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Snowed by Tahoe
At the sports bar, locals are grumbling about Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has just made national news by breaking his leg on a ski trip to Sun Valley, Idaho. The general opinion: We've got the best skiing you could ever hope to find, so what's he doing bringing attention to a competitor? Better he should break his leg in his own state.
The Water's Fine
That afternoon I drive about 15 minutes from Squaw Valley to the historic town of Truckee. The transcontinental railroad reached here in 1868, and almost immediately tourists begin pouring in.
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The West's Great White Way More than 30 feet of snow a year on average makes North and South Tahoe locks for lovers of snowboarding, alpine and downhill skiing. |
A number of houses and other structures from that era, including a jail and the train depot, survive in the town's historic district. One of the best examples of Victorian architecture, the Richardson House, is now a B&B.
By 1910, Hollywood had discovered Truckee. Among the film stars who've strolled these streets during the filming of nearly 100 movies: Greta Garbo, Buster Keaton, Mary Pickford, John Barrymore and, in later generations, Henry Fonda and John Wayne. And in 1994, while filming "True Lies" with Jamie Lee Curtis, Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Truckee's history is chronicled in the museum at Donner Memorial State Park, but the museum's main attraction is its exhibits about the Donner Party, a wagon train of settlers who arrived in 1846. Unable to get through the Sierra Nevada mountains before winter set in, half of the emigrants died. Those who survived did so mainly by eating their dead friends and family members.
Seeing as how it's only an hour or so until dark, and recently reminded of the dangers of getting lost in the mountains in winter, I decide to pass on my earlier idea of trying to find the Donner Historical Site, which marks the spot where the Donner family camped.
Instead I head back to the resort and, after dinner, grab a swimsuit. I use my toe to test the water in the outdoor pool. Warm, but not hot enough. The outdoor spas, however, are just right.
People who know both North and South Tahoe squabble about which is better the way people in Washington debate the merits of Virginia vs. Maryland. Really, the biggest difference is in the nightlife, and even that is a matter of taste.
On my night in North Tahoe, I immerse my body into the steaming-hot water, snow falling on my head, and watch the moon move across the starry sky. As nightlife goes, I think it's pretty great.
