Saturday, December 22, 2007

Trip to Lake Tahoe..

Pak Mat's offer to join him, his family and friends for a trip to Lake Tahoe was very tempting indeed. Although my son was fretting on how he has had enough of snow in Boston, we couldn't resist! Anyway, it was Christmas holidays and everyone, including my hubby had a few days off. Most office workers in Malaysia pun ramai yang bercuti this time of year. That Saturday morning we stopped at Pat Mat's place in Stockton first before leaving with the whole team. It takes 2 hours driving from San Jose to Stockton and another 2 hours more from Stockton to South Lake Tahoe. So, Stockton was a welcomed stop especially with Kak Ros's steaming 'nasi lemak' waiting for us. Most parts of California doesn't snow in winter so we don't normally use snow tires. Sometimes, chains or snow tires are necessary on the roads leading to Lake Tahoe, but alhamdulillah we did not need them that day and our box of chains was left unopened. With Kak Ros leading the pack our travel was smooth and relaxing stopping only once at a gas station to 'relief' ourselves. We used Routes 88 and 89 - some what 'jalan kampung' and very scenic, but eventually re-connecting with Highway 50 into South Lake Tahoe. Highway 50 passes the Lake Tahoe Airport en route to shoreline communities and eventually Stateline, Nevada. Lake Tahoe is located along the border between California and Nevada. The border runs across the lake and two thirds of it is on California's side. Lake Tahoe is a large freshwater lake in the Sierra Nevada mountains of the United States. It is home to a number of ski resorts, summer outdoor recreation, and tourist attractions. The bungalow which Nana booked is located at Zephyr Cove which is a few miles more from South Lake Tahoe and crossing over into the state of Nevada. Since most cities in California tak ada snow so orang sini pergi ke Lake Tahoe untuk ski, main dengan snow or... gambling. Gambling is legal in Nevada, pernah dengar nama2 bandar seperti Reno... Las Vegas...Carson City ? Well, they are all in Nevada. One could identify the borderline between the two states once approaching the numerous hotel casinos - Harrah's, Harveys, Bill's Casino, MontBleu, Horizon, Lakeside, and many more smaller ones. Lake Tahoe is created due to earth's movements many, many thousands of years ago. So you have this vast mass of water about 22 mi (35 km) long and 12 mi (19 km) wide and has 72 mi (116 km) of shoreline - which makes it necessary for them to even have their own Coast Guard!. The lake is known for the clarity of its water and the panorama of surrounding mountains on all sides. The area surrounding the lake is also referred to as Lake Tahoe, or simply Tahoe. MasyaAllah.... memang cantik! Hish...kalau orang punya, puji jer! he..he.. Warisan tanah kita pun cantik2 belaka..kecantikan yang tersendiri... tapi bila dah tercemar yang jadi tak seronok tuu.. Semoga Bukit Cahaya Seri Alam aka Bukit Cerakah dapat di jaga keasliannya dan tidak terus di terombosi. Google la tempat tu dan saksikan property agents making money out of it on the internet! Well, maybe I am becoming a sentimental fool! Anyway, back to my story... Lake Tahoe ni, is the second deepest lake in United States, with a maximum depth of 1,645 feet (501 m). Memandangkan tasik Tahoe ni sangat la dalam, para penyelidik berpendapat bahawa sekiranya terjadi gempa bumi di bahagian yang paling dalam, ianya boleh mengakibatkan tsunami yang mempunyai ketinggian gelombang dari 3m hingga 10m. Dan melintasi tasik tersebut dalam masa beberapa minit sahaja. Tsunami pernah terjadi di Lake Tahoe sehingga ketinggian 100m, .....berpuluh2 ribu tahun yang lalu.. Minta2 jangan la jadi lagi dalam zaman kita ni. Kami sampai ke 107, Skyland, Zephyr Cove dalam pukul 3.30 petang. I will tell you more about this house we rented and the housing area in my later posting. Nana, Pak Mat's daughter got it from Craigslist. It's a lived-in house but the owners are out bercuti and advertised it for rent in winter. Talk about making money while vacationing!Almost every year Nana and her friends would come to Lake Tahoe to ski. Tergedik2 la my children nak ikut but it's a NO - NO for now. Ski-ing is actually an expensive sport.. silap2 patah riuk pulak! That's me being over protective and a negative mom... Snow attire itself costs a small fortune! Thermals, winter jackets, snow pants, snow boots... gloves. Luckily, Haniza & Sharifah offered a few items for us to 'pinjam' when they heard we were going. And, I am thinking of returning the jackets we bought back to the store.. he..he.. Here, barang boleh return.. with no questions asked! So they ended up playing & sliding in the snow near the bungalow like crazyy... suka giler! The sky was still clear & bright at that time, maghrib masuk around 5pm. Actually, mak dia orang pun cuba jugak sliding a few rounds.. he..he.. Even little Yasmin was enjoying herself & showed no signs of being cold! :-)









7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Salaam, we went for the orang tua vacation, nice 2.5 hrs boat ride on Dixie Queen to Emerald Bay, gi art gallery and met the artist! Next we'll do a summer vacation plak, insyaAllah. They say it's beautiful by late June.

zidnee 'ilmaa said...

wow!...romantik gitu.. :-)

Anonymous said...

Maklong tak la rasa guilty sangat tak bg masuk tempat snow masa kat genting dulu tu.. dah la kena bayar mahai jus for a couple of hours...haa la nii kat free..mainla puas2 dgn snow free tuu..:)

azura ahmad samsudin said...

hai kak ainal, nie zura. how are you? kitaorang baru balik dari vegas. hahha dok dlm hotel saja sbb tak berani nak bawak budak2 nie jalan2 kat sana tu. cuma keluar waktu time housekeeping jalan sekitar Paris and Ballys.

Bila nak blog pasal yr LA trip and Rose Parade?

Anonymous said...

hai Maklong.. bila nak mai sini?
-tiqah-

Anonymous said...

Hisy..nak p sangat2 dah Tikah ooi..doa2la..insyaallah target before..passport antarabangsa expire!!! which is quite soon. hmm before tikah balik Malaysia lah..hehe.

zidnee 'ilmaa said...

Hai Zura;
Monyok kejap sbb tak boleh ikut ke Vegas..he..he..Nak buat camno anak2sekolah. K.Ainal betul2 ingat dah reply to your comment, rupa2 nya belum! TQ for visiting my blog. Memang banyak nak becerita nie..teringat2 kat anak2 Zura yg comel2 tu.. semoga semua sihat sejahtera..
K.Ainal

Powered By Blogger