Tahoe City Mini Getaway
This past weekend my family went up to Lake Tahoe for a mini getaway. In past years we’ve rented a house in Tahoe for a week over the 4th of July, but we figured that didn’t make much sense this year. However, we didn’t want to let the summer go by without getting to Tahoe for at least a weekend. Obviously we were a bit nervous with everything going on right now, but we were super cautious while we were there (and it seemed like everyone else was as well), so we never felt unsafe.
Friday
We drove up on Friday afternoon and got to Tahoe around 7pm (it’s about a 4 hour drive from SF without traffic). We stayed at the Basecamp Hotel in Tahoe City. This hotel has a super convenient location right in the middle of Tahoe City and is nearby a lot of shops and restaurants. The hotel is pretty small and all the rooms are on the ground floor with doors that open to the outside (which was perfect for right now because we were not having to deal with elevators or seeing many other guests). Our room was pretty basic but nice and spotlessly clean. The hotel also has a cute outdoor area with fire pits for roasting smores, picnic tables, and cornhole. It kind of feels like you’re camping (minus the tent part).
That night we went to Jake’s on the Lake for dinner. We made sure that we would be sitting outside, and we ended up getting a great table directly overlooking the lake during sunset. We also felt very safe here; the restaurant is really big and has a three-tiered outdoor deck so they were able to space out the tables adequately. It’s a more high-end restaurant, but their food is so tasty and well worth it - I had the salmon and it was delicious. We also got their famous Hula Pie for dessert of course.
Saturday
On Saturday morning we walked to Syd’s Bagelry to get coffee and bagels for breakfast (it’s been our favorite coffee shop in Tahoe City for years). We had a full beach day at Skylandia Beach. We chose to go to that beach because we had heard it was not too crowded, so we were able to safely keep our distance from the other people there. The weather was perfect (in the mid-80’s) and we were in and out of the lake all day. We also picked up sandwiches for lunch from Sugar Pine Cakery (another favorite of ours), which is just across the street from the beach. That evening we headed back to our hotel and sat outside at a picnic table to have a drink and snack. Instead of having to get dressed up and go out to dinner again, we decided to order takeout from the Tahoe Tap Haus, another restaurant in Tahoe City. We just picked it up from the restaurant and returned to our picnic table at our hotel to eat it, which was perfect.
Sunday
On Sunday we started our day with coffee from Syd’s again. We then went on a 4-mile hike (which was more like a walk, since the trail was all paved and the incline was not that steep). I can’t find the trail’s name but it was right across the street from the 7-11 near Dollar Point. After that, we went back to Skylandia Beach. The beach was even quieter today, which was great, so we spent most of the afternoon soaking up the sun there until we had to head home. It was such a fun weekend and I’m so glad we still got to get to Tahoe for a quick (but successful!) trip.
Tahoe City
Views from our table at Jake’s on the Lake
Another (unfiltered) picture of the beautiful sunset a few minutes later!
Skylandia Beach
What going out to dinner in 2020 looks like!
Cute outdoor area at Basecamp
