Lake Tahoe and Yosemite

Lake Tahoe is a large fresh water lake in the Sierra Nevada mountains of United States. After an hour's from Davis we reached the lake. Amma and I ran to the water as soon as we saw it and Ashok, the paparazzo came running behind us. Hehe. The water was a clear blue and we could see the bottom so clearly. It is supposed to be one of the cleanest lakes in the world. The lake was freezing though. I touched it once and my hands turned blue and started hurting! God was not on our side so he made the weather cloudy and it began to rain. For sometime we enjoyed the rain and appreciated the snow capped mountains in the distance. Before long, it began to pour and we had to get into the nice, warm, cosy car. We drove around the entire circumference of the lake until we returned to the point we started. It's not a short drive. We had to drive a hundred miles, from the South of Lake Tahoe to West, North, East and back South. It was a cheery drive, with the lake just beside the road, through tunnels and lovely trees everywhere. We even exited California and were in Nevada for a while. During the drive, we stopped at many vista points, one of which had a waterfall. We were on top of the waterfalland the water was roaring on it's way down the rocks. There was also the Fannette Island in the lake, the only island in the lake, also known by the name Hermit's Island. There is what is left of a Tea House built a long long time ago by some knight. After we got too cold we drove to a Diner called Denny's and had some Hash Browns and I drank hot chocolate. They are very generous with food, these Americans. All drinks have free refills!! Cool eh? They put whipped cream on my hot chocolate to make it look delicious and tempting and I got a kick out of just licking off the cream and getting whipped cream refills time and again. It was fun! There was some sort of a Renaissance festival going on around Lake Tahoe so a lot of people were dressed up in bulky costumes. I got a picture with a fat guy who had an awesome mug of beer in his hand! After some more driving we reached our shelter for the night, Best Western. It was the best room we had had so far. It was huge and comfy and had Lake Tanya shining under the sun just outside the window. The manager of the hotel, an Indian, overheard us talking about what we would have for dinner and offered to make some burritos for us for free. Good old man! Our hotel, I realised, was just one mile inside Nevada. Just next to our hotel, was a casino, that is where I had my dinner. I ordered for cheesecake imagining the yummy blueberry cheesecakes I eat in Bangalore. The waitress slammed a slab of cheese in front of me and poured strawberry sauce on it. Sigh! I didn't complain because I love cheese and I ate it happily. Later we went to the casino where I saw my aunt lose her mind! They didn't gamble at all in Las Vegas but they lost dollars over dollars in the Topaz Lodge Casino while I, being a minor, picked up some crayons that was kept for little kids and coloured up some fish. What a pitiful life! I saw some drunk females fighting over something, the result of which, security had to chuck one lady out of the casino. My aunt and uncle won some money but lost it again just for the heck of finishing off the cash. They actually spent almost two hours gambling in the casino! When we were about to exit, we went out the door and my uncle didn;t feel like leaving, he turned to go back inside but came out on second thoughts. I watched half of a lame Cheetah Girls movie back in the room and went to sleep.
The next day was Yosemite day!! We had a pleasant drive to Yosemite, with our surroundings giving competition to Switzerland and edging ever so close to the snowy mountains. Soon enough, we found snow just by the road and there were lakes formed by melted snow. It was simply too perfect! Beautiful blue lake, fur trees behind it and snowy mountains in the background. It was not even too cold! I jumped into the snow and oddly, started feeling hot. So I took off my jacket and made snow balls and started throwing them on people. It was so cool! I even put some inside my mother's jacket! Heehee! We walked around, fell down, got our shoes stuck inside deep snow, put handprints and shoe prints, wrote our names in the snow, made our hands numb and had so much fun! It was the best time I had had in a long time! Our next stop was at a spot from where we got a distinct view of the Half Dome, and that is what Yosemite is most famous for. We could also see the Bridal Veil falls, although it looked like a tiny stream of water coming out of a tap. Next we stopped at a higher point, close enough to the Half Dome, to see people climbing it. It's a pity we couldn't hike anywhere. Well, there's always a next time right? After ten minutes, we found ourselves walking through the woods towards the Bridal Veil falls. The water is blown away from the rocks because of the wind and hence the name, Bridal Veil. It was like a soft shower on. Amazing tranquility between the water, the trees and the animals. Ah!! Serenity!