In Squaw Valley prowl around the recently redeveloped Squaw Village (530-584-1000; thevillageatsquaw.com): nice shops and restaurants, plus a ridiculously fun bungee trampoline for kids. Ride the cable car to High Camp to swim in the pool or ice-skate—the rink is open year-round.
Back in Tahoe City, go for drinks (and/or an elk burger and waffle fries) at the Bridgetender (530-583-3342), a log-cabin tavern that locals are devoted to. You can easily bike there from Sunnyside, or make the walk (a little over two miles). Dinner is next door at River Grill (530-581-2644; rivergrilltahoe.com), where you can grab an outside table or one inside, by the fireplace. The extensive wine list features Northwest and Napa and Sonoma Valley wines, and the California-cuisine menu offers such dishes as Sonoma goat cheese, chard, and garlic ravioli with roasted portobello and Roma tomato sauce, or a roasted Berkshire Farms pork chop with butter–whipped potatoes, watercress, and a pecan-mushroom cream sauce.
Day Two: Boat to Emerald Bay
Walk across the road to the Fire Sign Café (530-583-0871) for a big breakfast. This place will have lines out the door if you wait until 10am, so get there early. Try the Gouda scramble, or the buckwheat pancakes topped with hot, homemade blueberry-raspberry sauce, or the all-time favorite, the smoked-salmon omelet.
For a quiet moment, stop by the outdoor chapel at the Noel Porter Camp and Retreat Center, just down the way. You’ll find the Chapel of the Transfiguration (530-583-3014; campnoelportertc.com) in the woods behind the Episcopal camp; it’s so peaceful, even the nonreligious find religion there. On Sundays till the end of September, there’s a 9am service for those who prefer a bit of structure.
Rent a boat (ski or sail) from Tahoe City Marina (530-583-1039; tahoecitymarina.com) and cruise about 10 miles down the lake to Emerald Bay (parks.ca.gov). This has to be one of the most gorgeous sights of the West: a crystalline bay with a narrow beach and the small, quirky, granite Fannette Island, the lake’s only island.
Tour Vikingsholm (530-525-9530; vikingsholm.com), at the head of the bay. This so-called castle was built in 1929 as a wealthy woman’s summer home. It’s considered one of the best examples of Scandinavian architecture in the United States, with boulders, hand-cut timbers, carved moldings, and a sod roof. The remains of Vikingsholm’s former teahouse are out on Fannette Island.
An alternative to renting a boat: Book a two-and-a-half-hour scenic cruise on the Tahoe Queen, a 26-year-old paddleboat built on the Mississippi River and moved to Lake Tahoe. The ride (888-838-8923; laketahoetours.net) includes an exclusive video, The Sunken Treasures of Lake Tahoe, showing underwater canyons, vertical cliffs, ancient petrified forests, and sunken vessels.
Published: August 2009
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