Lake Tahoe, a cruise and a drive

We decided to take a cruise on Lake Tahoe and booked a trip on the MS Dixie II from Zephyr Cove.   Our drive to the lake took us over the mountains on the Kingsbury Grade, the views were fabulous but it’s definitely not a route we’d want to take if we were towing the fifth wheel!

Once over the mountain we joined highway 50 and it was about 3 miles to Zephyr Cove, after paying our $8.00 parking fee we headed for the dock.    As we’d bought our tickets in advance, we were able to bypass the ticket queue and board more or less straight away.

It was a gorgeous day, sunny and warm with cloudless blue skies, although as we sailed from the dock there was a chilly little breeze.

Our cruise took us across the lake and around the island in beautiful Emerald Bay and back across the lake.   Until we were out on the water I don’t think either of us realised just how big Lake Tahoe is. 

As we entered Emerald Bay.

After our cruise we’d planned to drive right round the lake, but when we got back to the dock we decided we’d leave that until the day after as we didn’t want to rush. 

Emerald Bay

So the next day we took the same route only this time we turned left instead of right, there were lots of casinos, until we crossed the state line into California. 

Mind you on the California side although there weren’t any casinos there were lots of houses in the forests surrounding the lake. 

As Emerald Bay looked so lovely, we decided we’d stop and spend some time on the beach, but first we’d stop at the overlook and take some photographs. 

Well, we didn’t get to do either.   The overlook parking was full, so I took photographs as we drove along.  

When we arrived at the Emerald Bay car park people were circling around looking for spaces, so that was out as well. 

Actually, not being able to park at Emerald Bay turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as further along we came to D L Bliss State Park.  

Here you can drive down through the forest to the beach, the road is steep and quite narrow in places.   As it was late September most of the camp sites were closed, in fact I think the whole park closed at the end of the month.   It was also very quiet, although I imagine that’s not the case during the summer.

The car park by the beach was empty when we arrived and we practically had the beach to ourselves.   We enjoyed our lunch, a couple of hours soaking up the sun and paddling in the lake, absolute bliss!

 After a couple of hours we reluctantly decided we’d better leave if we wanted to continue our drive all around the lake.   While we enjoyed the rest of our drive, from what we could see, the beach at DL Bliss State Park was the nicest. 

A view of the lake as we continued our tour around.

Just before we headed back over the Kingsbury Grade we stopped to pick up a few things from a Safeway on the Nevada side of the lake, it’s the only supermarket I’ve ever been in where you could play video poker while you were shopping!

 

Have fun, we are!