Headed to south Lake Tahoe with the wife and boy later this month. First time visiting the area. What are the must do's, avoids, eateries of choice etc?

Current plan that is fluid and open to changing:

Day 1 - arrive in afternoon and hang out a the resort/town
Day 2 - Mountain gondola ride/hike and afternoon at the beach
Day 3 - Emerald Bay Park/Vikingsholm, hikes / dinner in town
Day 4 - 4 hour boat rental ~11am - 3pm and then open schedule

Riva Grill on the Lake

Make sure you plan ahead on emerald bay/vikingsholm. Best to get there pretty early…especially if you're attempting it on the weekend. Not that it's not doable later in the day, but you could get squeezed on parking and be fighting traffic and business just to get there.

The Heavenly resort gondola is neat and fun to check out.

Depending on the kid's age, you can jump onto a lot of various trails around the lake. One of my favorites is the one that heads north and east out of Emerald Bay. Some great lakeside views and trails there. Might be called Rubicon trail if I remember right..:goes all the way along the coast up to other state parks. The old historic estate up north of emerald bay is great too. Cannot remember the specific name but it's fun to visit and see inside.

The Emerald bay State Parks is just west of there. Cool veiws from above the bay and you can hike down to the water and see the Vikingsholm.

You need to hike Eagle Lake and Angora Lakes since you're there this time of year. You have a good plan laid out otherwise.

If you want a side excursion, drive south to the American River and see the potholes on the river. Driving scenery is worth it alone.

Looks like it's mid 70's/mid 40's each day now. the slightly warmer days are day 3/4 so we're going to move some things around to enjoy the water those days.

how is 76 degree high and sunny on the water? Still enjoyable enough? Doesn't look like it actually gets real cool until the early morning hours then heats up pretty quick with the sun.

We usually go in August and It's perfect on the water. As in you take your shirt off and aren't cold or hot at all. Water is cold, but feels somewhat refreshing if you can handle chilly water. But the water is cold no matter what the temperature is.

I wouldn't say it is enjoyable, but if you can suck it up and jump in, your body will acclimate and it is ok.

Going in October for Anniversary and staying at Edgewood.....What are other restaurant Recs?

Kings Beach on the north side is a decent town to walk thru and enjoy the scenery.

For a casual bite, Basecamp Pizza in the heavenly resort square.

It was packed when we walked by last night checking things out but places like that in ski towns are a dime a dozen. An old man working at the top of the mountain when we did heavenly this morning heard us talking about grabbing something easy to take back to the hotel before the beach and he stopped us in our tracks to swear by it. It was fantastic.

Riva for us tonight. Looking forward to it

Before you get on the plane, check the Tahoe area for smoke. We go there fairly often. One year, when we knew there were fires in N. California, but never crossed our minds that smoke in Tahoe would be a problem. As we were landing in Reno a very strong smell of smoke came into the plane.

When we pulled up to the Marriott we were staying in all of the Marriott employees were wearing masks.

We were supposed to be there for a week. On the 4th day we flew home. There was only one afternoon where we could even see the lake and we were just a few blocks from it. We had reservations at the Chart House during sunset one night. Could not see the sun nor the lake. Had tickets to a concert at the Harvey's Amphitheater on the lake. Steve Miller band I think. Concert was canceled.

We ended up wearing masks like all of the workers all over Tahoe. I was pissed at Marriott for not notifying us before we flew out there. Miserable 3 to 4 days.

EDIT: I see you are already there. Hope everything goes well. Richardson Camp is a good place to eat on the water and usually has live music.