I love it that we are close to so many great locations for day trips.  David took Friday off and we all sauntered over to Lake Tahoe.  We stayed on the South shore.  I was stunned to realize how much there is to discover there.  We barely even scratched the surface.

To acclimate a bit, we decided to find the first public beach we could, so we could see the lake.  We drove into Pope Beach and looked around for a few minutes.  The boys found huge pinecones and wanted to take them all home, but we limited them to one each...



It was lunchtime when we arrived, so we went to a natural foods restaurant called "Sprouts".  David and I had one of the best sandwiches ever.   I am so glad we found this place.  This will be a "must visit" whenever we go.


After lunch, we visited the Tahoe Visitors Center.  The attendant suggested a couple of places for us to check out.

The fist place we went to was the Tallac Historic Site.    This is a park that contains three "summer homes" built in the late 1800, early 1900's.  The Pope estate was the largest, with cabins all around for their staff.  All the rooms are preserved to look like they did back then.  It is a fascinating look into the the rich and famous of yesteryear.


This was the tutor's room.  It was one of four rooms in one cabin.  The room is as big as what you see here...

Maid's room, in same cabin as the chauffer, butler, gardener, and tutor...

Servant's dining area.  This was attached to the kitchen in a separate building from the main house.  This is where the servants and children ate their meals...

The servants cabins...

The main house is on the right.  David, Grandma Margaret and boys are looking  into the kitchen...


The boat house.  I don't know if this was on the Pope estate or the Heller estate...

I love this picture.  We were walking back to the car and 'R' picked up a leaf and started yelling "Hosanna"  (a shout of praise that the crowd made when Jesus entered Jerusalem.  They also waved and laid palm leaves at his feet).  'A' followed suit.
 
The next place we went to was called Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit.  We did a couple of easy trail hikes, the "Rainbow Trail" and "Smokey's Trail".  The Rainbow Trail had signs teaching about meadowlands and marshes and had a stream profile chamber to see what lives under a stream bed.

Smokey's Trail taught us how to properly tend to a campfire, so as not to start a forest fire...

On the way home, we stopped off in the town of Strawberry for ice cream at the Strawberry Lodge, (once a Pony Express stop.)