"Home atlast" a Incline Village Travel Page by DSwede

What can I say, Tahoe is home. The Ponderosa Ranch (home of Bonanza TV series) has been closed, but there's still plenty to do and see. Its a mountain haven, with climbing, biking, skiing and water sports. There's also the gambling, which keeps the area alive year round with tourists.

It is a small mountain town that over time has evolved into a destination site for winter mountain tourists. It has a fairly active night life as well as a huge amount of day time activities. It is a far cry from its original birth as a logging capital in the ~1870's to feed the growth due to migration, mining and the Comstock Load.

Today, it is home for locals working hand to mouth to support their winter addictions of skiing, tourists coming from all around the world to bask in the glory of the mountains and entertain them selves in the quaint town, nature thrill junkies using it as base camp to explore the mountains and national parks? yup, feels like home to me!

Feel free to visit my Nevada page for my thoughts on my home state.

(for more pictures, feel free to visit my USA Gallery. If you enjoy the pictures, please leave a comment.)

Tahoe Facts and Stats

As I noted before, it is a town of locals living hand to mouth just to maintain their lifestyle. That is true for 1/2 of the town. The other half are independently wealthy, using Tahoe as a second home, or primary if they are so fortunate not to have to commute to their jobs.

The town is nearly as built-up as it will ever be. OK, there are constantly changes, but it is a tourist town, not an industrial center. Therefore there it tends to be a revolving door of people who travel here, fall in love with it, move there thinking it will be an ideal home, have a hard time finding sufficient income and ultimately leave a few years later. For the few who find a nitch, it is a wonderful haven. My family fell into this later category... struggling at times to make ends meet, but at the same time able to survive and more than that, actually live a life in Tahoe.

I moved to Tahoe when I was 3 years old.... and I graduated high school there. I've watched the town grow to what it is now, but it did so rather slowly. It started as a one-horse town of few thousand people and now tips the scales at ~10000 people (population). In my opinion even through it is a small town, it has lost a lot of what made it so wonderful. It made me sad to see some of the ma-and-pa stores close, but many still thrive. It made me upset to see a Starbucks start up and threaten the family cafes. But all in all, it is still God's country. And even seeing what it is now (with I think 3 stop lights, a bowling alley and a single screen theater), it has everything you need while not overloading your senses.

The Lake has good restaurants, conveniences, nature, sports, night life, entertainment, friendly people... everything you want. And when that just is not enough, Reno is less than an hour away...

Also close by are Carson City, Virginia City, Truckee, Verdi, South Lake Tahoe, Kings Beach and Tahoe City.