Anyone ever been to Tahoe?
 

We're discussing a potential trip to Lake Tahoe during the last week of August or first week of September (me + wife + 3 year old). Has anyone been during non-ski season? Tell me about it.

Very nice then but the HOTTEST SAND I've ever stepped on that time of year. I mean the hottest in the world...But a good time.

I think Mark Twain went to Tahoe. I read about his experiences.

No help here....always wanted to go though.

I guess the altitude + sun can warm it up in a hurry? I'll keep that in mind if we go to the beach with the kiddo.
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He said about it: "surely the fairest picture the whole world affords"

The Donner party was near there.

We spent most of a day there (flew into Reno, ultimate destination Yosemite). It's beautiful. Can't really speak to accommodations, though, because we didn't stay there. Just drove around the lake and took a steamboat cruise to Emerald Bay. Wish we'd had a little more time there.

We'll probably do a VRBO cabin/house.
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Depends on what side you're visiting.

What side should I visit? This is the kind of thing I'm looking for. The Tahoe/south side or the Truckee/north side?

Not sure if the catamaran is still running but it’s a great way to take in the lake and surrounding scenery.

I haven't! I'm glad you're going though. Have fun with your family - You seem especially nice to me.

yes. no.

South side is your more touristy spot. There are going to be a ton of hotels and a TON of people.

North side is still a tourist destination but it's more "small town" and has more of a rural vibe....IMO.

Oh, if you're a fan of the Godfather movies, the house from Part 2 is on the Northwest side of the lake. You can see it from the road.

North side it is! With some day trips to the south side.
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Ha! I'm only 36 but I'm already a crabby asshole.
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That's probably best unless you want to just spend all day walking in a sea of people. Now I've only been to Tahoe like 3-4 or times but every time I've gone to the South side....it was ****ing packed. It's still nice....just way to busy for me.

Beautiful area- you will love it.

yeah, I go there quite a bit....My wife was born up there. Personally I like South Lake Tahoe area the best.... because you can go to the casinos in south lake which are fun..and also some good dining options......and also ride the gondola up to the top of Heavenly. Theres a zip-line type outdoor adventure area up at the top for the kids.



You really cannot go wrong, but I just prefer south lake

IMO the drive in is worth the price of admission alone.

as far as crowds go, if you avoid driving on fridays and sundays its really not an issue...for the most part


most of the traffic is going into tahoe on friday and leaving tahoe on sunday...


and weekends are a little crowded so if you want to avoid crowds , my advice is to arrive on sunday and leave on thurs or fri so youre doing the opposite of the crowds..and maybe try to pick something on saturday that doesnt involve going to south lake / casinos


hit the hot spots mid week and youll be fine

I went for my bachelor party. It's at elevation, so party and hydrate accordingly. But the views are spectacular and the terrain is so interesting.

There are casinos on the Nevada side, but they weren't really nice when I was there 10 years ago. Maybe they've improved. Also, you can pop over to California and get yourself some legal weed :)

Also, last time I was there I had a VERY nice meal at the Mont Bleu steak house ..if you get a chance for a meal alone with the wife....its not bad


https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g46004-d646856-Reviews-Ciera_Steak_Chophouse-Stateline_Lake_Tahoe_Nevada_Nevada.html


^mont blue steak house (Ciera)

That's pretty much exactly what we're planning to do. We have all week off, so Saturday will probably be our travel day in to get oriented and so forth and we'll have all week to do activities and we'll be out on Friday or Saturday.
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right on , im comign up there like the week before you guys!



I hope you have a great trip!! sounds like youre doing your homework so it should be awesome.


enjoy, bud

Theres a childrens museum in Reno thats not too far away that was one of my son's favorite places when he was 3.


Upstairs they have this room with a bunch of building blocks and conveyor belts and he loves tractors and machines:


If you end up going into Reno, your little one might love this:


https://nvdm.org/


https://i.pinimg.com/originals/0f/ed...39d1c2cb74.jpg



I cant find a picture of the block room, but it is probably one of the best interactive kids museums I have seen, and perfect for a 3 yr old...

gondola at heavenly in the summer:


https://tahoesouth.com/wp-content/up...er-gondola.jpg

They have a mountain tube ride at the top of heavenly



https://img2.10bestmedia.com/Images/...54_990x660.jpg

My Tahoe has flat tires and I need a full set of tires but I'm not really wanting spend the money right now on them. Eventually I'll get them all and fix the windows that fallen off the track but for now I'll just drive my HHR it gets much better gas miles and my red Kayak looks cool on top of it when I take it to the lake this summer.

Been there many many times. It's fantastic and about as beautiful a place as there is. Depends on what you want to do. Casinos are fun, hiking is fun, some good fishing, and lots of touristy things to do. For the first time, and in the summer, I'd go South Shore but make a day trip up to the North Shore

That kid is going to get decapitated, I bet.

We were there last year. Spent a bit of time hiking and then taking the gondola to the top of Heavenly and riding the zipline. It was a lot of fun, I wouldn't have minded spending a bit more time there, but like Frazod, we also had a side trip to Yosemite planned.

Rent a boat at South Shore and go out on the lake for the day. Scenery from the water in the summer is spectacular. Do NOT dive in the water from the boat without checking the water temp! I did and my balls and dick pulled a 3 hour turtle it was soooooo cold!

You can also go for an easy and slow horse back ride up the mountain.

one other piece of advice, if youre flying there


check the Sacramento airport, its about 2 hours from tahoe...Its usually a LOT cheaper than reno and its a pretty easy airport to deal with


if youre up for a longer drive (3+hours) you could check oakland, and actually oakland is a super easy airport to deal with as well.


I was checking flights for a relative about 2 weeks ago and Sac. beat Reno by 250 bucks per person

Thank you.

Several of the small mountain towns are well worth the peruse.

Great place to vacation
 

Been there a lot. I'm a North shore person so most of my frame of reference comes from there.

Thumbs up on September. Usually, the crowds thin after the Labor Day weekend, and the lake becomes much more peaceful and everything becomes less crowded. Best time of year in my opinion.

You may be a bit early, but one of the cooler things to see is the fall Kokonee salmon run in Taylor Creek, just south of emerald bay. Pretty cool.

check this out: https://jamesscho.wordpress.com/2015...r-creek-tahoe/

At the northwest side, you have Tahoe City and just a few miles away you have Squaw Valley. Lots of things to do. A river rafting trip down the Truckee starting from the Tahoe City dam is low key and fun with small kids. They may be packed up by then with the rafts, but if not, check it out.

At north lake you have casinos. A little downscale, but still okay. They're at stateline or in Incline Village. One of the nicer beaches on the lake is the Incline Village beach.

20 minutes from Tahoe City or Northlake is the old town of Truckee. It's become a pretty nice town for food and strolling. One of the best restaurants around the lake is the Cottonwood...it overlooks Truckee. Try the ceasar salad. There's a great microbrewery/pub there called 50/50.

If you are a golfer, lots of great courses. If you are a hiker or mountain biker, lots of great trails to ride, and Northstar has lifts for downhilling.

There is macanaw fishing on the lake, and trout fishing on the Truckee river.

In any event...you get the idea. Lots of things to do there. Really a mecca for outdoors people in the summer.

Yup. But even though it is the HOTTEST SAND evar, the water is still freezing cold.

So if I remember my thermodynamics correctly, at some point there's an infinitesimal line of sand that's the perfect temperature.

If you fly into Sacramento and stay on North Shore, I-80, is the quickest route. But if you don't mind a bit of extra driving, you could do I-80 one direction and highway 50 the other. Highway 50 is mostly 2 lane and is more twisty. If anyone suffers from car sickness might want to stay on 80. I would not drive 50 from Sacrament to Tahoe on Friday afternoon/evening and I would not drive 50 from Tahoe to Sac on Sunday afternoon because of traffic.

If you stand where the water is a few inches deep, it is actually quite pleasant. Get out past knee deep, and it is a bit cool depending on your tolerance.

But some sort of footwear for the sand is recommended.

Check the schedule to see when Hot August Nights is going on. I think it's the first or second week but it could be all month by now. Don't go to Tahoe during Hot August Nights. It's ****tarded with way too many people.

Never been. My daughter writes for a travel company and she has Tahoe to promote. I'll ask her. Only saw this now, I may be too late.

It's pretty ****ing boring during non-ski season.

So if this is a humble brag thread, try harder.

Johnny Cash has been everywhere, yet he hasn't been to Tahoe. However, it's very top of mind that he's been to Reno.

I was toting my pack along the long dusty Winnemucca road
When along came a semi with a high canvas covered load
If your goin' to Winnemucca, Mack with me you can ride
And so I climbed into the cab and then I settled down inside
He asked me if I'd seen a road with so much dust and sand
And I said, "Listen! I've traveled every road in this here land!"
I've been everywhere, man
I've been everywhere, man
Crossed the deserts bare, man
I've breatherd the mountain air, man
Travel, I've had my share, man
I've been everywhere
I've been to,
Reno
Chicago
Fargo
Minnesota
Buffalo
Toronto
Winslow
Sarasota
Whichta
Tulsa
Ottowa
Oklahoma
Tampa
Panama
Mattua
LaPaloma
Bangor
Baltimore
Salvador
Amarillo
Tocapillo
Pocotello
Amperdllo
I'm a Killer
I've been everywhere, man
I've been everywhere, man
Crossed the deserts bare, man
I've breatherd the mountain air, man
Travel, I've had my share, man
I've been everywhere
I've been to,
Boston
Charleston
Dayton
Louisiana
Washington
Houston
Kingston
Texarkana
Monterey
Fairaday
Santa Fe
Tollaperson
Glen Rock
Black Rock
Little Rock
Oskaloussa
Tennessee
Tinnesay
Chickapee
Spirit Lake
Grand Lake
Devil's Lake
Crater Lake
For Pete's Sake
I've been everywhere, man
I've been everywhere, man
Crossed the deserts bare, man
I've breatherd the mountain air, man
Travel, I've had my share, man
I've been everywhere
I've been to,
Louisville
Nashville
Knoxville
Omerback
Shereville
Jacksonville
Waterville
Costa Rock
Richfield
Springfield
Bakersfield
Shreveport
Hakensack
Cadallic
Fond do Lac
Davenport
Idaho
Jellico
Argentina
Diamondtina
Pasadena
Catalina
See What I Mean
I've been everywhere, man
I've been everywhere, man
Crossed the deserts bare, man
I've breatherd the mountain air, man
Travel, I've had my share, man
I've been everywhere
I've been to,
Pittsburgh
Parkersburg
Gravelburg
Colorado
Ellisburg
Rexburg
Vicksburg
Eldorado
Larimore
Adimore
Habastock
Chadanocka
Shasta
Nebraska
Alaska
Opalacka
Baraboo
Waterloo
Kalamazoo
Kansas City
Souix City
Cedar City
Dodge City
What a pity
I've been everywhere, man
I've been everywhere, man
Crossed the deserts bare, man
I've breatherd the mountain air, man
Travel, I've had my share, man
I've been everywhere.

loochy, if you do decide to use the very pleasant Sacramento airport, you may want to plan on spending a little bit of time at the excellent California State Railroad Museum in Old Sacramento, which is fun for all ages. It is very close to the ramps connecting I-5, the airport freeway, to US 50, the road to South Tahoe, and not too far from I-80, the road to North Tahoe.

'Dodge City what a pity'. Cracks me up when I hear that from Johnny Cash man in Black.

Everyone keeps talking about the pleasant and small Sacramento airport...is Reno some kind of zoo or something? I expected it to be pretty small as well.

When you say the Sacramento airport is small, do you mean small like Burbank/Bob Hope or San Bernadion/Ontario

or do you mean small like KCI small?

I'm used to DFW and ATL, so anything seems small compared to those.

It's not just a factor of size. It's cost and convenience. Flying into Reno can be a pain in the ass, more costly most times and Sacramento is easy, larger so never really crowded except major holidays, more rental cars and just overall a good experience.

My brother lives in Roseville 15-20 minutes away and both my sister and I have flown in numerous times, her more so and it's a breeze.

They also seem to be on time 95%

The drive is easy and doing one way on 80 from the north and going through Truckee is easy and then going on the South route through Kirkwood sky resort area is also a nice way to go.

Also, no one mentioned doing a slight detour to Virginia City, an old gambling, gold rush and saloon town from the 1800's.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_City,_Nevada

:shake:

Always wish I could have gone before they tore down the Ponderosa cabin.

The SAC airport was enlarged somewhat recently but it's located nicely. It was just one terminal but now it's two. It sits right between I-5 and HWY 99 just outside of the city so you can just drive out of it and hit the road. The airport is about as big as a small town in NorCal and it's easy to enter/exit.

I heard it's better than Cleveland.

We flew in/out of Reno in 2005. The experience was uneventful enough that I honestly have no memory of it.

Reno itself is fairly unimpressive, though. Basically a high desert shithole that's a life support system for the casinos.

Two years ago our family of five went to Lake Tahoe for a week in July. We rent a house by the lake area, and a car from Reno airport. Went to the beach several times, shopped at the local shops at the evening. Very relaxed.

That's a good thing.
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Anyone do any fishing there?

I'm deciding on whether to do a guide on the lake with a boat or do some fly fishing and wading for trout in the Trukee river. I'm leaning toward the fly fishing because that's what I always do...
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I fly in and out of Reno and Sacramento frequently. Reno is no worries and neither is Sacramento. I get thru Reno TSA security usually in about 5-10 min. Easy as pie

no, reno is fine and small


I think the point is reno might be A LOT more expensive than other airports....


for example...Oakland or SF might be the cheapest, but also quite a bit longer of a drive (3+ hours)..but also busy, large, traffic etc



sacramento might be the happy medium --- 2 hour drive, small, and probably cheaper than reno (perhaps, so check)



just my thoughts

Another thing about the Reno area - there is another large lake to the north called Pyramid Lake. You might look at the map and think "hey, another Lake Tahoe!" Not. It's on an Indian reservation and there's next to nothing there, except Indian cops who can somehow sense that you're speeding on a road with no speed limit signs and gleefully ticket you.

Best to avoid.

It should also be noted that Indians on reservations in states where gambling is legal seem to be a bit angry.

I guess that's a fair assessment from an outsiders point of view. Reno has undergone a boom in recent years, however, when Tesla built its battery factory out there, and multiple data centers were built for Silicon Valley companies.

For about 2 decades the Reno area has been steadily improving after they made a big effort to take a slice of the national market in youth tournament play. Lots of West Coast volleyball, gymnastics and basketball tournaments are hosted there and they have state of art facilities to host massive tournaments. The results is that there has been a a lot of development. Multiple high end communities have popped up (4000 sq.ft.+homes) and the entire river walk area has been renovated. There are still areas that are pretty seedy, but overall, it's a lot nicer.

God knows I've been to far worse places. :)

Was there one October. Horrible weather, fog rain then snow. Could never see the lake from the hotel. Always wanted to go during the celebrity pro am golf tournament.

Don't forget the occasional rattlesnake hanging out at water's edge.

I know all about Pyramid. I almost booked a fishing trip there. It's famous for its enormous Lahontan Cutthroat Trout.

https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DC5d1sGdh...0/DSCN0735.JPG

So I typically go in the winter, but visited in the summer once.

Spending Christmas at Northstar this year. Can't wait.

Great area if you are interested in hiking and that stuff. I'm not really in to the other touristy BS and shitty casinos it has to offer. I do like the old time supper clubs there.

Craziest thing was seeing guys towing their boats up the mountain. That's an elevated lake.

Go to Tahoe several times a year. None of the lake can be considered "rustic" but if you had to call an area rustic then it would be West shore in the Homewood area and yes "Fleur De Lac" is where the Tahoe Godfather scenes were filmed but mostly you only see a wall from the road haha. North Shore you have Incline Village which is considered high end with the Hyatt crowd etc. Nearby is a very nice sandy beach called Sand Harbor but you better get there no later than 8:00 am for a spot on the sand as it fills up quickly but it is one of the nicest beaches on the lake if you dont have any private access elsewhere. South Shore is fun but kinda has the casino junky vibe to it although Heavenly valley is kinda cool. If it were up to me, Id do West Shore somewhere between Homewood and Tahoe City but the entire lake is pricey. If you have kids, do the river raft float down the Truckee out of Tahoe City. If you like fishing, check out Big Mac's tours for Macinaw.

Don't waste your time with anything other than Heavenly if you go in the summer.

DFW and ATL are mega-sized airports.

SMF is considered a medium-sized airport. In fact, it led that category in the latest JD Power Airport Customer Satisfaction Survey and also tallied the highest score of any airport in any category:

http://www.jdpower.com/press-release...sfaction-study

Burbank and Ontario are also in the Medium category. KCI is in the Large category, in between the Mega's and the Medium's.

Been there three times. Stay somewhere on the North Shore. The city of South Lake Tahoe is a congested mess, just stay away.

Take a day or two to go see Yosemite if you've never been there. It's worth the trip.

+1 on everything you say.

Wow..that's a beautiful fish.

The wife and I were married in Lake Tahoe way back in 1988. I was there once since then but it was still a long time ago. I skied Mount Heavenly and that was cool. Besides skiing and gambling I couldn't give you a hint upon what to do.

My future wife and I went for a weekend almost 10 years ago and stayed at Harrah’ in South Lake Tahoe. We were in a tower and had a room looking out over the lake. It was spectacular and I just enjoyed sitting in the room looking at the view.

My recommendation would be to try and go just a little later and also squeeze in two days a little further south in Lee Vining or Bridgeport where you can see Yosemite when the aspen are turning. Driving up Tioga pass that time of year is very scenic. Bridgeport has some fantastic hot springs that are really neat. Lots of travertine formations you can walk around. The eastern Sierra has quite a few hot springs if you are into that sort of thing.

You might get bored after a whole week at Tahoe so maybe a side trip to Yosemite would break it up a little. Mid-September should be just about peak time for fall colors.

No, but we have someone that can get you a Unicorn Tahoe

It’s crazy how people find threads that are a year or years old and bring them back.
OP how did the Tahoe trip go and where did you end up staying?

When is the best time to go if you don’t care about skiing? Was planning a Vegas trip for Valentines weekend and this is the 2nd thread I’ve seen pop up about Tahoe and then the guys at poker night started talking about it. Never been. From this thread it sounds like it might be a place to take the kids when they get a couple years older instead of a weekend getaway with just the wife.