2025 Donner Lake - Day #3

After breakfast, Holly, Van, Sharon and I loaded up my SUV with our inflatable kayaks and drove to the condo's private beach. [Note to self], Holly and Van have a very nice two person Advanced Elements inflatable kayak. We spent almost an hour and a half exploring Donner Lake. I particularly enjoyed paddling up Donner Creek and looking at the homes on the Southern shore. The wind started to come up as we were heading back to the dock. In total, we covered just over three miles.


After a light lunch, the four of us headed to Donner Memorial State Park. I had picked out a hike on AllTrails, but when we parked in the day use area, we pivoted to a walk on an interpretive trail along the lake. Using AllTrails, I was able to put together a loop on the fly. We ended up hiking three miles in an hour and a half. It was a nice combination of walking along the lake and through the forest.


Heading to downtown Truckee, we finished the day with dinner at Planeta Ristorante. It was the first Truckee Thursdays of the year. They had several streets closed off. I was shocked at the number of people.

Sharon and I split Winter Caprese [fresh mozzarella, grilled eggplant, roasted sweet red peppers, dry cured olives, pesto & balsamic reduction]. For entrees, I had Grilled Sausage & Tagliatelle [spicy fennel & mild tuscan style sausage, savory marinara sauce], while Sharon had Pasta di Olio [angel hair pasta, garlic & olive oil, trio of mushrooms, tomato, spinach, pine nuts, grated parmesan & fresh basil with prawns].