Wanting to show Stephen and Karen a new place to explore, we headed to North Tahoe to hike the Stateline Fire Lookout trail.

Originally built in 1936 at elevation 7,017 feet, the Stateline Fire Lookout tower was dismantled in 2002 after technological advances in fire detection made human spotters too expensive and obsolete. That doesn't stop its location from being spectacular. The entire trail affords vistas of the Lake and has historical plaques. So one can hike and learn all at the same time.


After a delicious dinner at Lupita's, we joined Dr. Bob Emmons, the world's leading scientific expert on gratitude at TERC. It was a very informative lecture by a very charismatic speaker.
Dr. Emmons is a professor of psychology at the University of California, Davis, and the founding editor-in-chief of The Journal of Positive Psychology. He is also the author of the books Gratitude Works!: A 21-Day Program for Creating Emotional Prosperity and Thanks! How the New Science of Gratitude Can Make You Happier.

Research on the science of gratitude continues to accelerate rapidly. However, questions still remain: What are the functions of gratitude in the economy of human social behavior? What mechanisms are involved in the expression and detection of gratitude? Experiments and recent neuroimaging studies offer important clues as to why gratitude matters, how it works, and how we can collectively capitalize on its promise and potential.

Then we played around with the awesome "Shaping Watersheds" Interactive Sandbox.

See with your hands. Explore how water moves down mountains into streams and through a watershed using the new Shaping Watersheds interactive exhibit. Build mountains, lakes, rivers and other landforms and make it "virtually" rain! Watch the water flow through the watershed that you created. 

The "Augmented Reality" interactive sandbox uses state-of-the-art technology and your imagination to illustrate how our landscape is connected by the water that flows over it.

What a wonderful, diverse day for which we are so grateful!