Reno and more: Day 6: Circumnavigation of Lake Tahoe and visit to Nevada State Capitol in Carson City June 27, 2022

 Another rough night. K got up at 7 and I gave up at 7:30. We had no pressing reason to be up that early.

We went to breakfast around 8 and it was even more disappointing than the day before. I had to report that my POG was hot. The woman decided the whole machine had to be fixed. We both wound up eating the instant oatmeal again.

When we headed out at 9 am, it was 64 degrees, which is rather chilly to us in the summer. Actually, it's chilly to us any time of year. 

Our plan for today was to circumnavigate Lake Tahoe going clockwise. That would put us closer to the lake at all times. We had absolutely no idea how long this would take.

The first stop turned out to be Kings Beach State Park at Tahoe Vista, which is very close to the state line. When we stopped at 9:25 (24883), we had no trouble getting a parking spot in the relatively small parking lot. We figured it would be harder later in the day as it warmed up.

Right away, we noticed how much darker the sand was here than at home on Cocoa Beach. We also saw large rocks under the sand. We saw what we would call tidal pools, even though there is really no tide here.  Folks were using rafts and paddle boards. Only little kids seem to be playing in the water.

Since my knees don't cooperate these days, K bent down to touch the water. It was definitely cold.

We took photos, admired the mountains in the distance, and collected sand for my collection. I already had a spice jar waiting at home for that.

When we left at 10, we took note of a cool sculpture in the roundabout.  A helpful sign said  that it is "Estrella" by Roger Berry.  "Estrella" is Spanish for star.

We crossed into Nevada at 10 (24884).  K pulled over for a moment six minutes later for me to take a photo of Incline Village with the boats bobbing in the water in front of it. We suspected it was expensive.

Eleven minutes later, we stopped at a pullout that had a lovely view. There was a parasailer going past, but no one else was on the gorgeous turquoise water. What a color! The rock wall across the road gave away the fact that they'd had to cut this road into the hillside.

We stayed for about seven minutes enjoying the scenery, noting the houses perched on the cliff, etc. When the Sand Harbor Visitor Center of the Sand harbor-Lake Tahoe Nevada State Park appeared three minutes later, it began to feel like a national park with its handy pullouts. This one had a kiosk with signs with lots of information about the lake. You could follow a path, but we decided my knees would prefer we didn't.

We drove on at 10:46 and K fairly quickly decided to alter our plans. Maybe it was the road sign saying that US 50 to Carson City was ahead. Whatever it was, he decided that he wanted to see the Nevada State Capitol- today. I had plans to do that later in the week, while he was at ClarinetFest. I did not have my state capitols passport with me; it was back in the hotel. But, he wanted to go and had evidently thought about it before we left and grabbed my National Parks Passport, which, of course, was useless in this situation.

As we neared town, we talked about the fact that US 50 runs from Sacramento across the country to a relatively unlikely place- Ocean City, Maryland, my family's summer beach vacation spot to this day. Before they started taking the route that went through Delaware, we'd drive on that end of the road into Ocean City. It was weird realizing this, I will admit.

We parked on the street near the capitol at 11:23 (24914). The exterior was undergoing renovation, which did not make for a good photo. Inside, there was no security. Oh, there was a guard behind a high desk, but he spent most of his time talking to another guy. I got him to stamp a page of my notebook, in case I did not get back here again with the passport book.

The ground floor had a mural or frieze by A. V. Wiggins of Reno all around  the center and down the halls. On it were products of Nevada, both mined and animal. I was surprised at how many different things are or were mined here. There was a copy of the state seal above the four office doors. Here's a sample of the mural and the seal.

In the middle of this floor, there was a sculpture of Sarah Winnemucca. According to the plaque on the plinth, she was a defender of human rights, an educator, and the author of the first book by a native woman. I suspect that the town of Winnemucca, which we'd passed on our way through Nevada heading for Boise on that first day, was named for her. The statue is really detailed.

We climbed the long wooden staircase to the next floor. Here we found the old Supreme Court chambers and various exhibit areas, such as a hallway devoted to women. That just felt insulting.

The old assembly room with its giant Lincoln profile and county flags seems to still be used for meetings, even though there is a large, new legislative building next door. 

The Old Senate Chamber has been turned into a museum called "Battle Born Hall". "Battle Born" is actually the state motto. Nevada became a territory in 1861, one month before the Civil War began. It became a state near the end of the war in October, 1864. Silver from the Comstock Lode helped to finance the North's victory over the South. 

There were all kinds of interesting tidbits in there. I can imagine a pretty good scavenger hunt for school groups.

 

When we went back outside at 12:20, it was 92 degrees. We walked next door to the legislative building and here, we had to go through security. We wanted the gift shop, which was near the front. While checking out the merchandise, some of which was geared to the legislators to give as expensive gifts, I explained the state capitols passport to the woman who worked there.

It was 1:03, when we left there and we were definitely hungry. Google helped us discover a place up the street called L.A. Bakery and we parked at 1:06.

There was a large display case with incredible looking baked goods at the far side of the room. Tables were to the right of the entrance. The menu board high on the wall behind the case and counter was loaded with lists of Cold Sandwiches, Hot Sandwiches, Paninis, Wraps, Salads, Soups, Burgers, and even a Kids Menu. It took us a few minutes to decide. Then, we went up to the counter to order. I ordered the Ecstasy Salad for $14.99, a slice of Chocolate Decadence Cake, and grabbed a can of Kombucha-Hibiscus Healer from a cold case, because I've heard so much about Kombucha on the Signed, Sealed, Delivered movies. K chose a Turkey Melt Panini for $8.99, a bag of chips and a can of Diet Dr. Pepper. We were given a number to take to our table, as well as the chocolate cake, sodas, and chips.

The food was wonderful. My salad was huge and varied. So delicious! We split our meals and I liked K's panini as much as he did. And the cake! So very, very good!

When I went to the restroom, I discovered a corner of the restaurant had a shop of items made by women. Cool!

When we left at 2:10, we thought it would be a good idea to get gas at the nearby Sinclair station. The odometer read 24915 and we'd gone 301.6 miles on this tank. We got 7.625 gallons at $5.459 each for a total of $42.39. Well, we knew it wouldn't be a cheap trip.

As we drove down the street six minutes later, we saw signs that we were in Nevada. I thought that the Golden Nugget was only in Vegas, but here it was.

Our next stop was a pullout on US 50 in an area called Logan Creek Estates at 2:42 (24932). Here, we found giant boulders. We also found that we had a good view of the snow on the peaks on the other side of the lake.

There were a bunch of other cars here, but we never saw the people.

When we reached Logan Shoals Vista Point at 2:50, we were about 140 miles from Sacramento via 50. We didn't have the time for that drive and we've already been there. The view here was lovely. We spent 22 minutes here following a bit of path and taking photos. We also learned about the tunnel we'd soon be driving through. I could get a pretty good picture of it with the zoom on my camera.

 

In no time at all, we were at the tunnel. As you can see, it does a nice little framing of the scenery at the end. It's not a terribly long tunnel.

At 3:26 (24940), we stopped at Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Lake Tahoe, which is in Stateline, NV, so that I could get a guitar pin for my collection. This was not a simple stop. We had to find a free parking space in the garage and head over to the main building. While it was cool to get to see some memorabilia, it was very irritating to find that the Rock Shop was closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. Seriously? They aren't a museum. They are a store!

It did give us a free bathroom stop before we hit the road at 3:50. At 3:55, we crossed back into California (24941). We found ourselves driving through the rather expensive-looking South Lake Tahoe.

But, they'd had the Mosquito Fire burning here last fall. They did try to clear out a lot of the trees that had burned.

Around 4:30 we reached the very popular Vista Point above Emerald Bay. We weren't keen on paying the $10 fee to park, take a few photos, and move on. Plus, there were no parking spots. So, K dropped me off and I went up to the overlook for photos. I followed it along to the end of the parking lot. When I was walking down, I saw K waiting. A state park cart came up and the two women in it started harassing K. They said he had lied when they asked him earlier about what he was doing. He pointed to me and said I was coming. They continued haranguing him  as I got in the car and said they were going to write him a ticket. I quietly and calmly asked how much the fee was. When I was told $10, I went in my purse and fished out a $10 bill. They were a little mollified and one said they were just doing their jobs, which I doubted, since K is the most honest person I've ever met. We left.

A few moments later, we stopped briefly above Emerald Bay State Park for a couple of more shots of the bay, as well as of the mountainside. I didn't realize until later that this shot across to the outlet of the bay actually shows the tunnel across the lake, too.

As we drove north on Rte.89, there were no pullouts. There were homes and private areas. It wasn't until 5:02, that there was a spot to take a photo. K got some of the boats and the private beach. Far too rocky to be a beach, if you ask me.

At 5:15 ( 24973), we reached Tahoe City and the bridge over the Truckee River's egress from the lake. Here we found parking and lots of interesting info, not to mention beautiful flowers.

It was after 5:30, when we got back to the car. On our way back to Truckee, we passed the raft place we'd used yesterday.

For dinner, we decided that Village Pizzeria up the street from the hotel would be good. We parked in the Truckee Crossroads parking lot at 5:55 ( 24987). We ordered two Diet Cokes for $3.50 each and chose to share a regular size Sierra Pizza- pepperoni, mushrooms, and black olives- for $22.45. It was good that we had no appointments, because we weren't served until 6:30. The pizza was not at all soggy and the toppings on the thick, soft crust were plentiful. It was tasty and crusty. The music while we waited and through dinner was full of good old songs like American Pie and Mandy, but also songs by Michael Buble.

We left at 7:10 feeling quite full. We were back at the hotel at 7:12 (24987),  where K had to practice and we needed to pack to move on to our final hotel tomorrow.

My phone showed that I'd walked 1.9 miles with 5,526 steps, probably due to visiting the capitol.