Tahoe travelogue featured in lecture

by Tim Parsons

tparsons@tahoedailytribune.com

Darin Talbot will take a lot more laps around the lake.

His travelogue "Around Tahoe" was released in June this year. Available in about 100 stores around Tahoe and Reno, the double CD will be offered Walmart, Target and Barnes and Noble. It's also available online on iTunes and Amazon.com

Talbot tells stories on "Around Tahoe," shows points of interest and sings songs from his four previously released albums to motorists as they circle the lake.

Talbot independently released 5,000 copies of the CD in August.

"The new edition has added GPS coordinates for all of the major points of interest around the lake," Talbot said. "A folded map that can be pulled out is included. It's going to be a little bit beefed up."

Subtitled "The ultimate tour guide for driving around the world's most beautiful lake," the CD has stories about Tahoe authors Mark Twain and John Steinbeck, along with tales about the Sierra's greatest mailman, Snowshoe Thompson, Cal-Neva casino's Sam Giancana and Frank Sinatra, the 1960 Winter Olympic Games, the Donner party and the hermit of Emerald Bay.

"Around Tahoe" is played on the Reno-Tahoe Airport shuttle to North Shore.

Talbot is a 37-year-old backcountry skier and snowboarder from Incline Village. He is a host on the morning television program, "Inside Tahoe Truckee," which is aired in 160,000 homes and hotels around the Lake, and can be seen by 1.5 million summertime viewers in the Bay area.

"You need to have that unfettered, undying passion for the lake where you are so obsessed with it that you would actually do something like this. Nobody could ever question if I like Lake Tahoe or not," Talbot said when he first released the travelogue.

Talbot will work aboard the M.S. Dixie this summer for its twice-daily Emerald Bay Sightseeing Cruise. His performance is called "A Voyage Through the Big Water."

Information at www.aroundtahoe.com

Museum Lecture.

Darin Talbot discusses his "Around Tahoe" travelogue at the Douglas County Historical Society's lecture of the month, 7 p.m. Thursday, at the Carson Valley Museum & Cultural Center.

Talbot sings songs and speaks on the history of points of interest at Lake Tahoe. He discusses Snowshoe Thompson, the statistical history of Tahoe, how the lake got its name, whether there's a monster in the lake and the legend of Captain Dick.

The lecture series is on the second Thursday of the month. Admission is $3, free for historical society members. The museum and the Main Street Book Store are open before and after the one-hour lecture. Carson Valley Museum & Cultural Center is at 1477 Highway 395, Gardnerville. Information, 782-2555.