Last month, my wife and I took a trip to the Lake Tahoe area over the Fourth of July holiday week.  While photography was not the primary purpose of my trip,  I still managed to capture some nice images with all the beautiful scenery around.  The only downside to the trip was that it was extremely crowded, and I missed some shots that I wanted to get due to full capacity at the state parks and limited parking in other areas around the Lake.  

The photo above of Emerald Bay was captured from the roadside on the west side of the Lake.  The calm waters in the bay and mountains silhouetted across the water gave me an image I was pleased with,  representing one of the iconic photos of Lake Tahoe.  Fanette Island in the bay is the tallest island in the Lake, rising 150 feet above the waterline.  The photo below of the island from a different vantage point features the incedible clarity of the Lake waters and the rugged beauty of the mountainous topography.

An afternoon drive around the lake led to the photo below of an afternoon storm moving in taken from the Logan Shoals Vista Point on eastern Nevada side of the Lake.  I was a bit surprised that there were not more scenic viewpoints like this on the drive, but many areas are private land and heavily developed, while roads through state parks and national forests often were far enough away from the Lake to not have unobstructed views. This spot offerred a terrific view of the Lake and distant mountains.

On July Fourth, we drove into Truckee, California some distance away, and enjoyed the holiday activities there.  Later in the afternoono,  we drove up to Donner Pass, and captured this photo of the lenticular clouds above Donner Lake, which was bustling with holiday activity.  Crowds were gathing already on the Pass for the sunset fireworks show that night.

A morning return later in the week gave this image of the Donner Summit Bridge, which wwas constructed in 1926 on the historic Lincoln Highway.  Before the construction of Interstate 80,  this was the route you took when travelling to Sacramento and San Francisco from points east of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. It remains a remarkable engineering and architectural achievement.Thanks for stopping by to take a look at this post! Follow me on Instagram or Vero, where  I post a new photo most weekdays featuring my current photographic activities. 

Scott