As we headed into South Lake Tahoe on Saturday, June 17th, we passed a giant sign advertising for a giant flea market – that day! So we checked it out. It cost us $1 each to get in, but we went ahead and splurged. The flea market itself was a bit of a bust – mostly junk, or stuff we didn’t need. But Michael did find a bakery selling the most decadent donuts I’d ever seen.
That donut was drizzled with chocolate and peanut butter, and topped with peanut butter Oreos. Michael at it in the shade of a tree, right next to the South Fork of the Truckee River. We found a spot out of the current to let Bailey jump in and cool off. It was pretty hot that day.
Lots of people were putting in at that spot – boats, canoes, and one SUP. Someone told us that you could float from that spot all the way to Kiva Beach. It looked like a ton of fun.
After the flea market we headed over to Tahoe Sports Ltd, which was actually in Heavenly Village. We could see the gondola from the parking lot. What we didn’t see in that parking lot was a tree, or shade of any kind. We brought Bailey along. He’s generally calmer than Elvis ever was, and he likes people. We figured that if it went south, one of us would just hang out in the shade that existed right in front of the store.
I needn’t have worried. For a dog that can go so nuts over a tennis ball, Bailey can be remarkably calm sometimes. Like walking around an outdoor store and talking with the staff there about trails to run on. He pretty much laid down at my feet and took a nap. One of the employees there (a former chef himself) suggested going for a trail run on the Echo Lake trail. Pretty mellow, elevation-wise, he said, and since it was part of the Tahoe Rim Trail, the scenery would be killer.
As we left Tahoe Sports Ltd we spied a dog boutique. We figured Bailey deserved a treat. I’m sure this wasn’t what he had in mind, but we found him a coat. Don’t laugh! He’s not double-coated like Elvis was, and while it’s hot now, we’re going further north and we both worry about him in colder temperatures. (If/when we ever use that coat, I’ll be sure to post the pictures.)
Bailey also picked himself out a treat. Literally. I’m still a little suspicious of a place that would put yummy-for-dogs things like duck tracheas out in the open and at the dog’s eye level, but that’s how this place was set up, and Bailey decided to help himself to said duck trachea. I told him to drop it, which he did. As a reward I picked it up and bought it.
After getting all the things we needed in Heavenly Village we decided to go to Kiva Beach. Unfortunately by the time we got there (well after noon) the parking lot was full. There were lots of signs around indicating you’d be towed for parking outside of the lot, so we went for plan B and drove out to Echo Lake. No parking problems there! It was cooler and we found a spot in the shade. I gave Bailey his duck trachea as Michael and I set out. I’m guessing he liked it because when we got back there was no trace of it.
Echo Lake was gorgeous. The run was fairly mellow, but the lake sits at over 7,000 feet so even those little climbs, well, they were a little tough. This was my kind of trail, though – rocky and technical. I loved it.
The next day we tried to get a jump on the crowds and went back to Kiva Beach in the morning. And I’m not sure that Bailey ever had so much fun in his life.
He was so excited that we had to do a little bit of remedial work with him, like making him sit and wait until the ball was back in motion. Otherwise he would just circle us, barking like crazy. But with all that water, Bailey gt his launch on.
Those three pictures above repeated for over an hour. The result? We wore that dog out. Bailey slept the rest of the day. In fact, after dinner, when I was cleaning up, he came and sat next to me at the tailgate. When I’d cleared off a space for him, I looked at him and said, “do you want to go to bed?” He jumped right up into the truck and settled down on his blanket.
Tired dogs are happy dogs.
I thought that Tahoe might clear out on Monday, but no such luck. I think that if you want to do anything here, you need to do it before 10am if you want to find a place to park.
See, we drove out towards Emerald Bay but couldn’t find a place to park along the highway. Anywhere. It wasn’t the weekend anymore -who were all these people? We ended up at Emerald Bay State Park and paid $10 to get in, which is something most tourists are apparently not willing to do, since their parking lots were pretty empty. To get our money’s worth I went for a trail run on the Rubicon Trail, a wonderful path that heads downhill for a couple of miles, straight to the water line, and then continues along the curve of Emerald Bay itself.
It seemed like a lot of money to go for a trail run, though. Maybe I’m just cheap? Anyway on the way out, we stopped at the bath house since there was a dumpster next to it, as well as a water spigot at the campsite across the way (it might have been fun to camp there, but it cost $45/night and on that part I am cheap).
So we got rid of our trash and filled our water container. And then it hit us: we could take showers! The bath house was right there! We grabbed all our shower stuff and ran in.
At least I still had all my clothes on when I saw that the showers operated on tokens. As in, not free. So even if you paid $45 per night to camp there, you still had to pay for a shower. What a gyp! I stomped back out of the ladies room, which was on the back side of the building, and promptly saw four laundry sinks. The sign above the sinks said they were for laundry only. No dishwashing.
I grew up in a house with a laundry sink. You know what those sinks are great for? Washing your hair. I mean, the sign said no dishwashing. Nothing about hair washing.
So I washed my hair. Twice. There was hot water and everything! Then I took as much of a “whore’s bath” (when I was a kid, I mis-heard that phrase as “horse bath,” which I found enormously confusing) as I could without getting cited for indecent exposure. Not that there were any witnesses, but you know what I mean.
Turns out Michael took his whore’s bath in the tiny sink in the men’s shower room. He did not have warm water.
We headed out of South Lake Tahoe on June 21st. Traffic was surprisingly light as we headed out on Highway 89, and we were able to see Emerald Bay and Eagle Falls. The wind had died off and the weather was perfect. A wonderful send-off to our time in South Lake Tahoe.
I was sorry to go – Lake Tahoe has everything I want! – but we had tracks to make. Our next destination was Mendocino and Fort Bragg. We had packages to pick up (from Revel Gear and from Savory Spice), and besides, I wanted to ride the Skunk Train. To get to the coast, though, we had to drive across the valley one more time. The forecasted highs in the valley? Triple digits. We had another day to come up with a plan, as that day we were just going as far as Truckee.
Stay tuned! The adventures are just getting started.