3 Fun Short Stay Activities in Lake Tahoe

Each summer we try to escape the heat and humidity of Florida. We first hung out in Denver, spending time with our youngest son, visiting old friends and playing a little golf. Lynn had never been to Lake Tahoe so we spent a few days enjoying lake views, golfing, and sampling a few wines.

Taking in Lake Views

We stayed in Squaw Valley — a 15 minute drive from northwest Lake Tahoe. This area is bike friendly so we rented bikes and cycled down the trail that goes from Squaw Valley to to Lake Tahoe. It was Sunday and there were lots of people floating down the river in tubes and rafts (you can rent these at the base of Lake Tahoe).

As you cycle along the river, you see scenic bridges, people enjoying the water, and families having picnics.

Once you reach Lake Tahoe, continue the trial south to enjoy beautiful views along the lake. A good place to stop for brunch is Sunnyside Restaurant. Located right on the lake, it has great food and lake views.

Another way to take in the views is to drive the perimeter of the lake. There are hiking spots along the way if you want to stretch your legs. The drive around the lake will take you about 3 hours but you will want to make some stops along the way. We spent about 5 or 6 hours, stopping to eat and and take short hikes.

One of our favorite stops was Sand Harbor on the Nevada side. It has a Bar and Grill but also has a few beaches with beautiful views of the lake. It gets crowded so its best to hit this place early.

If you’re into hiking, consider taking the gondola at Olympic Village in Squaw Valley. This is where the Olympics were held in 1960. Once you reach the top, there are tons of hikes for all skill levels. There is also a small museum with memorabilia from the 1960 Olympics.

You will also get views of the lake from up top.

Taking in Olympic Village

Olympic Village normally has something going on each weekend. When we were there, California wineries were hosting a wine tasting. This was ideal because we were visiting Sonoma soon and wanted some suggestions for wineries to visit. There were also musicians playing and people out enjoying the weekend.

Golfing Squaw Valley

I played The Links at Squaw Creek in Olympic Village — it is a course surrounded by 6 majestic Sierra peaks. The course was designed by Robert Trent Jones and offers a challenging round due to its narrow fairways, hidden greens and thick grass bordering every fairway.

I played alone towards the end of the day and it was a challenge to know where to hit the ball because of the hidden greens and dangers on both sides of the fairway. I lost about 6 golf balls because I just was not sure where to aim. If I had played with someone that knew the course, I would carded a much better score than 94! But this was a really fun course.

I’ll leave you with a final picture from the course. You traverse most of the holes along a boardwalk that keeps you out of the high grass along the fairway. Challenging. Beautiful. Incredibly Fun!

Slovenia: A Surprisingly Awesome Place to Visit

Ask most Americans if they would like to visit Slovenia and they would probably look at you funny. I’m well traveled but knew nothing about Slovenia until it happened to be along our path from Austria to Croatia — 2 countries we wanted to see.

Ljubljana

Our first stop in Slovenia was Ljubljana, What an amazing surprise, this place is absolutely fantastic. After spending 3 days here, I would highly recommend a visit.

Ljubljana is the capital and largest city in Slovenia with a population of about 270,000. It is a very walkable city with well kept buildings, churches, and a river running through the middle.

On our first night, we dropped into the restaurant in the picture below. It was a river side restaurant and the food smelled great. We were shown to our table and the waiter (a Frank Zappa looking gentleman) says “let me guess: 2 wines and 2 beers!”. We broke up laughing, he thought he had us sized up (and he did). He was typical of the people we met in Slovenia. Warm, friendly and ready to clown around.

We liked that restaurant so much, we ate there 2 of the 3 nights. The town has lots of interesting art installations around town.

Notice the bumps in the street behind us. That is actually an art installation that are alien-like heads, check it out by looking closer:

They also have a bridge aptly named”Dragon Bridge”.

They also have a bridge of locks (similar to Paris).

At the highest point of the city lies a castle that dates back to medieval times (notice the castle at the top of this picture):

You can ride to the top of the castle or you can walk it. We rode up and walked down.

You are rewarded with beautiful views from the top of the castle.

Bled

Just a short drive from Ljubljana is Bled, a glacier lake set in an idyllic location.

There is a castle at the top of Lake Bled, complete with a small museum.

In the middle of the lake is a church that dates back to 1655, check out the island from the window of the castle (top right window pane).

To get to the island, you must take a gondola, as you would in Venice.

The owners of these boats are families who have passed it down from generation to generation for hundreds of years.

As you get closer to the church, you appreciate the effort it took for church goers to get there.

The view from the island is breath taking.

I’ll leave you with a final picture I took returning from the boat. Shouldn’t Slovenia be on your bucket list?

Visiting the Capital of Hungary: Budapest

While in Austria, we had a chance to visit Hungary’s capital city, Budapest. Budapest was previously 2 cities (Buda and Pest), separated by the Danube River. One of the most iconic landmarks is the Hungarian Parliament building (red-top building in the background of the picture below) — I will include a closer image of that at the end of this blog.

We first stopped at City Park, a place where locals ice skate in the winter and hangout in the summer.

Imagine this entire lake being frozen during winter.

The castle across the lake takes you back in time. You can climb the tower for a better lookout.

As we drove around the city, you catch glimpses of haunting statues. These are not statues of nobility but of suffering.

If you visit, be sure to spend some time walking around the Buda Castle district (Budai Varnegyed) — there is so much to experience here.

From the Buda side, you get a peek at the Hungarian Parliament building.

From the Pest side, you see it in all it’s glory.