A Tahoe Summer

Even though we were all over the place during the 3 months we had a studio in South Lake Tahoe, CA, we still did plenty of exploring. The amount of natural beauty and free entertainment that surrounds Lake Tahoe is astonishing. Anyone who comes here and only sees Lake Tahoe is truly missing out. There are a multitude of tarns (mountain lakes carved by glaciers) to find, tucked away in the hills. We have explored Lake Tahoe, Fallen Leaf Lake, Angora Lakes, Lower Echo Lake, Echo Lake, Upper Echo Lake, Lake Aloha, Tamarack Lake, and Lake of the Woods. <--- And we didn't even scratch the surface! Many hikes feature multiple lakes, so putting in the extra effort to get there is worth it. Besides getting lost in nature, Tahoe has awesome music, food, and casinos (if you're into that)! We rented an open-floor plan studio for the summer at the Tahoe Pines Lodge, which is recently under new management. Three dudes just bought the lodge and it wasn't in the greatest shape. Let's just say improvements are a slow process.. Most of the other residents of the Tahoe Pines Lodge are definitely "on one" and occasional skirmishes at any hour were not uncommon. The landlords all clearly drink in excess most nights and they can't seem to keep on top of their responsibilities. For instance, the apartment came with an oven that wasn't working, but they got us to sign the lease by saying they'd have it fixed that evening... Try a month later after we had to withhold the rent! People are lazy. Despite the lackluster efforts of the landlords and the seedy, but harmless neighbors, living here was not all bad. The location is really unbeatable: we could walk to the lake, library, skate park, restaurants, bars, a movie store, and our bikes allowed us to avoid taking the car more often than not! Every Thursday, literally a 2 minute walk from our apartment, was a summer series called Live at Lakeview. From June to August, on Thursday evenings there is a beer garden, food, vendors, and of course live music! We moseyed on down there a few times throughout the summer. It's definitely a good place to socialize! Tahoe Bowl is also a quick walk away and they have $2 Tuesday, with $2 shoe rentals and $2 games per person. It's a great Tuesday night activity. It is always busy, but you can't beat cheap bowling (even though I am really, really bad).

Buttermuffin
purchases!

Our first day in South Lake was absolutely perfect! We biked to the South Lake Tahoe Skatepark, a park that is no stranger to us, to get our first session in. We popped in a shop called The Buttermuffin Smoke Shop, which isn't just a head shop, but also a skate shop! What a cool combo. We have made a few purchases in both departments. :) On the way back, we passed one of Kyle's favorite Mexican restaurants, Jalisco Grill. This place is super authentic and has a salsa bar! Chips come with every meal and you can load them up with their assortment of homemade salsas. The restaurant is in a shopping complex with a cool used book and record store called Keynote Used Records & Books. You could find any book you wanted in there, every wall is covered in shelves. As for the records, there are some great titles ranging from Frank Zappa, The Growlers, to Funkadelic, just use caution and check the records for damage. If you're feeling like spending a bit more, the dankest sushi place is also in this complex, Off the Hook. Kyle's mom, Gussie, got me a gift certificate for my birthday and it was soooooo delicious. My favorite roll is their Fire in the Sky roll, which has spicy tuna, avocado, cream cheese, and is then fried. I love any sushi with cream cheese in it. I ordered one of my first legal drinks there, the Sho Chiku Bai Creme de Saki, which was a chilled, sweeter saki. We enjoyed it so much, we have since ordered it again! Our waitress was so sweet and brought me a piece of Pina Colada Cheesecake on the house for my birthday. Pina Colada is my FAVORITE and I swear they made that just for me!! On that first day, we went to the public library, which is right across the street from our apartment, to get cards. Our place doesn't have internet and we like books too! Getting a card is free, so if you're going to be in the area for any period of time, consider getting one. By the time the sun was setting, Kyle hit up his friend Josh, who lives here. Our first friend in town!! We biked to his house, which is a few miles along a path that goes right past the lake. That night as were were biking back by the lake, the moon was framed by the mountains on the water's glassy surface, I felt very lucky to be spending a whole summer in this town.

Gettin' up the nerve to jump of the big guy.

The first trail we did was to Angora Lakes. Although, you can drive straight to the lake and park for $7, we preferred the 2 mile hike in. The parking lot is oftentimes full in the summer anyways and you don't have to pay to park at the trailhead, which is near Fallen Leaf Chapel. The hike in is definitely challenging, the majority being steep and rocky. However, the workout gets you hot and ready for the cool waters of Angora Lakes. We actually didn't know you could drive in the first time we hiked it, so you can imagine our surprise when we stumbled into the parking lot. Once you reach the parking lot, the lake is a little farther on a very wide and well maintained trail. You pass the smaller of Angora Lakes first, but keep going and you will be rewarded with a lake surrounded by sheer granite walls. We were even more surprised when we found out there were cabins you can rent, boat rentals on the lake, and a snack shack with "world famous lemonade." We definitely thought we were going somewhere a bit more remote, haha. We brought money the next time we came and tried the lemonade. I will vouch for it's deliciousness. There are multiple cliff jumps along the shore of Angora Lake, ranging in height from 15 ft. to 70 ft. I am comfortable sticking with the 35 ft. jump, but Kyle insists upon the 70 footer. I'm just thankful he doesn't try to gainer off of it like we saw some kids doing. To get to the top of the rocks, you either have to swim and climb up or take a bushwhacked path on the right side of the lake. We usually take the path so we can bring our stuff up there--- perfect spot for a joint or a brew! We met some kids there one of the times we went and got invited back to a house party, so it's a great place to make friends!! We have hiked to Angora Lakes 3 times this summer and despite it being a popular spot, it is still one of our favorite places that we visited and we will always return.

Lake Aloha

The hike we did to Lake Aloha was more of what I was expecting in terms of it's remoteness. This was a 12 mile round trip hike, that lead through a variety of landscapes. The trailhead is at Echo Lake. There is a great lookout to see the California-Nevada border and Lake Tahoe in the very beginning. The trail then continues along a footpath worn in the sloping granite surfaces that make up the shore of the lake. You pass insane houses that are only accessible via boat or the trail we were walking. You then pass Lower and Upper Echo Lakes, which you can tell were once part of Echo Lake, but evaporation has left small slivers of land dividing them. A short spur trail takes you to Tamarack Lake, which we ventured to for our lunch spot. There are parts of the trail that are rocky, steep, and exposed, but then the next thing you know you'll be ambling through a covered forest or a flowery meadow. We were pretty tired as we were reaching 6 miles, which meant we had to be close to Aloha Lake, right?! We ended up taking the optional route to Lake of the Woods, before finally stumbling onto Lake Aloha. Lake of the Woods and Lake Aloha make you feel like you took a trip to the moon. The white granite rocks look like craters from another planet. There are rock outcroppings in the middle of the lake, forming islands. You are allowed to camp here, but you must obtain a permit because the sites do fill up. We made it back to the shore of Echo Lake right as the sun was setting and we drove home to purple skies.

Pretty emerald...

One day we drove about an hour north to hunt for Emerald Pools, along the Yuba River. This spot isn't as well known and I had to read comments of forums to figure out where it is, but the directions in the link I provided are pretty good. We found a cliff to jump off, but I don't think we found THE spot. That's the thing, the whole river is pretty emerald... I would definitely like to go back and explore farther. After clambering along the rocky bank of the Yuba River, we settled at an especially green looking pool, with a small 10 ft. jump. It looked like the spot we found may have been a campsite. There was definitely a fire ring and someone had made a chair out of river stones! It was too cool. I didn't enjoy swimming very much because the water was so cold. Colder than any of the other water we've been swimming in... We caught the cliff jumping bug, so we are always looking for spots to jump. We heard of one called Mohawk Rock on Lake Tahoe, so off we went. You can get there by boat, but since we don't have a boat, we took the land route. The rock is inside D. L. Bliss State Park. It cost $10 to park inside, or you can walk in which doesn't take too long. You hop on the Rubicon Trail and walk less than a mile. Hopefully there will be people jumping, because the rock might be easy to miss. There is a clear area off the trail where people have gone down, so keep your eyes peeled. The rock really does look exactly like a face with a mohawk!! I decided not to jump off this one after I realized you have to climb completely vertical over this sketchy hump using a rope... no thanks.  Of course Kyle participated. There is a huge rock nearby that is unusually square that all ages can jump off 'cause it's not too insane. I did that one! Not too much farther down the trail is a tiiiiiny lighthouse that at the time of it's construction (1908) had the record for lighthouse at the highest elevation!

Lake Tahoe's east shore in Nevada is especially beautiful. There are some terrific places to watch the sunset since the sun sets on the west shore. Two well-known sunsets spots are Party Rock and Cave Rock. We were taken to these spots by locals. I can't find any great links with directions and I certainly can't give them to you, so just ask around! Cave Rock is easier to find because it's part of a state park. The east shore also offers a few nude beaches, which you should most definitely take advantage of. We fell in love with Secret Cove. It feels secluded from the rest of the lake because of the large boulders on its shore, creating a lagoon and giving you privacy. The water is crystal clear. More than half the people on the beach are naked, making it easy to join the masses! There is no better feeling than basking on a rock, letting the sun hit every inch of your body. We visited quite a few times. There are more nude beaches in the vicinity, but we stuck to this one.

On the main road leading to our apartment is a strip of wonderful restaurants and businesses. We used Sno-Flake Drive-In as our landmark for where to turn to get to our place. It's a really quaint, turquoise diner, so it's hard to miss. My friend, Rachel, said the food wasn't good there, but all I ever got was their soft-serve swirl cones. You can't really mess that up! Farther down the strip is a sandwich shop called Port Of Subs, which has a Subway feel, but is WAAAY better. They offer picnic packs, that come with a huge sandwich, chips, and drinks for a group. It would be perfect for a hike. Keep going and you'll get to Rojo's, which I feel like oddly always has karaoke. Our neighbor worked there, so we hit it up a few times. Video Library is my favorite place along this section, because it's a dying breed. It's not a cooperate Blockbuster, it's a mom-and-pop video shop for true movie lovers. Like old times, you get a membership and rent movies for 5 days at a time. If you don't get the new releases it's 5 movies, 5 nights for $8. Then every 10 movies you rent, you receive a free rental. It took me back to being a kid, going to the movie store, browsing all the titles, reading the backs. You just don't get that through Netflix! We watched so many movies we probably wouldn't have if we didn't visit this store. They have a staff favorites section, which has a lot of good recommendations, 'cause hey, who knows movies better than movie buffs themselves? Keep in mind that the library does $1 movie rentals for THREE WEEKS! They don't have that great of a selection, but I definitely rented some cool ones. There are some sport businesses mixed in with the bars and eateries. Kyle got his biked fixed at the bike shop and you can rent all sorts of fun equipment for the lake or the land nearby. Speaking of bikes, Lake Tahoe is surrounded by awesome bike trails to get you from Point A to Point B without getting on the road at all. You can take it to the casinos or take it to the West, which leads to a quaint town called Camp Richardson.

Looking back over the summer makes me see how much we left undone!! I really wanted to paddle out to the tea house that's on the only island in Lake Tahoe in Emerald Bay. We never checked out the Vikingsholm Estate! There was still a handful of hikes we didn't get around to (Five Lakes Hike and hikes near Donner Summit to name a couple). So much to do, so little time! I am thankful for what we did squeeze in the two and half months we called Tahoe our home. This just means will have to go back and we have no problem with that!