We drove to Lake Tahoe through Mount Rose pass at 8,900 feet. The snow-capped peaks of both Mount Rose (10,776 feet) and Slide Mountain (9,698 feet) glistened in the sun. Snow started at about the 8,000-foot elevation. At the Rose Summit Trailhead, the sandy path twisted upward. We followed it uphill at least 600 feet, snapping pictures of spruce and fir on the rocky slopes, with the Sierras in the distance. "Do you realize we are stepping on pulverized granite?" asked Andy. "It's sand on top of a mountain."
One more bend, through the pass, and there, sculpted in front of us between the trees, was Lake Tahoe, a blue sapphire gem in a sea of dark green trees.
As we walked the public beach in Lake Forest, Andy reminisced, "When I came here years ago the day in March before the conference in San Francisco, I had never been anywhere with so much snow. Some houses had drifts to the second floor window. I can't believe we are out in shirt sleeves on November 1st."
Washoe Indians came here to hunt, fish and rejuvenate their spirits long before Tahoe City developed in the mid-1800's. On a day like today, I understand how they felt.
Many of the state park areas closed for the season, but we had no difficulty identifying open trails for walks along the beach and through the fir and cedar forests.
By 3 p.m. shadows stretched long at Tallac Historic Site, which included the 
foundation of the old Tallac Casino, illegal in 1911, but located far from California law; the estates of the Pope, McGonagle and Heller families; and Valhalla, the summer resort of the rich and famous of the early 1920's. Walking through the groves and among the old buildings, I could picture couples attending the Tallac Great Gatsby festival in August, just like they did at Gatsby's parties on Long Island. ("In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars." from F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby)
foundation of the old Tallac Casino, illegal in 1911, but located far from California law; the estates of the Pope, McGonagle and Heller families; and Valhalla, the summer resort of the rich and famous of the early 1920's. Walking through the groves and among the old buildings, I could picture couples attending the Tallac Great Gatsby festival in August, just like they did at Gatsby's parties on Long Island. ("In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars." from F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby)
"We can't miss the circus tonight," said Andy as we headed back to Circus Circus. "We've already missed the 7:00 p.m. "Umbrellas," but we can catch the 7:30 p.m. "Aerial Triangle" and the 8:00 p.m. "Diablo" performances. Just as we stepped into the arcade area, a little girl approached me, sobbing hysterically. "I can't find my mmmother and and I don't know... and my father... I don't know where... and and my little sister. I don't know... where where they are."
A couple hugs, some "don't worries," and a quick search for the casino office solved the problem. The casino employees found her parents, and we were the stars of the circus without even performing.
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