Travel Story – Cabins of Lake Tahoe

One of my favorite things to do when I’m in Tahoe is to take long walks. Walks along the lakeside are amazing, but I also love to wander in and out of the neighborhoods on the North Shore and up into the mountains.

My favorite part of wandering in the neighborhoods is playing the childhood game of “I Spy” and finding the sweet old cabins that once filled these neighborhoods. Many of them were built as summer cabins, with very little in the way of insulation (fine for summer in Tahoe), yet completely ill equipped for living in during the snowy winters. Trust me, I lived in one through two winters!

Given the high demand for housing in Tahoe, the summer cottages have now become year round living. A piping hot wood stove can easily heat a cabin when it’s cold that are these sizes. The trick is, who has to get up once the fire dies down to stoke it in the middle of the night?

I plan to continue my cabin sketch exercise the next time I head up to Tahoe. I’d love to make a book of all these nostalgic homes, as sadly, many are being torn down for grander (yet, more efficient) homes.