It has been over 30 years since David and Karen have been in Tahoe so we wanted to give them a quick overview of our hometown.

The Taylor Creek Visitor Center, located on the south shore of beautiful Lake Tahoe, is a summer must.  The visitor center is also the hub where four fascinating self-guided trails start and the home of the Stream Profile Chamber, a primary attraction at the visitor center complex.

We delighted in watching this Common Merganser family playing in the creek.

We received a great lesson about beavers as this dam was deconstructed to prevent flooding. After extinction in the Sierra Nevadas,  Castor canadensis were re-introduced to the Tahoe Basin between 1934 and 1949 in order to prevent stream degradation and to promote wetland restoration. Descended from no more than nine individuals from the Snake River in Idaho, these little guys are plentiful and busy beavers.

Wildflowers are in bloom- everywhere.

The Stream Profile Chamber, one of my favorite spots, located on the Rainbow Trail, provides a view of the stream environment allowing visitors to study a diverted section of Taylor Creek through a panel of aquarium-like windows and is a major attraction for local conservation and environmental education programs.

In 1969, Emerald Bay was designated a National Natural Landmark for its brilliant panorama of mountain-building processes and glacier carved granite. The natural beauty, geology and history of this unique island make it one of the highlights of any visit to the Lake Tahoe area and one of the reasons we bring everyone here!

Bliss State Park, a pristine beach, is named for a pioneering lumberman, railroad owner, and banker of the region. The D.L. Bliss family donated 744 acres to the State Park system in 1929.  We savored the sunshine.

Live at Lakeview Commons, a summer concert series, right on the beach, had its opening performance just for David and Karen... timing is everything!

Steve, Cyndi and hundreds of other Tahoans' undulating bodies joined together on the shore, as the sun set and the music pulsated.  It was pretty magical...