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Day 2 of this holiday. We awoke with hangovers at Lake Tahoe. This is a real favorite place and we stayed at the Best Western. We stayed there 5½ years ago at the end of the diet. Delighted to say I'm not a pound heavier now than then. We took photos on the pier - just to compare the happy times now with the happy times then.
Time to move on and we drove through the mountains to Mono Lake. Very nice journey - some amazing scenery. We stopped for a sandwich lunch at Topaz Lake. Nothing special. However a few miles later we discovered the village of Bridgeport. We're going to stay there on another trip, there was something very pleasing about the appearance of the place. Clean, tidy little town. And it's close to the Ghost Mining Village of Bodie.
And then on to Mono Lake. Not as spectacular as I hoped. Interesting however. It's all that remains of a vast post ice-age glacial lake which covered most of Nevada. 10,000 years ago, it was about the size of the North Sea - now it's about 65 sq makes. No river exits the lake - so it's very saline. The City of Los Angeles has been taking water from rivers which feed the lake - causing the lake level to decrease. In the process, underwater structures called 'Tufa Towers' have surfaced. These are like stalagmites - only there's no cave. They stand in the open - natural pillars of calcium carbonate. Probably less than 1000 years old. Aa very dramatic landscape, and the shore is encrusted with salt.
We went to the visitor center and a real nice ranger called Lou from Carson City, Nevada explained about the ecology of the region andd showed us the film. Thanks, Lou. Folks like you make visits to National Forests, National Parks and State Parks such a pleasure. You take a pride in presenting your wonderful country - thank you very much.
And then on into Lee Vining - the only village for miles around. Not a lot to say about this. Not a lot of charm - however the Lake View Motel's clean, confortable, inexpensive and has a great view of the Lake!
Lightbox click here - 3.6mb download
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