Boat ride

Emerald Bay, Lake Tahoe

luckyzmom and luckyzdad

We drove back to Harvey's where we were staying overnight in a lake view room with, as we discovered early, an incredibly comfortable bed. Early (anything before ten is early for us two vampires) the next morning we grazed at Harrah's breakfast buffet, then joined about 16 others on the bus that was taking us to the "Tahoe Star" to tour Emerald Bay.

Entering Emerald Bay


Fannette Island, the only island on the lake.

The "Tea House", perched atop Fannette Island, is a one room stone structure built in 1928 by Mrs. Lora Josephine Knight, the founder of Vikingsholm estate.

Mrs. Knight and her guests occasionally took tea here in the afternoon at a large oak table in the center of a room 16 feet square.

Vikingsholm

Mrs Knight spared no expense to create a replica of an 11th century Viking castle. An army of 200 workers completed the 38 room mansion in just one summer. The grounds are now part of Emerald Bay State Park. Features of the home include delicate paintings on ceilings and walls, six Nordic fireplaces, intricately carved "dragon" beams, Scandinavian antiques and sod roofs seeded with wildflowers. There is a hiking trail off of highway 89, which is one mile in length and drops 500 feet in elevation to the house, which can be toured in the summer.(Restoration was being done in the area of the blue tarp. And many of the antiques had been removed during the recent fire which came within 4 miles of the castle.)



The round library on the Southwest corner of the Vikingsholm, built specifically to hold a round Chinese cashmere rug purchased by MrsKnight for $40,000 in 1928. The rug is still in the castle today.

Back side of Fannette Island

I just love the rocks at Lake Tahoe and paint them often.