Travel North Tahoe Nevada: Outdoor Adventures, Community, and Conservation

SPEAKER_02 0:04

Hello everyone, this is Howard Fox and welcome back for another episode of the Outdoor Adventure Series Podcast, where we celebrate individuals and families, businesses, and organizations that seek out and promote the exploration, stewardship, conservation, access, and enjoyment of the outdoors. This episode is the fourth in our series with the Reno Tahoe Territory, and I have the pleasure of introducing you to Andy Chapman. He is the president and CEO at Travel North Tahoe, Nevada. Andy, uh good morning, good day, and how are you doing? And welcome to the podcast.

SPEAKER_00 0:44

I'm doing great, Howard. It's great to be here. I appreciate the opportunity to chat, like you say, about the great outdoors. As you can see, between both of us were already promoting the great outdoors of Lake Tahoe.

SPEAKER_02 0:56

So I you know, you've you've got a great picture. I love that. I want to see that snow. I'm trying to put the outdoors in the outdoor adventure series, so I'm going to get up there. But have are you a uh a uh a native of the Tahoe territory? How'd you get there?

SPEAKER_00 1:11

Yeah, so I grew up in Reno, spent all my life in this area. Uh, you know, I like I say I'm a product of the Nevada public school system. I went to the elementary schools, Reno High, UNR, graduated from UNR, and Tahoe was always uh my family's playground and my playground as I got old enough to drive my own car up. And so any day, any day that I could, I was up here. And of course, uh, once I had that opportunity to move up here, I did, and been here for about 35 years now in the area. So excellent. It's a beautiful place, and it's a great place to to live, work, and play and and protect. So we're happy to be here.

SPEAKER_02 1:50

And and we have to do all three of those. It's not we can't let any one of those go, especially the protection part of it. So uh how did you get into the the business of destination travel?

SPEAKER_00 2:05

Yeah, so as I was making my way through my early career, I had a a stint at Heavenly Ski Resort, and that was kind of my first effort up here, and that obviously got me into the outdoors and playing, and again, have been doing it up here all my life. And one thing kind of led to another, did a term with uh hornblower cruises that owned the Tahoe Queen and the Tahoe Princess and a couple of other vessels. I was their director of sales and marketing, so bringing group sale, group uh and wedding efforts into into the basin, and that they made its way to the North Lake Tahoe Resort Association out of Tahoe City, kind of working out of the California's friends and working out of that destination marketing organization. And 10 years ago, I had the chance to take over the reins here at uh Travel North Tahoe, Nevada. And uh, you know, during that time we've really kind of shifted our efforts from kind of historical reinvesting these visitor room revenue dollars back uh into the economy by you know further driving the economy to really how we're managing the destination. And you know, we found over time that there's the three-legged stool of the economy, the community, and the environment, and all three of those need to thrive. Not any one of those could be of more importance than the other to really make the whole uh ecosystem work. So in a roundabout way, but uh have uh made my way around most of Tahoe at different times. So it's uh it's a great place to be.

SPEAKER_02 3:38

I was interviewing uh uh at another destination a while ago, and they use this term a circular economy, and and where the money gets invested in, and just in it, it helps not only the the community take care of themselves and their there where they live and where they work, where they play, but also consistently brings in the opportunities to bring in more visitors. So the money is kind of just staying and growing within the community. Would that be a fairer assessment?

SPEAKER_00 4:09

Yeah, and you know, I would add to that a little bit as opposed to just reinvesting it to kind of keep the economic engine rolling, which is important. I mean, Tahoe is a tourism economy and we always will be, but it's how are we, you know, investing some of those resources back into the community to really, quite frankly, offset the and mitigate the impacts of visitation. Tahoe at one point in time would have been or maybe should have been a national park, uh, but you know, that's well behind us and it's not. So we have two states, five counties, multiple jurisdictions. It's an interesting place to do business in. But uh what we have found is the equal importance of making sure we're investing back into the community. What are some of the areas of of opportunity that we that we could look at to make sure that the community is thriving and then also the environment, right? We don't want to kill the golden goose, so to speak, that when people come up to Tahoe, we want it to be a great experience, we want it to be clean, we want it to be safe and and and a good place to be. And if any of those issues start to kind of fray a little bit, you do damage to your you know, your brand equity and your consumer uh interest in visiting your destination, kind of sours a tad.

SPEAKER_02 5:23

Sure. Now I I'd like to chat a little bit about this consortium because you are, while you are the president and CEO of Travel Uh North Tahoe, Nevada, we also have the the other organization, North Tahoe Community Alliance. How did you guys hook up?

SPEAKER_00 5:40

Yeah, so this uh this has been going on for 20 years, uh over 20 years now. We started back in 2006, and it was actually when I was uh working for the predecessor organization of the North Tahoe Community Alliance. At that time, it was called the North Tahoe uh the Resort Association. I was the chief marketing officer there. And my predecessor at this organization, Travel North Tahoe, Nevada, he and I got together and were talking about how, you know, again, Tahoe's two states, five counties, multiple jurisdictions, but the visitor doesn't understand any of that. They look at it as one destination. So we got together and we're having conversations. I mean, he was kind of marketing the Washoe, Tahoe, Nevada side of it. We were doing that on the California side, and it really didn't make sense because, again, people didn't know. So we got together, got our boards together, and got them to understand the importance of of how we could manage this destination, market this destination more effectively, and from then on, it's it's really been successful. It's obviously gone through multiple board uh makeup. You know, different board members come in and out, different staff comes in and out, different CEOs come in and out, but it has really shown its uh legacy by by you know getting through over 20 years of that. And again, it really comes down to the consumer. You know, the consumer doesn't look at the state line. Now, sure, here in the in the California-Nevada state line, you can see a you can gamble and you can game and you can go to the casinos. You can't really do that on the California side of of Lake Tahoe, but other than that, it's the same destination.

SPEAKER_02 7:17

Okay, okay. Now where you have the greater uh territory, the Reno Taho territory, what are some of the activities that you with your alliance and then with the other territories that are involved in this? Again, this is a destination that has no demarcations unless you knew there was one. But how do you collaborate with the greater territory to bring ex bring in new experiences, bring in visitors to participate in those experiences, whether it's casual or competitive?

SPEAKER_00 7:53

Yeah, that's that's a great question. Nevada is broken into um a variety. I think there's seven territories in the state of Nevada, and we are the Renotaho Territory. There's six jurisdictions in there. There's Reno, North Lake Tahoe, South Lake Tahoe, Carson City, Carson Valley, and Virginia City. But it's all kind of very connected, it's all very close. You can travel the territory in an hour and a half, two hours kind of a thing, pretty effectively. And it's really about driving that interest into what we would call the northern Nevada region. Um and the way we kind of work is you know, there are some maybe more well-known destinations in in that kind of makeup. And there's some that are less known but are equally of interest. And so we try to make sure that we we work collectively if we're bringing in media partners or our partners as yourself, making sure that everyone's uh, you know, all the consumers are hearing about the different opportunities you can. You can go, I know I don't do camel races here in in uh Lake Tahoe, but Virginia City does, right? I don't do outhouse races, but they do them there, and so all of them have very unique personalities and very different personalities, and and really we collaborate to make sure we are providing that best guest experience uh for whoever might be coming our way.

SPEAKER_02 9:12

Okay. Now, the Lake Tahoe travel brand, how would you describe it say compared to some of the other territory uh other participants in this territory?

SPEAKER_00 9:26

Sure. So we just we just rebranded back about uh six months or so ago. I mean, if or forever we were considered North Lake Tahoe, because Tahoe's kind of broken into two areas there's North Lake Tahoe and South Lake Tahoe, for those that are somewhat familiar with the destination. Other people who are less familiar just think of it as Lake Tahoe. But we uh we we felt that really kind of taking advantage of that Lake Tahoe name recognition, world-renowned name recognition, and making sure that you know our businesses were uh you know being justifiably being represented under that brand. And and so we had uh really stayed strong with the North Lake Tahoe brand for you know 20 years probably, and and just found that talking with our businesses and the competitive nature of the visitor dollar has changed for sure. But it's uh it's it's a different environment than it had been in the past. And we just felt it was a an opportunity to kind of hang our our moniker over that Lake Tahoe destination a little bit more effectively, and it's been going great. Our our community really uh uh is behind it, our businesses are really behind it, uh, and most important, the consumers are really reacting to it very well.

SPEAKER_02 10:40

Okay. Now the what I have found uh in interviewing destinations, and by the way, I have to say, you have the perfect job. And you get to show up every day, yeah. And promote this beautiful destination. Folks come in, you know, heads in beds and cash register singing, as somebody once uh shared with me, but also you've got the the environment and the and the stewardship that goes along with it. Why within your destination, what makes yours say unique from one of the other destinations? And how are you managing it so that people's experiences are top-notch? There's there's caring and appreciation for the environment, and people leave saying, Wow, what an experience! That's kind of a big loaded question.

SPEAKER_00 11:31

Yeah, no, it's it's it's good. You know, we really had a uh a reflection point back uh during the pandemic, you know, as we got into that first summer in 2020. Really kind of got caught with our proverbial pants down because we weren't anticipating the amount of traff travel and and visitation and just human impact we were going to see. I mean, obviously, uh many you couldn't go to national parks, you couldn't go to movie theaters, you couldn't go to golf courses, tennis, the rec centers were closed, but you where you could go is outside. And our governors of the two states, both California and Nevada, basically told people to do that, and they did. Uh, we also had kind of that um second homeowner market that maybe had been at their enjoying their place here in in Lake Tahoe two, three times a year. They were now living here for two years. So we just had all this impact, and it gave us a reflection point as a region to really look at how are we managing this destination differently. We had, you know, people not understanding how to use bear boxes or trash containers or bathrooms were closed during the COVID periods, but you know, you still nature calls, you still have to get out there and take care of that. But so we had an opportunity to kind of set a new table in Tahoe, which we did. We had so at the at the end of the day, we're able to stand up this organization called the Lake Tahoe Destination Stewardship Council, of which uh we are founding members and many other folks around the destination. But it includes about 35 people, all the jurisdictions, all the counties, private entities, all the state land managers, state parks, uh, forest service is very important to us. About 80% of the land is owned by federal government up here through the Forest Service. So you have to have the Forest Service at the table. And critically important was the Washoe tribe of California and Nevada. They are the original and current stewards of this lake, and we needed to make sure that we had their voice at play in this. So we kind of set a new table and it gave us an opportunity, kind of look at it as an analogy of the marketing department talking to the ops department. You know, sometimes that doesn't happen. The ops department is doing what they're doing, marketing's doing what they're doing. Well, this gave us an opportunity to kind of sit around the table and make sure that we weren't kind of missing any of those things. Like if the Forest Service was having issues with bathroom closures because of government shutdowns, which we've gone through a few of those, we had an avenue then to work collectively together and say, okay, how can we as a as a region assist with that? How can we contract separately outside of the Forest Service to make sure bathrooms are showing up and bathrooms are being cleaned? Because again, just because you close something doesn't mean that people are going to stop coming. So during that time, we that that's when we also made this shift from really more of a destination marketing organization to destination management organizations. And that's collectively around the lake. There's three bureaus around the lake, and we all have made that that shift. And so now it's much more about management. You know, yes, the economy, as I mentioned, is still super important, but we know we have to make sure we're taking care of the other other elements. You know, transportation is very important. Short of workforce housing, transportation is our number one issue in Tahoe. We have to figure that out. Right now, you can't like connect by public transportation from North Shore to South Shore. There's gaps in our system, and we're trying to fill those gaps and make sure that we're giving residents and visitors alike an opportunity to not drive their car. We have two-lane highways. We're not going to build more highways around the edge of this lake. Right. So we're doing that. We're dealing with mitigation, we're dealing with uh, you know, downtown beautification, uh, you know, simple things that are like, let's just make sure our downtown is is clean and looks good and has good signage, you know, so people know where to go. But yeah, it's been this shift to this destination management space over the last several years.

SPEAKER_02 15:28

Okay. Okay. If I wanted, and uh there's a reason I'm gonna ask this question, but if I wanted to drive around the lake to see all the communities around the lake, would I be able to do that? You can.

SPEAKER_00 15:44

We do not encourage that. Um but you certainly can. I mean, it's there is a road that it circles the lake, and you could do it in about three hours if you're just going from one end to the other. But what we really encourage, uh, and um it's uh it's a bit of an ethos that we're kind of working on, is kind of slow down, you know, you know, take it slow, enjoy where you are, you know. Try to move away from the you know, the oh, I gotta get the next best selfie spot or that might be, and really immerse into the the the community that you are in. Now, yes, you may want to go to a different community a day or two from now, but you know, stay within the community, get to understand the community, pick that community for its benefits and its values that align with your travel preferences and really get to know it and stay there and and examine it. Yeah, we do have folks come in all the time and they're driving around the lake, and we try to help facilitate that as much as possible. We also you know encourage folks to spend a little time, slow down. You're you're in Tahoe, you're in nature in one of you know the earth's most beautiful locations. So definitely don't speed through it, enjoy it.

SPEAKER_02 16:53

Okay, yeah, and the reason I was asking that too, and I I really appreciate your answer up front is I was thinking this idea of a circulator, but around the lake, but it doesn't make sense because as you just shared, you know, slow down, spend a day or two at this terror, this town or this area, then go to the next one, then in the next one. So it's kind of a slow tourism and just take it all in.

SPEAKER_00 17:20

Yeah, and but we we recognize that we do need to connect these gaps in our transit system. I mean, you can get around North Shore pretty easily, you can get around South Shore pretty well in a public transit mode, but we need we need better connection points between the two destinations. We uh we are currently working on systems that would, you know, maybe pull cars off the road at the entry points of the basin before you get into the basin and then connect that transit into those key areas that folks are interested in going uh going to. We obviously run airport shuttles and all those important things. Again, a car off the road is a car off the road. So whether it's a visitor or a resident, you know, it's it's good in my book.

SPEAKER_02 18:01

Sure. You've kind of alluded to some initiatives that are going on right now in the North Tahoe area, but are there some one or two that are whether it's conservation stewardship that you know you're actively involved in and there's you see some really positive impact coming out of it?

SPEAKER_00 18:21

Yeah, I'll talk about one that's right in the Reno Tahoe territory. It's on uh it's it's called uh SR28, State Route 28. It's the the little that's the highway connector that connects kind of the schooner summit area that gets you down to Carson City or the South Shore to the Incline Village area. And it's a it's a key recreation corridor. Back in the day, back in the late 30s, early 40s, a gentleman called George Wattell really purchased all of that land along the eat what's called Lake Tahoe's East Shore and has kept it out of development. So there's no development along that east shore where you'll see maybe on the west shore a little bit more of homes and everything there. So SR28 Recreation Corridor is a key uh initiative that we're working on right now. There's uh an organization called the Tahoe Transportation District. They're the MPO for transit, they're the transit authority for a by-state transit authority for the basin. I actually sit as their chair for that board, and we're really focused on that corridor and then working with state lands, Nevada State lands, and Nevada State Parks, and the Forest Service that all own land in that corridor. As an example, there was an old parking lot of about 30 spots. We've redeveloped that and um turned it into 130 spots. There is a secondary, smaller parking lot that'll go through that same transformation next year. And then up at the top of Spooner Summit, there will be a new transit hub, 250 uh slot parking area there, and a full-time permanent uh boat inspection station because the inspection of invasive species on boats is very critical for us. So to put a boat in Tall, it has to be inspected. So there's an opportunity to do that. But the idea is to kind of remove all of that unsafe parking that's currently happening on the shoulder of that SR28 recreation corridor, move them into off-site parking, and then provide that transit because you you know, people still need to get where they need to go. So creating that transit that would allow them to get into the corridor and access that corridor. We're we're we're looking at this uh initiative called Park Tahoe, which is kind of a paid parking uh on these recreation corridors, so that the the parking fees are going back in to sustain the destination and sustain that area. So, you know, it's a it's a key initiative that we're really working on. We're excited about it. There's there's key components that are coming online this year, and then over the next couple of years to really help that part of the destination that's right in that Reno Tahoe territory experience.

SPEAKER_02 20:53

Very good. A lot of very interesting initiatives going on, and again, your photo, my photo, just a beautiful area, and it just take advantage of it, enjoy it, but also we still it still requires funds and projects, initiatives to take care of it.

SPEAKER_00 21:11

It does, and and it takes a mindset, you know. Just you, you know, when people are coming up, I always say, you know, be mindful, be mindful of your travel, be mindful of your impacts. You know, if you see some litter on the ground, pick it up. I know it's not yours, but you know, why not? Why not bend down, pick it up, and throw it in a nearby trash can. Let's let's uh keep it good for everyone. And we're all users of this destination, so it's not a visitor versus resident thing for me. It's it's it's human human users. So, you know, if I'm sitting in traffic, I'm part of traffic, whether I'm a visitor or a resident. So we all have a role to play in this protection.

SPEAKER_02 21:47

I love it. I love it. And I have a request. Uh I liked when I'm on these interviews with destinations and chambers to visit uh their websites. This too, because it's nice to be taken. A tour, and perhaps we'll open up some other conversation. But if you're okay with it, I'd like to share your website and you get to take us on a tour if that's okay. Oh, yeah, please do. Excellent. So all that has to work right now, Andy, is technology. All right. Sometimes that is a challenge. All right. So right now we are having a look, I believe, at your website.

SPEAKER_00 22:25

Yeah, that's the home page there. The dive in is kind of uh is our campaign that we came out that supports the Lake Tahoe travel brand. And it goes back to our conversation about really exploring a place, slowing down, digging into the depth of it. So it's kind of a double entente with diving into the water itself, but just diving into the destination. So it's it's a it's kind of a great introduction to our destination for uh folks that are thinking about coming up. If you're new to the destination, kind of hitting that explore link up on the top gives you uh a great opportunity to dig into some of your personal passions of what you might be interested in. And then next to that is the stay, and that really kind of starts getting into we have 12 resorts and towns in North Lake Tahoe, and they're all very different. I mean, a stay in King's Beach or Incline Village is significantly different than a stay at Palisades or North Star Village. But the key is it you could really you you could really you know kind of curate an experience that matches your vacation preferences, whether you're a family that's looking to soak up the sun and in a mom and pop location in King's Beach, or you want high-end luxury at the the the the Hyatt Incline Village or the Ritz-Carlton and North Star. So lots of good information there. And then and importantly, at the end there, travel responsibly. It's a it's a great resource that uh digs into you know how you can help us save this lake. And this is a great point here. Tal is two million years old, you know, and so we are we are here to get it to its next two million years and do our part of that. So a great area to kind of play in and understand how we're um dealing with the destination, how you can help us deal with the destination as a visitor and and kind of play your role. So it's a great resource for for folks. Again, we just launched this new brand last year. We're going through some changes to the website, so more to come on that in the next year. Uh more and fun, exciting things that'll happen uh with the website coming up.

SPEAKER_02 24:32

Excellent. Now, I I I was kind of joking with you. I actually was half serious that there's a cup of coffee between you are between my next cup of coffee, uh, my first and my second. If if you have friends, family coming to visit, and again, I know we we don't want to play favorites, but if if if they're coming in, say for a long weekend, and and I actually that begs a question. One, I look Lake Tahoe area is a is a is a full a year old year destination. I mean, you you visit at any time of the year, there's always something to do. Yeah. Would you say that to with the residents or the the folks that come in and have have their own homes, second home here, would you say the area is the kind of a is it a week destination? Is it a long weekend? What what do you think your your visitors who are coming to your area, how are they spending their time and what's that duration?

SPEAKER_00 25:31

Yeah, but it's a heavy weekend destination for sure. And we have you know the Bay Area, and 11 million people live three and a half hour drive from Tahoe, and we're considered their backyard. And certainly when they have rain in the wintertime, they're knowing we're getting snow, and uh, you know, they're heading up here and getting up here to to take advantage of that fresh snow. But you know, we also get a lot of long haul visitation, you know, people who are staying here for a week that are flying in, and and certainly our international uh visitor is is so important to us, and that's been that's it's been uh been hard this last year or so. The international travel has been soft in our country, and certainly we're see we're not we're no different in that. So, you know, it's it's really from you know a weekend to uh a week or more, and uh there's there's opportunity for for everything in between. We get a lot of day visitation as well, and we we would love to see that day visitation stay and night, and again, really dive into the destination and understand it and don't just drive through it. But we do get a lot of day visitation as well. That you know is one area that we're really focusing on on kind of consumer education and how to talk to those folks who are kind of coming in for a day and making sure they understand some of these same concerns that others have okay.

SPEAKER_02 26:52

Now, when if you have uh visitors coming in, these are family, friends, and they're gonna let's say they're gonna stay over for a long weekend. Where are you gonna take them for a cup of coffee in the morning, besides your house? I'm sure you've got the best cup of coffee uh at home, but where would you take them for a good cup of coffee?

SPEAKER_00 27:11

Yeah, that's a that's that's a great question. I mean, if they're uh here uh kind of on the incline side where I am, I'm probably going to uh drink coffee do stuff. That's the name of the company, drink coffee, do stuff. And because I just like that. I like to drink coffee and I like to do stuff. So I love it. It it it it's uh it's a brand that that speaks well to me. And so so that's that's a spot. Um if I'm going for a nice breakfast, maybe the old post office over in more towards the Tahoe City side, it's actually an old taught one of North Shore's original post offices that have been converted to a great little cafe, you know, and they still have all the remnants of an old post office around, all the post office boxes and things like that. So lots of good opportunities for that.

SPEAKER_02 27:54

Okay. Now, if you're is there a uh besides the post office, is there a dinner spot, lunch spot where you know the best everyone knows that's the best pizza, the best soup, or the best fresh fish. Where would you take them?

SPEAKER_00 28:12

Oh boy, you're uh you asked some great questions because there's there's there's there's many. I admit for for and I'll answer this way. My favorite for lunch is to go to a deli, get a deli sandwich, and then go down to the lake somewhere, sit on a rock at the edge of the lake, sit on a beach on a on a beach blanket, and enjoy that sandwich down there in nature, and you know, get out and just get some vitamin D and enjoy it.

SPEAKER_02 28:38

So you you are Annie speaking my language, and it goes for the cup of coffee too, which is why I was joking earlier. I sit out in my backyard, there's bird, there's bird feeders, there's flowers, even here in in Nevada in Las Vegas. I I love what you just described. For you know, whether it's a a drink or something to eat, it's just soak it all in. I there's nothing better than that. What's your since you are are so familiar with this area, it's been part of your family experience. What's your what is your preferred or your go-to outdoor activity?

SPEAKER_00 29:18

Yeah, I'm really enjoying mountain biking right now. I mean, you know, Incline actually uh a number of years ago got the uh single track capital for Nevada for single track mountain bike magazine. You have nothing but great single track uh up here and old mining roads that you can go and explore. So really love that uh on the mountain bike. Do a lot of hiking, you know, just again because there's lots of trails here. I always like to go get a see I you went, just went by a brewery blog there. So I love going to the breweries as well and enjoy that after a nice hike. And and really just going down to the lake, the way I look at it, it's anything you're doing in, on, under, or above the waters of Lake Tahoe. I'm having a great time. You know, I'm enjoying it.

SPEAKER_02 30:07

Uh, you know, I I joke with a lot of my guests, and it's uh I don't know, I think it's funny, but it could be reality. I'm always looking for my next place to live. And the after all these interviews I have been doing within the the the Rio Taho territory, I'm thinking there's a lot of possibility up here.

SPEAKER_00 30:25

There you go.

SPEAKER_02 30:26

I love you.

SPEAKER_00 30:27

Welcome you.

SPEAKER_02 30:28

Thank you. Thank you. Well, listen, I am gonna stop sharing the screen, and so it's back for you and I. As you kind of look back on your work in the destination marketing space and now with the with the consortia or the the the uh uh the community alliance uh and the the cooperative partnership, I should say. As you look back on this work that you have been doing and promoting this com the this area of the community, what's been your aha moment? Like, wow, this I get to do this.

SPEAKER_00 31:04

Yeah. You know, I think uh an aha moment, you know, and it's it's a a little bit about why we do it and how we keep doing it, is uh it and it's unfortunately for a lot of things, it's around funding, right? It's you need you need dollars to do projects, you need dollars to invest in the community. And we have some limitations on funding. And so how can we advance a funding stream and look for how to do different funding streams? So I've been getting really involved in the uh Nevada legislative process. Nevada is one of only two states that only meets on a biannual basis for only seven months during the year. So we're in an interim period right now. But we had some opportunities to kind of work on some possible bills in the 2025 session. We're successful on some, unsuccessful on others, but yeah, like I say, we're uh disappointed but not deterred. So we'll be back at it in 2027. And it's really about trying to work with our community. Our business community is certainly interested in it. Nevada doesn't have enabling language that businesses can do a self-assessment where they could do a self-assessment to generate money to go towards very specific and identified needs. So we're working on that. California has that, Wyoming has that, Utah has that, lots of other places have that opportunity. Nevada does not. So we're working on language that at least allow the Lake Tahoe portion of Nevada to participate in something like that. And if successful or when successful, it'll allow us to really increase our investment into these critical core areas and initiatives that we know are important and have to happen in order to make this destination thrive for future generations. So that's that's been a it's been a great process and one I'm I'm really proud of.

SPEAKER_02 32:50

Okay. When we were looking at the website, there was this there was the uh paragraph that talked about how long Lake Tahoe has been around, millions of years. There's a lot going on in our country right now. There's a lot of differing opinions around conservation, stewardship, access. And I don't intend to get political, but don't want to. But do you have hope for the next one million years here in Lake Tahoe? Whether you and I and our ancestors are gonna enjoy it or not.

SPEAKER_00 33:25

That's pretty long horizon, that million years to look down. But yeah, I I I think I am hopeful. I mean, this this destination has been here long before we would call it a destination, right? Our our friends at the Washo tribe have been this is their time immortal here. They they this is where they began as a as a culture and as a and as a people. And you know, we we have uh great anticipation and expectation that we're going to continue that on. There's there's a lot of uh there's a lot of right people and uh doing there's a lot of good people doing good work, not only around the this table that we've sat, but with within this destination and others. I have friends and acquaintances that work in other parts of the country that are dealing with very similar issues that we are, and we get a chance to commiserate and and congratulate when things happen. But you know, I think there are a lot of good people doing, you know, keep our eye on that and understand that uh there are many good days ahead of us.

SPEAKER_02 34:24

So excellent, excellent. Before we head out, is there a some insight, something you'd like to share with our listeners about why Lake Tahoe, why why this the whole this whole territory, why come for a visit? Why care about this?

SPEAKER_00 34:43

Yeah, so one thing that I came across, and it does kind of fit in with your question, it's this book, it's a book called uh Blue Mind, and it's about scientific research, about the benefits, the health benefits, uh, both physical and mental health benefits of being around big bodies of water. Um and Tao's actually in the book a short amount, but it's really about oceans and rivers and rainfall and all of that, but it really talks about that. And it kind of spoke to me from a standpoint of of why we do what we do here, uh, because there is such uh uh you know a benefit, a health benefit, a human benefit for being around water, whether it's in its frozen form of snow or it's in its melted form, you know, running on waterfalls, getting down to the lake. It's just it's a beautiful experience and it it really allows you, I think, to to settle the day's issues and and and and keep fighting on the good fight. But it's a it's a great book for those that are interested in that kind of uh uh information.

SPEAKER_02 35:50

I love it. I I don't know if I had shared it prior to our call today, but when I am not podcasting, my full-time gig is I am actually an executive coach, leadership development, career development, and there's an area of coaching, it's growing right now. It's essentially outdoor coaching where you take people out on the trails, could be one-on-one, could be small group, could be a couple coaches, taking people around. Have your feet are touching the ground, you're near that body of water, you're listening for the birds and the wind and everything else. And what you just said is very powerful. There is definitely a correlation between nature, water, and land, and our mental health and well-being. So I appreciate you sharing that. And I'm gonna include a link back to the Blue Mind book in our show notes, and I appreciate that. Now, we did visit the website, uh Lake TahoeTravel.com. I assume that all of the backlinks to your social sites are there as well. So that'll be the go-to place. Yep. Do I have uh your permission to use some photos, say from the website or the Facebook page for some uh or if you can give me a link to some photos for our banners?

SPEAKER_00 37:04

Yeah, you could go into the there's a media link on the down that Lake Tahoe Travel webpage down at the bottom. Feel free to download uh whatever is uh relative.

SPEAKER_02 37:14

Excellent. Yeah, I love to be able to fact we're sharing the video, but we'll also share some of the great photos uh on our banners and on the show notes. Annie, thank you so much for uh joining us today. I appreciate your time. It's uh I I and if it for our listeners, this is Saturday, it's Saturday morning. I I imagine you're gonna go out and explore and do something fun today. I am gonna go enjoy my second cup of coffee and uh uh check out that book. But uh thank you for spending time with us today.

SPEAKER_00 37:43

Yeah, I appreciate the opportunity, Howard. It was great talking to you, and I too will get another cup of coffee before I venture out. So looking forward to that.

SPEAKER_02 37:50

Excellent. Listen, stay in a line. We're gonna do a quick close and then you and I can have a final chat. Okay, great. All right, folks, we have just been chatting with Andy Chapman. He is the president and CEO at Travel North Tahoe, Nevada. Uh, travel Tahoe Lake Tahoe Travel is a cooperative partnership uh of these two destination organizations, North Tahoe Community Alliance and Travel North Tahoe, Nevada. And we also want to thank our our um our partners that helped to plan these episodes. Uh Lake Tahoe Territory. See, I'm getting I'm already saliva, I'm thinking of my cup of coffee, but what a great conversation. And I am going to admit, I have not I've only seen uh Lake Tahoe uh virtually. I have to get up there. So Andy, I think there's a cup of coffee in in our future. Absolutely. Look, folks, this you can't get any better in this in this country. I mean, it's this Nevada, California, so much beauty, and Lake Tahoe is just magical. And we we've got to not only experience it, explore it, take your time traveling through it, but also help to take care of it. And let's as facetious as it might sound, keep it around and healthy for the next million years. Now, this episode uh will be available up on our website, outdooradventureseries.com, where we will also be on LinkedIn and Facebook on our outdoor adventure series pages. The video of this episode will be up on YouTube, which will include the not only the interview, but the uh the tour through the Lake Uh Tahoe Travel website that Andy graciously uh provided for us. And of course, you can listen to this episode wherever you get your podcast from. So go visit Lake Tahoe, download a couple podcast episodes, including this one, and just get out there and enjoy yourself. Until next time, wherever you are, whatever you're doing, go out there and have a fantastic day. And we look forward to having you join us on a future episode of the Outdoor Adventure Series Podcast. Take care now.