Truckee & Tahoe Donner Real Estate Blog

Local Truckeeite Doug Stoup is leading a group of established mountaineers, ski guides, and general public from around the world on a ski exploration trip to Antarctica  leaving today from Ushuaia, Argentina.

The group is boarding a 300 foot Russian Research vessel in Ushuaia, and sailing across Drake Passage, some of the roughest seas in the world, to the Antarctic Peninsula. The crossing will take 3 days.

My husband Jason Mack is among those people fortunate enough to go on such an extraordinary trip, along with legendary ski mountaineer Andrew McClean, Hillary O’Neill-Nelson, John Griber, Ingrid Backstrom, Glen Poulsen, Points North Heli-Adventures owners and guides Kevin and Jessica Quinn and a cast of other talented individuals to guide groups on the skiing portion of the trip.

Doug will be giving daily satellite feeds onto his website iceaxetv.com

if you are like me and wondering how this trip is going, log on daily and check in!

I’m glad somebody in the world is out on a great adventure:)

written by Maura Mack

Two agents in the same office…

Not only did Nancy celebrate her Birthday on Saturday, but Keri did as well. Keri and Nancy were born on the same day AND IN THE SAME HOSPITAL!!!!!!! Can anyone compute the probability of that happening?? Anyway, Happy Birthday to Keri.

After over a week of cool, damp weather the sun stayed out all day long Saturday, blocked seldomly by some beautiful clouds moving through as well.  This is not the best picture since it was taken from my phone, but shows some fresh snow over on Mt Rose and how green things have become with the much needed moisture we got last week, though Prosser Reservoir still looks low.

Truckee is looking especially golden these days.  At first I put it down to the beautiful weather we’ve been experiencing.  But after sitting on the porch steps and getting up with a gilded backside it hit me.  It’s Pine Pollen time again.

Some folks are exasperated with this phenomenon, others merely irked.  I find the sheer volume of the stuff amazing and somewhat of a wonder.  Black SUVs are transformed in an hour into sporty yellow models.  Decks appear refinished by powder washing.   Watching the pollen clouds blow by is nature at it’s most surreal.

With gold at it’s current price, I’ll stick with (literally) what we’ve got here in Truckee.

Pine pollen is so heavy that it usually falls to the ground rather than being carried in the wind. Because of this, pine pollen is usually not breathed in like the lighter wind borne pollens that cause allergy symptoms.

Driving down to Donner Lake, my dogs perk up and get very anxious just as I cross I-80 heading West on Donner Pass Road. They know where we are headed. They start racing back and forth in the back of the truck. Anticipation. This weekend was our first trip of the year down to the lake for a swim, an almost  nightly event in the summer for us. Nothing better than swimming after a tennis ball on a hot day (alright, for my dogs, any day). There are several boats on the lake, a couple with wake boarders/skiers in tow. The public piers are filled with sunbathers. I shiver looking at the kids playing in the water. The sun is hot, but the water is frigid. Up to my ankles is as far as I’ll go. The lake is not quite full, maybe 10 feet of sand on the East Shore. The Tahoe Donner Marina is getting ready for it’s opening this Friday. Ahhh….Summer.

 I had an excuse to drive up to Serene Lakes this morning. What beauty! Driving down Old Highway 40 made me realize how fortunate we are to have the Pacific Crest, Donner Lake and all that makes this such a glorious place. One thing I did discover in my sojourn is that Caltrans is already busy with road repairs/reconstruction. The turnoff to Serene Lakes is closed, forcing people to drive to Pla Vada, turn around and access Serene Lakes from the eastbound Serene Lakes exit. If you are going to the summit from Truckee, save yourself some time, while enjoying breath taking vistas and use Old Highway 40. Road work is underway in both directions on I-80, so allow time when coming to the mountains.

I have to say that one of my greatest joys, Colby Jitloff, spent the day with me on Sunday, and I did not show up at the office that day! I hope all the mothers and grandmothers out there were able to do the same. This little guy, Colby was born at Tahoe Forest Hospital on February 19, 2007 and got to run around on the shores of Lake Tahoe, barefoot no less, enjoying his beautiful little life on Mother’s Day. Those of us that live as permanent residents, as second home owners or who vacation in this incredible paradise I know appreciate life above 4000′ whenever possible. Pretty fun!!!

I have become quite enamored with the site lifehacker.com.  It’s motto is pretty simple: Tech tricks, tips and downloads for getting things done.  For those of you not as technically inclined, it might be a little overwhelming as many of the posts may seem a bit on the computer-geek side (Both PC and Mac are equally represented).  Beyond computers, topics cover: cooking, finance, the environment, etc…as well as random tips like how to cure poison ivy and jellyfish stings with vodka or how to handle a traffic stop and avoid a ticket.   No need to read more here, check it out!

Several agents in our office got a “better bottle” about a year ago and I quickly followed suit as I always feel dehydrated here in the Sierras. I quickly saw the appeal: something easy to drink out of that you didn’t have to twist the top off each time (and spill on yourself) durable and helped avoid being wasteful with bottled water. Life was good, until I heard about BPA, which apparently is manufactured into my favorite bottle along with a lot of other plastic containers (like baby bottles & storage containers), which apparently is not so good for you. Now, truth be told, the jury is still out on this (related story) but my question is, why take the risk? The good news is Camelback & Nalgene are already on board and have started manufacturing their bottles without BPA, but I am told the way to go is a stainless steel bottle, like a SIGG: I can’t say enough about the benefits of reusable bottles for the environment and staying hydrated has never been so easy, so if you haven’t tried a reusable bottle please do, but make sure it’s BPA free, why not?