Monday, August 18, 2014

Monday at Emerald Bay/Eagle Lake

Look what I found this morning.


We drove around the South Shore of Lake Tahoe today.

Emerald Bay is beautiful!


 
 There is castle built by the Knight family at Emerald Bay. We didn't make it to it as there was no parking either time we checked. If you look below....at the center...Mrs. Knight built a little tea house on the top of this island in the middle of Emerald Bay.


We couldn't find parking spots at any of the places the brochures said to visit....so we stopped in a turn around, and hiked down a bit into a pretty wooded area with a great view of the lake for lunch.

 
Reverse photo bomb - the bagel overshadows Arielle
 
After we ate we hiked around a bit.


 
I may have a couple of new pine cones for my international collection


 

On our way back down the mountain, we still could not get into the area to see the castle we wanted to see - far too many people. We did notice a public parking/hiking area across from it and stopped. Eagle Falls Picnic/Hiking area.  The parking was free. There was an outhouse. We decided to try the hike. The signs gave no idea of the distance to various parts on the map. We noted there were several lakes up the mountain and so the kids changed into suits.


We made it to Eagle Falls. It was a bit of a disappointment after Bridal Veil Falls and Multnomah Falls. 

When we found this lake I was sad thinking the kids wouldn't get to swim...but we kept hiking.....
 

We saw this sign and kept hiking.....

I learned some things on this hike.
  • A 50 year old woman who hasn't worked out since VBS madness maybe shouldn't try climbing in the Sierra Nevadas as her first work out - but it worked.
  • No matter how far you have come or have to go - when you ask, "How far?"  The answer is sure to be "You're about 1/2 way."
  • Hiking at sea level in Misawa, Japan is much different than hiking up a mountain in the Sierra Nevadas
  • The person bringing up the rear NEVER gets to rest. All rest until you catch up and then take off again....the thinking being your pace is the same as a rest????
Shortly after the above revelation, I told them all to hike ahead. I'd get there when I was ready, but I was dizzy and planned to take it slow and rest when I wanted.  The kids went ahead. Michael, seemed concerned about altitude and by dizziness so he stayed with me. SCORE....a walk with the boy friend without KIDS, in a beautiful spot with TWO cameras!





Meanwhile the kids were swimming. They began to get worried when we weren't right on their trail. They asked an older couple who was between us if they'd seen their parents on the train.  Oh  - the shock.

Their response, "We saw a tall man, with a short woman and some serious cameras." ::snort:: Guess that's us.


Eagle Lake is beautiful! Well worth the hike. Michael and I  didn't swim but I did cool off my feet. It was much quicker on the way home.

Krista handled meal planning for this trip, so I could get Rally stuff done before taking off. She remembers a favorite camping a meal. I'd totally forgotten about this meal and the youngers had never had it. As we talked we realized it became a traditional, favorite camping meal back in our camping days with the Bowers. LOL  So tonight, we had fritos covered in chili and cheese....though several of us had vegetarian chili, olives, avocados on ours without the cheese.  It's still a good camping meal.

We followed dinner with s'mores and Patick McManus by  the camp fire.
 
 
 

We really  must make time to do this more often.


Choosing Joy!
©2014 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...