Five 💗's Tahoe

Yaktrax in place, Denise, Eric and I headed down the hill to Skunk Harbor.  The lake appears far away but in just 1.5 miles we were enjoying the frozen sand at the beach.

The house in the cove of Skunk Harbor is now owned by the Forest Service, but in the 20s it was a wild party place for the owner, George Wittell, a Gold Rush millionaire, and his wealthy San Franciscan friends.

When we arrived at the waters edge there was a group of revelers, running to their backpacks to give us beers.  Yes, that was nice, but they were fooling no one, they just didn't want to unnecessarily carry full beers back to their house.  I am not one to turn down free alcohol, even at 11am.  I had my choice of beers, but decided to go with the Ichthyosaur IPA from the Great Basin Brewing Company.  

Cheers to drinking beer and the New Year!

Two perfect picnic spots two days in a row... this can't be too uncommon in Tahoe.

In the evening we walked over to Heavenly Village to ring in the new year.  The event organizers are smart, they celebrate the New Year on Eastern time, so the the countdown begins just before 9pm.  

Boy band dance routines and pop cover songs were followed with an ice carving show.

Soon after this picture was taken the female entertainer got a little wild with her ice dance moves and lost her grip on her chisel, which went flying into the crowd.  It didn't seem to faze her, but I am sure the parents of the little boy, who handed the potential murder weapon back to her, couldn't help but think about what could have been.

Happy New Year!  

Wow... 

2017...

Four 💗's Tahoe

Wild, wild horses, 🎝couldn't take me away... ♫

Dang this song is hard to get out of your head, which is especially bad when these are the only known lyrics.

Wild, wild horses, 🎝couldn't take me away... ♫

In the 1800's Virginia City was the first industrialized city between San Francisco and Denver.  

And there was gold and silver and them thar hills.  Or so they say.

At its peak it had 25,000 residents, including Mark Twain (a news boy), and countless miners and prostitutes.  

Wild, wild horses, 🎝couldn't take me away... ♫

Eric was a miner in a previous life.

I think I need a player piano.

In Nevada, they have plastic to-go cups for your unfinished beer.

Thank you, Virgina City Brewery and Tap House.

It is difficult to decide, is this forward-thinking, or backward?

Three 💗's Tahoe

We strapped on our borrowed yaktrax and followed the icy trail up to Eagle Creek.  There were people slipping and sliding all around us, even bare-bunning it in just leggings... brrr.

There is definitely not as much as you would expect at this time of year, but more snow would have closed the roads to this side of the lake, so we will take it.

After the walk up to Eagle Creek we made our way down to Vikingsholm, Tahoe's hidden castle.  

This snowman is ready for a snowball fight.  I WOULD say someone was being creative, but they probably saw it on Pinterest. 

This cedar was struck by lightening over 70 years ago; the only way to save it was to give it some extra support with cement blocks.  I have never seen anything like it outside of Vikingsholm.  Apparently this is an outdated technique, but it works!

 food ✔  view ✔  fun ✔  

Although the inside of Vikingsholm (built in 1929) is only open during summer, anyone during any season can admire the outside of the building.  

Ike and Martin (built in 2000), and their countless song list. are always entertaining.  

Two 💗's Tahoe

The best thing about the drive to Tahoe is the drive to Tahoe.  The 365 is gorgeous.

There was much less snow on the mountains in comparison to last year, but it is as pretty as ever.

We stopped at Mono Lake, but the west side instead of the of east side like last time.  The tufas are not nearly as terrific, but they will just have to do.  

Just right off the 365 is Antelope Valley Cemetery in Coleville.  The gravestones date back to the mid 1800s, when miners and farmers started coming to Owens Valley.

Despite the stops, we were in Tahoe five hours later, and enjoying a yummy pizza happy hour at Base Camp Pizza an hour after that.  (We walked from the Haerr house, we didn't have to wait an hour for a table like everyone else... early bird gets the beer!!)

A snowflake!  

Exciting. 

On our way back we took a slight detour to test the strength of the ice, along with the other daring Tahoe tourists.  

The lack of snow did not prevent people from visiting.  Tahoe is amazing year round, in any kind of weather.