# DRI Lake Tahoe Vacation Resort- Trip report & Update



## daventrina (Jun 12, 2012)

This is now our 4th vacation trip to Lake Tahoe in our now nearly two year old RV9A experimental aircraft that we finished building and first flew Fathers Day 2010.  This is out third week long trip in the RV and second to Tahoe. 
Here we are arriving in the Tahoe Basin:




2012-06-08_10-31-00_436.jpg by dntanderson, on Flickr


Passing Echo Lakes (this photo doesn't show very well how they just hang over hwy 50):



2012-06-08_10-31-41_480.jpg by dntanderson, on Flickr

Descending  for landing. Decided to head out over the lake to descend in smooth air. The wind already started to pick up:



2012-06-08 10.33.14.jpg by dntanderson, on Flickr

Passing the Keys... you can see the burn area from that Angora fire in the distance:




2012-06-08 10.36.42.jpg by dntanderson, on Flickr


And on final approach to the South Lake Tahoe Airport:



2012-06-08 10.37.50.jp
g by dntanderson, on Flickr
All tied down third from the right to the left of the Mooney ready to head to the Resort after stopping at Michael's Hair Salon for a cut. Blue GO refused to pick us up with a same day reservation now so Michael gave us a lift and a cut.



2012-06-08_11-04-14_622.jpg by dntanderson, on Flickr


----------



## daventrina (Jun 12, 2012)

Our average seems to be a out a 45-50 minute flight time and a 6-6.5 gal fuel burn instead of burning 15 gal and taking about 3 hours when we have to drive ( like Thanksgiving ins a storm).

The map view from the Garmin 696 of our route up and over the hill:



2012-06-08_10-22-13_848.jpg by dntanderson, on Flickr

Level at 13,000 feet cruising at 140 knots (160 MPH) with the 51 knot quartering tailwind giving us a ground speed of 203 MPH.



2012-06-08_10-25-52_977.jpg by dntanderson, on Flickr


----------



## momeason (Jun 12, 2012)

Great post. I am intrigued by your aircraft. Love the pics.


----------



## daventrina (Jun 22, 2012)

*Water Repairs*

The Water intrusion repairs seem to be moving along well at the Lake Tahoe Vacation Resort. Certainly happy that the contractor is picking up the tab on this one. 

This round will complete repairs on the north side of the resort. 




2012-06-11_17-29-18_522.jpg by dntanderson, on Flickr

Lost most of the parking to to the construction materials and equipment. Made it easy to decide to Valet. Well. for everyone else. Our car was in the hangar and the plane was at the airport :hysterical: 




2012-06-11_14-26-22_730.jpg by dntanderson, on Flickr


----------



## daventrina (Jun 22, 2012)

*Opening and Closing*

Royal Valhalla on the Lake was all fenced and closed up. The reviews seem to have been going downhill as of late. Too bad on both accounts. It has one of the best Stateline hotel locations, right across the street from the lake.




2012-06-14_18-21-44_857.jpg by dntanderson, on Flickr
Where The BLOCK used to be was under construction with a sign to open soon. We'll see what it looks like when they are done fixing it up. (The hotel there was remodeled a few years ago to The BLOCK intending to cater to snow boarders-didn't work out).




2012-06-14_18-40-05_228.jpg by dntanderson, on Flickr

Big Pines is open again and is all nice, fresh, and new looking. Both of these resorts were scheduled to be taken out as part of the redevelopment and Convention Center. But seems that as that project has stalled, it has been scaled back.




2012-06-14_18-42-18_883.jpg by dntanderson, on Flickr

Speaking of the Convention Center, still no changes or progress. Still looks like a dump site :annoyed:  It would sure be nice if the cleaned up the mess and would make it open space. So far, Mc P's Pub is still there and open for business.




2012-06-14_18-40-49_979.jpg by dntanderson, on Flickr

Better progress at the former Bill's Casino site. 
CVS is now open. Coming soon will be the Diamond District (I wouldn't guess that it will last long, but could be wrong.)  Dotty's Casino should open soon as well as the Luck Beaver Bar & Grill. There were still a couple of shops still for lease.




2012-06-14_18-34-17_280.jpg by dntanderson, on Flickr


----------



## daventrina (Jun 22, 2012)

Sunsets at the Lake are still nice to watch from the beach.




2012-06-14_20-30-49_HDR.jpg by dntanderson, on Flickr

At LTVR, yuo can watch the sunset from the pool  



2012-06-14_20-36-25_278.jpg by dntanderson, on Flickr

The beach is still nice during the day too...




2012-06-11_15-03-14_HDR.jpg by dntanderson, on Flickr




2012-06-11_14-57-16_HDR.jpg by dntanderson, on Flickr


----------



## daventrina (Jun 22, 2012)

The wild flowers were out...



2012-06-08_15-53-29_HDR.jpg by dntanderson, on Flickr

The ponds full....



2012-06-11_14-35-46_HDR.jpg by dntanderson, on Flickr

As well as the Lake lever being near the top...
It's illegal for the lake to be above 6200 and some feet. who do they write the ticket to if the lake is too full?



2012-06-08_19-07-33_HDR.jpg by dntanderson, on Flickr


----------



## daventrina (Jun 22, 2012)

*Food ... Bad News ... Good News*

Had lunch across the street at the Red Hut after we landed and checked in. Good food and service. Prices not too bad. 

So we usually head up to the Lakeside in for their Prime Rib Dinner Special. Half the folks traveling with us wanted New York trip instead. 10 oz. Prime Rib or 16 oz. New York. After a call to the Lakeside, that debate was settled.  Seems that their $12 Prime Rib Special is no more  It has been replaced with an Angus Prime Rib for $19. Fortunately, Mount Bleu is offering a $9.99 16 oz. New York. New York it was...




2012-06-08_19-29-59_743.jpg by dntanderson, on Flickr

Here's the BEEF! A pound of it....



2012-06-10_18-29-53_749.jpg by dntanderson, on Flickr

Mount Bleu is still offering $.99 Margaritas and Tacos. We had to try it again. If you didn't want to buy it by the drink, a pitcher was $6. Not bad. The Buffet at Mount Bleu not so good (at least that is what the Aunts and Uncles said - we didn't go). However, the prices were better than that had been. $12.95 for dinner. 
Lakeside Inn still does have their $4.99 breakfast special (free once a month if you're over 50). So we did have to go up there for our free breakfast.

Several time we fired up the Weber grills at the Resort for a BBQ. Not to brag, but was some Good Eats.

It's about twice as far to Raley's from LTVR that Stardust and Safeway is about the same. Still walk able. CVS is just down the street and had Coke on sale so we didn't need to go all the way to Safeway. We did stop by Grocery Outlet to stock up after we arrived. Too far for a short walk (it's down the street a little before the "Y").

We never made it to McD's for our Sunday. Guess we'll have to go back.


----------



## daventrina (Jun 22, 2012)

Still surprising how fast a week at The Lake goes. We left the big camera and laptop at home to not take so much stuff, because we can't carry a lot. So we used the phones and the tablet. Seemed to work out well. Wondering if it would work out as well in Hawaii for two weeks. So just how much stuff can you fit in a little RV? Headed home with more that we brought. Something about us being the ones with a short enough trip that the food wouldn't go bad... Hope it fits...



2012-06-15_08-42-34_544.jpg by dntanderson, on Flickr

All loaded up ... but the little RV says it wants to be a PropJet too like the Meridian parked next to us when it grows up 



2012-06-15_08-52-17_102.jpg by dntanderson, on Flickr

Packed up and ready for engine start...



2012-06-15_08-52-52_848.jpg by dntanderson, on Flickr

Headed out over the lake after departure to climb to head out west over the mountains...




2012-06-15_09-06-39_539.jpg by dntanderson, on Flickr

The resort and Ski Run/ Heavenly from about 7500'



2012-06-15 09.07.58.jpg by dntanderson, on Flickr

The Resort and the Lake looking out towards the south... You can see the Angora fire site in the top left.
If we paint the wings white instead of polished silver ... we won't be able to see the reflections of the mountains as we turn to head home... 



2012-06-15_09-08-58_HDR.jpg by dntanderson, on Flickr

Headed towards home with the airport in the foreground and the lake in the background...



2012-06-15_09-11-02_386.jpg by dntanderson, on Flickr

In this photo you can see how Echo Lakes hand right on top of Hwy 50



2012-06-15 09.12.26.jpg by dntanderson, on Flickr

Starting our decent into the yuck of the valley...



2012-06-12_19-00-05_547.jpg by dntanderson, on Flickr

Return trip 6 Gallons and 35 minutes.
Amazing how much fun you can have in a little airplane that you built...

Hoping the weather cooperates as well in August...


----------



## Karen G (Jun 22, 2012)

Fascinating trip report and pictures! Thanks for posting.


----------



## daventrina (Jun 22, 2012)

Karen G said:


> Fascinating trip report and pictures! Thanks for posting.


Thanks, you're welcome...


momeason said:


> Great post. I am intrigued by your aircraft. Love the pics.



Thanks!


----------



## riverdees05 (Jun 22, 2012)

Nice job, really enjoyed it.


----------



## funtime (Jun 23, 2012)

Just got back from Tahoe ourselves, the long way, over the mountains!  Your pictures and your project are very inspiring. Thanks for sharing.  Also your pics of the various developments were very interesting.


----------



## pedro47 (Jun 23, 2012)

Great review and pictures.


----------



## daventrina (Jun 29, 2012)

*Owners Update...*



riverdees05 said:


> Nice job, really enjoyed it.





pedro47 said:


> Great review and pictures.


Thanks


funtime said:


> Just got back from Tahoe ourselves, the long way, over the mountains!


Thanks. Sorry you had to drive, We'll probably have to drive at Thanksgiving 

They call it an Owners Update ... but it seems to usually wind up a sales presentation. We usually take well prepared questions so we usually end up with a gift and some answers and generally don't feel too bad about investing the hour or so. 

The sales folks say they are not on commission and we seem to have an experience that supports that. For timeshare sales folks they don't seem to be over pushy.  Sometimes that isn't always good ... as for us, appears to be effective for them  

So ... after we get our list of questions answered and talk about how Diamond is working for us ... The sales pitch begins. It starts with ... "you really would like to be Platinum wouldn't you?" Well of course we would like to be... She quotes the off the street price and I figure that we are done here. 

NEVER underestimate the effectiveness of a good saleswoman or expect that you understand the woman that you have been married to for 35 years. Keep in mind that we already have more that enough timeshare to use up all of the vacation time that we get. Also, don't expect that a good timeshare sales woman won't call your bluff.

So it kind of unfolds like this (short version - this transaction took HOURS to work out all the details).

There is no way way can afford the price that you want.

We have all off the timeshare that we have vacation time to use, so we would have to trade in the other three weeks that we have.

They offered us this amount for them a couple of years ago before the economy tanked.

While T would trade in my Red Wolf Lakeside Lodge, she lover her Stardust and isn't likely to let her Moongate there go.

I'm now thinking that we're about done. We get our gift card and head down to the beach.
We've spent, with the exception of two where we were elsewhere, the last 18 thanksgivings at Stardust Tahoe and expected to spend most of the rest of our anniversaries there.


----------



## daventrina (Jun 29, 2012)

*Owners Update... Not so fast....*

As it turns out .... 

We're not headed to the beach and we're not about done (for a couple of hours anyway).

Diamond offered us a reasonable trade-in for our thee weeks. (not to shocking)
(We already gave away our Swiss Mountain Village week that we have used as a trader for many years.)

Diamond offered us (as well as many others that day), for today only and never again, the points we need at the price that we first paid many years ago because we have been owners for SO long. (a little surprising). Was it today only? Maybe ... probably. For the first time there was a waiver that you passed on the option to exercise the option to buy at the "locked in price/point."  Now who could pass up about a ~70% discount? Wait and see...

T signs the papers to trade in her Stardust  weeks (totally shocking - I did not see that coming and we've been together for a LOOOONG time) and our Red Wolf week. 

How did all of this happen in a couple of hours.

While we love the Stardust and many of the staff are like family, we don't like being down stairs because of the noise from above and have to drag all our stuff (and if we don't fly up, that can be a lot) the stairs (there are no elevators and at Thanksgiving the stairs can get icy). At LTVR we show, give the guy a little cash and the car goes away and our stuff shows up in our room (sometimes before we get there) . It is a little further to the store, but we're on vacation and LTVC is on the lake.

While we love Stardust it's three blocks or so to the beach. In a week on our last few trips, T may only make one or two trips to the beach, especially if it is cold as the cold can make her back and hip really upset. 

Diamond has a 24 hour staff on duty. While that seemed to never be important before, it sure seemed to be when an older family member during our last trip had a medical emergency in the middle of the night. It turned out that it was very nice to have well prepared and trained staff working early that morning. This is twice now that we had a medical emergency at a Diamond Resort that required coordinating with EMS and are very thankful that Diamond staff are both well trained and effective at handling the situation. (I was completely shocked when this came up as an issue and advantage of consolidating our timeshare ownership).

Diamond offers both points protection and medical coverage that seems to be awesome (OMG, are we getting old?).

While we love Stardust, the resort can be noisy and it seems that we now need a better nights sleep to be able to have a nice next day and for that we seem to need some quiet sleep time.

At fifty something, we never expected that our age would impact the way we travel so much. :ignore: 

WARNING: don't fall down stairs at work- it may change your whole life 

It's (add your own words) getting old  

All of this started after staying at Embassy Maui after we bought our first timeshare at Stardust. T said "If this ever becomes timeshare, I have to have this".  It did, She does, I love you so much, Happy 35th Ku`uipo. Glad that we'll be celebrating it at Ka`anapali Beach Club!

I hope that Mr. Cloobeck makes this Diamond system work, because we are now all in with Diamond and that is now all that we own.   

While we love Stardust and many of the staff are like family, it seem we're now OLD and we'll miss spending our holidays there   But we will still stop by and visit as it's just up the street. Thanks to all of the staff for the many memories


----------



## MuranoJo (Jun 29, 2012)

Really enjoyed your trip report and photos, and I'm just in awe of the little PV you built!  Flying is so amazing.


----------



## Amy (Jul 1, 2012)

I enjoyed your trip report, too.  One question regarding the parking.  The Tripadvisor and other reviews I've read all mention mandatory valet parking for the $16/day (for nonowners).  On the Diamond resort website, they mention that "however, full service valet or self parking is available across the street (non owner pay $16 per night)."  That suggests self parking is now available but it _also_  costs $16/night -- is that correct? We're thinking of visiting next year, but the parking fee is causing us to take this resort off the table.


----------



## daventrina (Jul 2, 2012)

Amy said:


> I enjoyed your trip report, too.  One question regarding the parking.  The Tripadvisor and other reviews I've read all mention mandatory valet parking for the $16/day (for nonowners).  On the Diamond resort website, they mention that "however, full service valet or self parking is available across the street (non owner pay $16 per night)."  That suggests self parking is now available but it _also_  costs $16/night -- is that correct? We're thinking of visiting next year, but the parking fee is causing us to take this resort off the table.


Thanks everyone. 

I believe that the resort has always had self parking ( it has when we've been staying there), but for a fee the same as valet like now.. Normally, there had been some limited self parking around the resort. For now, at least, that area is closed for parking and all parking except a few handicap and valet is across the street.

If you visit when we're there, you could use our spot with cooperative weather because our car will be at home. (we have to pay $10/night or $50/week to park the plane at the airport.)

Marriott is the other big resort at South Shore and they charge non-owners for parking too. Hyatt is a ways up the lake in Incline Village, but I don't know if they charge for parking. They don't for visitors that stop by to dine and play in their casino. Some folks refuse to pay Marriott to park and park at one of the casinos nearby. 

Red Wolf on the North Shore, as well as Stardust on the South Shore, don't charge for parking, but they do have a RCI actvities fee (I think that it is about $45 for the week).
I don't think that any of the other timeshares charge for parking, but they are also not as upscale. So you have to pick and choose options. 

There is my other pet peeve where Diamond charges even owners that are not Gold+ for internet access while every two bit dive on Hwy 50 (well nearly every one anyway) has free internet access. Folks with ATT wireless can access the internet at Diamond using their ATT account.


----------



## daventrina (Jul 2, 2012)

*More bad news from BlueGo*

For those that don't know, many moons ago (seven years or so) many resorts and hotels had their own shuttle to take there folks where they needed to go. It was nice, and didn't have to drive. We could just call our resort, and they'd pick us up at the airport in about an hour.

BlueGo came along as local transportation and got all the resorts to retire their transportation and use the public transportation instead. The premise being that they would provide the same service. Not so bad for a while.

And then.... They decided to stop all service after 7pm that was not on the normal routes. When the economy tanked, the severely restricted the routes.

And now, when our planned transportation from the airport didn't work out as planned, we called BlueGo and they refused to pick us up because they don not allow same day reservations anymore. It is bad enough that they don't provide public transportation to the airport. But this case is worse because a significant part of City Hall is located there. Worse that that ... they have to go there anyway to refuel.

So, for now anyway, if you are not on Pioneer Trail or Hwy 50 (in the area of town) you either have to walk to the bus stop or pay a really expensive taxi. Now most people just drive. Not the effect they were looking for.

No wonder so many of the Locals are not happy with BlueGo.


----------

