Questions asked, and answered

While I was in Lake Tahoe, I asked my host Shanna ( a fine Canadian gal now living in the Bay Area of California) countless questions about the lake itself. How big is it? Do people fish? What kind of fish? How clean is the lake? Are there currents? Does it have its own Loch Ness monster-esque being in its depths?

Shanna knew the answers to many of these questions - for instance, the Lake has 72 miles of shoreline and is the 12th deepest lake in the world. It's also about 99% pure, making the water a deep, cerulean blue at its greatest depths and a light emerald in its shallow parts (such as in the aptly named Emerald Bay section).

The questions she couldn't answer - largely because their answers hail from the bubbling fountain of useless knowledge into which I'm always throwing pennies - were soon addressed on the M.S. Dixie , a large paddle boat that cruises the lake and offers a sampling of factoids in addition to lunch and drink service.

It turns out that no, the lake doesn't have any currents but does serve as home to sturgeon and bass, among other fish. And yes, apparently fishermen (and fisherwomen) have reported large objects moving along the lake's floor, and with no currents, they surmise this must be some huge prehistoric fish.

Shanna and I nodded solemnly as a pre-recorded voice relayed these facts to us, and we munched our wrap sandwiches and sipped a couple of Sierra Nevada brews - when in Tahoe, I say.

"Guess that answers the currents question," she said between bites.

"Indeed," I replied. But I'm still curious to know more about that rumored creature of the deep. How many are there? Has it evolved? Can we go on an expedition to find one? 

Does it ski?  

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