I love how every single time I visit the wonderful, mystical, magical realm that is the Lake Tahoe region, I always come across a new gem to brag about. For instance, during my first trip I fell in love with Sand Harbor Beach. It became a memory that I've fondly revisited in my dreams (https://www.yelp.com/biz/sand-harbor-incline-village).
Most recently though, I stumbled upon my favorite spot in Lake Tahoe thus far! I bring you Hellman-Ehrman Estate - a beach, getaway, state park, and mansion all bottled up into one. Long story short, my girlfriend and I spent a couple days around Lake Tahoe a few weekends ago, and we decided to spend our second morning touring one of the region's famous homes. If you've been to Lake Tahoe, you're probably familiar with Vikingsholm Mansion; like Vikingsholm, the Hellman-Ehrman Estate was a fancy mansion that eventually got sold to the state of California. But little did we know that our experience here would be much more than just an open-house.
First off, the location. The Hellman-Ehrman Estate was found inside the BEAUTIFUL Sugar Pine Point State Park. It's along the west part of Lake Tahoe, about 40 or so minutes north from South Lake Tahoe. Admission to the park was $10 per car, but that PALED in comparison to the adventure we encountered.
Once inside the park, we made a bee line towards the visitor's center. We knew the next tour would be at 11:30am and weren't about to miss it and have to wait another hour (check website for times: https://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=991). We paid $10 (per person) for admission - plenty of compensation for the lovely conversation we had with the park staff.
With about five or so minutes before the tour began, we took a quick look at the landscape surrounding the estate. Boy was it SO GORGEOUS! Even though we really wanted to get brunch right after the tour, we knew we had to spend some time exploring the area. I mean how can you pass up pristine waters and skyscraper-like trees?
The tour would eventually begin, and even though I probably don't remember 90 percent of what I learned, I honestly felt like the journey was definitely worthwhile. Our guide, ironically the SAME EXACT ENERGETIC WOMAN who toured us around Vikingsholm, took us through dozens of cute little rooms, showed us a GIGANTIC old-fashioned kitchen, and even gave us a peak into some of the lesser-known stories of the mansion. It was informative, thorough, and engaging.
But even better than the tour was the scenery. Remember how I said I fell in love with Sand Harbor? Well the beach right outside Hellman-Ehrman was literally a PRIVATE version of Sand Harbor. The water was absolutely stunning, transparent, and glistening. It was utterly peaceful and the trees filtered out any sound from the highway. The best part was the fact that barely anyone was even there! We literally got all the benefits of Tahoe's greatest beaches without any of the traffic. We spent a good half hour lounging around and enjoying the views. Now this was the real dream.
For the cool trip and all that goes along with it, I must give the Hellman-Ehrman Estate an "Omg, I'd travel 2 hours for this" rating. Even if you don't go inside it, you MUST come here for the views.
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