According to my Jeep, we hit 100 degrees this weekend in Charlotte to it's time to take it back to the winter. This is the view of South Lake Tahoe from peaceful Zephyr Cove, just five miles away.
This photograph was captured with a Sony DSC-S70 camera.
It doesn't get much better than Diamond Peak on an SPF 100 kind of day!
This photograph was captured with a Sony NEX-7.
I will never, ever get tired of this view. California Trail may not be Heavenly's best run but it's certainly the most picturesque. It's also a very welcome sight if you just made the long, flat traverse from the Nevada side of the mountain.
This photograph was captured with an ancient Sony DSC-S70 that happened to be in my kit that day. I really should reshoot it with a modern camera.
You know how the photos you take of the amazing views from your car window always get ruined by a semi truck or a set of utility poles? I finally managed to capture one with neither! I present to you Lake Tahoe at Speed. There was a fantastic storm rolling over the mountains as we were driving into town. Since I wasn't driving, I thought I'd hang my head out the window and see what I could do.
This photograph really captures the feeling that I had looking out the window with the reflection of the ominous clouds on the Lake and the promise of a sunny day right around the corner.
This photograph was captured with a Sony NEX-7.
So much for keeping Tahoe blue... This boat rental from Zephyr Cove is just floating 10 feet above a crystal clear sandy and emerald-green bottom. Don't let the serenity fool you... fire up that motor and in five minutes you'll be in deep blue water almost five football fields deep. Lake Tahoe is the second deepest lake in the United States and the sixth largest by volume, after each of the Great Lakes.
Zephyr Cove is a quaint little lakeside retreat on Lake Tahoe. It's one of the last milestones that you tick off on your way from the Reno airport to Stateline, which is the developed portion of Lake Tahoe that is host to Heavenly Valley. It's pretty quiet in the winter time — I think we suited up for a snowmobile tour there once many years ago. I bet it's a great place to relax in the summer but in the winter it always seems like one of the coldest spots on the lake to me.
This photograph was taken many moons ago with a very old Sony Cybershot something or other. Sony sure has come a long way since then!
Pow! Feast your eyes upon the cushy mountains on the backside of Diamond Peak.
Diamond Peak is the most underrated mountain in North America. There, I said it. It's really more ski mountain than ski resort. Its no-nonsense facilities mean $5 chili for lunch, parking 30 feet away from the lodge and the ability to absolutely pack in the runs. Easy up, easy down. It doesn't hurt that just about every run comes with the same view of the Lake as Heavenly's famous California Trail. The lack of fancy frills (and crowds) is exactly how the locals like it.
Please do me a favor, though, just because I called it the most underrated mountain in North America doesn't mean you should check it out. Stick with Heavenly or — if you're feeling more adventurous — Squaw Valley. The last thing we need is a bunch of people filling up lift lines and driving up the prices of the chili.
This photograph was captured with an ancient Canon PowerShot S200 that I bought in Barcelona after the previous one was stolen in Barri Gòtic... but that's a story for another day.
Reno may not have the glamor of Las Vegas... or the beauty of Lake Tahoe... or the cleanliness of Atlantic City (hyperbole alert)... or the convenience of a riverboat casino... but it does have free drinks.
Despite feeling like the casino town that was left behind, Reno holds a special place in my heart. Having lived on the East Coast for the last 20 years, Reno is the gateway to the mountains of Lake Tahoe. It's a waypoint where you spend a night and a little walking around money as you switch from an airplane to a rented 4x4 for a week of sun, fun and snow in the mountains.
This photograph was captured with an iPhone 5s.
The future potential of Hyperloop is awesome but the greatest form of transportation currently known to man is the ski gondola. This one picks you up right in the middle of Heavenly Village in Stateline, CA, and takes you 2.4 miles straight up into the mountain.
The last time we were in Lake Tahoe, our condo was located in the Village right next to the gondola station. The only thing better than watching a gondola fly past your condo is watching your condo fly past a gondola.
This photograph was captured with a Sony NEX-7.
We headed out to Lake Tahoe mid-January two years ago in the height of the drought. Snow had not fallen in weeks and the reported conditions were looking bleak. It looks like somebody finally remembered to pay the weather bill, though.
As we were rounding the lake, we could see storms off in the distance and just as we rolled into town, the sky opened up with snow. By the time we left later that week, another four feet had piled up.