Lake Tahoe

Sat, 8/20/11:
Goose Meadows NF Campground, Truckee, CA:  Putzed around all morning.  Got talking with the couple next to us who came in last night. They live in a little town south of Reno.  I was telling her how dry my hands have been since we got here.  She said, well it is the desert.  Here in Lake Tahoe, I said?  With all the water around us?  And pine trees?  Doesn’t matter, she said.  It’s still the desert.  In fact, on average one million four hundred thousand tons of water evaporate from Lake Tahoe every 24 hours!  That’s amazing.  Where does it go?  We sure haven’t had any rain here.  It is a conundrum.  After lunch we drove to Reno.  Only 30 miles east on Rt. 80.  This section of Rt. 80 was pristine.  The section before the Truckee exit was all chewed up.  Chains are mandatory here in the winter.  I guess they do a number on the highways.  Reno is much smaller than Las Vegas, but seemingly more livable.  We parked in the Circus-Circus Casino garage and walked around a little.  Went into the Silver Legacy Casino because we were intrigued by the huge dome that was part of the building.  Turns out the dome housed a life-size replica of a silver mine shaft.  Pretty amazing.  Gambled a little.  For a change I won.  Went to the bar and had a drink to celebrate and played some video poker.  Looks like gamblers’ anonymous is in our future.  Had a great prime rib dinner at one of the restaurants in the Silver Legacy Casino and then drove back to our site.

Mine structure inside the Silver Legacy Casino.