Off to Tahoe

School's out, the bags are packed, and we're off to Tahoe for a week!

As a kid, I spent all my summers in the Blue World, have seen its people turn from flocks of

feather-ed haired skiiers to second-homed San Jose tekkies.

Two years ago, a chunk of the south part burned. My husband and I visited that area, and I wrote a newspaper article about it.

Even with its cultural and biological changes, the Lake itself is still as lovely as ever.

Our favorite places: jumping off the granite at DL Bliss State Park, combing the white beach at Sand Harbor, and hiking to the Crown Jewel--Emerald Bay. Two other nearby lakes we like visiting are Angora and Donner.

We hike, bike, boat, and swim. We eat Lakehouse pizza in Tahoe City, and gather up groceries at Obexer's Market. Every so often, we'll go to Circus Circus in Reno for monorail rides and buffet cream puffs. We check out all the fire stations.

Sometimes we fish, but we never shop. Or see Shakespeare.

There are too many other fun things to do.

Clean air, crawdads, pine trees, and the Queen Mary: Tahoe is more than vacation for us. It's a tradition.