Starting out on our Hot Air Balloon flight. Boarding our boat to take us out into Lake Tahoe - at 6am. The long arms on the boat are designed to stabilise the erected balloon.
We're ready! Waiting for the balloon to be aired - on Lake Tahoe.
One final check to see if the wind direction is safe for ballooning - The release of the weather balloon on Lake Tahoe.
Almost ready to butane the balloon for flight.
Claimed to be the most prettiest view in America - Emerald Bay on Lake Tahoe.
Another view of Emerald Bay, Lake Tahoe.
The private jetties near Incline Bay, Lake Tahoe.
View of Lake Tahoe near Incline Village. Basically on the northern lakeside and actual site where the Ponderosa was located in the TV series Bonanza.
Choon in front of the crystal clear fresh waters on Lake Tahoe near Incline Village, California.
Lake Tahoe taken from the north part of the lake.
A zoomed picture of the moon taken at sunset when we were having a beach dinner on South Lake Tahoe.
We left our accommodation at 5:45am into a cold brisk mountain morning and drove to the Tahoe Marina. The crew of the balloon company met us and not long after we were on their specially designed sailing craft to find a good spot on the southern side on Lake Tahoe. The weather was perfect - clear skies the lake was almost flat but...but....but....the weather balloon that was released indicated that the wind at 2000 feet above us was too strong and a decision was made to abort the flight for the day. It was disappointing however for safety reasons we applauded the crew in making that decision. The intent was to erected the balloon on the lake and on the specifically designed boat (the only one in the world) to set us soaring at 10000 feet above sea level (2500 feet above lake level) and float over the lake. The descent would be to drop onto the boat and thence take us back to land. It was that close to start airing the balloon before the the abort decision. Being a few hours ahead of our schedule we drove the 71 miles around Lake Tahoe. Entering Nevada (as the stateline intersects Lake Tahoe) and stopped at the famous Emerald Bay - supposedly to be the most beautiful view in America. Needless to say it was amazing and an experience to see such a site. The waters in the bay are brilliant blue and with the ponderosa pines surrounding the bay was awesome. Continuing on we had lunch at Incline Village and completed the circuit of Lake Tahoe returning mid afternoon. After a nanna nap by all of us we bought some dinner at the local supermarket and enjoyed a sunset dinner on Lake South Tahoe lakeside beach. Interestingly there are not much public beaches around Lake Tahoe. It appears that the majority of lake side property is in private hands. The beach we had dinner on needed a special pass to enter. In fact the beach had a security fence around the entrance. Tomorrow we are off to the desert town of Winnemucca and will be stopping at Virginia City. Hopefully if Ben Cartwright is there we will have a word regarding his privatisation of the Ponderosa around Lake Tahoe. Cheers.
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