Tahoe 2011

Lake Tahoe, California

I failed at my whole day by day travel blog that I usually try to do while on vacation. But, seriously, our place didn't have wi-fi and we were so busy every day (well, mostly, AND I was catching up on sleep) that I just didn't care all that much. For shame.....

Our annual ski trip this year (it had been 2 years since the last trip, thanks to KT's arrival last year!) was at Lake Tahoe, California from Wednesday evening of February 23rd through February 28th. So many new experiences for KT, as this was her FIRST plane ride and her first real experience in snow, minus that whole freak storm a few weeks ago that we had.

Let me just put this out there. KT traveled like a CHAMP. I could not have asked for a better experience traveling with at 13-month old. We did give her a dose of the 'ole Benadryl (because I have heard nightmare stories, and was not wanting to experience that). But it also helped that on our trip TO Reno/Tahoe it was during her normal sleeping ours.

pic right before we pulled out of the gate

Our first night was spent at the El Dorado Casino in Reno, NV. My Dad and Jeff did most of the planning, so I guess I have them to thank for this experience. I'm not the most enthusiastic of individuals when it comes to casinos, or anything along those lines. Add that to the list of things I didn't get from my parents (in addition to the whole sci-fi thing, and liking cantaloupe). But, it really wasn't too bad and we were only there for a night.

Thursday morning, Jeff went and grabbed our rental car. We had to rent a huge SUV to handle all the luggage we had. Jeff and I both had a suitcase each, plus two for KT, plus 2 carry-ons each. It was a little insane. In my defense, we did have a lot of 'bulky' ski items, coats, shoes, etc. AND I could not possibly think of traveling without KT's walker, so we folded it up and packed it. Crazy. I know.

Tahoe is only 45 minutes from Reno - who knew?! The drive would of been relatively short had it not started snowing about 10 minutes into our drive. We knew there was a storm expected, so it didn't take us by surprise. I was a little on edge, hoping we wouldn't need chains for the car and also hoping that none of the roads were shut down.

Rosie's Cafe, where we spent a lot of time the first day

Inside Rosie's, they had some amazing old-fashioned bikes on display

Rosie's had this awesome mechanical pony that still worked! KT was not a fan. It was only $0.25!

By the time we got into town, the snow was REALLY coming down. We met up with Frances and Gene (Ashley's Dad and his girlfriend) once we got to Tahoe City, CA. JR and Ashley were having a helluva time making it into town. For one, they were really stuck in the thick of this storm, and apparently one of the passes gets pretty precarious during snowy weather. And poor Ashley was suffering from the end of a flu so her ears kept popping. They had to take it slow so she could adjust to the elevation.

Once they made it into town, we all ate some lunch and got the keys to the house. We always rent vacation homes when we go on trips. When traveling with a large group, I find this one of the most efficient ways to travel. I like the fact that you can buy your own groceries, have the comforts of home (except for wifi) and it's really not too bad on the pocket book. No worse than a hotel. This house was pretty great. Except for the whole taxidermy thing. For one, strange things were stuffed. Badgers, Buffaloes, and my biggest issue, a wolf. Ugh. Is that even legal? Can you imagine me coming across that at 5am when KT wakes up hollering for milk? No, thank you.

Snowfall. Thursday Night.

Part of the house - see how much snow build up?

The house had this cowgirl pinup bead curtain on the wall for art

I waaay over thought this sign. I thought it was foreign. Dur!

First thing we did once we got settled in.

Friday was allotted as one of the days we were planning to ski. Considering that the snow started around noon on Thursday and hadn't stopped at all since that time, it was pretty rough conditions, but we decided to try the mountain anyway. We got a late start, so it wasn't till about 11:30 until we got up to the mountain. We decided to try Home Wood, as we heard it had the best views of the lake. Ha. Like that even MATTERED that day. The snow was really coming down hard. It took us forever to get all our gear on. My glasses and all our goggles kept fogging up (we even up the treatment on it) but alas, no luck. So I had to bail on them. Jeff too.

Friday skiing conditions. L to R: Jeff, me, JR (bro), Dad

We rode up the first lift with snow just pounding us in the face. Half way up the lift, the wind started and I for one was getting a little nervous. I am no longer a skiing novice, but I am no pro. AND I am a very cautious skiier, so nervous may be a bit of an understatement. When we got off the first lift, we skiied a quick green down to the next lift to take us a higher up the mountain. The top was insanity. Pure powder everywhere. When we came down the mountain, we were being hit with, and I don't think I'm exaggerating here, 40-50mph winds. The conditions were rough to say the least. By the time we made it down, we decided we were crazy for even trying. And we said let's call it. Maybe we'd return on Sunday, since we heard Saturday was supposed to be worse.

Ashley's birthday always falls on our ski trip. Or perhaps, our ski trip always falls on Ashley's birthday. Honestly, I think we should change our dates. Poor Ashley does not need to be forced to spend her day with all of us crazies. JR owes her a nice warm vacation on the beach for coming as many years as she has.

Peppermill and table lamp at steakhouse

That Friday was Ash's 38th birthday and we celebrated by going out for steak! I guess JR and Ashley had found this place on one of their previous trips so they knew exactly where we were going for dinner that night. I wish I could remember the name of this place. It was in Kings Beach, Tahoe, CA. Basically there are a ton of these little towns all around the Lake, and our rental house was right between Tahoe City and Kings Beach. Dinner was delicious and the snow finally eased up a bit on our ride home.

Saturday morning, I was expecting similar weather conditions to Friday. So wrong. I peeked outside that morning and saw BLUE SKIES. GORGEOUS! Jeff and I decided immediately that we were going skiing. Thanks to my Mom (and Dad) for watching KT so we could indulge ourselves. JR wanted to hang with Ashley and Dad had tweaked his knee earlier, so it was just Jeff and I on the slopes that day. We had such a great time. I mainly skied my "known" path, but really worked on picking up speed. Did I mention I'm a slow skier? We called it a day around 2:30 and headed back to the house for an amazing dinner courtesy of Frances (King Ranch Chicken and homemade banana pudding). It was delicious!

Family pic outside the house

Liked the snow. Hated the monkey suit I put her in.

On Sunday, we packed up early as we had to be out of the house by noon. We left the house around 10am, JR returned the keys, and we spent some time on our route back to Kings Beach taking photos of the lake. Which was just gorgeous now that we could finally see it. It really is very blue. I would LOVE to see this place during the summer. I bet the recreation and activity are phenomenal.

We said goodbye to Gene and Frances and JR and Ashley and headed back to Reno for the night. We ended up getting there by noon so the rest of the day was at our leisure. Jeff and Dad did some gambling. I spent the afternoon trying to get KT to get a nap in, and letting her know that vacation was over and we needed to return to some sort of schedule! ha!

Later that evening I watched the Oscar's and called it an early night.

We flew out of Reno the next day around 2pm, Texas time (we were 2 hours behind Texas the entire trip). Finally we landed around 9pm. A little late for my liking, but at hey, we made it. We were all road weary and I had to head to work the next day.

It was overall a fantastic trip. KT loved the snow, but hated the snowsuit I put her in. Ha! Tahoe was absolutely gorgeous and I recommend it to anyone. Just prepare yourself for a LOT of snow. Easily the most I have ever seen in my lifetime.