Tallac Historic Site
2 / 5
Lake Tahoe is known for its clear blue water ringed by forested slopes and granite peaks. We stayed on the California side at Fallen Leaf Campground, just across the street from Lake Tahoe. It also has its own smaller lake, Fallen Leaf Lake. The area is laced with bike trails, so on our first day out exploring, we hopped on the bikes to see what we could find.
Lake Tahoe at Valhalla
1 / 16
We pedaled over to the Tallac Historic Site, a cluster of preserved resort estates from Tahoe’s early resort days. The most prominent is the Valhalla Estate, now an arts and cultural center. We wandered the grounds while people were setting up for an evening jazz concert. Tickets were sold out, but a kind lady tipped us off that plenty of folks just sit by the lake and listen for free. Noted. We also toured the Pope House Museum, filled with 1920s décor and photos from Tahoe’s high society summer retreat era.
We had a picnic lunch by the water at Valhalla and were treated to a bald eagle swooping in from the lake with his own lunch. He perched high in a tree to eat a freshly caught fish from Lake Tahoe.
From there, we biked down the lakeside Kiva Beach trail to Taylor Creek Visitor Center. We walked the Rainbow Trail, which winds through marsh and meadow. A fish exhibit along the way has underwater viewing windows into the creek. It’s most famous for the kokanee salmon run in the fall. We were a bit early for that show. The only wildlife that day was a red-tailed hawk circling overhead and a few noisy Steller’s jays.
That evening we came back with camp chairs for our free concert by the lake outside the Valhalla Boathouse Theatre, headlined by jazz performer Gunhild Carling. While waiting for the music to start, Danny struck up a conversation with a man named John, who claimed to have scored a timeshare deal that let him hang around Tahoe for months. A little more small talk ensues, until he launches into a discussion about end times, the 2nd coming of Christ, and finally how HE was in fact that very 2nd coming. According to John, the FBI tapped his phones, discovered who he was, and that triggered the Asian stock market crash of 1997.
Danny, unshaken, just chatted economics until we politely excused ourselves to move closer to the venue and further away from John. Gunhild’s performance was fantastic, and it was the perfect way to wrap up our day by the lake.
Somewhere between biking the shoreline, listening to jazz at sunset, and narrowly escaping an apocalyptic economics lecture, we made a decision.
Tahoe was originally just a stop on the way south to Yosemite. But Yosemite had become the weak link. I had missed the campground booking window months earlier while we were on the road, and no cancellations had surfaced. At the same time, we were starting to feel the wear of constant movement.
So instead of pushing south, we decided to turn east. But not immediately. First, I opened the reservation system and secured three more nights at Fallen Leaf to extend our stay in Tahoe. Turning east meant shaving Yosemite, Kings Canyon, Sequoia, and Death Valley off the itinerary. We still want to see those parks, especially Yosemite. Now we just have a reason to come back.
We had a picnic lunch by the water at Valhalla and were treated to a bald eagle swooping in from the lake with his own lunch. He perched high in a tree to eat a freshly caught fish from Lake Tahoe.
From there, we biked down the lakeside Kiva Beach trail to Taylor Creek Visitor Center. We walked the Rainbow Trail, which winds through marsh and meadow. A fish exhibit along the way has underwater viewing windows into the creek. It’s most famous for the kokanee salmon run in the fall. We were a bit early for that show. The only wildlife that day was a red-tailed hawk circling overhead and a few noisy Steller’s jays.
That evening we came back with camp chairs for our free concert by the lake outside the Valhalla Boathouse Theatre, headlined by jazz performer Gunhild Carling. While waiting for the music to start, Danny struck up a conversation with a man named John, who claimed to have scored a timeshare deal that let him hang around Tahoe for months. A little more small talk ensues, until he launches into a discussion about end times, the 2nd coming of Christ, and finally how HE was in fact that very 2nd coming. According to John, the FBI tapped his phones, discovered who he was, and that triggered the Asian stock market crash of 1997.
Danny, unshaken, just chatted economics until we politely excused ourselves to move closer to the venue and further away from John. Gunhild’s performance was fantastic, and it was the perfect way to wrap up our day by the lake.
Somewhere between biking the shoreline, listening to jazz at sunset, and narrowly escaping an apocalyptic economics lecture, we made a decision.
Tahoe was originally just a stop on the way south to Yosemite. But Yosemite had become the weak link. I had missed the campground booking window months earlier while we were on the road, and no cancellations had surfaced. At the same time, we were starting to feel the wear of constant movement.
So instead of pushing south, we decided to turn east. But not immediately. First, I opened the reservation system and secured three more nights at Fallen Leaf to extend our stay in Tahoe. Turning east meant shaving Yosemite, Kings Canyon, Sequoia, and Death Valley off the itinerary. We still want to see those parks, especially Yosemite. Now we just have a reason to come back.