At Shasta State, you'll find the ghost town of Shasta City from the Gold Rush days, complete with restored stagecoach, barn and courthouse, with eerie reminders of where prisoners were kept and sometimes hanged. When you're ready to dry off, there are also plenty of land-based activities, like camping or hiking in the national forests and parks, following walking trails through the 220-acre arboretum or spending time exploring two fascinating parks: Shasta State Historic Park and Turtle Bay Exploration Park. There's a variety of water sports in Redding, from whitewater rafting on the Sacramento River to waterskiing, swimming, fishing and sailing on Shasta Lake, one of four magnificent manmade lakes in this northeastern California town.

No matter which side you choose, a getaway to stunning Lake Tahoe will not soon be forgotten. The California side draws families and outdoor enthusiasts while the Nevada side beckons those looking for big name entertainment and casinos.

Located between California and Nevada, different sides of the lake tend to attract different types of visitors. The winter season, which actually starts around Thanksgiving, brings throngs of skiers to area resorts.

In the summer, hiking, windsurfing, golfing, fishing and swimming (usually in wet suits due to the lake's brisk year-round temperature) are all the rage. At 6,225 feet above sea level, Tahoe is the highest alpine lake in the United States and has long attracted vacationers from around the world.

From the early Indians to authors such as Mark Twain, folks have tried to capture the beauty and mystique of the lake with nicknames like 'Big Blue' and 'Grasshopper Soup.' Others maintain that it's impossible to describe the magnificence in words. With the bluest of blue water and the greenest of green surrounding forest, Lake Tahoe, quite simply, transfixes.

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