Tahoe is the largest alpine lake in the U.S.: go see desert, lake, and forest simultaneously from the Heavenly Valley peaks, take a swim, do some hot yoga in Truckee, gamble in Stateline, bring a tent to the granite slabs of Desolation Wilderness (much more photogenic than it sounds). Those "Keep Tahoe Blue" stickers? Fertilizer runoff feeds algae, lawns delenda est, search "eutrophication" for bummer news.

12 tiled U.S. Forest Service topographic maps combined with my bathymetric contours down to -1,600 feet, 1-pt text you gotta read with a magnifying glass (the closeups are magnified 10x). A piece of glass separating each isobath gives it a beautiful depth and parallax. Ten panes of glass bring this piece to 18 pounds; a desk companion rather than wall art for ah, safety reasons.