I had a 2-week vacation recently, a really nice respite from work. I took the chance to visit Lake Tahoe, a place I heard so much about and really wanted to check it out. Los Angeles was thrown into the mix over the two weeks.
It was a 3-hour drive to Lake Tahoe and I slipped in a pit-stop at the City of Sacramento. I was actually quite curious about Sacramento. It is, after all, the capital of California. Apart from the Tower Bridge, that was about the only interesting thing about the city. The 1-hour stopover did not really thrill me. Nothing much going on around the city. Boring.
I was promised great scenery at Lake Tahoe and I was not disappointed.
Lake Tahoe is a freshwater lake located along the border of California and Neveda, a good 250 kilometres northeast of San Francisco. The lake is surrounded by mountains on all sides. It is 514 metre deep and that makes it the second-deepest lake in America. The entire area around the lake oozes peace and serenity. It was so relaxing and quiet to just stand there, soaking in the breadth of the scenery. All troubles shriveled and died on sight. The spectacle was breathtaking and I think it would be even better during the winter.
Give me a lake-facing cabin with high speed internet access and I will retire here.
The following week after Lake Tahoe was my third trip down to Los Angeles. You always hear a lot of people spending summer at the beaches in L.A. This trip, I finally managed to get to be one of those and visit Venice Beach proper. It was relaxing to sprawl on the beach and soak in the summer rays. Happy times.
Venice beach has got a very vibrant feel to it, With its Venice Broadwalk, paddle tennis courts, basketball courts and all kinds of facilities, it was bustling with activities all day long. You cannot help but to feel chirpy.
A perfect venue to laze the day away and people (or mostly babe) watch. It is totally like one of the beach settings portrayed in Baywatch.
I was coerced (or convinced, depending on who you talk to) into visiting Disney California Adventure Park, a theme park right next to Disneyland Park in Anaheim.
This place validated my views that kids have absolutely no concept of fear. It does not exist in their young minds. For me, on the other hand, it is a whole different story. Took me a while to get hold of my nerves. Perhaps a sign that I am getting too old for such rides. To my credit, I was actually desensitised to it all after my third California Screamin' ride.
We took a lot of adrenaline-pumping and nerve-wrecking rides for the entire day. The rides at California Screamin' and The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror are unmistakably not for the faint-hearted.
You are warned!
In between bumming at the beach and screaming my lungs off at the theme park, I also dropped by at the museum over at the Getty Center. I was not big on the whole art culture affair but the architecture of the center was well worth the trip. It was quite a exhilarating geometrical experience; the melding of lines, circles and rectangular blocks. Richard Meier did a great job.
I have my issues with Los Angeles. The entire place is just way too huge; makes it very bleak to live here. I am too used to living in a compact city, filled with tall skyscrapers everywhere. This vast emptiness scares me. People spend half their day on the freeways just commuting between places. it is at least 45 minutes of driving between each stop. Even though, I am usually quite oblivious to the environment, the air quality here is bad and the smog gets to me.
Nasal issues aside, overall it was still an extremely enjoyable vacation. I was really looking forward to the break. Good fun.
More photos can be found at my photosets on Flickr: Trip to Lake Tahoe and Trip to Los Angeles.