Lake Tahoe

Tram ride up the mountain at Squaw Valley.

After we left Sac, we headed to the North shore of Lake Tahoe.  Our friends Alec and Kristen have a condo up there that we've been wanting to borrow for years, and finally had the opportunity to do so!  Their place is in Tahoe City on the NW corner of the lake.  It is affectionately referred to as the "Ghetto in the Meadow" and was a perfect spot for us to hang out and relax for our time there!

Roller skating at the top of Squaw Valley.

Upon arriving, we unpacked and all took it easy for a bit.  I ran over to see a friend, Mike Tentis, on the West shore that I met years ago in the turf industry, and later learned that he was a Farmhouse alum for U of Minnesota.  On the way home, I ran by the grocery and stocked us up for a few days as well as got something to cook on the grill for dinner that night.  We enjoyed a quiet night hanging on the deck enjoying the cool weather.

Swimming at the top of Squaw Valley!

On Monday, we decided to go to Squaw Valley, the home of the 1960 Winter Olympics.  It seems that the Olympics were much smaller then than now, as there were only about 25 countries that participated in 1960.  Squaw is a big ski resort, so we got passes and rode the aerial tram up to the top of the mountain.  The passes included roller skate rentals for the hockey rink, as well as pool passes.  I went skiing here with my buddy Kipp back in the mid 1990s in late June.  It was over 100 down in San Jose, and we drove up early to Squaw.  Skied in shorts and no shirt; got sun burned; went swimming; and drove back down the hill to 100+ in SJ all in the same day!  That was a neat experience for a kid from Indiana at the time!  After the tram ride, we came down and kicked around in Tahoe City for a bit that afternoon.

Danica getting grumpy because she needs food!

Tuesday was the day we went over to Kings Beach area to rent paddle boards and go onto the lake.  I was feeling kind of light headed (probably elevation I guessed), so dropped off Bish and the girls and went back to the Ghetto and took a nap.  They had a great time paddle boarding and playing in the water!  Danica had paddle boarded at a girl scout camp a few summers back, but it was the first time doing so for Bish and Darby.

Paddle boarding on Tahoe.

That evening we went looking for a spot to eat and see the sun set on the water.  We initially went to a place called Gar Woods near the water, but only had a beer there as it was pretty darned expensive (we thought! - a cheeseburger started at $21!)  The food looked good, but we passed on dinner there.  Instead we went to a local rec called the Bridgetender right near where the Truckee river flowed out of Lake Tahoe.  We sat outside near the river and enjoyed some decent bar food and a beer.

Rafting on the Truckee River.

We had made reservations to raft the Truckee River for Wednesday.  Our trip began around 11 am, and only took 2 hours or so, but was a fun experience!  It was the four of us in a heavy duty blow up raft.  There were some small rapids, but nothing too exciting.  No one fell in/off the raft, and we took some time to stop and chase the geese around near a sand bar once too.  Rafting the river was one of the better experiences we did on this trip IMHO.  We cooked out again that night and hung out on the deck to boot!

Miniature golf at Kings Beach.

We originally were planning to leave Tahoe on Thursday morning and go to Yosemite National Park with the girls.  But the Ferguson Fire had started a week or so ago just Southwest of the park, that was making the park very smokey, and had closed one of the entrances to the park.  We decided to pass on Yosemite on this trip due to the smokey environment.  There was no point in driving into the valley just to look at smoke and not be able to see Half Dome or El Capitan.

Slackettes giving a "bear hug!"

Instead, on Thursday we just kind of took it easy and screwed around in the afternoon.  Everyone slept in and took it easy in the am.  We finally ventured out of the place around 1 pm and headed for Incline Village... but we never really found much to do there!  I thought there was some sort of central area there to walk around and shop, but if there was, we never found it!  So we went back to Kings Beach area to walk around.  We stopped for ice cream at the Log Cabin, and then went across the street to play miniature golf!  We (sadly) determined that the girls inherited their mothers lack of touch putting!!!!  After miniature golf, we headed back to Tahoe City and had dinner at Jake's overlooking the lake/a boat dock for our final night in Tahoe!  It was a nice conclusion to our time in Tahoe City at the Ghetto in the Meadow!

Rafting the Truckee.

I have to say, being a fan of micro brewed beers, I was very disappointed in the micro breweries in the Tahoe area, as well as the limited selection of beers at most local restaurants.  There was a brewery/restaurant in Tahoe City, Tahoe Mountain Brewery that we visited and the beer wasn't that great.  We also drank some beer from Alibi Brewery in Incline Village, and didn't think it was that good either.  Most of the local restaurants were limited in their beer selections - SNPA, Deschutes Fresh Squeezed, the two locals listed above, and Blue Moon was all that most of them carried.

You gotta love a place that serves beer in schooners!  Sargent Preston's for those from FH!!!

We got up Friday morning and started to clean the Ghetto, and headed out midday for South Shore and then down to Mammoth Lakes area....

My future retirement rocking chair.