Miles 6391-6436: Lake Tahoe — Farther with the Farmers

7/27

That morning, we got up and watched some TV. We didn’t really have a plan, so I hoped we could play a game, but we kept watching. Eventually, we decided to go to the beach. The beach was so crowded, but we found a spot when a picnic table was vacated. The water was so, so cold and felt good at first after the long, hot walk, but I was shivering every time we got back out. Jackson convinced Grumpy to get in and so did my dad. It was awesome. After hanging out, swimming, and eating snacks for a while, we went back to the car. On our way back to the house, we stopped at an overlook over Emerald Bay. A place called Vikingholm, a 30-room mansion, was down on the bay. We didn’t visit it, but we could see it from above and it looked like a castle from the British Isles. Before going back to the place, we stopped at the lake-shore closer to where we were staying, to see about renting kayaks and SUPs (stand-up paddle-boards). After changing at the house, we went out on the water. Jackson was in a kayak and Mom, Dad, and I were on paddle-boards. I stood up after about ten minutes and it was so amazing. I’m definitely going to remember paddle-boarding. It was a pretty good work-out, the balancing took a lot of energy. Dad tried to stand-up before me and fell in… twice. Mom stood up near the end. I started getting really hot in the life-jacket out in the sun, so I gave Mom my paddle and my hat and jumped into the water. It felt so good, especially when I got back on the board. Jackson switched with Dad with about 10 minutes left and stood up and paddled around a small protected inlet for a few minutes. We showered and changed for dinner at Sunnyside. I got a salmon rice bowl that was the perfect size and also delicious. We came back from dinner and went outside to look at the stars, which were clearer than I have ever seen before. There were so many, everywhere you looked.