We arrived in Reno, Nevada on Friday afternoon. The flight went smoothly and we were soon on our way to Truckee, California, about a 40 minute drive. My BIL has a vacation home on one of the ridges above town, and every year my SIL and her family come out the week of President's Day to ski. They all squeeze into BIL's little three bedroom, two bath house - this year, there were 14 people ranging in age from adult to age seven filling the place. Jim and I were quite happy with our quiet condo, thank you very much. After dropping our bags there, we met everyone in town for a delicious Mexican dinner, and then we went "home" to drop exhausted into bed.
Saturday morning was bright, beautiful, and almost warm. I was fearful that I wasn't going to get any use from all the things I'd knit! Here's a view of the condo.
You can see, it had been snowing quite a bit. Admittedly, much of that pile was from where they had plowed and blown the snow, but still! After a nice breakfast, it was off to the slopes of Squaw Valley.
Jim rented his gear, and then took off with his brother. I bought a ticket for the gondola, which takes you from mountain base (elevation 6200 feet) to High Camp (8200 feet.) While still not at the very top of the mountain, it's high enough for me. Lovely views all around. Here's one showing Lake Tahoe in the distance.
While it had been very warm at the bottom, it was extremely windy and cold at the top. My hat and mittens were put to immediate use and proved more than up to the challenge of the weather. I walked around a bit, watching the skiers head further up the mountain, and those who were taking lessons on the easy slope. There was even a cool place to have a drink (although I didn't.)
It's the Ice Bar! Cool - in more ways than one.
I met Jim and Tim (his brother) at the top and we had a nice lunch at a restaurant with fabulous views. They went back to skiing, and I took a few more photos. By this time, it was clear that the big weather front predicted for later that evening was beginning to roll in.
The clouds began to gather, the wind blew even harder, and I took the gondola back down, taking pictures on the way, of course. I love this one showing all the skiers far below.
I found a cozy spot by a fire, pulled out my knitting, and waited for the slopes to close. After a few happy hour drinks, we headed home to get cleaned up, and then joined everyone at Tim's house for dinner. By the time we started over, it was snowing heavily, and we were thankful for the rental car's all wheel drive.
The next morning, it was snowing hard at the condo.
But by the time we drove down to Truckee, a loss of about 300 feet, it was raining. Undeterred, we headed over to the ski resort, where it was a mix of snow and rain at the bottom. And because it was so windy, the gondola and the top of the mountain were closed. The skiers stayed to the middle and bottom, and Jim said that the snow was really good. It should have been, as they'd had 18" overnight.
This was the scene for the rest of the day, and into Monday, as well. I spent most of Sunday sitting with various relatives in the Starbucks, waiting for other relatives to come and go. We took time out for a nice lunch, and by the time we were finished, it was close to closing. There was some browsing of stores at the Village, but the only thing I bought was a tee shirt. We all went into town for dinner that evening, except for Patti's youngest, who was overtired, and her husband who had to stay home to take care of her. We enjoyed watching the tears roll down Tim's face from the HOT chicken wings he ordered. There should have been more of a warning on the menu, I think!
Monday was worse than Sunday, weatherwise. While it was alternately sunny and snowing at the condo, it was raining hard down below and on the way to the resort. And it kept raining hard. Jim was not sure he'd ski, but his sister and her family had been on the slopes for a while, and said further up it was snowing. The top was still closed, but Jim and one of Patti's boys, Sam, went out while the rest of us had lunch. Jim said it was fine higher up, although a bit slushy, but they had to come down into the rain. They were SOAKED! But I guess if you fly from the east coast to the west coast to ski, you might as well ski. Tim had to go back to work, so he missed the wet skiing, and then Patti and her family left when the slopes closed. That allowed Jim and I to have a quiet evening by ourselves. We enjoyed a delicious dinner at a restaurant overlooking beautiful downtown Truckee. Then home to pack and get ready for an early drive to Reno.
While I'm still sorry I didn't get to drive around taking pictures because of the weather, and made the mistake of not going to the yarn shop when I knew it was really open, overall it was a nice trip. We spent fun time with Jim's family, Jim enjoyed skiing, and although I didn't get much knitting done, it was all very relaxing.
I did, however, come home with an assignment. My seven-year old niece, Caroline, fell in love with my flip top mittens, and made me promise to make her a pair. Pink and purple stripes, of course. And I'd better get to work on them soon, because I don't think patience is one of her best virtues! Good thing it's going to be a rainy weekend.