14/05: Last Night in California
Category: General
Posted by: The Agnew Family
During our drive yesterday we drove through a number of small towns and they all had the "western" look. I found it a bit surprising as I always thought of Texas and Arizona as the "west". As we thought about it more, we realized that the area we were driving through was part of the gold rush and a lot of these towns were established during that time (1800's) and it's actually the time period that gives the "western" look. The history of the area is related to the gold rush, but today instead of seeing mines you see wineries. Last night we stayed in the town of Placerville and this morning we walked around the old downtown area including the farmer's market.
A couple of the old buildings.
We drove through the mountains to South Lake Tahoe. As the elevation increased we saw snow in the bush. The height of this pass is lower than passes on the other roads I had look at driving which are still closed due to snow.
South Lake Tahoe. One way to increase water frontage is to build canals.
It took awhile but we finally found a beach access point. A few people were sitting on the beach and fewer were in the water --- by my guess the water was maybe 50 to 55 F.
It was an interesting combination of bathing suits and snow capped mountains.
This plant is called sarcodes or snow plant or snow flower. I got this from the internet "Sarcodes is a monotypic genus of a single springtime flowering plant in the heath family (Ericaceae) containing the single species Sarcodes sanguinea, commonly called the snow plant or snow flower. It is a parasitic plant that derives sustenance and nutrients from mycorrhizal fungi that attach to roots of trees. Lacking chlorophyll, it is unable to photosynthesize.[1] Ectomycorrhizal (EM) symbioses involve a mutualism between a plant root and a fungus; the plant provides fixed carbon to the fungus and in return, the fungus provides mineral nutrients, water and protection from pathogens to the plant. The snow plant takes advantage of this mutualism by tapping into the network and stealing sugars from the photosynthetic partner by way of the fungus.[2] This form of parasitism is known as mycoheterotrophy." Maybe too much information but I thought it was interesting.
The beach we found was beside the Tallac Historic Site which consists of three estates one is from the late 1890's and the other two from the 1920's. They are examples of "Old Tahoe". This is the Baldwin house.
One of the cottages on the Pope estate. The homes are open for tours starting the Memorial Day weekend.
I've been avoiding posting food photos but this pizza tasted as good as it looked. It's called Acapulco Gold and is a cross between a pizza and a taco --- even has a cornmeal crust.
We timed our visit to South Lake Tahoe well as it is shoulder season (even weekend rates are reasonable) --- skiing is done and boating and hiking hasn't started yet.
A couple of the old buildings.
We drove through the mountains to South Lake Tahoe. As the elevation increased we saw snow in the bush. The height of this pass is lower than passes on the other roads I had look at driving which are still closed due to snow.
South Lake Tahoe. One way to increase water frontage is to build canals.
It took awhile but we finally found a beach access point. A few people were sitting on the beach and fewer were in the water --- by my guess the water was maybe 50 to 55 F.
It was an interesting combination of bathing suits and snow capped mountains.
This plant is called sarcodes or snow plant or snow flower. I got this from the internet "Sarcodes is a monotypic genus of a single springtime flowering plant in the heath family (Ericaceae) containing the single species Sarcodes sanguinea, commonly called the snow plant or snow flower. It is a parasitic plant that derives sustenance and nutrients from mycorrhizal fungi that attach to roots of trees. Lacking chlorophyll, it is unable to photosynthesize.[1] Ectomycorrhizal (EM) symbioses involve a mutualism between a plant root and a fungus; the plant provides fixed carbon to the fungus and in return, the fungus provides mineral nutrients, water and protection from pathogens to the plant. The snow plant takes advantage of this mutualism by tapping into the network and stealing sugars from the photosynthetic partner by way of the fungus.[2] This form of parasitism is known as mycoheterotrophy." Maybe too much information but I thought it was interesting.
The beach we found was beside the Tallac Historic Site which consists of three estates one is from the late 1890's and the other two from the 1920's. They are examples of "Old Tahoe". This is the Baldwin house.
One of the cottages on the Pope estate. The homes are open for tours starting the Memorial Day weekend.
I've been avoiding posting food photos but this pizza tasted as good as it looked. It's called Acapulco Gold and is a cross between a pizza and a taco --- even has a cornmeal crust.
We timed our visit to South Lake Tahoe well as it is shoulder season (even weekend rates are reasonable) --- skiing is done and boating and hiking hasn't started yet.