Archive for the ‘Truckee’ Category
By Michelle Portesi
The summer season at the Lake Tahoe Basin is officially kicking off this week. Lots of Food, Fun and Festivities are scheduled throughout the area, so be sure to put these on your calendar.
4TH OF JULY CELEBRATIONS
July 2-4th. Incline Village hosts Red, White and Tahoe Blue, 3 days of celebrations including Wine and Cheese tasting, a day on the Village Green and The Reno Philharmonic concert set to the fireworks and more. For information and to purchase tickets, go here: redwhitetahoeblue.org
July 3rd. Kings Beach does their annual Beach Party on July 3rd from 4-10 p.m, with food trucks, beer/wine/mixed drinks garden, music and activities planned. The event is free, but if you don’t want to fight the crowds for a prime seat, they offer preferred seating for the fireworks display for a nominal fee. For more information, go here: NorthTahoeBusiness.org
July 4th. Tahoe City hosts their annual fireworks display on July 4 on Commons Beach. This year’s theme is Bell Bottom Beach Bash. Food, music and activities scheduled before the fireworks show. For more info, go here: www.visittahoecity.org/events/
July 4th. Truckee kicks off the July 4th celebration with their annual parade along Donner Pass Road between Hwy 89 S and Old Downtown at Bridge and Church Street. (Plan to use West River Street if you need to get around, as Donner Pass Road will be closed to through traffic.) The Parade starts at 10 a.m.
Donner Lake. The Truckee Donner Community Parks District is hosting their annual fireworks event on the West End Beach. Tickets available to Truckee homeowners and residents, with food, music and activities throughout the day. Fireworks start at 9:30 p.m. Not a resident? Not to worry. You can view the fireworks from some of the many public piers along the lake as well as at the lookout on old Hwy 49.
For more information or to purchase tickets, go here: tdrpd.com
Photo from visittahoecity.org
A word to the wise. Walk or bike to your preferred viewing venue if possible, as traffic can be a nightmare. Plan for long, car conga lines and delays. Be sure to have a flashlight to find your way back in the dark if you’re hoofing it. Bring a jacket. It’s hot during the day and has been hot lately in the evenings, but that’s not the norm. Temperatures can drop dramatically once the sun goes down, so plan accordingly. Wear lots of sunscreen. DO pack a picnic. If you bring alcohol, decant into plastic containers. No one likes broken glass on the beach and some places will not allow any glass items entirely.
Activities throughout the area abound this week, but sometimes, just lazily relaxing on the beach while surrounded by the beauty of the Sierra’s just can’t be beat.
And most of all, be safe, and have fun!
THINK OF ME, LYNN RICHARDSON, FOR ALL OF YOUR LAKE TAHOE AND TRUCKEE REAL ESTATE NEEDS!
www.lynnrichardson.net
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by Tim Hauserman
Every Thursday evening from 5 pm to 8 pm between now and August 20th the heart of downtown Truckee is closed to cars. Instead you will find food trucks, a beer garden with a live band, a farmers market, an arts faire with dozens of booths full of interesting hand made and local items, and a whole lot of happy people.
At Truckee Thursday you can eat tacos and sliders and tater tots covered with lamb, then follow it up with a chocolate dipped ice cream bar. Getting thirsty? They got homemade lemonade and beer. You can check out clothing, and earrings, and photographs. You can buy a book, a shirt, a painting and anything else that mike strike your fancy as something you need to adorn your house, body or mind. You can dance to the music, and sometimes dance to the sounds of the trains roaring just a few feet behind the band. But mostly, you can spend a warm summer night slowly strolling through the crowd, and experiencing Truckee’s awesome meet and greet with an eclectic mix of locals, second-home owners and visitors.
Every age demographic finds Truckee Thursday as a meeting spot. The littlest ones are bouncing in the bouncy houses. The tweens and teens are standing around trying to look cool and aloof while watching a couples yoga performance or a magic trick. Some of the folks from 21 and up are in the beer garden rocking out, while everyone else is eating, chatting with friends, and enjoying the fine splendor of the night.
Parking at Truckee Thursday is at a premium. There is a large dirt parking lot across the railroad tracks from the event, as well as several parking areas to the east of the closed off road section. Donner Pass Road is closed between Spring Street and Bridge Street, and anytime after five it’s best not to attempt to drive too close to the festivities. Not surprisingly, the earlier you get there, the easier it will be to find parking. Information is available at truckeethursdays.com, but you don’t need any information. Just come on downtown and enjoy.
Share this: Lynn Richardson, Your Friend in High Places
By Tim Hauserman
Amtrak’s California Zephyr train on its way to Reno from the Truckee train station
For many of us, Truckee’s trains are the frequent background sounds of life in town. They are a chance to simplify our lives as we watch the cars rhythmically clatter down the tracks. Or they are the thrill of the roaring locomotive drowning out the raucous sounds of Truckee Thursday. But Truckee’s rail line is more then just a blast from the past, or a brief interlude in our day, it is one of the things that makes Truckee the place that it is. Truckee is a railroad town, with well over a dozen trains a day rolling through. And trains are also an important part of how Truckee became more then just a blip on the radar.
Truckee Railroad Museum in a vintage train car at the Truckee Train Station
The Transcontinental Railroad made its way through Truckee in 1867 on it’s way to its’ eventual completion in Utah in 1869. Building the first railroad all the way across the country was an impressive feat at the time, especially the section just to the west of Truckee over Donner Summit. There Chinese laborers took two years to build the routes longest tunnel through solid granite.
Vintage safe inside the Truckee Train Station
Truckee’s position as the last stop before the climb over the Sierra crest was key to it’s development as a town. Once the line was complete, the railroads quickly went to work transporting logs to feed the immense silver mines of Virginia City. By 1900, the railroad dipped its toes into tourism, with a new railroad station that is still standing, and a narrow gauge railroad to Tahoe City. Visitors would transfer to the Lake Tahoe Railroad in Truckee, and take the 13 mile line to the shores of Lake Tahoe and the swank Tahoe Tavern. Both the railroad to Tahoe City and the hotel are gone, but for awhile, tourists prime mode of transit to Tahoe was via train. Now, there are just two Amtrak trains a day through Truckee, the rest are freight trains providing the materials needed to keep America moving.
The Truckee Train Station also is home to the Truckee Visitors Center, Chamber of Commerce and a variety of local craftsmen
For more information on the impact of trains on Truckee and the development of the Sierra, visit the Truckee Railroad Museum in the caboose next to the Amtrak Station in downtown Truckee. The newly opened Donner Memorial Visitor Center also has an exhibit on the Chinese workers who built the railroad.
Train tracks in downtown Truckee going west
THINK OF ME, LYNN RICHARDSON, FOR ALL OF YOUR LAKE TAHOE AND TRUCKEE REAL ESTATE NEEDS!
http://www.lynnrichardson.net
Share this: Lynn Richardson, Your Friend in High Places
YOUR FRIEND IN HIGH PLACES 