Currency:
US Dollars

Highlights:
The beautiful, crystal-clear blue lake nestled among mountain peaks known as Lake Tahoe all shared with great friends

Our Adventure Summarised:

We woke up in Key West at 04h30 and started what we knew would be a long day of travelling but we knew that what waited for us at the end would be well worthwhile - the immense beauty of Lake Tahoe. The alarm went off and we managed to get up, shower, checked out and get on the road with a coffee in hand at 05h00. Driving through the keys when the sun was rising was an absolutely amazing sight and the sky was filled with the most beautiful colours ever - only the photos will give you an idea of how incredible it actually was.

We were well on track and making great time in getting back up to Miami but what we did not factor in was the Miami rush hour and after spending a good hour in bumper to bumper traffic we finally crawled into the airport at around 09h30. We checked in and the rest of our day panned out as follows:

• Flight from Miami to Los Angeles which was a 5 1/2 hour flight and it was 1 hour delayed
• A lay over of 4 hours in Los Angeles at LAX
• Flight from LA to Sacramento which was a 1 1/2 hour flight

Annie and Justin picked us up at Sacramento airport and first stop was for some well deserved dinner at a Californian fast food chain called 'In and Out' where we devoured some burgers 'animal style' - a sauce of thousand islands, mustard and grilled onions - and Justin taught me what a quadruple burger 'protein style' was - a quadruple burger wrapped in lettuce leaves instead of buns.

After ticking 'In and Out' off the list we jumped in the car and began our 2 hour car journey to Lake Tahoe. Heading up to Lake Tahoe the temperatures changed from the 30 degree heat that we had become rather accustomed to, to around 0 degrees which included icy and snowy roads. Fortunately Annie and Justin were well prepared for the icy conditions and when the roads got a little too icy we pulled over in the pouring snow and eventually worked out how to put snow chains on the front tires. Unfortunately with snow chains on our average speed had to drop to 30mph which in turn made our 2 hour car journey turn into a 4 hour journey.

We eventually pulled into our log cabin at around 1AM and what an unbelievable log cabin it was. Although we were surrounded by snow and darkness we all knew that the views that would greet us the next morning would be unbelievable so we decided it would be a great idea to crack a few bottles of red wine and celebrate our arrival in Lake Tahoe before eventually passing out after what had been for Lara and me a 28 hour day.

You can view our photos here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=355306&id=713415257&l=6ff64cbcad

The next morning we were like excited kids on Christmas morning and we were greeted with the most amazing view of Lake Tahoe straight from our balcony.

Mark Twain once said the following about Lake Tahoe:
"I thought it must be the fairest picture the whole earth affords"

Lake Tahoe is a beautiful, crystal-clear blue lake nestled among mountain peaks. It has depths of up to 1,600 feet and the mountain peaks are in the 8,000 to 10,000 foot range. Lake Tahoe is a popular vacation and recreation region straddling the border between California and Nevada. It is especially popular in the summer and winter. Summer activities include golf, boating and hiking. Winter activities include world class skiing, snowmobiling and ice skating. Year round activities include shopping, gambling, eating and taking in the scenery.

The view that we had of Lake Tahoe was from Carnelian Bay (right near Tahoe City). Tahoe City is a town on the California side of the Lake Tahoe region. This was once the site of logging and hunting activity for the northern Tahoe Basin, now it is little more than a year round vacation town catering to visitors and locals daily needs. The town its self contains a couple of dozen restaurants, multiple bars, sports shops, banks, boat marinas, the Tahoe Yacht Club, and a couple large chain grocery stores.

Annie and Justin had woken up a few hours before and had already tucked into a few breakfast beers as well as some snowball fights so after a quick shower we decided to hit the road and go and do some exploring. We all jumped in the car and drove through Tahoe City and after picking up a map in town we started our exploration mission. Our mission included stopping at many view points along the way and admiring the beauty of Lake Tahoe and lapping up the amazing views of the lake as well as numerous snow ball fights along the way. We drove from the Californian side of Lake Tahoe to the Nevada side and sure enough as soon as you cross the state line there were casinos galore. We decided to pop our heads into the Tahoe Baltimore and after having a look around we had worked up a hunger and stopped at Jason's Beachside Grille for some well deserved lunch, beers, margaritas and some great views over the lake.

Jen was driving down from Reno to come and join us for the night and she caught up with us at Jason's Beachside Grille where we shared many laughs over a good few drinks in a great little restaurant. We finally pulled ourselves away from the warmth and took a long walk down on the lake where marveled at the sun setting over the water.

It was getting a little chilly so we decided to jump back in the car and we returned to our awesome log cabin where we started the gas log fire, settled into a good few bottles of wine, Annie cooked us an amazing meal and we shared many a laugh over great wine and great food with great friends.

You can view our photos here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=355309&id=713415257&l=9284ea22cf

The next day Jen unfortunately had to get back to Reno for work and after a great breakfast we bid Jen a sad farewell and Annie, Justin, Lara and I jumped in the car to do a day long drive around the whole of Lake Tahoe. We decided to drive in an anti-clockwise direction and we stopped in numerous places around the lake including Emerald Bay State Park and Inspiration Point Vista.

Our main destination was south Lake Tahoe and upon arrival and after having an explore we headed to the Stateline Brewery for some lunch where Lara managed to get one of the biggest margarita on tour so far. Feeling very lazy after a great lunch we jumped back in the car and after seeing the unbelievable colour of the water on the east side of Lake Tahoe we headed home and spent the rest of the evening chilling out and catching up on all of the NFL games including the San Francisco 49'ers.

Justin needed to get back home to San Francisco early the next morning for work so we would need to leave Lake Tahoe at 04h00 in the morning to get back in time so we called it an early night and this wrapped up a truly amazing weekend with some truly amazing people at Lake Tahoe.

You can view our photos here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=355312&id=713415257&l=5da88e13a8

Lake Tahoe was an unbelievable place and it is was a definite favourite on World Tour so far. Lake Tahoe we will be back.

Next stop: San Francisco and the Bay Area.

Leise + Lara