California’s majestic Sierra Nevada
When I arrive in Yosemite’s valley, get my first glimpse of Lake Tahoe, or dip my feet in Pinecrest Lake, I get transported to a different era. The beautiful timeless scenery, the pine trees, the wooden chalets, and carved signs take me back to how I imagined these places were in the sixties.
Camp Curry
Were it not that the parking lot at Yosemite’s former Camp Curry is now full of luxury SUVs and modern pickup trucks, rather than Chevy Bel Airs, Ford family wagons and Studebakers, it is hard to tell the year. The canvas tents are the same as in the pictures. The Ahwahnee hotel looks the same, amidst the granite walls of Yosemite valley. And most of all, the scenery changed very little.
Ahwahnee Hotel
I get the same feeling when I head north to Lake Tahoe in summer. I can imagine several Cadillacs pull into Michael Corleone’s lakeside villa. The houses and chalets near Tahoe City appear to be built many decades ago. Squaw Valley’s 1960 Winter Olympics sign is still there.
Lake Tahoe
Of course a few minutes later you are back in the future as you roll into the recently upgraded mountain town of Truckee. They are putting the finishing touches on a brand new high school. There is a yoga studio. The all natural and vegan supermarket has a line out the door. Downtown is historic-chique, where you are park your Tesla next to the restored Truckee hotel.
But as soon as I leave the village, and head up the mountain, or towards the lake, it doesn’t take long for me to feel back in a timeless era. California Sierra’s are so beautiful.