So, the song refers to a car, so sue me.

At the Loretto Auction I bought a Tahoe Cruise, and yesterday was the day we decided to do it. We had to be there by 12:30 so we left the house at 9:30, which worked out well. With roadwork (right on Echo Summit, fortunately on the outside!) we took two and a half hours to drive the distance.
Soon we had found the Marina, parked, and turned in our "Commodore's passes" for our tickets, then we had time to snoop around in the shops before heading to the dock. En route we were greeted by Tahoe Tessie, and I realized that the "dinosaur" I had hugged in King's Beach was actually the mythological answer to the Loch Ness Monster. That's where this picture was taken.

The Tahoe Queen docked and we boarded. We walked up to the top deck, after looking at the menus on the first deck. Once we were in place, Captain Jerry went through his safety spiel, where the liferafts are located and how to wear a PFD. I whispered to Bernadette that this was when she should start the haunting pipe music. Captain J. must have read my mind, as he commented that there were no icebergs on the lake, and up till now there had never been any problem.

And we were off! Once we had admired the minnows in the water and seen the lake color change from shallow green to deep blue, we went in for lunch. It took the rather harried waitress a few minutes, but soon Bernadette and I had chicken sandwiches, and Rich a chef salad. I was determined to try the "Slime", which was a screwdriver variant. ("Scraped up from the bottom of Lake Tahoe.") We liked the description of the "Scarlett O'Hara" which includes two "thumblefuls" of demon rum.

Cap'n Jerry kept up a running narrative of the geology and history of Lake Tahoe, as we looked out of the windows to see what he was telling about. Sometimes, though, I missed key words. He did talk about the purity of the lake, which is slowly deteriorating. It would take hundreds of years to flush any pollutants out. We saw some algae patches, from the extra nutritious treated effluent. Anyway, Captain Jerry kept bragging on the purity of the water and saying it's what brought Clinton and Gore there last year. He kept saying that as though it were a GOOD thing!

I'd hoped to be through with lunch before we actually got to Emerald Bay, but we'd started into the channel just as Rich finished. Captain Jerry told of an osprey nest to port, and we walked over there to look out the window, but Rich ran out of film just then. So I tried to take the picture myself of the mother bird and two fledgelings. Rich and Bernadette were on the stairs when the Captain told about the bald eagle chicks on the other side. I did see them, though it would have been pointless to try for a picture. I joined my family, then, after I finished my lunch.

Cascade Lake was pinched off from the main lake by a glacial moraine. It seems Emerald Bay barely missed the same fate. The channel between Eagle Point (where the osprey was) and Emerald Point (where the eagle was, go figure) is quite narrow. Inside this penilaguna is Fannette Island, Tahoe's only island. Atop this is a stone structure which was used as a teahouse by the inhabitants of Vikingsholm Castle on the side of the Bay. We passed close to this building, which is gorgeous. Mrs. Knight thought the Bay was like a fjord, so she wanted a Norse fortress there. It was built in 1928 and 29.

The island is a breeding ground for Canada Geese in the winter. We were regaled with tales of the old rummy who lived there in the 1800s. He once went on a rum run to the North Shore in October and froze a couple of his toes, which he self-amputated and kept in a box. Eventually, his need for booze overcame his common sense, and he disappeared in a November storm in the late 1880s (?I think.)

There's the remnants of a huge slide along the highway. It seems "Dangerous Dan" was hired from the east to widen the road four feet, and somehow miscalculated and brought down much of the side of the mountain. He didn't work for the California Highway Department long!

Then the boat started its run home, and Cap'n Jerry talked about movies in the area, and Bonanza, and such. Rich got some good pictures of the osprey, and tried for the eagles. They brought out some really good chocolate chip cookies which won the south shore contest.

When we disembarked, we got into the car and drove the mile into Nevada where we parked in Harrah's lot and "did" the casinos. Bernadette had a few quarters to unload, and won $5. She wisely takes her winnings. Once she'd lost her nickels I gave her a $2 roll, and she won it and a lot more, giving me back my money. Later, I handed her three handfuls of my nickels when I cashed in a $10 bill. Myself, I didn't do too well with the nickel slots till I got to Caesar's Palace, which is where, 18 years ago, I won that $212 on three nickels. This wasn't THAT good, but I was down to my last nickel and playing a "Fourth of July" machine. If the "Fourth of July" symbol comes up third, it spins again till you win. I had already gotten 5 coins and 1 coin this way, so it was interesting seeing what would come up. It spun and spun again, and rolled around, till finally three white 7s, $10.00, came up. That kept me going through the rest of the casinos. I left with $8, so I was $8 down. Rich, who thought of the cruise as further celebration of his retirement, wasn't getting a break from the casinos and lost about $30. (Which was all he planned to gamble: not like he's taking food out of our mouths.) Bernadette came out about $10 up. Fortunately, while she enjoys it, she doesn't keep at it, but takes her winnings and goes home. We discovered that Harvey's still has dime machines. Since my change jar at home is mostly dimes, I hadn't bothered. At least we know for next time.

We left Nevada at 7 and had dinner in Placerville, and so home. What a nice day, and a good way to beat the heat.