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<\/a>Emerald Bay<\/p><\/div>\n
Lake Tahoe<\/strong>. Just the name brings so many great memories rushing back to me. As those who read here know, we have a long history wth ‘The Lake’<\/strong> and usually try to get up there in October, when most of the tourists have gone home, to visit our parent\u2019s final resting place. Brother Jack & Sharon and their families went up in July, but we were in Europe at the time so we figured we\u2019d make it up next year, until Jack & JJ Budd,<\/strong> long-time travel companions, had a timeshare week they had to \u2018use or lose\u2019 at the Marriott Timber Lodge<\/strong> at the base of Heavenly Valley<\/strong> in South Lake Tahoe<\/strong>, and invited us to join them.\u00a0 We happily accepted.<\/p>\n Sunnyside deck on a summer’s night<\/p><\/div>\n The weather was crystal clear; in fact we never saw a single cloud the entire time we were there. The air however was very crisp during the day and more than crisp at night as temperatures dipped into the 20s and high teens. We decided to take a drive around \u2018The Lake\u2019<\/strong>, starting the drive up the west shore. The first thing I noticed was the lake level<\/strong>; years of draught had lowered the lake so much that no water was going over the spillway that creates the Truckee River<\/strong>. Now, due to record snowfall in the Sierras<\/strong> last winter, the lake was as high as I\u2019d ever seen it. As we drove past Emerald Bay<\/strong> I recalled the hikes we did from there up to Eagle Lake<\/strong> and the great views it provides. We weaved our way past Meeks Bay<\/strong>, where I could still smell the Coppertone<\/strong> sun lotion our mom use to put on us \u2013 in fact I can\u2019t smell Coppertone today without mentally going to that great sandy beach at Meeks Bay. Just prior to getting into Tahoe City<\/strong> at the north end of the lake, we took a quick detour up Chinquapin Lane<\/strong> and drove by the cabin that Uncle Dick<\/strong> bought in 1951<\/strong> (Suzanne, sorry to report that the picture of our \u2018Aunt Marilyn\u2019<\/strong> is no longer on the cabin wall). As we drove by, so many memories were rushing through my mind. How lucky we were to have such a \u2018Summer Place\u2019 in which to play while we were growing up.<\/p>\n Lakeside lunch at Garwoods<\/p><\/div>\n We continued up the road less than a mile before we came upon Sunnyside Lodge<\/strong> \u2013 now a very haute destination, but back in the 50s it was a rustic lodge\/bar with seven rooms and only two bathrooms, one at each end of the hall, a combination liquor store\/bait shop and a small marina where Jack and I would fish using drop lines from the pier (and never caught anything!). Today, Sunnyside sports the largest deck on the lake<\/strong> and is the<\/em> spot to be on a beautiful summer\u2019s day or evening. Continuing our journey, we drove through Tahoe City, where Jack owned The Off Shore Bar & Grill<\/strong> right on the lake, and continued up to Rocky Ridge<\/strong>, which offers the most spectacular view of Lake Tahoe I\u2019ve ever seen and is the final resting place for mom and dad. We checked in with them, soaked up the amazing views and continued on our way. We stopped for lunch at Garwoods<\/strong>, which is one of the only places at the north end of the lake that offers lakeside lunch dining during this \u2018shoulder season\u2019. We sat outside on the deck in amazing weather and had the best fish & chips<\/strong> on the lake, or anywhere except Scotland as far as I was concerned.<\/p>\n Visiting Mom & Dad at Rocky Ridge<\/p><\/div>\n As we continue our trip, we leave California and enter Nevada and stop by CalNeva<\/strong>, a once very popular hotel and casino on the lake where Frank Sinatra<\/strong> was once one of the owners and the \u2018Rat Pack\u2019<\/strong> made regular appearances. Mom, Dad and Uncle Dick would dress to the nines on a Saturday night and go \u2018over the line\u2019 (the California-Nevada border) for an evening of dining, dancing and gambling at CalNeva and come home way after we kids were fast asleep. Today there is a fence around CalNeva as it is in rehab, or rather reconstruction. I\u2019m hoping it will, in time, return to its glory days.<\/p>\n We continued down the east shore, which is mostly Nevada State Park<\/strong> with very few signs of civilization, although it has several spectacular beaches. Between Zephyr Cove<\/strong> and Glenbrook<\/strong> is the Cave Rock Tunnel<\/strong>, created in 1931 and the only tunnel on the trip around the lake.<\/p>\n We pulled into Stateline, south shore Lake Tahoe completing our trip that covered not only the 72 miles around the lake, but the 65-some odd years of wonderful memories.\u00a0 It was a good day!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Bob Sparrow Lake Tahoe. Just the name brings so many great memories rushing back to me. As those who read here know, we have a long history wth ‘The Lake’ and usually try to get up there in October, … read more![\"\"](\"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/ss-eve-300x199.jpg\")
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