Kayaking on Lake Tahoe

          
With photos of kayaking,  I guess this doesn’t technically belong in a blog about being “on the road,” but we did have to travel 200 miles along Interstate 80 and 50 to get here.  And, we did have to hoist the kayaks onto the top of the car, strap them down and drive to Lake Tahoe.  Getting the kayaks off the car is no small feat either, but the results are more than worth the effort involved.

I remember when we decided to buy our pair of kayaks at an end-of-the-season-sale at a sporting goods store a couple of years ago.  The price was hard to beat because the store had ski jackets, boots and snowboards to display.  We had already purchased racks for the car so we were sort of committed.  We pulled up right out front of the store. Having read the "how-to" instructions that came with the racks at home, we tried to discretely hide the manual in the car. After all, we didn’t want to reveal ourselves to be the couple of newbies we were.  

As we were lifting the second kayak onto the car,  a guy about our age was walking by the store and watched us for a short while.  Finally, as he passed by, he said,

“Livin’ the dream, I see!  That must be great.”

          For me it took that comment from a complete stranger to really make me realize that I actually was ‘livin’ the dream.’  Instead of buying a couple of kayaks‘someday’ we were doing it that day.  It symbolized in a bigger way, that we weren’t waiting any longer to start doing stuff.  Enough somedays had already gone by. It was time to start doing some things that might be fun, so why wait?  And, kayaking is just one of a whole list of things that are great fun, not to mention great exercise!

            There is something about watching the world,  sitting in a kayak on the water and looking toward the land, that is like no other perspective.  I’m sure the people whizzing by in motorboats must think we are envious of them as they speed along, chopping the water in rhythmic waves, blasting their music for everyone to hear.  But they are quite wrong. Paddling along the lake allows us the time to notice the eagle's nest on the top of the dead tree, to see the difference between the sapphire blue of the deeper parts of the lake and the aquamarine blue of the shallower parts where submersed boulders and trees seem close enough to touch, even though they are probably ten feet below.  One advantage of the recent drought in California is that the clarity of Lake Tahoe is especially good because there has been less rain run off from the mountains and streams.  

           When we spent a half an hour getting from Baldwin Beach to the mouth of Emerald Bay, we felt like we had earned the prize of the amazing views of the surrounding mountains, Fannette Island and Vikingsholm, a Scandinavian style home build in 1928. Here in Emerald Bay boats slow down, kayakers are everywhere and the Tahoe Queen paddle-wheeler occasionally chugs through. It seems that people speak in whispered voices and annoying music is silenced almost out of reverence for this spectacular place. The only sounds are that of birds and the rustling of trees.   Of course, the scenery anywhere around Lake Tahoe is stunning, but the views from a kayak can't be beat!