Red Truck Road Trip – WEST Coast Team

Yesterday afternoon, I dragged Mikey and Brad around part of Tahoe, bypassing most of Truckee and taking us down Highway 89, which runs along the lake’s southern shore. It was, for lack of a better description, soothing to find myself driving along the winding roads with their calming twists and turns amidst the lush forest. My goal was to get us to Emerald Bay State Park with some time to wander around and explore before we rushed off to dinner at the always incredible Sunnyside Restaurant. Unfortunately, we started out a little later than we probably should have, and the sun was just settling behind the mountains when we pulled into the parking lot. Still, we had an hour and a half, so we all wandered for a while before meeting back at the car.

Emerald Bay is one of those alcoves that sprouts out of Lake Tahoe, and it’s always gorgeous… that’s probably why it’s one of the most photographed parts of Tahoe itself. I love hiking around the lake on summer days because the temperatures are almost uniformly mild in comparison to much of the surrounding region. However, if you end up driving in and want to either check out the bay (or the always fascinating Vikingsholm), the only way to get up close and personal with the scenery is via a mile-long path that leads down from the parking lot; as a result, a lot of people tend to rent boats in either Tahoe City or South Lake Tahoe and motor in instead. For me, the walk down was utterly serene and peaceful, and I found myself tromping around the shore in search for a good beach shot or two that I could use in some of the Photoshop projects I have in store for this trip. Unfortunately, the light pretty much faded out right when I got to the bottom of the trail, so I ended up waking photos of the lake itself or the above picture of The Bottle as he posed amidst the flowers at the water’s edge.

Dinner came and went (and was delicious, as it always is), and I finally introduced the guys to Downtown Truckee via the various bars near the old train station. Ultimately, we wound up at the Bar of America, where a fantastic local band, Two Out Rally, was playing. As a result, much of the night was spent dancing, socializing with other attendees of the small-yet-packed venue, and more dancing. It was a great end to a great night.

Currently, Brad and Mikey should be nearing the end of their pirate tour of the Truckee River (I’ll let them explain that adventure), and I’m sitting beneath a tree with a gorgeous view of Lake Tahoe
while I work on planning out the next leg of our journey so we can plan things out at dinner tonight while/after we watch the fireworks on the lake. In a little bit, I’m planning to start mucking around in Photoshop to start down the path of creating my official images for the trip, but I’m thinking some time spent reading in the sun sounds mighty tempting right now.