twice, but now it is just he and the two kids. DT tried the seafood pasta special and thought it was very nice and totally loaded with fish. I had their Chinese Chicken Salad and it was a Chinese Chicken Salad. The food was decent and well-priced. The only thing negative about the restaurant was the totally California wine list. (And the weird waiter.)

Lake Tahoe is simply stunning. The color of the water is nearly Caribbean Blue. Tomorrow we will take a cruise on the lake and I promise many photos.

RV Park: Tahoe Valley Campground