To Lake Tahoe

We slept a little later this morning, thanks to a very comfortable bed and quiet room at the Holbrooke Hotel in Grass Valley. The hotel provided a simple breakfast of coffee and cinnamon scones which we took outside to eat on the still slightly chilly terrace, with the sun just touching the fir trees on the outskirts of town.

Nevada City

When we left we drove just a short distance to Nevada City where we stopped for a walk around its historic district and a ‘proper’ coffee. I loved what I saw of this small historic town. It seemed it would have been a good base for the night but Grass Valley had also been great for that and the two places too close to want to stay in both.

The Donner Pass

We then drove on a scenic route across the Sierra Nevada, picking up IS 80 briefly before detouring on to the Donner Pass Road. This took us up over the pass made famous by a group heading west on the Gold Rush trail. Their story is quite dramatic, even horrific. In 1844 a group of pioneers had left the usual route west to follow the Truckee River into the mountains. The Stephens-Townsend-Murphy Party became the first overland settlers to use what later became known as the Donner Pass. It took them roughly four months to cross the Sierra Nevada by this route.

But it was a later group of settlers who made the pass notorious and lent their name to it. In early November 1846 the Donner Party found the route blocked by snow and was forced to spend the winter on the east side of the mountains. Of the 81 settlers in the group, only 45 lived to reach California. It is commonly believed that some of them resorted to cannibalism to survive, eating those of their companions who had perished and possibly also killing their native guides for food.

Despite this terrible history the views of Donner Lake far below us were beautiful!

Lake Tahoe

Arriving at Lake Tahoe we stopped in Tahoe City for a short walk by the lake and a cold drink at a rather funky place near the water's edge.

We then drive anticlockwise around the lake to Emerald Bay State Park. There were great views from a spot near the parking area, and we also did a short walk up to what should have been Eagle Falls. They were unfortunately dry but it was still a lovely walk.

We carried on around the lake to the Tallac Historic Site, where a group of houses are preserved to show how people enjoyed holidaying here in the past. This was once known as the ‘Grandest Resort in the World’ and was the summer retreat for three of the San Francisco Bay Area's socially elite families. Some of the properties were already closed for the winter season but the museum in one of the main houses, the Baldwin House, was open so we could get a sense of how these families had spent their summers here.

We also walked down to the lake, passing small garden plots, other buildings such as servants’ quarters and another substantial property, the Pope House, which was closed.

We stopped once more for ice creams at a quaint old ice cream parlour near a camping site.

We then carried on through South Lake Tahoe to the Hilton Resort. While this wasn’t in our usual style I’d chosen it for its proximity to dining options. We had a large comfortable room, but I resented paying an extra $27 for the obligatory valet parking, a detail which hadn’t been mentioned when booking.

In the evening we went to the nearby Riva Grill by the lakeshore. The food was very good, albeit pricey. We shared some crab cakes as an appetiser, and both had huge and delicious burgers to follow. I also enjoyed the Riva Mahogany Amber ale.