Two gentle but different days around Lake Tahoe with Peter. Day 1 took us back to the Wild West, with a visit to "authentic" Virginia City, complete with gun fights and the like. Stupid David forgot the camera, so no pictures of the Bucket of Blood Saloon and the Suicide Table, but probably just as well. Slightly more seriously, Virginia City was the 'birthplace' of Mark Twain, as it was there that reporter Sam Clemens first used his famous pen name. More seriously still, they say that the silver Comstock Lode built San Francisco. Difficult now to imagine this small town tourist trap being home to thousands of miners, w****s and other hangers-on a century or so ago.

Day 2 was basically a very short drive up the Lake to Emerald Bay, said to be one of the most photographed spots on the planet. It was magical and, as with so much else that depends upon eyesight and memory, photos cannot begin to do it justice. Emerald Bay draws you in, slows you down and refuses to let you go - a place to simply be. The spawning salmon on the way back to the condo were a bonus.

As for the casino buffet meal over the border in Nevada, that was an experience in itself - think holiday camp cafeteria, but with pink roast beef, sushi and so much more; there were over 50 desserts from which to choose and even a couple of sugar free pies for me. Twenty dollars, which included any soft drinks and coffee, covered it. The après dinner tour of the casino was fun, from hundreds of mindless, elderly ladies on the slot machines to high roll tables with 1,000 dollar limits. Unlike Las Vegas, the slot machine junkies have to stop at 2.00am and cannot get their next fix until 5.30am. What do they do for three and a half hours? We didn't win or lose anything, but not placing a bet probably had something to do with that.