Happy New Year, everyone! The last month has been a whirl-wind and I’m glad to finally be sitting down to write this post. If you weren’t already aware, Keith and I (along with my bestie, Ashton and her husband, Mi’Cael) traveled to Lake Tahoe in early December of 2020. It was Keith’s and my 5th anniversary and we wanted to get away!
We booked this trip back in early fall when Covid was looking like less of a threat to travel. HAH! Yeah, right! Originally we booked in Breckenridge, Colorado. But, a week before we left, Breck issued new Covid related travel rules that made it impossible for us to travel there. So with 6 days to spare, I rebooked our entire trip to Incline Village, NV on Lake Tahoe.
Boy, am I glad I did!! I have never seen anything quite so beautiful as Lake Tahoe. Every place we went was more beautiful than the last and the views took our breath away. I’m already itching to go back.
I debated on how to present this info, but I think a breakdown of our travels day by day is the best solution. But I’ll start with our travel and our condo.
We flew into the Sacramento Airport and rented a car via Turo for the 2 hour drive to Incline Village. Typically, people fly into the Reno/Tahoe airport which is 45 minutes from North Lake Tahoe, but we found that we could fly into Sac (what people kept referring to it as – which made Ashton very uncomfy – HAH!) for much cheaper.
Renting a car from Turo was one of the best decisions we made. Turo is basically Airbnb for cars. So we rented a Subaru from a guy named Steven and it was seemless. The car was waiting for us at the airport. He remote unlocked it and we drove it for the week. HIGHLY RECOMMEND!
We decided (after only minutes of research) to stay in Incline Village. Since it was on the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe, the travel restrictions were slightly more relaxed and we were still able to get a condo. While we would have loved to stay in a cabin in the woods, we only had 6 days of notice, so options were limited and we chose a super nice condo. Incline Village is spectacular. If you’re headed to Lake Tahoe, I cannot recommend it enough. It was about 45min-1hr from South Lake Tahoe but it was quiet, serene and the perfect mountain/lake community. I loved that we stayed farther away from the touristy areas but close enough to go whenever we wanted.
Let’s Get into it!
DAY 1
We arrived at our condo late into the afternoon (5ish) just as the sun was going down. We saw some of the beautiful views driving in, but we wouldn’t really get the full picture until the next day. We hit up the local grocery store (Raley’s) to grab some supplies and found a local spot for dinner.
Dinner was EXCEPTIONAL and one of my favorites of the whole trip. We went to Inclined Burger right in Incline Village and maybe its because we were all starving, but I’m still dreaming about that burger. Because of Covid, we ate outside under some heaters, but it was an overall amazing experience.
We were all exhausted from Travel, so went spend the night in to rest up for the next day of exploring!
DAY 2
The first stop of the day was one I was greatly looking forward to! Sand Harbor is a little State Park PACKED with fabulous views. One of the locals we met said she thinks that Sand Harbor is the one place she sends people who want to experience the quintessential Lake Tahoe views. It was INSANE. We walked along the crystal clear beach, climbed on rocks the size of cars, and saw the prettiest little cove with emerald green and cerulean blue water.
The water was FREEZING, of course, but it was the clearest I’ve ever seen. The water bug in me wanted to get in so badly, it hurt! A Summer trip is definitely in the works for me one day soon. Here are some pics of Sand Harbor.
My Outfit:
Sweater | Jacket (similar) | Leggings | Socks
Boots (similar) | Hat
After spending a few hours at Sand Harbor, we headed to Garwood’s for lunch. We actually took some photos for a family from California who suggested this spot. It was great! It was right on the water on the California side and all of the seating was outdoors under heaters (a trend on the this trip due to covid). We had yet another burger and some delish homemade chips and dip. We spent a while just hanging out on the beach after lunch making calls to the ski resorts and skipping rocks!
They had a ton of specialty drink options called the ‘Woody’ but we avoided alcohol for the first 24 hours of the trip to avoid that altitude sickness/alcohol combination.
After that late lunch, we headed down to South Lake Tahoe to the touristy areas to check those out. We spend most of the time around the Heavenly Ski Resort area asking about sledding. We ended up buying a couple of plastic toboggans from the grocery store for our sledding adventure the next day.
We ended the night with Macadillas a la Ashton in our condo. Maybe the most important thing I learned on this trip was that you SHOULD put Mac N Cheese in a tortilla and make a quesadilla out of it. It will change your life. We also had some homemade cocktails a la me. They were interesting, but not recipe share worthy… I’m still working it out! HAH!
Day 3
Maybe my favorite day! We got up and immediately went out in search of some good (free) sledding. We were told that there was a slope at Spooner Lake that was fantastic free sledding. So we took our toboggans and went. It looks us a long time to figure out where the slope was. We passed it up the first time and went to a sign that said spooner lake and made our own Sledding paths. We laughed so hard, I almost peed my pants and we almost hit several trees.
We knew we weren’t in the right place so we got back in the car and went searching again. If you’re looking for it, it’s at the intersection of hey 50 & 28. Like, right off the road on the right when you’re headed south. You’ll likely think to yourself, “No. That’s way too steep, that can’t be it”! But, in fact, it is. And it’s less steep once you get to the top. The little kids were putting us to shame, but we had a BLAST. We were honestly a little beat up after a morning of sledding!! I guess I’m getting old! Make sure to wear your waterproof gear.
My Outfit:
Ski Pants | Down Coat | Hat | Boots (similar)
We grabbed to-go pizza’s from Mofo’s in Incline Village and took it to what I think now is Hidden Beach. It’s a public beach area right near our condo. The pizza was DELISH and exactly what we needed after a rough morning of hurling ourselves down a mountain on plastic garbage can lids.
The beach was PERFECTION. There were picnic tables and we sat and ate while just listening to the sound of gentle lapping water. We were next to a dog beach and Keith and I walked down and watched a bunch of Labs playing fetch in the water. Again, I was dying to get in, but I likely would’ve died of hypothermia!! The wind was INSANE as well.
My Outfit:
Down Coat | Leather Leggings | Boots (similar) | Socks
Hoodie (similar) | Hat
We then hopped in the car and, per recommendation from that lovely family we met at Sand Harbor, headed to State Line lookout for an afternoon hike. The hike was short but felt super long as it was uphill on the way up. BUT WORTH IT! The views were unbelievable. The wind was whipping and it was cold as eskimo tits (Keith’s favorite thing to say) but well worth it all. If you’re able, I highly recommend making this hike!
We learned that Mark Twain once started a forest fire in Lake Tahoe, Sonny (from Sonny & Cher) died skiing in Lake Tahoe, and anywhere you see rocks under the water, they’re likely 60ish feet below the surface! Lots of good info!
After we left State Line Lookout, we drove a little ways and ended up randomly at Hurricane Bay. A picturesque beach with wild waves. The sunset here was breathtaking. We grabbed a few photos and froze our butts off while watching the sunset.
We decided to do dinner in Incline Village at La Fondue. We weren’t starving so we had cheese & chocolate fondue with a little champagne and ate our leftover pizza at home! La Fondue was a cute, intimate little space. It was no ‘Melting Pot’ but we enjoyed the quaint restaurant. Not to mention, we were the ONLY people there the whole time. Kind of fun!!!
Day 4
Day 4 was ski day! This year was an unusually dry year for Lake Tahoe, so there was much less snow than normal. We actually had a bit of trouble finding somewhere to ski. We decided on Squaw/Alpine Valley mostly because I saw some photos and wanted to go and wouldn’t quit talking about it. It’s actually where they held the 1960 Winter Olympics. It was beautiful and the cutest little ski village. Picturesque. Perfect. All the things. If you go, get the breakfast burrito from Wildflour Bakery. I’m still dreaming about it.
The actual skiing was laughable. Neither of the boys had ever been. Ashton and I had been when we were around 7 or 8. Ash, Mi’cael, and Keith refused ski school against my insisting, so we went in blind. I did watch several hours of ski school on YouTube because Momma didn’t raise no fool. We headed straight to the bunny slopes and stayed there all day long.
Keith was brave. So brave. Courageous, even. Or stupid, depending on how you look at it. We somehow missed the tiny bunny slope and headed to the top of a small green, realizing at the top that we messed up. Keith headed down in style falling around 3 million times. Not just falling, WIPING OUT! I warily headed down after him. I did fall, but only once, because of my YouTube Ski School knowledge, I had a leg up on them. Ashton and Mi’cael, after watching Keith and I struggle, promptly removed their ski’s and walked down the mountain.
I spent a bit of time on the learning slopes perfecting (Yeah, right) my technique and pretty soon, I was back up at the top of the small green gliding down the mountain like someone who watched two hours of online ski school!! I actually enjoyed it a LOT!
Keith said he’ll never go again, but he did make it back up to the bigger slope and down with minimal wreckage. I’m so proud of his resiliance.
It took Mi’Cael and Ash some time but they too, got the hang of it after a while. We ended up having a great time and an increasing respect for Skiers. Especially Ski Jumpers… Like WHATTTTT! May I just add that I firmly believe that they make people wear ski boots 24/7 in hell. THE ACTUAL WORST.
We ate lunch at Rocker at the base of the mountain. The nachos are INSANE. It was so good we ended up back here later that evening. Keith and I finished up skiing, turned in our gear, did some shopping in the little village, and then sat at Rocker for some dessert. I loved that Rocker is at the base of one of the slopes so we ate a cookie skillet outside under a heater, had a cocktail and watched people, far braver than us, ski down the mountain!
I’m blanking on dinner that night, but I think we just snacked and ate leftovers, drank expensive champagne, and laughed all afternoon and well into the night! A GREAT day, indeed.
DAY 5
The last day was dedicated to Emerald Bay. We got a late start (blame the ski wipeouts) and drove over to CA to explore one of the most photographed spots in Lake Tahoe. It was well worth the drive. We arrived and were already stunned at the view from the top. You could see the trees perfectly reflected in the clear blue/emerald water. Then if you turned around, you saw the most beautiful snowy mountains. They views were endless.
My Outfit:
Jeans | Top | Coat | Boots (similar) | Hat
There is lots of hiking to be done around Emerald Bay, but we chose to just to do the 1 mile hike down the the base of the mountain to Vikingsholm. It’s an old viking style home that looks amazing, but was, unfortunately, closed for the season. But it’s ok, because the views from the bottom did NOT disappoint. These are my favorite photos of the trip, I think. And again, I found myself wanting to swim so badly. I’ll be back in the summer with lots of swimsuits!
The hike back up was less than exciting and I felt VERY out of shape!! But we made it and took the VERY scenic drive around Emerald Bay and Eagle Rock Falls. At one point, the road drops out on both sides and you’re literally driving at the peak of the mountain. Keith is afraid of heights and wasn’t super into it, but I though it was a MUST DO!
We ended the afternoon driving through South Lake Tahoe. We randomly decided to grab dinner at Chicken in a Barrel and it was SO DANG GOOD. A close second to Incline Burger for my favorite meal of the trip. It was a BBQ restaurant that started in Hawaii! Being from the south, we had high standards and they were met at every turn. We had the BBQ Pork grilled cheese, onion rings, and brisket tacos. AMAZING! A great hole in the wall find that ended up MAKING our trip.
We ended the trip with a scenic drive through Cave Rock and along the Lake watching the sun set from the car. There was NEVER a bad view. NEVER.
DAY 6
We finished with a long day of travel back to New Orleans and our babies.
We had the best time and I can’t recommend Lake Tahoe enough. I’m already trying to talk my family into a winter getaway in 2021. If you plan a trip and have any questions, let me know. We just threw this trip together 6 days before due to our cancellations and it was amazing. Imagine what you could do with a little time!
Happy Travels.
