Your first view of North Lake Tahoe may not register – it’s simply too beautiful to comprehend – but it’s not your imagination. You’ve yet to see water so rich and blue, and as it travels into inlets and beaches, the color transcends to turquoise. The lake’s water is amazingly clear and is reported to be more than 99 percent pure.
North Lake Tahoe awaits you, and the reality is that there is no other place on earth like this.
You will awaken to a quiet that is broken only by the sounds of the birds and the symphony of the wind pushing through the pines.
Lake Tahoe is world-renowned as the largest Alpine lake in North America, and the second deepest lake in the United States. Standing on the shore, you are at an altitude of more than 6,000 feet. Look up and enjoy the High Sierras, some stretching to a height of 11,000 feet, with snow still lacing the mountaintops. You will experience what locals call a “blue bird” day as you drink in the endless blue skies mirrored in the sapphire blue waters of the lake. And there are plenty of days filled with sunshine – in fact, more than 300!
This is a place of action and relaxation. Choose to boat, parasail, play beach volleyball, fish, climb, swim, bike or run in a marathon, golf at any of the many championship courses, and enjoy a concert, either inside or out, in the mountain breezes. Plan to attend the Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival, a favorite event performed under the pines while the stars dance overhead.
If you have come to unwind, this is the perfect place. Enjoy the views, take a leisurely walk on a soft dirt trail and simply forget the world you’ve left behind. Take in a deep breath of the pure Sierra air, and exhale, knowing that you must remember everything that your senses are experiencing.
In celebration of Independence Day, starting on July 3rd, there is a laser light show at Squaw Valley, USA, where, in 1960, the winter Olympics were held. If you are here for the Fourth of July, join in the celebration of a small-town parade in Truckee, and enjoy the fireworks from the West End Beach at Donner Lake. You can also take it easy and lie back on the sands of Kings Beach, or Commons Beach in Tahoe City, and at dusk watch the riotous explosions up close and personal. You’ll feel the patriotic spirit in these communities – America the Beautiful!
Lake Tahoe has more than 72 miles of shoreline, with the California and Nevada borders running down the center of the lake. If your preference is nightclubbing and gambling, North Lake Tahoe has this, too, at Incline Village and Crystal Bay, Nevada. The Cal Neva Casino in Crystal Bay was the regular haunt of the Rat Pack. There’s even an underground tunnel that was used to usher stars, including Marilyn Monroe, to and from various visitors’ rooms.
If you have come to enjoy the later Indian summer, be prepared for the amazing colors. The quaking aspen are not to be missed, and further prove that the seasons should be celebrated.
This jewel of the Sierras is a most gracious and beautiful lady. Dressed in her pastel summer colors she glows, and in autumn she wears her gold, brilliant red and oranges magnificently, but be sure to return in the winter – she’s stunning in her winter white.
As you enjoy the summer in North Lake Tahoe you will come to the realization that there is a Heaven on Earth – and you are here. |
