Lake Tahoe


I was lucky enough to spend a good chunk of my childhood at Lake Tahoe, and it remains one of my favorite places in the world. Both kids made their first trips to Tahoe before they were a month and a half old (my big guy at just 3 weeks!), and watching them grow up enjoying the things I loved as a kid and discovering many new adventures has been one of the highlights of parenthood for me.

In this section of the blog, I'll share my favorite hikes, indoor and outdoor adventures, restaurants, shops, and tips for enjoying Tahoe any season of the year. Hope this is helpful as you plan your next trip!

For lots of pictures and quick tips, I recommend heading to my Instagram page, where I have multiple highlights listing my Tahoe favorites. Here are a few links:
(Note that North Shore and West Shore are my areas of expertise -- I'm full of good info from Incline all the way around to Emerald Bay, plus Truckee and Donner Lake and even over toward Reno -- but I have very limited knowledge of South Shore. Sorry about that!)

Family-Friendly Hikes
  • Tahoe Meadows (Mt. Rose Highway near Incline Village, Nevada): An easily-accessible, dog-friendly, stroller-friendly, reasonably flat 1.2 mile (with lots of diversions) Interpretive Loop Trail is great for families with young kids, and there are connections to a wide network of trails for those seeking more distance. See the post for more details.
Tahoe Meadows

Other Outdoor Adventures
  • Rafting the Truckee River with Truckee River Rafting. This is a must-do every summer for us (some summers we do it twice!) and it's always a blast. Kids as young as 2 can go (in fact, kids aged 2-5 are free), but it's a multi-hour trip in the summer sun and little ones can get wiggly -- we took our kids for the first time around age 4 and that's probably the youngest I'd do. This is one of my biggest recommendations for summer visitors to Tahoe! (Note that there are multiple raft companies but we are loyal to Truckee River Rafting -- my sister worked there in college, and they were nice enough to donate rafting passes to Unravel Pediatric Cancer's Glitter Gala auction when I asked, so we're big fans!) See my post for more details. 
Smiles galore on the Truckee River!