Alexis and the Lake Tahoe Tumult - Erica Rodgers [1]
So even though she was only twelve, Alex, as most of her friends called her, was going to get started. She loved movies. She knew when she grew up, she wanted to work with films in some way, perhaps as a director. She’d lived in Sacramento all her life and knew of several good colleges that offered classes to prepare students for the film industry.
Since she loved to operate a camera, Alexis was very excited to enter the contest.
And what better place to record nature than in Lake Tahoe? From the time pioneers had discovered the lake in 1844, it had been a tourist attraction. People from all around the world visited the area to enjoy its beauty.
The lake sat in a bowl of earth surrounded by mountains and pine trees on every side. Tahoe was the world’s third clearest lake. Alexis had been waterskiing here before, and she remembered how she could see the bottom in places that were over one hundred feet deep. The lake was on the border of Nevada and California, with half of the lake in each state and the border running from north to south.
No matter which side of the lake you were on—the California side or the Nevada side—the lake was lined with plenty of resorts, vacation homes, and convention centers. In the winter, the area was also a popular place to ski and snowboard. Olympic medal winners had even been known to practice there.
Alexis had even seen these award winners practicing the last time she’d been at Lake Tahoe. Her dad attended conventions once or twice a year at the lake. And whenever they could, the whole Howell family accompanied him. They enjoyed the activities while Mr. Howell went to his business meetings.
Alexis recognized the landscape and held her breath for her favorite part of the drive. One last corner, and there it was. The view before them was a wonderful panorama. The brilliant lake shone in the sunlight like a perfectly smooth sapphire. The sight made Alexis gasp, even though she’d expected it. Suddenly the view was gone, replaced by walls and darkness.
Beep! Beep! Beep-Beep! Alexis’s dad honked the horn.
“What’s wrong?” Bailey jerked out of her slumber. “Are we falling off the cliff, Lexi?”
“Lexi? I’m Lexi now?” Alex asked with a smile. Bailey was well known for the nicknames she gave others.
Bailey didn’t answer. She just grabbed Alexis’s coat in fear. She frantically looked around. “It’s dark!”
“No, Bailey! We’re not falling off the cliff. We’re passing through Cave Rock. It’s a tunnel that has been around forever.”
“Well, why was your dad honking the car horn?” asked Bailey, still a little dazed. “Scared me to death!”
“Sorry about that,” said Alexis. “My dad honks every time we go through a tunnel. This wasn’t bad because the tunnel was short. You should have seen this one time! We were on the East Coast, and we went through this tunnel that was about a mile long. Dad honked all the way through! Doesn’t your dad honk the car horn when you go through tunnels?”
“You really need to come to the center of the nation,” Bailey answered. “Where I live, we’re in the middle of the United States. The land is pretty flat there.”
“Flat? You mean like the desert?”
“Well, we have hills and stuff. But we don’t have mountains—especially not with tunnels,” Bailey explained. “You have to go up to Wisconsin to see the bigger hills and huge rocks. They might have tunnels up there. I don’t know.”
Bailey lived near the middle of the state of Illinois, outside a city named Peoria. She was also still a preteen and the youngest of the group who called themselves the Camp Club Girls. The girls had all met when they shared a cabin at Lake Discovery Camp. They had become the best of friends as they solved a mystery together. And since then, the Camp Club Girls had continued to solve mysteries—mysteries that had baffled many adults!
As they drove into the resort area of Lake Tahoe, Alexis pointed out the hotel and convention center where they’d be staying. “It’s called a hotel, but it’s really a resort,” she said.