Anyone have a trip report on Lake Tahoe they can share?
(ובמקום שאין אנשים השתדל להיות איש (אבות ב:ה...
I went with my wife and one and a half year old daughter last August to Lake Tahoe for two days. I didn’t frequent DDF back then so I didn’t write anything up then, but here’s a TR attempt from last year’s trip – hope this helps you:
Background: We arrived in San Francisco Thursday night and spent Friday touring San Francisco. For Shabbos we went to family friends in Palo Alto. On Saturday night we drove to the outskirts of Sacramento (about 2 hours away) which is about halfway between the Palo Alto and Lake Tahoe and stayed at a cheap hotel there. We then left Sunday morning for Lake Tahoe….. The much closer airport for Lake Tahoe is in Reno, but we wanted to tour San Fran a bit and only were staying in Lake Tahoe Sunday & Monday night. On Tuesday morning we left the Lake Tahoe area for Yosemite for Tuesday and Wednesday night and drove back to San Fran for a Thursday afternoon flight back to NY.
Interesting, my takeaway from going to Lake Tahoe then Yosemite back to back was that Yosemite is of the most awesome (as in causing feeling of awe) places to go while Lake Tahoe is of the most pretty (aesthetically pleasing) places in the U.S.
Lodging: I found a fantastic place on Homeaway.com (
https://www.homeaway.com/vacation-rental/p3654303) which was about $150 a night + $100 cleaning fee ($400, $200 a night) total. It is in South Lake Tahoe (the California side) and had two bedrooms (so our daughter had her own room), kitchen (to heat food up), and the décor was a cool rustic style. We were a block away from a lakefront park (there had been a long drought so the water was quite far back from the actual park) called Regan Beach where I went for sunrise and sunset each day. There was a CVS and supermarkets along the main street which was very convenient.
We arrived Sunday midmorning after a two hour drive from Sacramento. The end of the drive into the Lake Tahoe area is scenic, though can be a bit scary/intimidating at times. Our first stop was Camp Richardson Corral were our daughter, though only one and a half, took a pony ride. There was no one else waiting for the pony ride so they walked her around for a while which was great because she was gleeful! After a nice lunch break at across the road “on the waterfront,” we went Birkholm’s Water Sports to water ski and tube on the water. About a 20 minute drive away, they charge $175 an hour for whatever you’d like to do in/on the water. My wife wanted to go water skiing (she had never water-skied before) and they provided all the equipment (full body swimsuits since the water was freezing, skis, etc.) and they also brought along tubes for water tubing. Apparently, it is not easy to water ski for after several failed attempts – even with our instructor being most encouraging - we resorted to water-tubing (yes, baby went too). Enjoying the incredible mountain views from the water + the option to water ski &/or tube made this money well spent and very enjoyable. After drying off, we went to walk around the shops at heavenly village. Heavenly Village is a upper-scale ski area/village/shops, but even in the summer it is alive and wonderful. There was live music and some nice quaint retailers aside from the classic gift shops, etc. [The Gondala is the big attraction there, but I didn’t want to spend the money ($46 per person) so we skipped it. I think there are zip line activities in the area which are probably a blast, but also not my thing.] There was also an antique car show which was on display – boring. We walked farther down the street to the Nevada side of South Lake Tahoe and stopped into Harrah Casino – not such a nice casino.
The next morning I decided to “splurge” on Tahoe Photographic Tours
http://tahoephotographictours.com/ ($300 total ) – Keith (the main guy) was ill so his wife picked us in a nice Infinity Jeep and took around. The uniqueness of the tour is that the guide is a professional tour guide who will both take pictures of you, as well as teach/ assist with your own photography exploits. We went to Emerald Bay (of course… it is not overated!!), the Hellman-Ehrman Mansion area (Sugar Pine Point State Park - the beach part is cooler than the mansion part), and an incredible hike near Emerald Bay (forgot the name of the park where the hike was
) where besides for the stunning lake views, folks were collecting these huge pine cones which were all over. We didn’t go to the Vikingsholm because of the walking wasn’t feasible with a toddler. I don't have their photos on hand, but see below for some of mine...
We got back at about 2pm and after resting up a bit, we went to the east side of the lake to Sand Harbor (aka Lake Tahoe Nevada State Park ) which was truly beautiful with, of course, great views [there are great views from everywhere!]. Paid a little fee to get in and although the beach was a bit crowded (so we didn’t go swimming) there are nice trails along the beach and amazing rock formations. Getting there you have to go through Cave Rock Tunnel which is cool.
Wiped after a long day of hiking and touring, we retired early to bed for an early morning drive to Yosemite (with Bodie detour along the way, ואכמ"ל).
Camp Richardson Corral Pony Rides
On the lake
- I'll spare y'all the pics of us trying to water ski
Heavenly Village
Emerald Bay
Sugar Pine Point State Park
From some hike, I forgot where at Lake Tahoe
Sand Harbor
Cave Rock Tunnel
Regan Beach Sunrise/Sunset
