Wednesday 8/1/2018     Today we visited Lake Tahoe which is divided in the middle by the California and Nevada state border. Lake Tahoe has a 72-mile shoreline and a road that goes completely around it. Our plan was to drive to the lake from the campground and then drive the road around Lake Tahoe stopping at points of interest along the way. At first, when we got on the road around the lake we were in a commercial area with lots of little shops and places to stay. Further down the road was a state park area called Emerald Bay. It was very crowded even at 9 am in the morning and we were lucky to find one of the last parking spots.  We were even luckier when we paid the senior rate for parking which was $9 instead of $10.  We planned to take a one-mile hike down to the beach of Emerald Bay and tour Vikingsholm, the old summer home of Mrs. Lora Josephine Knight built in 1929.  We bought tickets to the 10:30 am tour and walked around the beautiful bay while we waited.  The house was modeled by Scandinavian architecture and has beautiful woodwork and carvings throughout.  Part of the house is covered by a grass sod roof.  They claim to have most of the original furniture and decorations.  The front of her house faces the scenic Emerald Bay and the rear of the house showcases the mountains.  She was determined not to cut down any trees during construction and the architect was able to accomplish this.  She also owned a small island in the bay that she built a small tea house on.  We took a nearby hike up to Eagle Falls which was about a quarter of a mile uphill. The Emerald Bay beach area is a very popular spot even with the long hike down the hill.  Many families were enjoying the water either swimming, kayaking, boating or stand up paddleboarding.  They have a sign posted that says you swim at your own risk because the water is cold but no one seemed to mind.  We took a lot of pictures even though the views weren't as beautiful as we hoped because there was still a lot of smoke in the air from the forest fires in northern California. The time came for the long hike back up the hill to the parking lot.  It wasn't too bad mainly because we took several breaks in the shade along the way.  We got back in the truck and continued driving around the lake.  Our second stop was The Taylor Creek Visitor's Center where we had our picnic lunch and walked down to another beach.  We continued driving along the park road to the south end of the lake which turned into a commercial area with shops, restaurants, and lodges.  As soon as we crossed over the state line from California to Nevada the casinos appeared.  Actually, they were just a step over the border, I guess Nevada wants to make certain they tempt all the Californians.  We drove the remainder of the road which had a lot of privately owned expensive homes.  Our campground is very close to The Donner Pass.  Those of us who remember the history know the story and this town has built a park with a visitor's center and a monument to the memory of those in the Donner Party.  We arrived just a few minutes before closing and just took a quick loop around their museum and visited the outside monument before driving back to the trailer.