Mt. Rose, Lake Tahoe, Nevada, USA

28 Jun 2013              Mt. Rose, Lake Tahoe, Nevada, USA

            Our arrival into the Lake Tahoe area was not the most scenic or ideal.  The rainstorm kept us from seeing much of the lake and the 50 mph wind gusts made us just hunker down in the tent.  The poor weather conditions set up yesterday and today for pure enjoyment!  There is a light breeze, skies are sunny, and temps are in the 70’s.            

            We are staying at Mt. Rose campground and found it fitting to run the trail to the top of the actual mountain.  This morning we set off to run as much as we could of the 5.5 mile trail, but we knew that the top would be slow hiking.  We were right.  The top was unbelievable.  We had the best view of the lake and could see all the way to Lassen Volcanic Park to the northwest.  Lake Tahoe was the vivid blue that it is known for and the run down went by quickly.  When we made it back to the campground we showered under the 5 gal water cube and as I write this, we are relaxing in the hammocks. 

            Now for some funny stuff….

            Why is it so cool and popular to bash my town of Las Vegas?  This has happened a few times while in conversation with total strangers.  Today, it happened on top of Mt. Rose.  We were just chatting with a lady on the top, trading light stories, then it came up.  “So, where are you guys from?” I answer, “Oh, we’re teachers in Las Vegas on our summer break.  The reply, “Wow, I couldn’t live in Las Vegas.”  How nice.  You just trashed my city and for what reason?  To give you a little hippie street cred?  I went on to mention how we like the area, there were music jobs when we needed them, and how we like the Mt. Charleston area, and mountain biking in the Cottonwood Trails area.  We said it is a great base camp to access to some of the most beautiful country (Zion and Grand Canyon anyone?) all within 5 hours.  Nope, she was not impressed.  What gives people the gall to fire off little comments like this?  I never said, “Your town sucks” or, “I could never live there.”  We hear this a lot, and now for the blog, I will interrogate the next person (nicely) to get to the bottom of this.  Poor Las Vegas.  What did it ever do?