From the red rock desert to snow capped mountains and a crystal blue lake, what an amazing change this past month has been. We have now been in South Lake Tahoe for a full month, and the natural beauty here is majestic. There’s simply no other word for it.
As I write this, I’m sitting within 30 feet of the blue water of Lake Tahoe with a view to the surrounding mountains which are still white with snow, although its finally starting to melt. Originally when we launched, we had planned to spend the spring in Davis, CA, but in October 2018 the tentative home we had negotiated fell through. (Fortunately, with plenty of advanced notice, so I was able to regroup and make a new plan.)
After hunting for a while through the area around Davis and Napa Valley and not finding something that felt like a good fit for us, I remembered my one trip to Lake Tahoe almost 10 years ago for about 3 days in April 2009. It was just prior to the NAPO Conference in Reno, NV, and I decided to come into town a few days ahead of time to take a business retreat in Tahoe prior to the start of the conference. After all, haven’t most Americans been told how beautiful Lake Tahoe is?
Having never spent much time in these Western mountains, there were two things that I distinctly remembered from that trip.
Oh, my, the SNOW
First, driving up over the mountains from Reno on that trip 10 years ago, I saw the tallest “snow guides” I had ever seen. You know what I’m talking about? Those poles that they install along the side of the road to let the plow trucks know where the edges of the road are and whether they’re about to hit either a mountain of rock or drive off a cliff. These were no kidding 30+ feet tall… easily 3 stories high, and the idea that any place might get that much snow was astounding to me.
I’m not a snow bunny, skier, or mountain gal generally. Oceans and water have always been more my jam, and while I’ve lived for more than half of my life in New England, even our monster winter of 2015 only totaled 100+ inches of snow (about 8 1/3 ft) for the entire winter. Prior to arriving here, we kept an eye on the Lake Tahoe weather (from balmy AZ), and we were floored to discover that in one snow storm this winter over 9 feet of snow had fallen. One storm. 9 Ft.
Suffice it to say, we prepared ourselves for the fact that there might still be some snow when we arrived in early April, and we were right. There was snow here when we arrived, but really, not a ton. Big mounds of snow plowed along the road edges and in people’s yards, but it was obviously melting. Still, when it started 20+ ft high, the mounds of 4-6 ft were clearly a dramatic improvement.
Fortunately, over the course of this month we have watched most of those mounds vanish, and now we just see the white snow peaks on the picturesque mountains.
Beautiful Blue Water
The second distinct memory I had from my trip 10 years ago was the stunning color of the water of Lake Tahoe. It truly is a crystal blue lake in that way unique to the mountains. What I hadn’t appreciated fully 10 years ago was how that color changes at different points around the lake.
On that original trip I never made it to Emerald Bay, but just 15 minutes from our home here in South Lake Tahoe we discovered the beautiful colors and vistas around Emerald Bay which is more of a deep teal green or … unsurprisingly… emerald color, with an adorable little island in the center of it!
Our first weekend here, we took the obligatory drive all the way around the lake (roughly 72 miles of shoreline.) Long sections on the east and west coasts are largely undeveloped and pristinely beautiful.
The road hugs the mountains and gives peekaboo views of the lake between the trees followed by jaw-dropping full views across its expanse that easily took our breath away. I’m including various photos that definitely cannot do it justice, but they’ll give you a general idea.
While we do not have full views of the lake from our townhome, just a short walk up the street is the association playground and amenities which are directly on the lake (playground, beach, outdoor pool, volleyball court, and pickle ball… if that’s your thing ;).) And, for $20 extra bucks we get to enjoy all those facilities as well as the indoor pool, hot tubs, tennis and basketball courts which are located a few blocks away.
Settling Into Our New Home
Now, while we don’t have views of the lake from our home, we do have a lovely view of the mountains and trees, and we are literally across the street from the local gym, yoga studio, and a chiropractor that came highly recommended by the local MomTribe on Facebook. So, suffice it to say… we’re definitely not suffering. In fact, we’re both getting more exercise than we have in years. Brian’s going to the gym 4-6 days a week in the morning, and I’m walking over to the yoga studio for classes about 3x week, which feels great.
Our home itself is a very comfortable, two-floor townhome. It has great amenities, a comfortable bed, and honestly, it took less than 2 days to get settled in. Then, we started exploring the neighborhood. Technically, if you look between the trees from our living room, then you get a tiny glimpse of the Tahoe Keys Marina with some boats starting to show up now that it’s May, so maybe we’ll look into renting a boat on a nice weather weekend.
Fairly soon after our arrival, Brian discovered a great walking trail here in the Tahoe Keys which starts right down the street. It’s a flat, mile+ loop that goes through wetlands to the lake’s edge and back. So, rather like when we lived in Copake Falls, NY last year, we yet again have a great place to walk with a stroller (or just let Pumpkin wander at toddler pace.)
The biggest change with this landing experience was our decision to try putting Pumpkin into a daycare/school setting rather than continuing to hire a private nanny. At 21-months-old, this decision felt right because she was definitely ready to get some more time with other kids. (Gotta learn those sharing skills somehow, right?) Also, now that she’s only taking one midday nap I was less worried about her getting screwed for sleep by not matching everyone else’s nap schedule.
We were delighted to find a brand new “in-home” preschool, which only currently has two other kids exactly her age enrolled. So, rather than tossing her in the deep end with 20+ kids and 3-4 different teachers, she now has a couple of friends and a teacher who does a great job giving them all personal attention.
Honestly, we couldn’t have been happier with how easily she transitioned into the new setting. Even better, the program truly is being run like a pre-school, so she’s getting exposed to a wonderful array of play-based learning activities: science, art, music, books, pretend play, outdoor fun, and so much more.
Typically, every morning when we leave for school all she says is “TOYS!!!!” because she’s so excited about all the fun stuff they get to play with. Truly, it’s toddler heaven. After a couple of very successful weeks we even decided to up her days from 3 to 4x/week so that I have a bit more time to devote to developing our new course: “The Freedom Evolution: The Five Elements You Need for the Business and Lifestyle You Deserve,” which will be launching this fall.
A Few Reflections
While we are definitely enjoying our time here, and I’m feeling plugged into my work in a way that I haven’t been since before Pumpkin was born, there have been a few observations about life here in South Lake Tahoe worth sharing.
We’re here on what’s definitely the “shoulder season.” The skiing is slowing down, but it’s not yet warm enough for summer activities. So, things in town are a little sleepy. We’ve been very surprised to discover that many of the cafes are only open until 2-3pm in the afternoon… What’s up with that?!? Many “tourist attractions” don’t even open until after Memorial Day. So, we haven’t yet gotten to visit some of the cool historic houses along the lake, and many of the state parks are officially “closed for the season.”
Now, that didn’t stop us from taking a walk in Emerald Bay State Park last weekend and braving the snow packs and giant snow melt lakes to enjoy the overlook views. Another truly breath-taking experience!
We also had our first adventure of a big public “Egg hunt” on the snow! We were invited by Pumpkin’s day care friends’ families to join for the public Egg Hunt at Paradise Park, which was quite the experience. 1,200 people, 10,000 plastic eggs… it was CRAZY.
Fortunately, they did a practice “egg hunt” at school earlier in the week because even though they had the sections separated between 1-4 year olds and 5-8 year olds… those 4 year olds were on a MISSION! Hard for a little gal like our Pumpkin to get to those eggs without a fair number of defensive plays by her parents! Still, it was really a ton of fun, and an experience that Brian and I surely won’t forget.
Then, last weekend we found out last minute about a great event over in Sparks, NV: “Baby Animal Days” at Andelin Family Farm. It was literally the last day of the multi-weekend event, but we decided to jump in the car for the 90-minute drive to Sparks and give it a try.
It was delightful!!! Baby goats, lambs, chicks, cows and so much more! A hay ride, hay bale maze, and plenty of activities that are perfect for younger kids. We were there for about 2 hours and had a wonderful experience and many great photos for less than $20 (plus gas… but even getting gas in NV is a LOT less expensive than up in Tahoe ($3.25/gal vs. $4.19/gal).
We’ve also been starting to make some local friends, connecting with folks through the library story time, the local MomTribe FB group, and obviously through school as well. So, I’m sure that will continue during the next two months as we get to know the community a bit more. I’m beginning to realize that there really is a progression to each time we land.
Phase 1: Unpack and settle into the house (First few days)
Phase 2: Explore the neighborhood and town (First couple weeks)
Phase 3: Integrate into the community and start creating friendships (next few months)
So, we are very much in Phase 3 right now. I look forward to next month’s update when I hopefully will have a few more adventures and fun experiences to share with you. Our friends Lisa Montanaro and her husband Sean are coming for a visit, and the weather has started getting warmer, so we look forward to more outside hikes and explorations.
In closing, I’ve been enjoying a small plaque here at our condo which I’ll share with you:
This life we’ve created has so many moments that take my breath away. My heart is full of gratitude and awe.
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