We left last Friday to drive to Lake Tahoe - that's a 2 days trip when you have kids. Andy stayed home to help out with important family happenings (more on that another time) so it was just us meeting up with my parents in Palm Desert. It was my first long drive with the kids by myself and it went well. Will was especially excited when we passed through the windmills in that area. He just kept saying Look at that! except it sounded more like Gook at Dat. We continued on with my mom in our car and my dad enjoying some peace and quiet in his car. We paused for a night and a very nice Comfort Inn in Ridgecrest, CA. The drive was better than expected and it was fun to drive through towns I remember stopping in when my family drove up to Mammoth every year. The kids got very excited when the snow on the ground started to appear. We drove up through Gardnerville, Nevada and I am now dying to know who lives there. The houses are huge and beautiful on many acres. Some were obviously ranches but others were not and I'm wondering what those people do for a living. They live about 30 minutes or less from the slopes of Heavenly and have this gorgeous house. Sounds good to me!
Our little caravan headed up the mountain to our condo and it was a very short drive. I was thinking we would have to wind up and up and up, not realizing that we had gradually been heading "up" all day. Will, again, was Mr. Observant and staring out the window - this time shouting Christmas Tree, Christmas Tree. Something he would continue to repeat all week. I think, other than the snow, that was his favorite part of the trip.
We got settled into our place which was perched on the mountain with a beautiful view of Gardnerville. I had to include this picture of the front desk. My dad checked in by video with someone in Sparks Nevada. It was pretty crazy. I think there was a sensor on the door, so when you walk in, someone comes to check and see if anyone is at the counter needing help.
We spent the first day or so exploring and checking out the slopes at Heavenly.
The kids were VERY excited to see the snow and play in it. Unfortunately the place we were staying at didn't really have a good place to just walk out and play in the snow. We drove toward town a bit and found a small place to play. The kids tried to make snow angels but the snow was a bit too icy. They also tried to dig a hole but didn't get very deep.
A snowman with this snow was out of the question but the kids didn't seem to mind too much. They were just loving the snow. Talk about Arizona kids. My dad and I went skiing for an afternoon and I signed Sarah up for ski school.
After a lovely afternoon on the slopes, we decided to hit the indoor/outdoor pool which was not heated enough. That's putting it mildly. It was the kind where you can swim under a wall to go to the outside part of the pool. The pool was maybe room temperature but when the room is not really heated and there's snow outside, I was expecting a nice warm bath type temperature. The kids did not care and loved it. The adults (all 3 of us) made it a very short pool trip.
The next day, my dad and I took Sarah to ski school which was supposed to go from 9ish to 3:45pm. I knew it would be a long day for her but she was very excited about it. She hesitated at first when I left her but one of the instructors offered her a Heavenly Ski Tattoo. She was, of course, interested. So off we went. I spotted her after a run or 2 off to the side of her class, skis OFF, playing in the snow. Not a good sign.
My dad and I made our way to the California side of the mountain to ski a particularly beautiful run. There was a spot where you could see both the valley and Lake Tahoe.
We called my mom just after we stopped for a lunch outside in the warm sun. She said "Not to worry, Sarah is with me." OH NO! Apparently the ski school called my mom's cell (she was the contact since she was not up on the mountain skiing and cell service on the mountain being intermittent) around 11:30 and told her to come get Sarah. I don't think Sarah every really got up on skis. She told the ski instructors and me that her feet hurt. I think they even tried a different boot for her. Maybe I will try cushier socks next time. I was pretty mad because it was not cheap and she didn't seem to really try but she's 4 and it was vacation time. My mom arrived to get her but she wanted to stay with the cookies and Snow White on TV. Geeeeeeez. My dad and I finished up pretty early because our legs were burning and we were exhausted.
I will finish the rest of the trip in Part 2!
No comments:
Post a Comment