Thursday 10-5-23 Taylor Creek Visitor Center & Tallic Historic Estates

 

Lake Tahoe

We had another gorgeous day. It was a little nippy in the morning, it was in the low 40s but the high was in the mid 60s.

When I went to bed last night I turned off the Wave3 so when Larry got up he had to turn it back on. In the living area of the Minnie it was 56 degrees. But when I got up it was very nice. I made cinnamon rolls for breakfast.

After breakfast we got ready to go on a hike. Our hike was 4.5 miles. We decided to hike over the Taylor Creek Visitor Center and do their two trails, Rainbow Trail and Lake of the Sky Trail. We stared on the Rainbow trail from the parking lot. It was a beautiful paved and boardwalk nature trail. It had signs throughout the trail explaining the Taylor watershed and how all the surrounding area works together to complete a giant puzzle. As we walked we saw a swamp area, where there were ducks, cranes and other fowl. Taylor creek is very nice and it had some Kokanee salmon swimming. We saw magnificent views of Mount Tallac and Lake Tahoe. We said hi to people, who were hiking the other way. They asked if we saw any bear because yesterday there were bears fishing there. After walking the rainbow trail we walked Lake of the Sky Trail. This trail took us to the shores of Lake Tahoe and to the Historic Estates. This trail wasn't paved but it was easy to walk. We saw a stand up paddle board, a couple of kayaks and a big boat filming them using a drone on Lake Tahoe. We also saw a couple of wakeboard boats with someone wake surfing. We saw and heard dogs having a get time playing in the lake. As we walked we learned about the early wealthy settlers on Lake Tahoe. We walked by the remains of a casino. We were pleasantly surprise to come upon the Historic Estates Area. At the beginning of this historic site we saw a beautiful cabin, that was Dextra Baldwin Cottage. Dextra Baldwin had saved some of the pine trees from getting logged. The buildings on the grounds are only open in the summer but you can still walk around the grounds. It had a couple of estates. One was Pope Estate, it was huge. A we walked there were signs on each building. One was the butler and nanny cabin and others were the tutor, maids  and other servants. A huge gorgeous house, which was the home. When guests came to visit they could choose between three cabins, each one was unique. One was a view with a window, Pacheco for a more luxurious stay and twin cabins for a bigger group, it had four bedrooms and two baths. The estate had a huge boat house with an old boat in it. All the buildings were restored. They had a big garden where there was a cute scarecrow and a lot of plants. Each plant was marked what it was. The other estate was Heller Estate "Valhalla". It wasn't as big. One of the buildings has been made into a Performing Arts building. This building looks over Lake Tahoe. Another building can be rented out for special events. The grounds of the historic estate sites were beautiful. After walking around we headed back to the campground. During our hike there were benches for you to sit on and each bench back had a different carving, a bear, duck or eagle. They were very well kept up. Some of the benches were 11 years old and others were only a couple years old. It was a great hike/walk.

Mount Tallac

 

Taylor Creek

 

The swamp

 

 One of bear benches

 

 

Dextra Baldwin Cottage

Scarecrow in the garden

 

Pope's house

 

The cabin with a view

 

The Valhalla (Performing Arts Building)

We spent the afternoon relaxing with a book. 

Our bathroom sink was draining slowly so I tried using baking soda and vinegar to unclog it. I made it worse. Larry had to take the drain plumbing apart. He found a huge clog. Got it all cleaned out and now it drains great. I'm so lucky to be married to a handyman.  

After dinner we did our evening walk to Fallen Leaf Lake.