Poor Jerry didn't sleep well last night due to ongoing acid indigestion.  He was up most of the night and so was tired in the morning.  After our breakfast (for me, waffle with Nutella) he decided to stay and rest while I drove out to Emerald  Bay.  Hiked down to Vikingsholm; this was a beautiful summer home built by a magnate's widow with her fortune in the late 1920s.  The home is based on Scandinavian architecture she had seen on her travels.  She spent summers here with her and her guests.  Very lovely place and interesting architecture.

The hike down to Vikingsholm is 1 mile down a steep hill to get to the home (and another mile back up what feels like a steeper hill).  It was a pleasant morning so very nice hike (although going down was tough on the ankles/calves).  Took 20 minutes to get down and about 30 to get back up.

The lake in Emerald Bay where Vikingsholm is located is very beautiful. Turquoise water and a little island with the remains of the tea house that was part of this former estate.  Gorgeous views all around.

Returned to hotel about 1230 by which Jerry was much better.  We headed out for lunch.  Stopped at Jason's Beachside Grille and had some chowder which came with a nice garlic bread and melon slice.  Had some greasy onion rings too; ordered before we knew the chowder came with bread, etc.  

Headed down the road and stopped just over the NV border to visit a casino.  Went into The Nugget.  Very small casino.  I put in $5 in a slot machine; ended up with $20 after going up and down.  Jerry lost $1.  We only played for about 10 minutes.  Slot machines are complicated now; it's not jut put in a quarter and pull the handle, you have to decide how many rows to play and how many credits each line or whatever.  Didn't really figure it out but when I won a big pot to put me at $20 I was happy enough to walk away.

Drove down the road to South Lake Tahoe.  We were after this really good salad dressing that we had the last time we were here in 2005 at the Swiss Chalet restaurant.  The place has been closed several years but they still sell their dressing out of a storefront.   Anyway, after getting there, they were gone off to a farmer's market in a nearby town so we missed them anyway.  Whatever.  We walked around some of the places in town.  There was this art gallery that had a lot of kinetic sculptures for sale.  The sales guy was giving us the pitch but they were way out of our price range ($2800-5800 +).  Stopped in a few other little shops and galleries.

Then it was off to the Himmel Haus restaurant up the hill and through this little faux Tyrolean style housing development.  We had this energetic young guy waiter that was fun.  Their schnitzel was too huge but really good.  Also came with a side of Kaese Spaetzle (yum!) and Rotkohl (ok, not really my fav).  Washed down with Rauchbier from Bamberg and it was delicious.

One the way back, we missed a turn and ended up on a big freeway into Carson City, so that was a 30 minute detour.  Got back around 8:00 p.m.  

A good last day on vacation.  We are ready to make the trek home tomorrow...