The California Department of Transportation (CAltrans) is alerting motorist that Interstate 80 (I-80) will be subject to nighttime closures from Tuesday, March 31 through Monday, November 30. The closures will be in effect between 7 PM and 8 AM. (10 AM on weekends) and may occur seven days a week. Closure schedules may vary throughout the construction season.
There will be two separate detours during the closures. During this construction period, closures will alternate between the east and the west bound directions:
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Large trucks, buses and RVs will detour onto the Highway 20-49 corridor
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Passenger vehicles will be detoured using Rollins Lake Road
Both detours will be clearly marked. This schedule is subject to change due to inclement weather.
For more information including dates and times of closures, please visit www.GetAcross80.com.
The east bound detour is scheduled to start at the Rollins Lake exit near Colfax into Highway 174 and end at approximately Secret Town where it reenters I-80. Trucks and RVs east bound will turn into Highway 49 at Auburn and then turn right into Highway 20 following it to Emigarnat gap where it will reenter I-80 at approximately Emigrant Gap.
Popularity: 3% [?]
Resting on the banks of the Truckee River, in a turn-of-the-century old red barn, lies the Truckee River Winery. The small winery, owned and operated by Russ and Joan Jones, makes some truly great wines. It’s more than just a curiosity; Russ is a serious wine maker graduating from UC Davis in enology and opening the winery in 1989. Russ’s wines are made by hand in small batches by the open fermentation method. Reds are aged in French oak barrels.
Surprisingly, Truckee is not as harsh of an area to make wines as you might imagine, since heat is only needed when temperatures reach around zero degrees. Russ is assisted by his wife, Joan, who he calls his cellar rat. (Not sure he addresses her that way in public.) Truckee River Winery makes 4 wines: Pinot Noir, Zinfandel, Sauvignon Blanc and a mellow, soft Merlot.
Meeting Russ, you feel that this man loves his work. His wines are all hand made and carefully brought to maturity by his experienced hands. In this day of machines and huge fermenting tanks, it’s heart warming to experience wines made in the old, time-honored fashion. When drinking a glass of Russ’s wines, you are truly tasting the result of a man who has put his heart into his work and the flavor of his wines bare witness to this. His wines can be found on the menus of most restaurants in Truckee and Lake Tahoe as well as “Florian’s Fine Wines” in Truckee.
You are invited to learn more about these fine wines and the wine making process at Truckee River Winery.com or you may call Russ, or Joan at 530-587-4626. They’d love to hear from you.
Popularity: 3% [?]
As the Labor Day holiday comes and goes, many people think of the summer season in Tahoe as being over. For exactly that reason it is one of our favorite times of year. For most families, the month of September represents kids getting back to school and the return to “normal” day to day activities. This also means that it’s more difficult to take days off or even sneak in a weekend getaway because of soccer and football and all the other activities the family becomes involved in. This leaves a little window of time (mother nature determines the length of it) where those who can make it up here get to really enjoy everything the Sierra summers have to offer without dealing with some of the congestion and hustle and bustle which can exist during the actual summer months.
One of the best examples is being able to go to the local golf courses, without having to make a tee time, and enjoying the perfectly green grass and great playing conditions which come together at this time of year. After a long winter our courses can be a little rough in the early season, but after a long summer the courses are in their absolute best condition in late August through September.
This is also a wonderful time for hiking and biking with slightly cooler temperatures but absolutely gorgeous surroundings. Or maybe you prefer to relax on what feels like a private beach or take out the boat in what can be incredibly calm and private waters.
You can wrap up your days with a comfortable evening on the deck of one of our many fine restaurants. Not only will you be seated immediately, but many of the establishments will also offer seasonal discounts to all of their patrons.
The combination of colder mornings and numerous ski shop sales also make us start thinking of what brought us here . . . ski season!! Believe it or not, it’s just around the corner.
Popularity: 10% [?]
The first annual Antique and Classic Boat Society’s South Tahoe Wooden Boat Classic Boat Show was a huge success! Over 1300 people came to view 58 boats on display in the Tahoe Keys Marina on Saturday, July 19th. Adults and kids alike enjoyed seeing the boats and talking with their owners. A “People’s Choice” and “Kids Choice” ballots for people to vote for their favorite boat.
The “People’s Choice” winner was Rosebud II, a 1953 24 ft. Greavette Streamliner. This beauty is owned by John and Cheryl Cox of Hood, CA and Homewood. The “Kids Choice” winner was Thunderbird, a 1939 55 ft. mahogany and stainless steel cruiser designed by John Hacker and owned by Foundation 36.
The purpose of the boat show was two fold. The Northern California/Lake Tahoe Chapter of the Antique & Classic Boat Society, Inc. (an International organization based in New York State) has in its Philanthropy Charter, the mission to educate and give back to the communities in which the Chapter enjoys its antique and classic boats. Secondly, the Chapter is charged with the mission of preserving, restoring, and maintaining antique boats and with that in mind, this was a judged show which helps teach about the beautiful boats that are owned and cared for.
The Antique and Classic Boat Society, Northern California/Lake Tahoe Chapter is very pleased to have had this show be such a success that they were able to donate $2,500 to each of the following four charities in the South and East Shore Lake Tahoe communities: The Boys and Girls Club of Lake Tahoe, Tahoe Heritage Foundation, South Lake Tahoe Fire Department – Company 3, and Thunderbird Lodge Preservation Society. At the awards dinner at Riva Grill on Saturday night the Chapter gave $2,500 checks to Karen Houser, Director of the Boys and Girls Club for South Lake Tahoe kids and their families; Scott & Charlotte Brooke, Board members of Tahoe Heritage Foundation, for the restoration effort of Quic ChaKidn, an historic boat being restored in the boat house at the Pope Estate; Kenin Fairley of South Lake Tahoe Fire Department for equipment for their fire boat; and Bill Watson, Curator of the Thunderbird Lodge Preservation Society to help maintain the home and property of the historic George Whittel estate.
On Sunday, July 20th, the event continued participants gathered outside of Tahoe Keys Marina and followed Thunderbird along the south shore of Lake Tahoe to Emerald Bay State Park. The boats were tied side-by-side all along the north side of Vikingsholm and everyone enjoyed a picnic lunch and the views of the beautiful boats.
Without the sponsors, this event could not have occurred. A huge thank you went to Dickson Realty, the Event Sponsor at the $10,000 Captain Level. And without the Tahoe Keys Marina this event could not have happened. The Captain Sponsors were Tahoe Keys Resort, Peter S. Carter Photography, and Foundation 36. Pilot Sponsors were Jack and Marlys Greenhalgh, Paul and Jackie Mehus, Triano Marine Design, Tahoe Powerboat Company, Picchetti Winery, JT and Lindé Ravizé, Community Ink, and KMTN-TV. At the Crew level the sponsors were Dave and Tammi Lyon, Steve and Cheryl Caplan, KRLT & KOWL radio, and Miller’s Outpost. And rounding out the terrific sponsorships at the Deck Hand level were Tom and Marie O’Rourke, Lakeside Inn & Casino, Hagerty Marine Insurance, and Dirk and Jan Reed.
The Antique and Classic Boat Society, Northern California/Lake Tahoe Chapter looks forward to having another great event next year!
Popularity: 13% [?]
There were so many things to choose to do on Mother’s Day from watching the River Fest in downtown to Arts in Bloom in the Sparks Square. My husband and son chose to get permission to take me to The Fly Ranch, north of Gerlach (map), not far from the Burning Man entrance.
We drove on I80 east past Painted Rock (home of the Mustang Ranch Museum and what we call the Men’s Day Spa), one of the entrances into the Reno Tahoe Industrial Park. Getting off at the Wadsworth exit you are on tribal lands until you practically get to the town of Empire which is a company town owned by the US Gypsum company. This mine is the longest continually operating mine in the US. Traveling through the canyons on the east side of Pyramid Lake you can track the history of the land that is etched upon the canyon walls. It is a fascinating landscape with a unique combination that displays the history of volcanic lava flows, ash and ancient shallow sea floors (just to name a few).
Eventually you come to the town of Gerlach, population around 500 people, home of Bruno’s Country Club, the famous Italian restaurant where arguably the finest raviolis in the state are made. Although we didn’t stop this trip, if you have not eaten there you should. A great day trip is to travel to Gerlach, visit Planet X Pottery studio and end the day at Bruno’s. Continuing on Route 447 through Gerlach, you will pass the entrance to Burning Man as well as Soldier’s Meadows Ranch (a working cattle ranch and lodge), and pass private hunting preserves all bordered by the Black Rock Desert which is the second largest flat region in the northern hemisphere and home to Burning Man.
The Fly Ranch was homesteaded in the late 1800s by Fred Gerlach. Fred was the son of Louis Gerlach, who the town was named after. Later it became part of the John Casey estate and is now owned by a local corporation. Once you enter the ranch (only by permission or by contacting the Sierra Club or Friends of the Black Rock Desert, who occasionally get permission to enter and hike around the geysers), straight ahead are a cluster of geysers that at first look like bad yard art. If you can’t get permission to enter the Fly Ranch, the geysers can be seen from the road. Bring a pair of binoculars and be prepared to be amazed. They stick up in an otherwise flat field, spewing warm water on a constant basis.
The geysers are not actually natural. They were created in 1964 when the Western Geothermal Company drilled a test well site while exploring for potential places to tap steam generated power. (Think it might be time to start thinking about this again?) Either it was never plugged or improperly plugged allowing superheated groundwater to continually sprout from the ground. Over the years, calcium carbonate deposits caused the gradual growth of “tufa” mounds, porous rock that built up at the rate of several inches per year. Single celled, blue green cyanobacteria, ancient oxygen-producing microbes leave blue-green streaks on the flanks of the mounds, creating a moist and mineral-rich environment. I am awed considering this environment resembles the setting where life first evolved on earth about 3.5 billion years ago when these same cells began to flourish in the sunlit parts of the oceans. Over time these cells captured the energy of the sun to make food, releasing oxygen as a waste product. Little by little they turned the atmosphere into breathable air, opening the way to the diversity of life that followed. For more information about this see the December 2006 issue of National Geographic. This is just one of the several national publications that have featured the geysers.
Hiking around the Fly Ranch we find a “dead” geyser as well as a “baby” geyser forming nearby. Around the ranch the owners have created reservoirs that hold water with a temperature about 105 degrees farenheight, not as hot as some of the nearby geysers in the area. I have to laugh thinking about one of the Burning Man participants that might come see the geysers during the festival. The geysers would surely fit right into the modern and wild art that is displayed during the festival.
Driving home I can’t help thinking how lucky we are to have so many beautiful and diverse places to explore not far from home. What a great Mother’s Day present.
Popularity: 4% [?]
Friday, April 3, 2009 By: The Schaller Family
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