Normally the drive to Lake Tahoe is stunning, it is one of those drives where you're constantly pulling out to take photos but this time, the smoke from all the California fires spoilt the view.
We were camping at Camp Richardson and Lee had booked a good site in the tent only area. Although the campsite was full, it still felt like we had a lot of space. We were warned at check-in about bears so as instructed, we emptied the car of all smelly objects and put them into the bear locker. Apparently the bears at Camp Richardson are quite good at breaking into cars, especially if there is a packet of Pringles - or indeed any tube-like object - on offer.
Camp Richardson is a resort for people who are RV'ing, camping, staying in one of their rustic cabins or staying in their own boats in the harbour. People come here to cycle around the lake, chill out on the beach, and to do watersports. It's a family location but also has groups of youngsters (apparently it gets quite rowdy during Spring Break) and older people. Most people staying in the resort will head to Beacon Bar and Restaurant located right on the beach. The first night, we had dinner here along with one of their signature drinks, the Rum Runner: a mango ice drink with a rum float.
After dinner, which was really good, we watched the sun set over the lake. The smoke had one advantage, it gave us one of the most colourful sunsets we'd ever seen. After dinner, we headed back to the campsite where chaos broke out. A bear was seen in someones campsite (I expect they hadn't followed the rules to put all smelly objects in the bear locker!) and the campsite erupted in noise. It was like nothing we had ever experienced before camping. We assume the bear was chased off although we wonder how quickly that was and if some people were having a little too much fun making a racket!
The next day we had a wander around Camp Richardson and stopped off at the ice cream parlor for one of their huge ice creams. We then headed to the Marina to hire a Jetski for an hour. There was a wait so we chilled out in Beacon Bar again with another Rum Runner and listened to the live music they have on every afternoon.
Jet skiing was awesome, we had a huge amount of fun. Luckily neither of us fell in as the water in Lake Tahoe is very cold as it is mainly snow melt. The hour seemed to disappear before we knew it and we had to head back to the Marina.
For dinner, we cooked a rack of ribs on the fire. I was a little nervous about doing this as ribs can be chewy but Lee cooked them well, they turned out to be really tender.
Thankfully there were no bear visits on our second night although we were both constantly looking in the shadows for a big black figure just in case.
Blog 94/95
ReplyDeleteGlad you took heed and did not leave tube like objects on offer for bears :-) but by the sounds of Sam’s descriptions some people did not :-(
Glad you enjoyed the jet ski expieiance and came back safe and sound :-) must admit while I was watching I wished that there were speed limits on those things ( if only not to set Mum’ s heart racing as she thought it very fast ) but I cheered up very much watching Lee’s brilliant dancing to a well known tune while he was baebequing those yummy ribs. Probably my most loved vid as there was a lot of you bot in it! Mum XX
Banging tune for this vid. The views looked pretty good even with the smoke, so I can only imagine what it must be like ordinarily.
ReplyDeleteThe pitch looked good and the bear locker was cool, seen them a few times in vids now. The food for dinner looked yummy, especially Sam's fish n chips.
With all the noise the bear would have had no idea which was to run/head, I do think some folk were making the most of it, your comments tell the same story, any excuse to make a big noise.
The ice creams looked good although is that Root Beer, Lee has, it always makes me think of drinking germolene and as a result, I'm not a fan!
The Jetski did look a lot of fun, I've done it in northern scotland before and trust me you didn't want to fall in the north sea in the autumn!!
Loved the ribs they looked really nice and the dancing and lip-syncing was funny too - I like the kid that rides by in the background, he is not quite sure what he has seen!!