In Tahoe, The Whole Point Is Exercise

A friend was visiting from out of town. After a couple of days of exploring, we were driving up the switchbacks south of Emerald Bay, and the bicyclists racing up the steep inclines were ubiquitous. Our friend said, “It's like we're in Barbie and Ken Doll land. Everybody is so fit.”

Team Bicycle Trip .blogspot.com

It's true. Sometimes Tahoe feels like the place where people come to achieve physical perfection, or maybe just show it off.

Yet, I always notice what I call the Parking Lot/Exercise Paradox.

At the Tahoe supermarket, people drive around looking for the space closest to the door.

Worse, at Tahoe fitness clubs, people jockey for the parking spaces near the entrance. What?! I thought the whole point of going to the fitness center was to get exercise. In fact, for many, or even most, visitors, part of the point of coming to Tahoe is to get in shape.

Emerald Bay Physical Therapy

Of course, some might say that the lake and hiking trails and ski slopes are where the beauty is, not the parking lots. So they focus their fitness energies in those places. But exercise is good regardless of how we get it, right? 

Weekend Sherpa .com

Yet, in every parking lot, I can see mountains, some views of which are very beautiful. Well, actually, there are a few places where I can't see the mountains. And those are the parking places near the door.