Take This Tune - Love of Place

This week's prompt at Take This Tune is for Love of Place or, as Fairweather put it, "Where is the place where your heart is rooted, no matter how far away you’ve roamed from there? Start writing." I had to think about this for all of about ten minutes before I decided that it wasn't that difficult of a decision which spot to pick, a decision which then led me to my photo archives and the following pictures.










What can I say? My heart feels right at home in the Lake Tahoe region of the Sierra Nevada mountains and it's a place that I can go back to over and over and over again and never tire of. These pictures were taken last May when my friend Cyndi and I went for "a little drive" to see if Carson Pass on Route 88 was open during my short trip to California.

Described as "one of the most visually dramatic of the trans-Sierra highways in California", the 58-mile drive along Route 88 starts in the Sacramento Valley in California and ends in the Carson Valley in Nevada. Along the way there are views of ragged volcanic skylines, cool green meadows, beautiful mountain lakes framed by timber-covered slopes, and distant mountain peaks.  Pretty much everything that anyone could ask for!










From Route 88 we drove to Lake Tahoe itself for a couple of pictures and then back out along California State Highway 50 and through Echo Summit - which at an elevation of 7,382 feet is the highest point on Route 50. Parts of Hightway 50 run parallel to the American River, as pictured above, and there are just way too many places along the way where one wants to stop and take pictures - or at least this one did!  Poor Cyndi was convinced I'd end up stopping every half-mile or so but I did my best to restrain myself! 

I've driven Highway 50 to and from Lake Tahoe more times than I can remember and it has always fascinated me - not just the beautiful scenery but also the history of the roadway as long ago it was used by many 49ers who came to California during the Gold Rush as well as by riders of the Pony Express. Who knows?  Maybe in another lifetime I was one of the pioneers who came across the Sierra Nevadas in a wagon train to make my home in California and that's why my heart will always have a love of Lake Tahoe and the Sierra Nevadas no matter how long it may be between visits.

I really do love that place!

Looking at the Sky on Friday

Last week for Looking at the Sky on Friday I posted a picture that I had taken from the small turnout on California State Highway 50 just as you make the turn that brings you to an amazing view of Lake Tahoe. From the very first time I saw that view, I thought it was one of the most spectacular of all and try to get back there as often as I can when I'm out in California. Honestly, showing you pictures of it here is only a tease as to be their yourself is 1,000 times more phenomenal and gorgeous.

For this week, I have two more pictures that were taken from the same vista point the last time I was there - May 6th, 2009. My friend Cyndi and I had taken a drive to the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains but the lure of Lake Tahoe was just too strong and I ended up driving all the way up to the lake stopping all along the way to take pictures (and thereby driving Cyndi pretty much nuts!) - still, I'm pretty sure you can see why! As I told her, she lives within driving distance of these sorts of wonderful views whereas I have to fly 3,000 miles to see them in person. Not being able to do that all the time, I have pictures - lots and lots of beautiful pictures ...

Speaking of lots and lots of beautiful pictures, you can find just them with more gorgeous skies from all over at my friend Tisha's blog and this week's edition of Looking at the Sky on Friday. Stop on by if you get the chance!

Looking at the Sky on Friday - The Sierra Nevada Version

I'm afraid I've missed a couple of Tisha's Looking at the Sky on Friday memes lately but have more than enough pictures to make up for it and post in the weeks to come thanks to my recent trip West. As a matter of fact, while driving around in the Sierra Nevadas this past Wednesday, just about every photo I took was one that I thought would be perfect for this meme!

For this week, I thought I would use one of the pictures of one of my very favorite places in the United States -

This is the view from the top of Highway 50 in California as you come around the bend and catch a glimpse of beautiful Lake Tahoe. This view never fails to take my breath away and even though there were plenty of clouds around, I still thought it was one of the most gorgeous places ever. That might be pretty easy to see why!

For more beautiful sky pictures be sure to swing by Tisha's blog and may everyone have a great Friday no matter where you may be!

I Am Sad

One of my very favorite places in all of the country has been steadily destroyed by smoke and flames since Sunday when a forest fire (thought to be sparked accidentally by human activity) broke out in the Angora Lake region of South Lake Tahoe, California.

Over 3,100 acres - about 4.7 square miles - as well as 220 homes and other structures have fallen victim to the fast-moving flames which, according to the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Control Unit, are currently 44% contained. Over 1,809 personnel have been battling a fire that they hope to have fully contained by July 3rd though they still face the possibility of high winds in the region over the next three days which could cause the flames to jump the fire lines again.

“This is the biggest disaster that has happened to this community in, probably, forever,” said Lt. Kevin House of the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Department in a televised interview.

I'm going to have to agree with Lt. House as it has always been my belief that Lake Tahoe is one of the most beautiful areas in the country and there is no doubt that a fire of this magnitude will leave scars on the area for a very long time to come.

Some of my best memories of my years in California are from various trips to Lake Tahoe with not only friends I had made in California but with my Mom & Dad when they came out to visit when I lived in Stockton. No trip to California was ever quite complete without a trip to Lake Tahoe, though I'm sad to say that my last trip out didn't provide the opportunity for a drive through the mountains to visit a place I have come to love.

The shores of Lake Tahoe were the home of the Washo Indians for thousands of years before John C. Frémont, an American explorer dubbed "The Great Pathfinder", and his guide Kit Carson first spied the lake on an expedition in the Sierra Nevadas on February 14th, 1844 from an area now known as Carson's Pass on Route 88. The first non-indigenous man to view Lake Tahoe from what is now Highway 50, my preferred route of travel, was John Calhoun Johnson, another Sierra explorer.

There is just no way to describe the beauty that lies before you as you round the last turn on State Highway 50 from Sacramento and look out towards the lake - which is still 10 miles in the distance. Lake Tahoe is the second deepest lake in the United States with its depth plunging to 1,645 feet. It's 22 miles long, 12 miles wide, and has 71 miles of shoreline, two-thirds of which lies in California. Is it any wonder that Mark Twain, when visiting the lake in 1861 for several weeks declared: "The eye never tired of gazing, night or day, calm or storm."?

I came this close to taking a job as a dispatcher at the City of South Lake Tahoe Police Department in the late 80's before I remembered that I didn't really like the cold weather in Connecticut so how much more would I not like it in a place that has an average winter snowpack of 225 inches, or nearly 20 feet! In retrospect, though, I always wonder if that was the wrong decision and how different my life might be now had I taken that job. I guess I will never know.

Though it has been way too many years since I've had the pleasure of coming around the bend on Highway 50 and having my breath taken away, yet again, by the natural beauty that stretched out before me it truly pains me to watch the news reports of what is happening to that beautiful land. Rather than the fiery images above this is how I will always choose to remember Lake Tahoe:


I hope they are able to get that fire under control soon without too much further loss of land and property. Best wishes to all the brave firefighters and to those who call Tahoe home.