We just had to accept this invitation, "Join us for an exclusive evening with the visionaries behind the Spurlock/Evers Environment & Education Center. Discover groundbreaking sustainable design concepts, innovative building materials, and experience a live timber demonstration."

"Learn how this once-dated structure was transformed into a modern, community-focused space, and what homeowners, builders, and designers can take from the project. From recycled denim insulation and a living roof to salvaged wood from the Caldor Fire, the panel discussion will spotlight practical building strategies that are beautiful, durable, and better for Tahoe." All very cool, right?
The League to Save Lake Tahoe’s new home is the Tahoe Basin’s premiere environmental facility and a hub for collaboration, volunteering and community engagement focused on fulfilling the League’s mission to Keep Tahoe Blue. It is a LEED-certified showcase of Lake-friendly urban redevelopment. The site features an outdoor amphitheater, native plant educational garden, citizen science laboratory, and environmental center... All open to the public. This was our first visit and I'm now a fan.
This evening was incredible. First, we were fed. We were blown away by the visually stunning, and equally delicious treats provided by Tahoe Charcuterie Co. Their motto is "Grazing Made Gorgeous".

Sitting on the gorgeous patio was a delightful way to spend our afternoon.
That said, we came to learn and of course we arrived early for a live demonstration by Erika with the Tahoe Earth Institute. We were shown how to make nail-laminated timber, a low-cost engineered wood product with inherent fire-resilient qualities that can make use of wood sourced from local forest restoration and wildfire risk mitigation activities. She provided a brief overview of code-compliant manufacturing techniques, how this product can be used in local construction, and how strengthening local wood supply chains can support a range of local environmental, economic, and community resilience goals. What I found most interesting is that this process is utilizing wood that is stock piled and not loved. I was so intrigued by this repurposing/upcycling. Very, very interesting.


The panel included Cory Hannaford, Sierra Sustainable Builders (construction); Ron Larkins, Ward-Young Architects (design); Kristiana Almeida (COO); and Darcie Collins (CEO). What a panel!
We learned so much about how this beautiful building came to be. Each stressed the importance of early collaboration and true sustainability.
Since 1957, the League to Save Lake Tahoe has been the leader in environmental protection, preservation and restoration in the Tahoe Basin. Also known by its slogan “Keep Tahoe Blue,” it is a 501c3 nonprofit organization that protects and restores the Tahoe Basin’s unique natural beauty and environmental health – today and for future generations. The League is dedicated to community engagement and education, and collaborating to find solutions to Tahoe’s environmental challenges. It seems the League has found its perfect home. We can't wait to come back.

This was one of those diverse and interesting days that makes me feel extra fortuntate.

After coffee al fresco, Sharon and I headed to the newly launched Lake Tahoe Community College’s Annual Student Art Exhibition. This very fun exhibit features work from across the Art Department. It highlights student achievement in drawing, painting, ceramics, photography, and mixed media. The opening reception and awards ceremony celebrate technical accomplishment, creative thought, and the diverse artistic voices of the LTCC community. All amazing!

I am very partial to ceramics. Jessica Aster's Cheeseburger Bird made me smile. For those who don't live in the land of vocal chickadees, right now the quiet of the day is interrupted by their mating song, "𝅘𝅥𝅮Cheeeeeeeese burger𝅘𝅥𝅮". So clever.

The realism of Exodus by Penney Garrett was exceptional.


There was something very poignant about No Screens by Paul Mueller. The hammer was so realistic. Such talent.


I enjoyed Agnes Knight's Deep Brew Dive.
I was drawn to 49 Pistachios in a Serving by Kelly Fisher & Wendy Cook not only because it was clever but also for its coincidence. Just yesterday, Steve and I were discussing the health benefits of this particular nut and learned that a serving size is indeed 49 pistachios. Wild.
Interestingly, Andrew Budd's Black Knight won best in the show. What a truly unique exhibition.

I will never tire of hiking down to the shore of Emerald Bay State Park.

Sometimes known as the waterfall effect, negative ions are released whenever water collides with itself — like in a waterfall or as it often does in the ocean. The negative ions, these invisible little powerhouses, are tossed in the air as the water collides with itself, and we reap the benefit by breathing them in. Karen is the one that shared this phenomenon with us.
The waterfall spray benefits your mind and body by giving you the feeling of being refreshed and revived. I experience that each time I'm here.
In addition, nature was providing some 'eye vitamins', too.




Snacks were had here. So idyllic!
This special place is home to what some consider to be the most iconic old-growth forest in the Lake Tahoe Basin. A visit is not complete without hugging something that quite possibly is twice as old as our Country. Wow. I 💙 Emerald Bay.

What a unique way to spend Mother's Day... Learning about some amazing local women!

On a glorious 93° Sunday, we found ourselves returning to the Minden Mill for a special history program presented by David and Gayle Woodruff- No Limits… No Boundaries: Tenacious Women of the Eastern Sierra. 
We began with Sarah Winnemucca. Please note, as with every one of David's talks, the history he shares is so in-depth. He is an incredible researcher and storyteller. I can only give a brief introduction to all of these exceptional women. All demand deeper studies. Sarah (c. 1844–1891) was a prominent Northern Paiute author, activist, and educator who tirelessly advocated for her people's rights amid Western expansion. Daughter of Chief Winnemucca, she served as an Army interpreter, scout, and lecturer, becoming the first Native American woman to publish a book, Life Among the Paiutes (1883).
Mary Austin (1868–1934) was a prolific American author, feminist, and environmental activist best known for The Land of Little Rain (1903), a seminal, transcendentalist tribute to the California desert. A pioneer in regionalism and Native American advocacy, she wrote over 30 books, including novels, plays, and essays focusing on the American Southwest's nature and culture. In her later life, she moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico where she became a central figure in the literary community and founder of the Santa Fe Playhouse.
Nellie Bly Baker O'Bryan (1893–1984) was a pioneering American silent film actress, Hollywood projectionist, and Eastern Sierra entrepreneur. Moving from Oklahoma to Hollywood in 1918, she became California's first licensed female motion-picture projectionist. She worked with Charlie Chaplin, appearing in 14 films including The Kid (1921). In 1935, Nellie relocated to Mono County and opened a summer resort. She became an entrepreneur and also a skilled wilderness guide. Eventually, she sold the resort but spent the rest of her life in the area. She is credited with building a local tourist attraction, the "Upside Down House" which in its heyday was the most popular tourist attraction in Mono County (my blog post about it is here).
Nan Zischank (1907–2000) was new to us. There was little in her early life to suggest she would one day be who she became. Born into a wealthy and socially prominent family in Ohio, Nan lived as a young girl in Boston and attended finishing school on Cape Cod, where she learned the requisite skills—management of servants among them—for a life in East Coast society. Long story short, in 1935, she and her husband Max moved to an isolated winter cabin in the alpine scenery and deep snow of the Sierra Nevada eastern slopes. That, she made clear to all, was when her life began in earnest. She was a prominent Eastern Sierra pioneer, expert skier, and local businesswoman who operated the Long Valley Resort near Crowley Lake before WWII. During the war, Max enlisted and Nan worked as a "companion, guide, advisor and diplomat" at the Manzanar War Relocation Center. What a life well lived.
The final tenacious woman showcased has been on this blog a couple of times. Anne Brigman, a late nineteenth-century pictorialist photographer, was born in Hawaii but spent most of her life in California. Throughout her life, she was recognized for her courageous and modernist spirit as one of the first-ever female photographers to capture self-portraits of her body in the wilderness. As a woman with a Christian missionary upbringing and a suffragette, she did not fit the conventional profile of the early 1900s woman, and was often an advocate for women’s rights. Her work and her life as an artist was tied to the social-political time in which she lived, demonstrating her freedom of soul and mind. Wow.

When this image showed up in my facebook feed, I knew the algorithms finally got it right! There was no way we were going to miss Ike & Martin.

This was our first visit to Shadyside Lounge in Tahoe City. What a perfect reason... A Patio Opening Party.