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There are numerous scenic overlooks where you can stop and
snap a photo along the 72-mile road that circles the lake, but my
fall favorite was the Crystal Bay Fire Lookout Trail. From about 800
feet above the liquid surface, Lake Tahoe sprawls like a slab of pol-
ished sapphire between pine-carpeted peaks whose inverse image
appears painted on the smooth watery canvas. From any perspec-
tive, though — north, south, east, or west — the point at which
the wall of cobalt water blends into cerulean sky is what blue must
have looked like at its genesis, and is one of Lake Tahoe’s most
unique characteristics.
For my dad, who spent his teen years working summer jobs
at a local marina pumping gas and scraping boat hulls, it was the
end-of-the-day sky that conjures the most memories.
“I think my favorite times at The Lake were those sunset
hours,” he says. “They were truly the magic hours and the colors
seemed to alter every minute. The sky would be orange, then
become red, then fade into blue and deep purple, until the starry
sky blanketed us in a nightly dome. It was serenity.”
Watching the twilight transition remains a do-not-miss rite of
passage, and is easy to do thanks to the dozens of beaches, picnic
grounds, and waterfront restaurants and bars situated around the
shoreline. Try Sand Harbor or Secret Cove if you want an all-natural
setting, or stop in at Chambers Landing, an A-frame cabin that is
the oldest bar on Lake Tahoe and perfect for both boat-up and
belly-up sunsets.
One evening, my husband and I had dinner and sipped the sig-
nature Wet Woody cocktail (a sunset-colored frozen rum drink with
a name that nods to the classic wooden boats seen zipping around
the lake) at Gar Woods Grill & Pier in Carnelian Bay. The restaurant
is just a rock skip from where I used to do the same on my grand-
parents’ beach. And indeed, as my dad recalled, the sky turned
50 shades of pink, orange, and purple while we enjoyed our bev-
erage and chose plates from a menu that includes French onion
soup, steaks, and shell pasta with grilled chicken, pancetta, artichoke
hearts, and smoked Gouda.
AUTUMN ARRIVAL
While summer in Lake Tahoe can mean traffic jams and two-hour-plus
waits for lunch or drinks on popular outdoor dining decks, post–Labor
Day is a sort of “secret season,” when the sun still shines, but the
tables open up and the roads aren’t nearly as crowded.
According to my dad, it was always the smell that signaled
summer was coming to a close. “The aroma of pine, the pine sap,
and the crisp and clean mountain air. It was unmistakable and
never forgotten,” he says.
Kim Karpeles/Alamy Stock Photo; Nina Photography; Laura Ciapponi/Getty Images
TOP: Lounging lakeside is a Tahoe must. One way to do it right: Sip
cocktails on the wooden deck at Gar Woods Grill & Pier. BOTTOM:
Visiting Lake Tahoe in the fall makes for fewer crowds and plenty of
golden foliage.
POST–LABOR DAY
IS A SORT OF ‘SECRET SEASON,’
WHEN THE SUN STILL SHINES, BUT THE TABLES
OPEN UP AND THE ROADS AREN’T NEARLY AS
CROWDED.”
IntervalWorld.com INTERVAL WORLD Summer 2016
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