I ran cross country and track in college for the first 2 years before I hunkered down and really focused on my major, Computer Science. Every year in the fall, a couple of weeks before school started, we would go up to Lake Tahoe for a week to train. We'd have morning and afternoon workouts, and the time in between was our own. Those were such fun times! And Lake Tahoe is beautiful!
After that, I never returned. I moved away, got busy with life, and traveled to other places. My husband, Jose, had never been to Tahoe so the next stop of our 2020 vacation was to go there.
One of the few things I remembered, other than the lake of course, was the Stardust Lodge. I never stayed there, back in the day, but it's right across from Heavenly Valley so you couldn't miss it.
Now, it has been converted into a timeshare. The space we stayed in was pretty small, just one room with a murphy bed, sofa, small table, and kitchenette. but it was really cute. We couldn't actually figure out how to get the bed down because the sofa was right in front of it. We thought the sofa was a sleeper but couldn't get it open. We had to call for help. We must have looked like dummies because the sofa was actually part of the murphy bed and folded down when the bed was opened! Geez, they are getting so clever with murphy beds these days. :)
We were there for 5 nights, went on 2 amazing hikes, drove all the way around the lake (something I had never done), explored Emerald Bay, and went on a lunch boat tour. The smoke from the California fires only really affected our stay the day we were on the boat (naturally) which was too bad but the tour was still very enjoyable.
Yep, I was as uncomfortable as I looked. Ha!
Smoky, but the best day and we could see the lake really well.
Some smoke on this hike but not too bad. And the landscape was so beautiful, it was easy to overlook it.
Such fun to be on the water. A shame that we couldn't see all the variations of color in the water due to the smoke but still a lovely day.
Jose enjoyed seeing Tahoe for the first time, and I loved getting back there to see all the changes. It truly is one of the most beautiful lakes I've ever seen.
Next Stop: A trip down memory lane where I grew up, the Sierra Foothills