Road Trip 2021 - North Lake Tahoe

The Tamarack Fire remained out of control overnight and with additional road closures in the morning, we wanted to rethink our route to Tahoe City.

We chose HiWay 50, Kami’s family is a few hours behind us and we wanted to be sure the route was clear for them.  It is an easy 10 mile ride to the east side of the lake and quickly clear of the smoke in the valley.  The traffic around the north end of the lake was very heavy, very slow.

We stopped at Tahoe House to pick up a birthday cake for Kg.  At 18 she no longer has to sit at the kids table :)

We arrived first at William Kent campground.

Kami provided a dinner of ‘Walking Tacos’.  She had prepared both chicken and beef taco fillings ahead of time.   It was quick and easy for us each to choose a bag of Fritos or Doritos, crush them a bit, open the top and add the desired fillings to the bag.

After the tacos Kg blew out the candles on her cake and opened presents.

Due to the Stage 2 fire ban (no charcoal or wood fires) Marty’s son-in-law, Lucas, brought a propane fire ring.

We each took a turn at hosting dinner.  Michael and Lori brought carnitas along with excellent homemade refried beans.

Lori made a batch of Rice Crispy S’mores for dessert.  A nice touch with the fire ban.

We provided a dinner of chicken enchiladas, while brother Marty and Juanita made tostadas with some excellent fresh salsa.

During our evenings we shared wine, with set categories:

Alternative packaging:

we all brought boxed wine -  no canned wine.  Here the T.N.T was declared winner.  Even better, DIL Lori designed and had custom pewter mugs made for each of us.

 Best everyday wine:

Nikki and Lucas brought a wine from NEXT which was the clear choice.  They also brought a puzzle wine none of us could unlock.

Best value under $30:

Marty entered an excellent Maryhill.

In the unlimited category my Aimee was a standout.

Too close to call between the Monte Xanic and the Tamarack.

It was not all wine.  We also played games.

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and made friendship bracelets.

The days were filled with ...

time on the trail - Eagle Falls, not much water

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on bikes ...

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a float trip on the Truckee River

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a day trip to the Donner Memorial/Lake

The base of the memorial is 22’ high – the depth of the snow that fateful winter.

The Visitor Center has a lot of information, but the kids are anxious to head to Donner Lake (and so are we).

At Donner Lake Jackson knows how to relax

Nikki’s girls are swimming

While their dad keeps watch

and of course Lake Tahoe

Dad again keeping an eye on things at Kiva Beach.

Kiva Beach is dog friendly, where Jm’s Ember learned to swim for the first time.

This blog is long enough.  I’ll close with a group photo and a final sunrise at the beach.

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We all are now heading our separate directions.  Next up for us is Nevada City and Grass Valley.

Inyo to Tahoe - Road Trip 2019

We tried to count how many times we have driven the Eastern Sierra roads.  Over the past 50+ years it has been many dozen if not hundreds of times.  I-5 is the fastest, 101 offers ocean views,but 395 is our favorite.  Always looking for a new way to visit family.  This trip I decided to include Monitor Pass which recently opened and the last of the east-west routes we have not used, although we have gone west to east. .

WTH - I should have used an elevation graph!  It is about 15 miles of low gear grunting!  About 20 MPH with the cooling fans screaming!  Nope NEVER EVER again!  It's not worth a check mark in a box, however with careful RPM and temperature management Rufus made it just fine.

(FYI -Sonora Pass is higher and steeper with 1-way sections.  Enjoy a day trip with your Toad, but not the RV!)

At least we had some beautiful scenery along the way!

We spent a couple nights at Fallen Leaf Lake west of Lake Tahoe.  The last time we were here it was mid-winter, many decades ago, to try out skill at cross country skiing.  That ski outing was a massive failure!, no amount of effort made up for skinny skies and no downhill!   But this trip made up for it.
The campsites are generally secluded, with nice pull through sites on the north along the river.

We made good use of the bike trails to get around, I did not take many pictures though.  Just a few of the Tallac Site.

I could handle this view out my parlor window!

Fran riding down the bike path, which is within an easy ride from the campground and connects with the bike path along the lake.

A last farewell to Fallen Leaf Lake

It’s a great campground with 24 channels of HD TV from our little roof antenna, but no T-Mobil cell service.  At least we could watch the Stanley Cup Finals!

Definitely No Bad Days at Lake Tahoe.