A Lake for All Seasons

Week 3, Days 15 - 20 ~ Lake Tahoe, CA

Having arrived in South Lake Tahoe (SLT) late yesterday afternoon we were exhausted from long days of driving, lots of sightseeing, and too much packing and unpacking.  If you have followed the posts on this trip you will know that we have camped a total of six nights in four different locations, stayed in a houseboat for 4 nights, and have had four nights of motels in three locations.  We are tired!  But now we are looking forward to staying in a nice timeshare condo for a week, hopefully to rest and relax. 

Beautiful Lake Tahoe

Lake Tahoe

One of the things we have learned from this trip (call it our insight into our retirement) is that we can go camping or we can go on vacation.  But doing both on the same trip doesn’t work for us.  We have to bring too much stuff, starting with the rooftop carrier!  We packed both camping stuff and normal vacation stuff; we brought all sorts of gear, coolers, bags of food, clothing for all sorts of weather (except I was cold in San Francisco), and we had our books, camera, laptop, iPads, iPhones, and all the chargers, etc.  Just too much stuff!

So we decided to spend our first day in SLT reorganizing and shipping some things home in boxes that we no longer needed.  We easily filled two boxes for shipping and felt much better having lightened our load.  The rooftop carrier is still with us, filled with the large camping gear, but at least all the rest of our belongings will fit more easily in the back of the car.  My mood improved immediately.

We had booked a timeshare through RCI at the Lake Tahoe Vacation Resort.  (www.diamondresorts.com/Lake-Tahoe-Vacation-Resort)  My brother and sister-in-law (L&D, I'll protect their names) who live in CO will join us for the week.  They have a smaller unit on the same floor while our unit is a 1 bedroom with a full kitchen.  Our unit will become the gathering place for family time.  The resort is right on the Lake and conveniently located for walking to restaurants and to Nevada (translation, the casinos) along the main drag.

After settling into the condos and getting caught up with L&D, we all headed over to McDuff’s for dinner, an Irish pub not far from the resort.  After a great meal, it was early to bed for all of us. (www.macduffspub.com/tahoe/index)

The next morning we invited L&D to join us in our condo for breakfast since we had quite a bit of food left from our camping days.  This became the routine for the week, and one of the more enjoyable parts of the time together.  L is my younger brother (another brother and sister between us in age) and we hadn’t seen them in nearly a year since our father’s passing.  There seemed a lot to get caught up on.

After visiting we walked up the street to check out the casinos.  There are four majors in town, Harrah’s, Mont Bleu, Harvey’s, and the Hard Rock.  None of us are very big gamblers but it’s interesting to people watch and once in awhile follow our son’s advice and “put it all on red.”  Actually, L & Bob enjoy playing craps so they did try their luck for a few hours over the week but there were no big winners at the end of the week.  D and I enjoyed shopping; what else are two girls to do?

Lunch was on the patio at the Hard Rock and we decided to walk back to the resort and drive the southwest shore of the Lake.  It’s beautiful!  The water is multi-colors of blue and green, the mountains circle the Lake providing stunning views in every direction.  There are a few turnouts, and in particular a very nice viewpoint at Emerald Bay.  We drove up to Tahoe City on the west side of the lake, walked on the beach, and returned to SLT.  It was a nice afternoon.  

Emerald Bay

Emerald Bay

The next day D suggested a drive to Squaw Valley, about an hour away.  Squaw Valley was the site of the 1960 Winter Olympics.  (squawalpine.com/events-things-do/olympic-museum) The tram was open so we decided to take a ride to the top.  The views were beautiful from the top of the mountain and we enjoyed visiting the Squaw Valley museum; Bob and I are both old enough to remember those Olympics so it was meaningful.  The village had several shops and we enjoyed lunch at Fireside Pizza - wonderful!

Village view from Tram

Looking up to midway of tram

 

Flags @ Olympic Museum

Olympic Rings

Sierra View

Squaw Valley Peaks

Lake Tahoe View from Squaw Valley Tram

The day had been long and we called it an early evening.  I thing we are all getting old; our routine seems to be early to bed and early to rise.  No wild nights on the town for us!

The next morning at breakfast, the phone rang and it was my Mom and my sister with news about a death in the family.  They had gone to Denver to support my aunt whose 37-year old son had passed unexpectedly, and there were a number of details to tend to.  They needed some emotional support and reached out to us.  A couple hours of phone calls and text messaging consumed our morning and put a damper on the day.  We did head to the casinos that afternoon, and hoped to win some money to send to my aunt for funeral expenses.  That didn’t work out but I’m sure we will all support her however we can.

Dinner was simple; across the street was one of Tahoe’s long-standing, family-owned restaurants, The Red Hut.  Their specialty is all American burgers, dogs, fries, and malts.  Yummy!

The next day was all about exploring the Lake.  We booked a scenic lake cruise on the Tahoe Queen, a sternwheeler that departs from Zephyr Cove.  (www.zephyrcove.com/cruises.aspx) The two+ hour cruise provided some limited narration about the geography, geology, history and culture of the Lake.  The cruise was very interesting and we enjoyed a beautiful afternoon of scenery, sunshine and clear blue water.  Lake Tahoe is the second deepest lake in the US behind Crater Lake, and the colors of the water are brilliant blues, greens and turquoise.  The water is cold, but the lake never freezes over completely in the winter.  Because of the cold water it has some nice lake trout and kokanee salmon.

Everyone was in the mood for pasta so we sought out Primo’s, which was highly recommended by TripAdvisor.com.  (www.primositalianbistro.com/) Wonderful!  Every detail of the meal was enjoyable starting with the excellent service provided by the personable waiter and very good food.  Among us we had Marsala, Picatta, and lasagna; all of it a meal to remember.

All of us were feeling a bit lazy and in need of some exercise the next day.  So off we go golfing at the community nine-hole, par-three/four course.  Everything at SLT is beautiful and this course is very pretty and also challenging, especially since neither L or D, or myself, are not really “golfers.”  Bob can hold his own at golf.  It was fun and easy to spend a couple hours enjoying being outside and occasionally making a good shot. (www.tahoeactivities.com/bijou-municipal-golf-course/)

Bijou Golf Course

I think the week and “family” were catching up with us, or at least with me.  I decided to hang out at the condo and take it easy.  It was nice to get caught up on some personal business, do some blogging, write postcards and relax.  D did some of the same, and L and Bob walked over to the marina and enjoyed looking at boats and having a beer.  A relaxing afternoon!  We continued the "keep it simple and relaxed" attitudes by having dinner at the resort restaurant and called it an early evening.

Our last full day in SLT and the weather changed to a drizzly, overcast day.  Knowing we still needed to get some exercise we all took a walk on the shore and enjoyed frequent stops to admire lakeside homes.  All of us agreed that Tahoe would be a good place to own a property; it is a year around resort with boating and golf in the summer, skiing and other snow sports in the winter.  If only . . . that was the mantra for the morning!

Having done all the sightseeing and gambling we wanted to do, and since the weather was rainy, it seemed like a good afternoon for a movie matinee followed by delivery pizza and cards at the condo.  It was our last evening together and we would each go separate ways tomorrow.