Tahoe Vacation - Days 6-7

I didn’t get to blog yesterday as I didn’t get home until midnight last night, so will cover yesterday and today. 

Thursday, Oct. 6

Yesterday it was still snowing in Tahoe, moreso in South Lake Tahoe we discovered.  We decided to drive down the east side of the lake and take some pictures.  We stopped at a private beach in Incline Village (must be nice to have private access to the shoreline), but since it’s basically closed for the season, no one gave us grief.  There were some beautiful views of the lake and the mountains.

We drove on towards Stateline, and encountered some icy roads in the pass as we got further south, but it was better than what we had encountered on the west side of the lake the night before.  We pulled in to the Mont Bleu casino in Stateline to try another casino.  We played for about an hour and I wound up about $10 ahead when we left….not bad for the penny slots.

We were getting peckish, so we headed into Stateline and wound up eating at the Stateline Brewery (www.statelinebrewery.com).  I really don’t have much flattering to say about it, other than I did like the White-out Wit (a wheat beer).  I had kobe sliders and Phil had a chicken Caesar salad.  I wouldn’t go out of my way to eat here, but if you’re in the area and hungry, it’s decent enough, but there are better options down the street.

We drove back as I had plans to meet my cousin Jen down the hill in Grass Valley for dinner.  I was about to leave just after 3pm as it’s a 90 minute drive.  It was a very pleasant drive over the Donner Pass (and stunning views of the snowy mountains.  I cut off onto the 20 Fwy, which is a gorgeous two lane rural highway.  I was basically the only person on the road.  You start out at around 8000 feet, with lots of snow, and as I descended down the mountains towards Grass Valley, the snow lessened and lessened.  It was neat to see the slow transition. 

I made it to dinner with my cousin and her sons in plenty of time.  I hadn’t seen her in years, so it was very nice to get caught up.  We ate at Frank’s Pizza in downtown Grass Valley (it’s an old mining town and the architecture is pretty much still intact).  I definitely would like to go back and spend some time exploring this quaint town (and visit more with my cousin and her kids).  The drive back was uneventful, but  being so late and so cold, I did worry about ice, but fortunately the roads had been sanded and I didn’t hit any ice patches,

Friday, Oct. 7

Today we hit the Old Post Office Café in Carnelian Bay, just up the road.  It has gotten great reviews and I can see why.  Compared to the Log Cabin, it’s more authentic and geared towards the locals and is true coffee shop fare.  I ordered a bowl of fruit and biscuits & gravy.  The b&g can go either way I’ve learned – restaurants either do it very well, or it’s awful.  They did it right.  It was almost as good as my dad’s!  Phil had the breakfast burrito with potatoes.  He said the burrito was very tasty and the potatoes were superior to the ones he had at Log Cabin.

We drove down the west side of the lake again and stopped a few times to take some pictures of the snowy peaks.  The snow was just starting to melt at the south end of the lake (the north end was pretty dry by this morning).  We headed out the 89, which I had originally came in on and got to see the snow covered valleys up a little higher in the Sierras.  It was quite stunning.  We drove out to Woodfords (if you blink as you drive through, you’d miss it) and turned around as we were getting a tad far out. 

As we got back in to South Lake Tahoe, we stopped to do some shopping.  I didn’t find much of interest, but I did find a birthday/Xmas gift for my niece (she may be reading, so don’t want to share my find!).  Our lunch was basically just a snack – we stopped at KFC for some popcorn chicken and chicken snackers.  I wanted to save room for our final meal in Tahoe tonight – we’re heading to the Swiss Lakewood – I will try to report on it later tonight, or tomorrow morning if I can.