For days on end the sky is one stretch of blue, the lake in front of me has an even deeper shade of blue - and even some birds are blue; one that keeps hopping across the beach has a quirky black quiff (‘kuif') and a vivid blue tail. I'm at Lake Tahoe, the largest alpine lake in the US, in the Sierra Nevada at almost 2km altitude. It is known for its clear water and its views: on all sides you can see snow-capped mountains. Lake Tahoe is a beautiful place.

Apparently I haven't even seen its most beautiful features (Emerald Bay is on the other side - and the lake is rather big), but I've been happy to be stuck with Kings Beach and most of all Speedboat Beach - which, oddly (and happily) enough, doesn't have facilities for speedboats. It is tucked away in a corner of Agate Bay and strewn with huge boulders, which make excellent seats to lounge away the day, reading a book. Then once in a while you'd get hot and bravely dip into the water - which, consisting from melted snow right from the mountains, is rather cold: 17 degrees at the moment. Perfect to chase away anything that ails you, or so they say, so I ventured in quite a few times to get rid of my cold - and I can attest: the longer you stay in, the more comfortable it gets! (ok, that is based on experience with staying in up to 15 minutes).

I can only boast of one outing during my week here - I walked to Nevada. That might sound pretty impressive, but it was only another ten minutes on from Speedboat Beach. And as I didn't care to go to any of the casino's right on the other side of the stateline - gambling is legal in Nevada - after five minutes I strolled back to Tahoe hostel in Kings Beach. The village is nothing much, but the hostel is one of the best I've ever seen, all the way down to the scented soap in the drawers, the communal kitchen where I prepared cactus leafand chayote squash, and lots of tea. What more do you want?

I've also been spending some time in Sacramento, a city not really known as a tourist attraction, yet I was charmed. I fell in love with the Victorian house the youth hostel is in (which they shipped across the street in 1995 because they wanted to build a new town hall), loved visiting the Capitol and lounging on the grass in front of it, and enjoyed walking around the wonderfully preserved Old Town. On Friday it's back to Sacramento for one day, because on Saturday night I will be taking the train (yes, the train) to Seattle - 20 hours of sightseeing the country!