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This day was a lot, in a lot of ways.
I love a hotel breakfast. Hotels are actually under a lot of pressure to be able to accommodate people with certain food restrictions, because they don't get most of the business travel market if they don't.
This was amazing.
The first complication of the day was Truckee's bus system. Here is a picture of the route map on the website, but then if you go to see where the stops are on the map there is a subtle difference:
Just a tiny, tiny, 3 mile difference. I could not get to some of the places I most wanted to go. 3 miles isn't terribly far, but factor in 3 there, 3 back, the 3-8 miles from the stop of additional walking to do the hikes, and also that I am an ocean level dweller up in a mountain town, it all adds up fast. I was feeling the elevation a bit. Usually, if I am going into the mountains, I acclimate first by doing some day trips up Mt Hood, but I didn't this time. A lot of Portland gyms actually have high elevation simulation rooms for people to train, but I don't go to any of those places.
Second complication of the day, the bus driver was blasting political content talking about the evils of globalism and the power of anti-woke politics. The driver got very worked up and at a point called out 'hands up who voted fer Trump!' No hands raised and no one even responded at all, but still, he was basically listening to an antisemitic screed. Then, the next episode was on gender identity. I did my best to drown out the podcast of radio show or whatever with my audiobook and tracked where I was on google maps so I wouldn't miss my stop.
I was able to walk to Donner Memorial State Park from the furthest stop and really, that was top of my list. However, almost everything was closed. the website didn't list any closures. When I got back to town the lady at the info booth didn't believe me, but yup the museum, the gift shop, most of the trails and most of the natural areas were very, very clearly closed for repairs.
But, after some looking around I did find some trails that were open, including the trail to the lake.
The sand was covered in frost and/or ice but I wanted the shot:
I walked several miles, mostly on sand. I may have pushed myself a bit too much because hiking on sand is very different from other surfaces.
My lunch spot:
I wasn't able to get to the summit, the old train tunnels, the main viewpoint over the pass or some nice short historic hikes I'd wanted to do. I'd like to go back and do them, but I wont without a car and a travel companion, which means I can't do it. They are really pushing a car-free Truckee with their transit system and walkability, but I had to get back on that same damn bus with the same damn driver to get back to town and I decided that after that I wasn't going to touch the bus system again. I tried arranging a Lyft or a cab to get me around, but no dice, maybe because it was the off-season.
I hate complaining about my trips. I do a lot of cool stuff and very much do the things I want to do. But this all just sucks. I shouldn’t feel unsafe in fucking Northern Californian ski town.
When I was at the info booth in town trying to find more stuff to do, not only did the lady not believe me about the closures she told a lady right next to me to head out and do the park tomorrow. The info booth lady pushed me to use the bus system to Lake Tahoe and when I said I didn't want to, she assumed that I was just ignorant of Lake Tahoe, because why else would anyone stay in Truckee unless they were here for the free transit to Tahoe? The part of Tahoe that buses go to is where the casinos are. The lady thought I was joking or lying about what I was looking to do in the area, and she wasn't the first one. My travel plans are weird, but apparently pumping money into a casino with a view of multi-million dollar vacation homes is normal.
I love a hotel breakfast. Hotels are actually under a lot of pressure to be able to accommodate people with certain food restrictions, because they don't get most of the business travel market if they don't.
This was amazing.
The first complication of the day was Truckee's bus system. Here is a picture of the route map on the website, but then if you go to see where the stops are on the map there is a subtle difference:
Just a tiny, tiny, 3 mile difference. I could not get to some of the places I most wanted to go. 3 miles isn't terribly far, but factor in 3 there, 3 back, the 3-8 miles from the stop of additional walking to do the hikes, and also that I am an ocean level dweller up in a mountain town, it all adds up fast. I was feeling the elevation a bit. Usually, if I am going into the mountains, I acclimate first by doing some day trips up Mt Hood, but I didn't this time. A lot of Portland gyms actually have high elevation simulation rooms for people to train, but I don't go to any of those places.
Second complication of the day, the bus driver was blasting political content talking about the evils of globalism and the power of anti-woke politics. The driver got very worked up and at a point called out 'hands up who voted fer Trump!' No hands raised and no one even responded at all, but still, he was basically listening to an antisemitic screed. Then, the next episode was on gender identity. I did my best to drown out the podcast of radio show or whatever with my audiobook and tracked where I was on google maps so I wouldn't miss my stop.
I was able to walk to Donner Memorial State Park from the furthest stop and really, that was top of my list. However, almost everything was closed. the website didn't list any closures. When I got back to town the lady at the info booth didn't believe me, but yup the museum, the gift shop, most of the trails and most of the natural areas were very, very clearly closed for repairs.
But, after some looking around I did find some trails that were open, including the trail to the lake.
The sand was covered in frost and/or ice but I wanted the shot:
I walked several miles, mostly on sand. I may have pushed myself a bit too much because hiking on sand is very different from other surfaces.
My lunch spot:
I wasn't able to get to the summit, the old train tunnels, the main viewpoint over the pass or some nice short historic hikes I'd wanted to do. I'd like to go back and do them, but I wont without a car and a travel companion, which means I can't do it. They are really pushing a car-free Truckee with their transit system and walkability, but I had to get back on that same damn bus with the same damn driver to get back to town and I decided that after that I wasn't going to touch the bus system again. I tried arranging a Lyft or a cab to get me around, but no dice, maybe because it was the off-season.
I hate complaining about my trips. I do a lot of cool stuff and very much do the things I want to do. But this all just sucks. I shouldn’t feel unsafe in fucking Northern Californian ski town.
When I was at the info booth in town trying to find more stuff to do, not only did the lady not believe me about the closures she told a lady right next to me to head out and do the park tomorrow. The info booth lady pushed me to use the bus system to Lake Tahoe and when I said I didn't want to, she assumed that I was just ignorant of Lake Tahoe, because why else would anyone stay in Truckee unless they were here for the free transit to Tahoe? The part of Tahoe that buses go to is where the casinos are. The lady thought I was joking or lying about what I was looking to do in the area, and she wasn't the first one. My travel plans are weird, but apparently pumping money into a casino with a view of multi-million dollar vacation homes is normal.
no subject
Date: 2024-12-20 11:29 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2024-12-21 01:48 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2024-12-21 05:28 am (UTC)From:3 miles is plenty too long to want to add on, since yeah, that's out AND back. Nah.
Fuuuuck the bus driver's political garbage. Fuck off with that shit.
Ugh, it sucks that so much in the park was closed! Especially for there to not have been any information about that. Bleh.
Eat local, lmao.
I love the all the water reflections!
It sucks how many places want to push car-free/public transport options... while making those options completely untenable in a lot of ways.
...I can't fathom wanting to travel to go to casinos and look at expensive houses. (That's a thing here in CO too, with casinos that are the whole "destination" of some of the mountain towns. BUT WHY.)
no subject
Date: 2024-12-22 06:31 pm (UTC)From:Yeah, the transit options situation was a mess. I wound up walking on steep, iced up sidewalked with my luggage because I was just not getting back on that bus. I might also fuck around and actually get a car for some upcoming trips just for personal safety. I don't like it, but my migraine problems are much less and just, fuck it. Also, I am 100% someone who will pull over if I don't feel like I should be driving. I take that shit pretty seriously.
I can gamble at home! I get playing a few hands if I happen to be in Las Vegas or being really into poker, but most of that is just baffling to me. I am also slightly over people acting like I am joking, lying or painfully uninformed when I say what my travel plans are, especially when you consider what normal is.
no subject
Date: 2024-12-26 04:01 am (UTC)From:I don't blame you at all for not wanting to get back on that bus, and I hate that it made getting around there so much more difficult. It's really hard to do a lot of travel without a car, as much as I'm theoretically in favor of NOT needing a car. But there are SO many variables when it comes to having to rely on public transportation, some of which really are a matter of safety.
Right? Like, if gambling is what someone is into for their vacation time, no shade I guess. And I realize that's one of the reasons you would go somewhere like Vegas. But man, going up to some beautiful place in the mountains... just to go to a casino? No thanks, lol. Going up to the casinos in Blackhawk here was like, The Thing my old manager wanted to do for long weekends/birthdays/family birthdays/holidays, and he could NOT wrap his head around the fact that I'd never been there for that and didn't particularly want to. I use one of the casinos as a landmark to know where to turn to go look at old cemeteries, and that's as close as I've gotten, lol.
no subject
Date: 2024-12-27 06:20 pm (UTC)From:Yeah, I get doing a few rounds of gambling just for the experience if you are in the area. I've popped in some stuck a quarter in a machine with terrible odds. I actually really like going to Vegas, but not for the gambling. Though, maybe not current Vegas with the Sphere and hotels using whole sides of buildings for ads.
no subject
Date: 2024-12-29 07:39 am (UTC)From:Sure! I can see doing some gambling for the experience - a couple rounds on a slot machine or a hand of cards if that's your thing. But as a destination in and of itself? I'm afraid I don't understand the appeal, and it's annoying when it's assumed that that MUST be your actual aim, because there's literally nothing else anyone could possibly want to do, right?
Ugh. I kind of wish I'd had the chance to experience better-Vegas, ha. I could see what seemed fun and glitzy about it. Now... yeah. I really resent advertisements in my normal life, and it seems like Vegas is just a chance to have even more beamed directly into your eyes at all times.
no subject
Date: 2024-12-29 08:23 pm (UTC)From:And the Sphere is just, no. It's just no.
no subject
Date: 2024-12-31 01:33 am (UTC)From:Like, I get that part of the whole Vegas aesthetic is conspicuous consumption and glitz and everything dialed up to 11... but like... a building-sized doritos ad that obscures the view from a famous hotel?? Gross.
(And I'm annoyed when I have the print from a train-car-sized ad blocking my very mundane view when I take the lightrail into downtown!)
And oh yes. The Sphere. That sure exists.
no subject
Date: 2025-01-01 12:50 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2024-12-21 01:35 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2024-12-22 06:08 pm (UTC)From: