LAKE TAHOE: Staying in Genoa, Nevada; Museums; Arboretum; River Walk; Lake Tahoe

The second week of our vacation had begun. We left Ramona, California, taking our last looks at the bouldery mountains and the narrow, winding, mountainous road that we were happy to say good riddance to.

We drove north for 8 hours and the scenery changed dramatically. We were planning to stay in the Lake Tahoe area and were not surprised to see lots of snow in the mountains.

But then we were surprised that there wasn't more snow as we were driving through the forested mountains. 

We saw some lakes along the way.

We finally arrived at our destination: Genoa, Nevada. This town is situated in a beautiful valley nestled right up next to the mountains. 

When we located our resort, it looked really nice. 

The people there were so kind and helpful. We went to our assigned room which turned out to be a regular hotel-type room with the addition of a very small kitchen sink/cabinet area. There was no stove, only a microwave and the usual small, hotel-sized refrigerator. 

We were dismayed to see this arrangement as we expected a condo/apartment set-up. Then to top our disappointment off--it had a queen bed. Seriously!!!??!!! We are so spoiled now that we have a king bed. 

Glen decided it wouldn't hurt to go back to the office and see what could be done about this. We were informed we had, indeed, booked a studio room. UGH!!!!

But, ever so kindly, they got busy finding bigger accommodations for us to stay in for the week at no extra charge. HALLELUJAH!! 

I'm sure it helped that we were there in the very off season and they had a lot of empty places. 

They apologized for our new space only having a view of the parking lot and the mountains instead of the beautiful valley.

We assured them we did not mind at all. It was the bigger bed, the bigger accommodations, and a bigger kitchen that we were interested in. We could go outside to see the other views if we wanted.

We were very pleased when we walked into this unit and saw the kitchen. We had bought our week's worth of breakfast foods and needed a refrigerator to store it all in. There was a stove and a toaster, too. Perfect!!

Right by the front door was a washer/dryer closet. 

There was Glen's favorite spot. We had a fireplace. This one did not need a fire log. With a flip of the switch, we could have a fire anytime during the day or night.

Look at this magnificent king size bed!!!

Feeling like we had struck the jackpot with our change in rooms, we got all our stuff hauled in and then walked to dinner at the restaurant there at the resort.

As we waited for our food, I was looking at the resort's activities calendar. I wondered if Glen would want to participate in the bird watching. He loves so much watching the birds and squirrels in our backyard eating from the birdfeeder he keeps filled with birdseed. 

I loved this restaurant. Our meals were delicious.

Our waitress was so attentive and friendly. I was surprised when she told us there is not a lot of snow on the Nevada side of the mountain. She said if it snows, then it is gone by the next day. 

That was interesting to learn after hearing about how much snow had fallen this winter in the Sierra Nevada mountains.

The next day we drove to Reno and visited the Wilbur D. May Museum.

It was unique in that one part of it was dedicated to dinosaurs. We wished Ben's son Levi had been able to see all of them since he loves dinosaurs so much.

The rest of the museum showcased the collections of adventurer Wilbur D. May, who was a rancher, a pilot and a philanthropist. 

He made more than 40 trips all around the globe. The museum showcased the massive variety of artifacts collected from these trips.

This room was by far the most interesting with so many things to look at. I was wishing my dad and my brothers could see this in person. I tried to capture each angle of the room. There was so much to look at!!

After looking at all those artifacts, it was nice to enjoy some time outdoors walking around the arboretum.

We next went into the downtown part of Reno.

There was a beautiful walking path down by the Truckee River. 

We chose to eat our meal at the Wild River Grille there at the river front after our walk.

The rest of our afternoon was spent wandering through the National Automobile Museum.

We wanted a little frozen yogurt snack that evening and stopped at a place not far from where we were staying in Genoa. YUM!! 

Glen predicted we would see the young man who was working there at church the next day. 

Sure enough--the next day at church I spotted him while I was waiting for Glen after church was over.

In the afternoon, we decided to traverse the mountains to take a look at Lake Tahoe. 

We drove around part of the lake before turning around and heading back to Genoa.

There was a storm happening on the other side of the lake with all the low-hanging clouds hiding the mountains.

Thankfully, we did not have any bad weather as we were driving up and over the mountain and back home over the mountain.

This is the view on our drive back to Genoa showing the beautiful valley view of where we were staying.

It had been a great Sabbath and we finished up the day watching two Hallmark movies back at our residence.