The finale......

6:28 am - Friday - September 1st - Tahoe City, CA - 54° F, humidity 42%, wind 12 mph out of the south by southwest.....completely cloudy today with a forecast high of 56° F.  Rain forecast here in the Tahoe Basin for early this afternoon, but we will be long gone by then.  I neglected to mention one very important thing on August 29th, our wedding anniversary.....August 29th was also my Dad's birthday....he would have been 99 this year. Art was a good man, a great father, and loved by many. He taught me how to be man, how to live life to its fullest, how important a sense of humor is, and ALWAYS keep moving forward. I wish he could have known all of my children. I know I will see him face to face again some day, and that makes me smile....

At our home in Pasadena, CA circa 1965

At Busch Gardens in Burbank, CA circa 1971

We began our last full day here in Tahoe City like we did Wednesday with a walk across the street to Syd's Bagelry for coffee. This is a cool, but quite funky coffee house right across the street from the Pepper Tree Inn, and is the perfect place at which to hang at the beginning of any day.

Our plan for the day was quite simple, and straight forward....circumnavigate Lake Tahoe in a counterclockwise fashion whilst letting the memories of days gone by flood the present.....

Emerald Bay overlook

....I didn't take pictures of every place we stopped, but chose to post some of the highlights....after all, it is said that pictures are worth thousands of words. One stop at which I wish I had remembered to snap a few photos was Tahoe Valley Campground where we spent the summer in 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017. We have not been back since June of 2017, and I was curious as to its current condition. I am happy to report that we saw a lot of improvements, and that most of the interior roads had finally been repaved. The current manager has been there 5 years now, which is remarkable, since we suffered through 7 in the 3.5 years we worked there. The big tent where movies were shown each week, bands performed, and customers performed at weekly Karaoke sessions, is no longer there.

From TVC we drove eastward to The Commons, which was being prepped to host the final music concert of the summer, where we found evidence of how high the Lake Tahoe water level has risen this year.....it is so high the sand beach is under water now......

View looking north from The Commons in South Lake Tahoe.....notice how high the lake is....the sandy beach is covered by water

....from there we made a stop for lunch at Sidellis Brewing Company, our favorite Tahoe micro brewery. We were so happy to see it was still in business, and prospering. The brews, and food, as always, were exceptional.....

Sidellis Brewing Company, South Lake Tahoe, CA

....after crossing through State Line back into Nevada we stopped at Dart Liquor where my family has been acquiring adult beverages since the early 60's at pretty decent prices....the 25 year old Macallan, however, was not very affordable.....$4,600....ouch.....

Seen at Dart Liquor at State Line, NV...I wonder if I could tell the difference between $4,600, 25 year old Macallan and $56, 12 year old Macallan? I'm not likely to ever find out....lol!

.....our circumnavigation of Lake Tahoe began around 10 am with us completing the loop in Tahoe City around 2:30 pm. It was a great time spent with two very important women in my life. We finished the day at Jake's On The Lake for coffee and dessert around 7 pm.....we managed to snag a table overlooking the marina.....

Pineapple sticky toffee pudding with rum sauce

Hula pie (basically Mud Pie, but with macadamia nuts)

......we talked, sipped great (Peets) coffee, and shared dessert for a couple of hours before heading home for our last evening at the Pepper Tree Inn.....

Storm coming in over the Tahoe Basin

One of those ubiquitous sugar pines lit up with led lights at the public library

....and thus ends our four day, three night sojourn at Lake Tahoe. We have added too many memories to count to the already overflowing memory banks. We will look forward to returning again next August to add even more memories.

Thank you for stopping by, and sharing with us our anniversary trip to Lake Tahoe!