Skiing Tahoe
James and I went to North Lake Tahoe for a quick fun weekend getaway! We flew Southwest Airlines into Sacramento, rented a car and took the 2 hour trek to our final destination. Alas, we pulled into the fabulous Hyatt…which we booked using priceline and therefore paid about 1/2 of what everyone else paid! It makes staying there only that much sweeter. I love that my husband is SO extremely thrifty!!
We really relaxed and took it easy, no rushing to the slopes, no getting up at 7:00am, no packing oatmeal and PB&J and eating as we go. Just pure skiing relaxation and I loved it! We hit some great spots for breakfast and enjoyed our large yummy home cooked meals that would keep us energized until the early afternoons.
The Old Post Office Cafe
Rosie’s Cafe
On the first day we hit Alpine Meadows which we both remembered liking from a previous trip and we quickly remembered why…they call it alpine meadows for a reason – lots of open terrain and hardly any people.
The second day we drove to Squaw Valley which is enormous and big enough to quickly disperse all of the intimidating crowds at the base. They have a gondola, cable car, and many high speed quads so getting up the mountain is always easy and fast. Every day ended with screaming down to the mountain to catch the last lift up at 3:59 so that we could have the pleasure of having the mountain to ourselves (and ski patrol) for the last run down.
We ended our days with the ritual of apres ski drinks, followed by relaxing in the outdoor hot tub at the Hyatt and finally to a peaceful dinner out…completely exhausted and feeling great.
We were very excited to hit up Northstar on day three. After waiting an hour in line to make it to mid-mountian, we offloaded the gondola to absolute chaos of crowds and additional mid mountain lift lines. We took one look at each other and decided to book it down the mountain to try to talk our way into a refund which was surprisingly much easier then anticipated. After enjoying the lively ski village at the base, we left to take in the beautiful sites of the Lake. We enjoyed an amazing lunch on the water and continued on to a new adventure for both of us, cross country skiing. We took a quick lesson on how to pop into our new skinny skis and use the much taller poles before we disappeared on the quiet little path into the woods.
Aside from a little kitty cat who looked like our little one at home, the trail was all ours. As the shadows on the snow grew longer, the afternoon sun slowly sank behind the trees and we ventured out into our own wonderland of ice, snow and gorgeous tall redwoods. We both agreed this new sport was more exhausting than we expected, but we would certainly do it again.
Stopping at a little beach park on the way home; we paused to catch the last bit of sun from yet another day gone by too quickly. While there, we ran into a wonderful local woman who entertained James with fun conversation while I was wrapped up in taking what I thought to be extrordinary pictures of the Tahoe Sunset.
Little did I know and much to my satisfaction, this fun lady also happens to be a professional photographer! (A Day in your Life Photography) She was amazing and helped me capture some AMAZING shots! I was on cloud 9 the rest of the trip.
How amazing is this photo she helped me get? LOVE IT!!
The next day was our last. We sadly packed our bags and scurried back to Squaw Mountain for our final ski fix. We had an amazing time, experienced a new sport and just enjoyed being with one another and having time to enjoy winter. The drive back was beautiful!
