An Author's Best Friend is Radio

This week I drove down to Sacramento for an interview on CapRadio's Insight program. (CapRadio, for those of you who don't have a radio, is the awesome NPR affiliate that by some measures is the biggest non-Bay Area radio station in Northern California, bigger, even, than the commercial stations.) 

The Insight program used to be hosted by the impressive Jeffrey Callison, and when he left, he left a hole in radio that many listeners thought would be impossible to fill.

But to the delight of CapRadio's listeners, the radio station found an amazing new host named Beth Ruyak. Smart, charming, smooth, and warm, Ruyak has convinced listeners that she is their new source for all essential information about Northern California. Note that my books are not essential information! But they are fun, and my interview was fun, too.

I've been interviewed many times including several times on past Insight shows. I'm comfortable with radio interviews. And I knew that with her past experiences on shows like Good Morning America, Beth would be a real pro. But being in the studio with her was unlike any of my previous interview experiences. She was more creative and more fun than other interviewers.

Some interviewers like to challenge their interviewees. Some interviewers like making their interview subjects nervous. Beth knows that making an interviewee comfortable and relaxed will produce the most interesting interview. If you are relaxed, you will reveal your thoughts. If you are uptight and tense, you will guard your thoughts.

Comfort is no small thing. Several times in the past, I've been in the waiting room at radio and TV stations and talked to other interviewees who were sweating and scared. As I think back on those people, I wish they could have interviewed with Beth. They would have thought it was the easiest thing in the world.

One more shout-out goes to Jen Picard, the producer of Insight. Like producers everywhere, she is the force that shapes Insight as well as the glue that holds the show together. The credit for that seamless, entertaining, and educational listening experience goes to Jen along with Midori Yoshimura, Mark Jones and several others at CapRadio. They all do a great job.

Here is the link to my interview. It was the most fun I've had behind a radio mic. Enjoy!

Insight Interview with Todd Borg
(Be sure your sound is turned up.)

The Top 10 Things to Do and See in Tahoe (A Mini Tourist Guide to Tahoe)

More than a few times, I’ve met visitors at the end of their vacation in Tahoe, and I learned that they never saw Emerald Bay. Not only is it sad that people miss such a beautiful place, but it must be embarrassing to get home and endure the scowls of friends who say, “What? You went to Tahoe and never saw Emerald Bay?”

Ouch.

Emerald Bay

Of course, you can have the most fantastic vacation of your life in Tahoe without having seen its only bay. But not seeing Emerald Bay is like visiting Yosemite and never looking up at Half Dome. It's like walking the hills of San Francisco and never noticing the Golden Gate. Like going to Paris and not ever laying eyes on the Eiffel Tower. You get the idea.

I decided that I should make a list of must-see places so I could reduce the post-vacation Ouch Factor for visitors.

My list is biased toward those things that are unique to Tahoe. For example, there are people who come to Tahoe to gamble and they may think that Tahoe is the best place to play the tables. But you can gamble anywhere, and many people would claim that Vegas or Monte Carlo or a Mississippi riverboat provides a better gambling experience. So gambling in Tahoe is not on my list.

Likewise, Tahoe has many fantastic restaurants that draw visitors. But great as they are, our restaurants are not really what sets Tahoe apart from any other place on the planet.

I have also weighted this list toward those things that most visitors always rave about. If you routinely find that you dislike what most other people like, this list won't be for you.

I should also mention that my list has some physical activities that not everyone pursues, so not everything on the list is for everybody.

Because I'm highlighting only ten items, everyone will think that I'm leaving out absolutely essential things. But such are the constraints of a limited list. You may disagree with my choices. But if you come to Tahoe without experiencing several of these, you'll risk going home without really knowing the essence of Tahoe.

First comes the list. Farther down is information about each entry. Because some people are less mobile than others, my list is divided into two groups based on how physical the activities are.

LESS PHYSICAL ACTIVITIES

1) Visit Emerald Bay by car or boat.

2) Drive around Lake Tahoe (This automatically takes you around Emerald Bay.)

3) Take a boat ride on Lake Tahoe (This can also encompass #1)

4) Ride the Squaw Valley Cable Car and/or the Heavenly Gondola.

5) Spend some time hanging out at one of Tahoe's great beaches

6) Visit one of Tahoe's grand estates

MORE PHYSICAL ACTIVITIES

7) Climb a Tahoe mountain.

8) Hike to a remote mountain lake

9) Mountain bike The Flume Trail

10) Ski or ride one of the downhill resorts that faces Lake Tahoe

HERE ARE DETAILS FOR LESS PHYSICAL THINGS TO DO

1) Visit Emerald Bay by car or boat.

You can drive to Emerald Bay or you can take a boat to Emerald Bay. Driving has the advantages of allowing you to hike down to the Vikingsholm Castle – an easy 1-mile hike. (It's best to go relatively early in the morning, because the parking areas often fill up.)

You may want to tour the Vikingsholm. You can also hike to the top or the bottom of Eagle Falls, the biggest waterfall in Tahoe. 

Eagle Falls from Tahoe'sBest.com

If you park at the Bay View campground on the southwest side of the bay (across the highway from the vista overlook above Emerald Bay), you can easily hike to Cascade Falls above Cascade Lake. 

You can also hike up to the top of the famous Rock Slide from 1955 and look down on Emerald Bay from above. (A gorgeous view.)

There are multiple tourist boats that cruise to Emerald Bay, the Tahoe Queen and the M.S. Dixie among the most prominent. 

Tahoe Queen

While the boats don't generally allow you ground access, the view of the bay and mountains from the water is a sight you won't forget.

Seeing Emerald Bay may not be a thrill like skiing or sailing, but nevertheless, no trip to Tahoe is complete without a visit to one of the most famous bays in the world.

2) Drive around Lake Tahoe

Tahoe is so big that the only way to really grasp its essence is to take the 75-mile drive around its circumference. The route is simple even though the highway changes numbers depending on county and state. Get a map before you go. If you drive clockwise, you keep turning right and it is nearly impossible to get lost. If you drive counter-clockwise, you need to watch for one turn. When you come up the East Shore from the south, Highway 50 leaves the lake for a bit and begins its climb up toward Spooner summit. Before you get to the top, you need to watch for a left turn onto Highway 28, which takes you back to the lake as you head up the north portion of the East Shore.

The entire drive takes 3 hours on average. My advice is to plan an entire day for your drive so that you can take a couple of side trips. One begins just west of Incline Village. Turn up the Mt. Rose Highway #431 and drive it up to the vista overlook. From there you will be able to see a spectacular view of the lake below. A second side trip begins in Tahoe City. Turn west at the Tahoe City “Y” and take 89 downstream alongside of the Truckee River. A few miles down, you will see the Olympic rings and flame at the entrance to Squaw Valley, where the winter Olympics were held in 1960. Driving into Squaw Valley is worthwhile for the beauty as well as the history.

Squaw Valley photo by Wunderground.com

Another, longer side trip is to continue north to Truckee, a hip mountain town with a lot of railroad history.

Note for two-wheel enthusiasts:

Cruising the lake's circumference on your motorcycle is a special treat.

And if your choice of recreation is road bicycling, circumnavigating Lake Tahoe is an experience you'll cherish for the rest of your life. There are even planned rides where thousands of bicyclers circle the lake together. http://bikethewest.com/tourdetahoe.html

3) Take a boat ride on Lake Tahoe

When you are at what is arguably the the most beautiful lake in the entire world (and the biggest, highest, clearest lake in the Northern Hemisphere), going out on the water is a no-brainer. You can choose from a wide variety of tourist boats, from the big stern-wheelers to large cruisers to big sailboats. If smaller is your choice, you can rent every kind of vessel from speedboats to runabouts to jetskis, or – my favorites – boats without engines, i.e., quiet rides like canoes, kayaks, sailboats, sailboards, or stand-up paddleboards.

Tahoe Cruises' huge catamaran

Once you've looked down through mountain water as clear and turquoise as the best dive spots on the Great Barrier Reef, you will never forget the experience.

For those of you bringing your own boats, do some online research for current boat ramp conditions, and plan extra time to get your boat inspected (required by law) for invasive species, and cleaned if necessary.

4) Ride the Squaw Valley Cable Car and/or the Heavenly Gondola.

The Heavenly Gondola takes you up nearly 3000 vertical feet to the highest easy-access overlook in the Tahoe Basin. The view of Tahoe from 9100 feet is beyond spectacular.

Heavenly Gondola

The Squaw Valley Cable Car doesn't take you quite as high, nor is it as close to the lake, but the view is still spectacular and the ride itself is astonishing as you make a near-vertical climb up the face of a 2000-foot cliff.

Squaw Valley Cable Car, courtesy of Tierra Unica

Both Squaw and Heavenly have a restaurants and recreation facilities at the top, so you can spend a whole day up on the mountain, if you like, hiking, lounging, lunching. At Squaw you can even go ice skating or swimming in the mountaintop pool.

Squaw Valley High Camp pool

If you want to get a sense of Tahoe from above, either of these rides is fantastic.

5) Spend some time at one of Tahoe's great beaches

After millions of years of winter storm-generated waves pounding Tahoe's shores, the water has ground the rocks into huge beaches of fine sand. Tahoe has dozens of great beaches. Some of most celebrated are Sand Harbor (East Shore), Baldwin Beach (Southwest shore), Nevada Beach (Southeast Shore), King's Beach (North Shore)

Baldwin Beach photo courtesy of LakeTahoeReps.com

Many beaches have barbecues, some have volleyball, all are good for Frisbee, swimming, reading novels, and launching self-carry paddle craft like kayaks, paddle boards, and canoes. A few beaches, like Kiva Beach on the South Shore, allow dogs. Many do not.

Remember that Tahoe is cold. Although the water can warm up to 60 or more at the shallow beaches, pay special attention to your kids. Their desire for play makes them oblivious to hypothermia. If they start shivering or slurring their speech, get them out of the water!

6) Visit one of Tahoe's grand old estates

Over the years, some of the richest people in the world chose to build fantastic estates at Lake Tahoe. This is still going on today, most notably along Lake Shore Blvd. in Incline Village where multiple billionaires have built spreads that, when sold, make headlines as the most expensive residences in the country. (A recent “For Sale” (not at Incline) is Tommy Hilfiger's palace on the mountain up above the Southeast Shore, which listed at $100 million. Lemme see... Standard mortgage calculations would suggest a monthly payment of $1 million!)

Many of the older estates are available to tour. Follow the links to find the details of tour times and other useful information. Here are some of the grand estates.

Vikingsholm at Emerald Bay is an intriguing look into Tahoe at the end of the Roaring Twenties. The woman who built Vikingsholm was Lora Knight. She had connections to the Union Pacific Railroad, Diamond Match, Wells Fargo Bank and other companies. She and her husband backed Lindbergh's flight across the Atlantic. Vikingsholm is great to tour, and it is now owned and run by the California State Park system.

Vikingsholm Castle

The Ehrman Mansion at Sugar Pine Point State Park on the West Shore. Built in 1902 by the Hellman Ehrman family, it is a fine example of a glorious summer estate.

Ehrman Mansion photo courtesy of  Lake Tahoe Getaways

The Thunderbird Lodge on the East Shore was the focus of George Whittell's 40,000-acre estate, which is now part of the Nevada State Park system. 

Thunderbird Lodge photo courtesy of cityprofile.com

The Thunderbird Lodge is known for its secret tunnel down to the boathouse where George would take his lion Bill and go for a cruise on the 75 mph Thunderbird wooden boat, Tahoe's fastest boat of the era and still one of the fastest boats on the lake. For more info visit http://thunderbirdtahoe.org/

Note: One of the most asked-about estates is the one that was featured in The Godfather II movie. This was the Kaiser Estate (Kaiser Aluminum) on the West Shore. Unfortunately, it was sold, and the land was turned into a condo development.

HERE ARE DETAILS FOR MORE PHYSICAL THINGS TO DO

The following items on the list are more physical activities, so the usual qualifiers apply: Wear good hiking boots (or appropriate footgear if bicycling), carry lots of water and food, bring extra rain and weather clothing, have a good trail map and guidebook, and don't ever attempt any climb/hike/bike unless you are confident of your physical abilities, strength, fitness, and your adaptation to high altitude.

7) Climb a Tahoe mountain.

Tahoe mountains are great because, frankly, they are not that tall and not that steep. This means that the average person in decent shape can hike to the top of any Tahoe mountain. No handholds or special gear are required. (Yes, we have lots of world-class rock climbing that requires technical skill, but that's completely different than hiking to a mountain summit.)

Hiking a 10,000-foot mountain is no small thing. Not only is the view of the lake and its surrounding mountains unmatched anywhere, but getting to a mountain summit under your own power is something to be proud of.

We have lots of mountains to choose from. Perhaps the most popular are Mt. Tallac on the South Shore and Mt. Rose on the North Shore. Both have good parking areas, well-marked trails, and spectacular views.

Most hiking guidebooks provide the details about trails to many peaks. The only one that is possibly excessively strenuous to hike is Tahoe's highest, Freel Peak on the South Shore. The reason is that the route is not over solid rocks or hard dirt but grus, a type of granitic sand where you slide back a half-foot for every foot you step up.

There's something about standing on a mountain summit with the entire world stretched out below you. And if you're lucky, you can look down into the rocky crags below you and see Golden Eagles riding the updrafts.

Mt. Tallac with its famous snow cross

8) Hike to a remote mountain lake.

The Tahoe area is peppered with hundreds of smaller lakes, from Hollywood favorites like Fallen Leaf Lake on the South Shore to Donner Lake near Truckee. If you get a hiking guide, you will find several dozens of great hikes that take you to smaller wilderness lakes perfect for swimming, fishing and camping. (Note that there are strict camping rules, and areas such as the Desolation Wilderness require permits before entering. Most guidebooks tell you everything you need to know.) 

Lake Aloha under the Crystal Range on the Sierra Crest

9) Mountain bike the Flume Trail

Up above the East Shore of Lake Tahoe is the Flume Trail, one of mountain biking's grandest adventures.

The Flume Trail may be the world's most spectacular mountain biking trail

Note the tiny bicyclist on the left!

The Flume Trail's history dates back to the lumber days, when the Tahoe Basin was clear-cut by lumbermen who supplied timbers to shore up the mine tunnels under Virginia City. Getting the logs off the mountain was difficult, so they built a water flume, essentially a big wooden trough-like viaduct up at 7800 feet of elevation. The flume stretched from the outlet dam of Marlette Lake, which is tucked up in the East Shore mountains. The flume was built along the steep mountainside facing the lake. Water from the lake flowed through the flume, and the loggers floated logs in the artificial “Flume” creek. The flume ran north for approximately 8 miles, then turned east into a tunnel that burrowed through the mountain toward Washoe Valley on the other side. Once out of the mountain tunnel, the logs shot down a very steep wooden chute toward the valley floor. (Daredevil lumberjacks would sit on the logs and ride them down to the valley at speeds estimated to be over 60 mph.)

When the lumber days were over, the flume fell into disuse. Years later, its remnants were cleared away, and it was turned into one of the world's most amazing mountain bike trails.

Because the trail is perched on the side of a steep mountain with thousand-foot drop-offs, it can be dangerous, and only sure-footed bikers should try it. Nevertheless, it is not a technical challenge. If one simply pays attention, it is not difficult.

The typical way to enjoy The Flume is to park a shuttle car on Highway 28 near the north end of the trail, then drive to the Spooner Lake Campground just off Spooner Summit. You begin the ride by biking from Spooner Lake up the canyon to Marlette Lake. From there, you ride around the south end of Marlette to the dam where The Flume begins. Prepare for excitement as you ride the cliff-edge trail with the world's grandest view! At the north end of the trail, you make a fast descent down a gravel road to the highway where you've left your shuttle car.

Many mountain bikers will claim that other mountain bike trails, such as Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, are more exciting and challenging than The Flume Trail. But for a combination of excitement and beauty and uniqueness, little if anything beats Tahoe's Flume Trail.

10) Ski or ride one of the downhill resorts that faces Lake Tahoe

All of the dozen-plus resorts around Tahoe have their superlatives, and several of them such as Alpine Meadows, Squaw Valley, Sierra At Tahoe, Mt. Rose, and Northstar, have distant and/or filtered views of the lake from certain places on the mountain. But there are three resorts that directly face the lake and have the best views of the lake: Heavenly - the California side (South Shore), Homewood (West Shore), and Diamond Peak (Northeast Shore). The views from these resorts are the stuff that clog up visitor's photo memory cards and iPhones. Magazines and websites that showcase the lake rely heavily on photos taken from these resorts. You may like the fresh powder at Kirkwood or the chutes and steeps of Squaw or the history at Sugar Bowl, but nowhere on Earth will you find views like those from Homewood, Heavenly and Diamond Peak.

Homewood Ski Resort

Other attractions not on my list...

While I've mentioned 10 spectacular things to do, there are many other great activities such as:

Para-sailing

Jetskiing

Kayaking

Hot air ballooning

Horseback riding

Scuba diving

(Yes, there is great scuba diving in Tahoe for those of you who are certified divers. You just need to have a guide who is familiar with high-altitude diving (greater decompression concerns), and you need to be conversant with cold-water diving. Hint: Think insulated, pressurized drysuits! The East Shore is especially intriguing, and even has under-water tunnels.)

Cross-country skiing

Snowmobiling

Water skiing

Camping

Golfing

(For example, golfing at Edgwood, where the celebrity championship is held each year, may provide more dramatic views than nearly any golf course.)

Edgewood Golf Course

While I mentioned the more dramatic bicycling experiences, there are many great but tamer places to bike. Guidebooks detail many beautiful mountain bike trails. There are also several great paved trails from South Lake Tahoe out to Baldwin Beach, up the West Shore from Sugar Pine Point Part to Tahoe City, and along the North Shore from Tahoe City to Dollar Point and Tahoe City to Squaw Valley.

There are countless things to do in Tahoe, so come up the and have the time of your life!

(Just don't forget to see Emerald Bay!)

A Golden Retriever Meets the Wild Bunch

Sure, I write fiction, you say, but this blog is true stuff.

One day my wife and I saw a Golden retriever on a motorcycle on Emerald Bay Road. No, it wasn't a circus dog riding by himself. He was just the passenger. Even so, it kinda catches your eye, a biker doggie dude.

BeeSafeLocksmithBlog

The Golden sat in a custom seat behind the driver. Like the driver, the doggie wore a little helmet and sunglasses, no doubt a nod to the law's requirement for head and eye protection.

I knew that the dog was loving it. (If you doubt that, you're not a dog person. Dog types can tell these things.) If any neighboring drivers had doubts about whether the dog was being forced to suffer in order to conform to human behavior, those doubts were squashed when the motorcyclist came to a stop at the red light at the “Y” intersection. We stared as the dog put on that smile that Goldens are famous for. Then the dog turned his head and gazed over his shoulder as if to see if the car drivers were noticing just how perfect he was.

(Please put aside for the moment your judgments about whether or not riding on a motorcycle is safe or appropriate for a dog.)

This Golden-on-a-motorcycle experience brought up an amazing difference between dogs and all other animals (Owen refers to this in my new novel TAHOE TRAP.) 

All animals exhibit a certain caution to maintain safety. Dogs do, too. But consider this scenario – not to be cruel – but just a hypothetical to illustrate a point. If you held any animal out of the car window while driving at high speed, I'm pretty sure that they would all – crocodiles and lions and T-Rexes included – be terrified. But dogs can't get enough of it. A dog's appetite for a “rush” extends from running or playing or catching a Frisbee to riding in a fast car or even riding on a motorcycle! Or a snowmobile, windsurfer, or a skateboard.

Why is this?

Because the modern dog has evolved over 30,000 years in close association with people, they have effectively become as humanized as an animal can be. They like to eat nearly all the same foods we do. They like to join us in our activities. (As much or more than any other animals, dogs like to “do stuff.”) They want to sleep in our beds or in our laps. They want to join us in our physical games. And dogs especially like to ride in our cars and on our boats.

Which means that if people like riding on motorcycles, dogs do, too.

Tahoe Tomatoes? Not

Have you ever heard about Tahoe Tomatoes? I didn't think so.

A few intrepid Tahoe locals who live on sunny meadows and face the warm western sun attempt gardening. The idea is romantic and enticing. And for those of us who moved in from areas with warmer summers (especially warmer summer nights), we carry with us wonderful memories of fresh sweet corn and crisp green beans and real (I mean REAL) tomatoes. (Believe it or not, I've got a tomato story thread going in my new book TAHOE TRAP. Don't worry, it's still a very exciting, tense book.)

Unfortunately, tomatoes need warm weather.

TheCrabbyCook.com

It should be noted that Tahoe never gets brutally cold like, say, Minnesota. But Tahoe also never gets very warm, either. Especially at night. Summer nights in Tahoe usually get down into the 40s and even the 30s.

Great for sleeping.

Not so great for vegies. (Oops, I mean, fruit. But for that, you're going to have to read Tahoe Trap and meet a great 10-year-old kid named Paco, who just happens to be a tomato expert.)

When we came to Tahoe, we heard that vegetable gardening was not on the Preferred-Tahoe-Activities list. Nevertheless, I decided to do a test grow.

In the midwest, green beans are guaranteed grow-in-any-situation-or-place bestseller vegetables. You put in ten seeds, and you get ten plants that will produce all-you-can-eat beans every day for four months and still have enough left over to fill a chest freezer and give you all-you-can-eat beans the rest of the year. Or the next three years. Seriously. Okay, maybe it takes eleven plants.

So when we came to Tahoe, I bought some can't-fail green bean seeds and planted rows of beans out by the street where it is sunny and also near the house where it is sunny. I even planted seeds in our wine-barrel planter that sits on the deck where it is sunny. I waited until mid-June before planting in hopes that I would be past our last freeze in spring. I watered and tended and fussed over those beans.

I hung in there until we heard, at the end of August, that it was suppose to freeze hard. Like any smart farmer, I went out to harvest our crop before the cold weather could claim it.

Six mini-beans. Thin as string. The longest one was three inches.

RealSimple.com
(I can't believe I found a bean pic with exactly 6 beans!)

With great fanfare and show, I served dinner that night and put our entire bean crop on our plates. Six half mini-beans for my wife and six half mini-beans for me. They didn't even taste good.

I gave up my garden ambitions.

In the midwest, we never considered the length of the growing season. Once your freezer has enough produce to overwhelm the most diehard vegan, you just don't worry about when it will freeze.

But in Tahoe, it's a bit different.

In the summer of 2010, I happened to pay attention to the temperatures.

At our house, our last hard freeze of the spring came on June 26^th. Our first hard freeze of the fall came on August 3^rd. Yes, you read that correctly. A 37-day growing season.

I'm sad to say that vegetable gardening and Tahoe are mutually exclusive concepts. Which is why we love our farmer's market.

Tahoe Tomatoes are a nonstarter.

Going to College in Tahoe

Can you get a college education in a mountain paradise?

Let's face it, the real reason a standard-issue dude or dudette would come here to go to school is because he or she wants to ride their snowboard or ski or sail or bag peaks or go rock climbing or jet-skiing or... You get the idea. College ain't gonna be the first priority.

But unless you're like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg and other famous dropouts, college is going to be a critical centerpiece of your education. A college degree is the new high school degree, the minimum requirement to nail down most jobs.

When I moved to Tahoe in my thirties, it never occurred to me that kids might come here to go to school. But an unusual set of circumstances found me working as an adjunct teacher at the LTCC (Lake Tahoe Community College). I soon discovered that LTCC was the cultural center of the South Shore.

Lake Tahoe Community College

Likewise, Sierra Nevada College is the cultural center of the North Shore. 

Sierra Nevada College

I had an epiphany of sorts and realized that Tahoe is the kind of place that's great for any student whose affinity for the classroom is a bit down the priority list. And I've since met many students who have discovered that they can get a good education in between sunny days on the mountain or lake. (Note, if you skip class on too many fresh-pow days, you're gonna be in trouble just like if you were going to school in the city!)

Sierra Nevada College Library
(You won't find a more beautiful library anywhere!)

So if you're a high school student who loves to ski or ride, consider Tahoe. We're not just for future Olympian wannabes, although many Olympians have come from Tahoe. But Tahoe can provide a fantastic environment for kids who would like to find a town where they can both go to college and pursue the mountain activities that they love.

Both Lake Tahoe Community College and Sierra Nevada College have beautiful facilities on beautiful campuses.

Sierra Nevada College is in Incline Village. It offers four-year liberal arts degrees and even offers Masters degrees in Teaching and Education.

Lake Tahoe Community College is in South Lake Tahoe. 

It offers two-year Associate degrees, and, if you live on the California side of the state line, is incredibly affordable compared to most college programs. For those kids who want to go on to a 4-year degree, many LTCC credits transfer to four-year programs. (Note, this is one of the best secrets going in the world of college! I know people who did two years at community college, got good grades, then easily transferred to a prestigious UC school (University of California) that wouldn't have accepted them straight out of high school. You get the cred of a 4-year degree at the fancy school, but you have more fun and pay roughly half the price for your education!)

(For parents reading this, you will want to know that the communities of both of Tahoe's colleges have lots of what parents like: safe neighborhoods, lots of opportunities for good, clean exercise and entertainment, easy-to-get part-time jobs at the ski resorts or in local restaurants and lodgings, and easy parent access because the Reno-Tahoe International airport is only 50 minutes away from Incline Village and an hour and a half from South Lake Tahoe.)

In sum, if you have an appetite and passion for a mountain paradise, think about Tahoe. It is a fantastic setting for a great college education.

Check out our schools:

http://www.ltcc.edu/

http://www.sierranevada.edu/

How Writing Taught Me Greater Respect for Cops

When I started writing crime fiction, I had no experience with law enforcement. My concept of the world of cops was formed by reading the news, going to movies, and by reading crime novels. I had a romanticized idea of cops. They were the dramatic shield that protected society from villains. Cops rescued damsels-in-distress from their watchtower prisons. Cops used feats of daring-do to capture bad guys. Cops combined the driving skills of Hollywood stunt drivers with the bluster of Dirty Harry. In short, I had no clue about real cops, what they did, or even how many kinds there were.

For example, in Tahoe we have city police officers, sheriff's officers from 5 counties, CHP, and NHP, park rangers, and even the Coast Guard, which often takes on cop-like duties. And because of the unique tourist-mecca nature of Tahoe, we also have FBI, DEA, ATF, occasional U.S. Marshals, special drug task forces and others like immigration cops. I didn't even know how to refer to all of the different kinds of cops. (For the record, it was El Dorado County Lieutenant Warren Smith who told me, “We're all cops.”)

After I moved to Tahoe, I began the beginnings of my crime-writing research, reading about law enforcement and talking to cops. They all, without exception, have seemed to me to be dedicated, focused individuals, trying their best to uphold the law, which, I've learned, isn't easy.

Just like bureaucrats behind a desk, cops struggle with excessive amounts of paper work and a crushing burden of rules that, while well-intentioned, make it hard to enforce any law.

As I investigated further, my romantic idea of cops quickly dissolved. I learned that being a cop involves a huge amount of tedious minutiae mixed with much less actual crime-fighting. I also started paying more attention to the friction that cops often experience in dealing with the public. Despite these difficulties, it appears that most cops keep a good attitude about their work.

Are all cops perfect or even good? Based on legal cases about bad cops that pop up across the country, obviously not. However, it's good to remember that there are also corrupt doctors, ministers, professors, lawyers, congressmen, etc. (Wait, congressmen are never corrupt, are they?!)

But I've talked to a lot of cops in Tahoe. Every one has impressed me with his or her professionalism and dedication. Are they putting on their better sides, talking to a writer? Maybe. But I think I've got a pretty good BS detector. And I haven't picked up on much BS. I've heard some of the jokes, the non-serious stuff they do to blow off steam, just like the pressure-releasing antics I've learned about when I've talked to firemen. But I've also seen the serious introspection. The sergeant who explained how he considers his role in society and what he thinks about when confronted with the gray areas of crime. The lieutenant who told me about the ethical dilemmas that he faces when confronting a potentially violent criminal. The FBI agent who described, in intellectual law-speak, the myriad legal factors involved in what laypeople might think is just the simple arrest of a common crook.

I've developed a great deal of respect for cops and the difficulties of what they do. Would I want to do it? No. Would most of my readers? No. Yet, as the old cliche says, we're glad they're there when we call them.

It was unexpected, this new respect for cops that I've developed over the last twenty years. And writing brought it to me.

People Do Judge a Book by its Cover

There have been studies – hidden video camera stuff – that show how people choose a book. First, book browsers scan a bunch of books, looking at the covers. They pick one out, look at the front up close, turn it over to read the back copy, then turn back to the front. They scowl and frown and smile and touch.

If the book manages to get through all of those tests, only then do they open it up, read a few sentences and maybe buy the book.

Covers are that important.

The Power of Introverts .com

The covers of my books – the American ones – have all been designed by Keith Carlson, a graphic artist in Portland, Oregon. He is a design wizard.

From the first book, the idea was to have bold designs, strong colors, and somewhat over-the-top illustrations. Not as racy as the pulp covers of the '40s and '50s, but definitely not soft and subtle, either.

For 11 years now I've watched reader reactions. Many people tell me they love the covers. One of the most common questions I get is, “Who does your covers?”

A few just look without talking. They stare, their eyes moving from book to book. Then they pick up a book, read the back, and look at the front again, just like in the hidden-camera videos.

All ten of my covers have individual components, but they also share common design elements so that they subtly communicate the sense that each book is part of a series.

Many times, people have said, “These covers make such a good set, they must have all been planned from the beginning.”

The truth is that Keith Carlson made it look that way. I owe him a great deal.

P.S. I hope the stories live up to the covers!

Time for Owen and Spot's Next Adventure!

My 10^th book will be out at the end of this month. Called TAHOE TRAP, it is about a 10-year-old illegal, Mexican, immigrant boy whose foster mother is murdered, leaving him homeless and, because he doesn't speak any Spanish, without even a country he can call home. I'm exited about this book. It may be my best, yet.

For my schedule of talks and signings, please visit my Events Page.

The 10th Owen McKenna Tahoe Mystery

Thank you for your interest and support!

Big Dog or Small Dog? Dogs Don't Care.

In a couple of my books, Spot, a Harlequin Great Dane, plays with a Toy Poodle vastly smaller than he is, always an entertaining thing to witness in real life.

Speaking of which, today I exhibited my books at an Art and Craft Festival. A gentleman stopped at my tent to see which of my books he hadn't read. Tugging on the leash in his hand was a tiny Chihuahua, a female, maybe 5 pounds, maybe less.

While we chatted, a woman strolled up with a St. Bernard. Maybe 225 pounds. Nowhere close to the largest that St. Bernards come, but a big dog by any measure. In addition to the huge size discrepancy of these two dogs, the Chihuahua had really short fur, while the “Saint” had a thick, long, coat. The Chihuahua had pointy ears, the Saint, floppy ears. And as everyone knows, the body shape of Chihuahuas and St. Bernards are as different as it comes for dogs. Chihuahua barks and growls are very different from those of a St. Bernard. In fact, these two dogs at my tent were so different that a person raised without exposure to dogs would believe they were two very different species of animal.

An illuminating example of similar animals from different species would be to compare a coyote and a wolf with a Husky or a German Shepherd, three related canine species. Their similarities are much more obvious than any similarity between the Chihuahua and the St. Bernard, but coyotes, wolves, and dogs know they are different from each other.

Just the weight difference between the Chihuahua and the Saint is astonishing, a ratio in the range of 1 to 45. And some dogs come even smaller and bigger than these two. (A similar ratio for us would produce people ranging from, say, 50 pounds up to 2250 pounds.)

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But despite such major differences, these dogs didn't seem to notice it.

The two dogs sniffed and wagged, each happy to see a fellow dog, but exhibiting no unusual reactions. They could have been same-sized dogs like a Golden Retriever and a Black Lab.

How does that work? How do they know they are so close as to be like humans of different races?

By contrast, if you took a 10-pound house cat and a 120-pound Mountain Lion and introduced them to each other, they would see no family link. Their body shapes are much more similar than those of the Chihuahua and the Saint Bernard. Their fur is similar. And the weight ratio of 1 to 12 is much closer. Yet the lion would see the cat as lunch and the cat would see the lion as something to keep them hiding under the bed until long after the lion left.

How do cats and lions know they are different even though they look so similar? The Saint Bernard would never consider a Chihuahua food. And the Chihuahua had no fear of the Saint Bernard.

The probable answer is that recognition of fellow dogs is so hard-wired into a dog's DNA that it works even when the size and shape and sounds are hugely different. I think that, in our 30,000-year association with dogs, while we've shaped the evolution of the different breeds, we've also shaped and socialized their behaviors, helping them to understand that they are all dogs, regardless of size or shape or sound.

The result is impressive to watch.

Big dogs or small dogs? Dogs don't care.