East Shore

The next stop on my visit out west was Lake Tahoe. We spent the day on the Nevada side, along the shore near Incline Village.

The water was unbelievably clear, shading from turquoise to deep blue, with every stone on the bottom visible from the shore. Giant granite boulders rose out of the lake, and tall pines grew right down to the edge. In the woods, huge pine cones lay scattered along the trail, and a curious ground squirrel stopped on a rock long enough for me to photograph it.

I had seen pictures of Tahoe, but none of them prepared me for standing beside it. With each stop, the West kept making a stronger case, and I was starting to wonder whether my answer had already been decided.