“… blogging about life, travel, books, food and the outdoors”

Finding tranquility on the slopes of Lake Tahoe ski resort
It’s not often I get out of the Jeep at a ski resort parking lot ready to enjoy the mountain in shorts. But that’s what happens when it’s July and the activity is hiking instead of skiing. A swath of the Tahoe Rim Trail goes through Heavenly Mountain Resort. I...
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Free wine tasting, cave tour a rare find in Sonoma County
Most wineries in Sonoma and Napa counties require reservations for a tasting and then charge at least $20 for what is often less than a glass of wine when all is said and done. And no longer are you guaranteed the fee will be applied to the purchase of a bottle. So to...
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Sleeping with Strangers to be in book stores this fall
In Sleeping with Strangers: An Airbnb Host’s Life in Lake Tahoe and Mexico I pull back the covers on what happens when I invited Airbnb guests into my homes in South Lake Tahoe, California, and Todos Santos, Mexico. This latest book of mine will be available at local...
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Finding tranquility on the slopes of Lake Tahoe ski resort
It’s not often I get out of the Jeep at a ski resort parking lot ready to enjoy the mountain in shorts. But that’s what happens when it’s July and the activity is hiking instead of skiing. A swath of the Tahoe Rim Trail goes through Heavenly Mountain Resort. I...
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Surrounded By Joy In The Cancer Free Zone
A cancer free zone. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if something like that existed for people battling this insidious disease? Joy found one. On occasion I would go there with her. Almost always with AJ, her dog. Sometimes it would be just me and AJ, as I was the...
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South Lake Tahoe failing residents, visitors who play tennis
It is nearly impossible for the public to play tennis in South Lake Tahoe because the four courts that are available are dangerous. I did not feel comfortable last month running on the courts at South Tahoe Middle School. While the nets are better than the last time I...
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Restoration project aims to return wetlands to Tahoe
The transformation of Cove East on the South Shore of Lake Tahoe is dramatic. It’s also sad. At least for now because it looks more like a construction site than a wetlands. It really hasn’t been a wetlands since the 1960s when the area was forever altered with the...
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Will ‘The Thrill’ Clark forever a Giant with number being retired
No. 22 became No. 11 on July 30. The San Francisco Giants retired Will Clark’s number last month in a ceremony that was one of those once in a lifetime experiences. Considering the former first baseman’s number was only the 11th to be retired by the San Francisco...
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Book Review: ‘Eating to Extinction’ exposes threat to food system
It’s not very often that a depressing book can hold my interest word, after word, after word. Such was the case with Eating to Extinction: The World's Rarest Foods and Why We Need to Save Them (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2022). This book by Dan Saladino was first...
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Caldor Fire tour shows the loss and regrowth
The hum of a chain saw was background noise as a group of hikers stood surrounded by trees in the Eldorado National Forest that were blackened by last summer’s Caldor Fire. Across the way is Angora Ridge which burned in the 2007 Angora Fire. The hillside is...
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Everyone should watch Jan. 6 congressional hearings
The Jan. 6 hearings are definitely must-see TV. Everyone should be watching them. It doesn’t matter one’s party or lack of one, if you consider yourself political or not, or who you voted for in the past or expect to vote for in the future. This is about understanding...
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