Lake Tahoe

This is Emerald Bay in the south west corner of Lake Tahoe, just over 6,000 feet above sea level. This makes it effectively an Alpine lake. If ever there was an idyllic spot to escape to, this is it, and is why thousands of San Franciscans do every weekend. With development concentrated in South Tahoe, as you drive up the western shore it becomes wilder and more remote and, today, more or less at the snow line. Even at that height it was warm enough to stand on the shore in a tee shirt, admiring the Lake's beauty.