July 4thm 2024 Week - Staying home, staying local, or escape?

[7/8]

June in general was a bit hectic sorting out the mortgage for my new home (a townhouse 15 minutes from my parent's place). We take possession tomorrow, so July will also be busy with painting and new flooring, moving, etc, but I'm also excited to finally move out.

Congrats!

Thank you! I bought it in April with my older brother. I'm happy with the location, close to uptown/downtown and my work (only 5 minute commute!). Also pretty close to my family so we can visit frequently, but still have our own separate space. The bills will be a big adjustment though, gone are the days of minimal expenses living at home.

[cl94]

Lake Tahoe is beautiful and a great place to live year-round...but honestly it's something of a hellhole over the Fourth of July period.  Way way too crowded, and too many of those people are celebrating their American Freedom to be inconsiderate drunken jerks.  I always tell people, come here any other time and enjoy yourself, but the Fourth is many times worse than any other weekend or holiday so stay away then.

We in regional government are expecting a fun long weekend. Not only is it already the busiest weekend of the year, but both the Central Valley and Reno are in solid "all-time record heat" territory. The Sierra will be 20 degrees cooler than Sac and 15 cooler than Reno, so I expect a ton of people to be trying to get in the water. I was up at the office today and the lake is already a congested mess. A lot of my coworkers skip town this week for a reason.

Excessive heat watches for low-mid elevations on the east slope went up today. Those will almost certainly become warnings before the weekend. Wouldn't be shocked if we get some red flag warnings given how things are in these parts. Most NDOT VMSes in Northern Nevada have a PSA about fireworks being illegal in the region (apart from a couple of reservations), but we're certainly going to get some more fire starts.

Re: litter, yeah... I hope it'll be better, but then one of the counties just had to set up a beer garden at what was the worst beach last year. I also know that the Forest Service and other agencies bussed in a ton of federal/state rangers and law enforcement to help keep things under control after last year's shenanigans.

(personal opinion emphasized)

[Scott5114]

Re: litter, yeah... I hope it'll be better, but then one of the counties just had to set up a beer garden at what was the worst beach last year.

Douglas? It's Douglas, isn't it?

[gonealookin]

Re: litter, yeah... I hope it'll be better, but then one of the counties just had to set up a beer garden at what was the worst beach last year.

Douglas? It's Douglas, isn't it?

It's in Douglas County (my county of residence), at Zephyr Cove Resort.  Aramark, the concessionaire that runs the place, applied for the permit and the Douglas County commissioners approved that a couple weeks ago.

The permit allows for 2000 tickets to be sold for the beer garden, and it opens at 9 a.m., because "I like a good beer buzz early in the morning!" especially on Fourth of July.

Douglas County has also implemented paid parking at the elementary school/high school/library just across US 50 from the resort.  The holiday price to park your car there is $100 per day, which might help explain why the commissioners approved the permit so easily.

I'm evacuating to Reno later today and flying out very early tomorrow morning.

[moabdave]

Douglas County has also implemented paid parking at the elementary school/high school/library just across US 50 from the resort.  The holiday price to park your car there is $100 per day, which might help explain why the commissioners approved the permit so easily.

Ever since Douglas County announced that, I've wondered if this isn't what will happen.
1- This year there's a bunch of irate visitors saying "$100 per day F-this".
2-Either immediately or over time, Zephyr Cove becomes the rich snob beach and a different beach becomes the party beach, maybe Kings Beach or Nevada Beach. Or 3-the cheap party goers revolt and just park illegally and start blocking people's driveways.
Either way I've predicted this will have unintended consequences from the second I read it.

[ZLoth]

My mother and I went to Ham Orchards outside Terrell, Texas yesterday.

Douglas County has also implemented paid parking at the elementary school/high school/library just across US 50 from the resort.  The holiday price to park your car there is $100 per day, which might help explain why the commissioners approved the permit so easily.

What public transit alternatives are in that area?

[cl94]

Douglas County has also implemented paid parking at the elementary school/high school/library just across US 50 from the resort.  The holiday price to park your car there is $100 per day, which might help explain why the commissioners approved the permit so easily.

Ever since Douglas County announced that, I've wondered if this isn't what will happen.
1- This year there's a bunch of irate visitors saying "$100 per day F-this".
2-Either immediately or over time, Zephyr Cove becomes the rich snob beach and a different beach becomes the party beach, maybe Kings Beach or Nevada Beach. Or 3-the cheap party goers revolt and just park illegally and start blocking people's driveways.
Either way I've predicted this will have unintended consequences from the second I read it.

Think of it more as "we'll let you prepay your parking ticket at a discounted rate" than a parking fee. The official parking lot is still $10 or whatever. This is street parking that was going to be made pure "no parking" due to safety concerns, but a compromise was reached where locals can park for free and nonresidents can pay up if they really really want to park there.

As far as transit alternatives, none anywhere nearby.

(personal opinion strongly emphasized)

[moabdave]

What public transit alternatives are in that area?

In theory, there's a shuttle that circles Lake Tahoe. If you wait at the bust stop long enough, you might actually see one. But given parking is limited, they really need to increase the frequency, and use park and ride lots, etc. to increase ridership

[cl94]

What public transit alternatives are in that area?

In theory, there's a shuttle that circles Lake Tahoe. If you wait at the bust stop long enough, you might actually see one. But given parking is limited, they really need to increase the frequency, and use park and ride lots, etc. to increase ridership

Nope. No bus service connecting the north and south shores, nor is there anything between the county office building and Sand Harbor on the east side. TTD got rid of these services due to funding cuts. There are plans to resume these services, but funding is an issue, and California will likely complain about any east shore service increases if they don't get increased frequencies. Biting my tongue here, as I know a lot more about the situation than I feel comfortable sharing on a public forum.

(personal opinion emphasized)

[moabdave]

TTD got rid of these services due to funding cuts.

Yikes. That would explain why I haven't seen those shuttles in a while.

[Scott5114]

the bust stop

...would be a great name for a business in Mound House.

[Takumi]

Staying home. I'm off work, but my wife is working a few hours this afternoon. We're going to see the local fireworks as it's her first July 4th in the US.

[ozarkman417]

Staying home, save to watch some fireworks later (if it doesn't rain). Kinda nice to have the day off after a hectic day at work the day before. Though I'll be headed to Colorado in a couple of weeks.

[hotdogPi]

I got assigned work to do in the middle of the day today. I'm on my own schedule, so I could have chosen to start tomorrow, but I figured why not today if there's nothing else to do?

[Max Rockatansky]

I ended up going to my father in law's house out in Firebaugh.  Probably far enough out in the sticks that nobody will care about what gets detonated tonight.

That said, I did start the day out clearing the backyard hedge after a seven mile run.  Glad I got it out of the way since the high today is around 110F.

[Hunty2022]

I unsurprisingly went to my home county's event off of US 33.

The weather was bad before I arrived but luckily it cleared up and we all got a good sunset before the sky lit up with fireworks.

[mgk920]

I ended up going to my father in law's house out in Firebaugh.  Probably far enough out in the sticks that nobody will care about what gets detonated tonight.

That said, I did start the day out clearing the backyard hedge after a seven mile run.  Glad I got it out of the way since the high today is around 110F.

in 2020 I was seeing YT clips of the private backyard fireworks in both the Cities of Chicago and Los Angeles.  Totally amazing!

Mike

[Max Rockatansky]

I ended up going to my father in law's house out in Firebaugh.  Probably far enough out in the sticks that nobody will care about what gets detonated tonight.

That said, I did start the day out clearing the backyard hedge after a seven mile run.  Glad I got it out of the way since the high today is around 110F.

in 2020 I was seeing YT clips of the private backyard fireworks in both the Cities of Chicago and Los Angeles.  Totally amazing!

Mike

Didn't hurt this year that Fresno County announced they weren't pursuing illegal fireworks in the valley.  Apparently they don't deem it worth putting resources into.

[GaryV]

I never set foot off our property. A nice lazy day.

[Rothman]

Pennsylvania firework distribution was in peak form this year.  Greatly enjoyed the view of everyone's explosive displays.

[1995hoo]

I never set foot off our property. A nice lazy day.

The furthest outside I went yesterday was down to the foot of the driveway to put out the trash for this morning's pickup. My wife and both felt exceptionally tired all day yesterday for no apparent reason despite sleeping pretty well Wednesday night. I feel like I need to do something today, so because I need to replace a worn-out belt, we've decided to go to Springfield Mall in order to get out of the house while not spending time outside when the heat index is supposed to hit 108°. Our cat seems not to mind the weather, though—I can see her taking a nap out on the deck in the sun.

[mgk920]

I walked to a few nearby places to unwind here in downtown Appleton, WI, heard some private stuff going off (strongly like every year), then it rained.

 

Mike

[Scott5114]

I went out into the apartment complex parking lot and watched the fireworks all around the city. As one might expect, the Strip casinos were taking turns lighting them off. What I didn't expect was that other parts of town were trying to outdo the Strip. North Las Vegas seemed to be going for quantity, while every once in a while Summerlin would shoot off something massive. My neighborhood was represented by a couple of random guys who set up in the high school parking lot for a while.

[ZLoth]

My mother and I went to Lakecrest Casino and Hotel in Ardmore, OK today.

As for fireworks... I went to my city's fireworks display... first time since 2019. Because of the limited parking, I took the shuttle to the park. The parking was literally three minutes from my home driving.

[dlsterner]

Took a long weekend trip to get away from it all.  It was also an opportunity to drive MD 344 which used to be my "Lowest route number not traveled".