Thanksgiving at Lake Tahoe
I visited the beautiful Lake Tahoe during Thanksgiving. It is a large freshwater lake in the Sierra Nevada mountains of the United States. It is located along the border between California and Nevada, west of Carson City, Nevada. The lake is known for the clarity of its water and the panorama of surrounding mountains on all sides. The area surrounding the lake is also referred to as Lake Tahoe, or simply Tahoe. It is home to a number of ski resorts, summer outdoor recreation, and tourist attractions.
Visit the official site here
During ski season, thousands of people from all over Nevada and California, including Las Vegas, Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area, flock to the slopes for some of the best skiing in the world. Lake Tahoe, in addition to its panoramic beauty, is well known for its blizzards. I went to Lake Tahoe for Thanksgiving with a group of UC Berkeley students. Unfortunately, the snow season this year was a bit late (Is it due to global warming? Maybe). So, we were hoping for the real snow fall but none came. Our consolation was that we have artificial snow to snowboard.
Some of the major ski areas in Tahoe include:
- Heavenly Mountain Resort: the largest ski area in California and Nevada, located near Stateline, Nevada
- Squaw Valley: the second largest ski area, known for its hosting of the 1960 Winter Olympics, located near Tahoe City
- Northstar at Tahoe: a popular north shore ski area (This was the place that we went to. Spent about $66 for the snowboard full rental as well as the gondola ride)
It was my first time snowboarding. Luckily there were some friends who taught us how to snowboard. First timer should take lessons otherwise you’ll keep falling and hurting your butt. Nevertheless, it was a great experience and I’ll snowboard again. Maybe skiing next time.
Besides snow sports, Lake Tahoe offers a spectacular view. Emerald Bay is one of the best place for sight seeing. There are other places like King’s Beach (I didn’t go to this one).
In one of the mornings, I joined a group of people to watch sunrise. It wasn’t a good idea though. The temperature was -7 C but it felt like -15 C because of the strong wind. My friend’s tripod was nearly blown down. Guess what, three layes of clothes including thermal wear didn’t help much. Ten people went to watch sunrise but we only had a car to ferry people around. Other car owners were still sleeping because we left at around 5.45am. I was one of the first to reach and last to leave. Brrr… It’s not a good idea unless you have cars to sit in to block the wind. The sunrise view in the photo below. Worth it to be out in the cold for almost two hours?
Popularity: 3% [?]