The lake from every angle

Happy 60th birthday, Dad! (We'll do our best to make it possible for you to make it to 61.)

To celebrate Dad's birthday we rode around Lake Tahoe. There were no major climbs but it was far from flat. The entire loop was about 73 miles so we were prepared for a rather long day in the saddle. We went around the lake clockwise and the first half was a bit hilly with spectacular views of the lake. We passed the very green water of Emerald Bay and the very teal water of Rubicon and Meeks Bay. Many miles of this stretch was on a paved bike path which was nice because we didn't have to deal with traffic--just children on bikes--I'm not sure which is worse. We made it to the halfway point which was North Lake Tahoe and stopped for lunch. Jonathan wanted to find a place where we could sit outside in the shade so we could keep an eye on our bikes. We came across just what he wanted. After a lovely lunch, we continued on our way into the Nevada side of the lake and around the eastern coast. There were many more spectacular views and relatively flat (or at least much smaller climbs) terrain. All was well until we got back to Route 50--we were still about 20 miles from the house and had to deal with wind, traffic, and steeper downhills. Thankfully there was very little uphill work to be done and once we were back to our familiar stretch of road about 5 miles from home, Jon decided to go for the stage win. I was just doing my best to stay on his wheel and keep the time gaps to a minimum. His reasoning for going hard was because he doesn't like that stretch of road (poor pavement and lots of traffic) so there was no reason to tarry. We were all fairly tired but felt much better than our hot day up Kingsbury grade two days prior.

Mom and Dad went out to dinner for Dad's birthday and Jon, Jessica, Maeve, and I went out for burgers. A good time was had by all. We're looking forward to seeing some large trees tomorrow with some bike riding as well.