I'm a little behind and there are a few things I wanted to write about before getting to Tahoe that are fading from my memory fast. Slicing my hand open trying to get the cable ties off Molly's fishing rod is one I'd happily forget, not to mention the lost man points by nearly fainting at the sight of all the blood! However, we all had a great day up at Lake Sonoma again and this time we came prepared!
The fishing rod plus rubber dingy was actually Molly's 'early' birthday present. You may have seen me using both in my photo's on flickr but she asked for them I assure you. We had picnic blankets, towels, food and drink this time! The weather was great and we wiled away the day playing games, trying to get the bloody fishing rod to work and blowing up the dingy. There was an amazing sunset as we stoked up the BBQ and ate hot dogs as the sun went down. It was only after the sun had gone down that we realised we were now standing in pitch darkness with all of the said towels, blankets, toys, food scattered over a 50 metre radius with nothing more than a couple of lanterns between us! I'm sure Jen was hoping we wouldn't find the fishing rod...
Ok, so onto Tahoe. Lake Tahoe, for those of you who don't know was until recently one of America's best kept secrets and it is Truly Stunning; as beautiful in the summer as in the winter! I'll let you do you're own research suffice to say its the nuts!
Jen estimated it would take us 3 to 4 hours to get there and that if we left after school on Thursday we could get there, get unpacked and get a good nights sleep ready to hit the slopes Friday morning. Early in the week we were looking at the weather reports and it was bucketing it down with snow so when it got to Thursday we made an executive decision to postpone leaving till Friday morning and avoid going over the pass in the dark and potentially getting stuck like they did a few years back with my parents. We aimed to set off about 7.00am and by the time Selena dragged herself out of bed we eventually left about 11.30am minus her ski jacket! Kids! Grrrr!
The decision to postpone was a good one as the weather was terrible and the traffic was worse. Just after we drove through Sacramento we hit a tail back of pick up trucks that, no exaggeration, was about 70 long! Luckily for us they were heading for a smaller road that led to Tahoe, not the route we would be taking.
We eventually made it there by 5.00pm and stopped at a supermarket to get provisions. The lazy kids stayed in the car and cranked the heating and music up and by the time Jen and myself returned with the food the battery was flat! so there we were stranded in a supermarket car park in the freezing cold with the snow getting thicker by the minute. Tempers wore thin, mine in particular but we eventually got a jump and where on our way again. another 15 mins down the road we missed the turn for the condo because it had snowed up completely and we had to dig out the entrance just to get the car in.
If it had stayed like this we'd have been in for a pretty dire few days but when we awoke the next day there wasn't a cloud in the sky and so followed 3 great days of skiing.
The first day was difficult to get off piste as the snow was so fresh and deep it was impossible for someone of my ability to ski. I made the mistake of sounding it out and it took me 40 minutes to climb back out again! The next day it had bedded in a bit and we found some sweet spots that hadn't been ruined by snowboarders. Homewood isn't the biggest of the resorts in Tahoe and so even much of the off piste was tracked out but we found a bit of fresh powder which is always worth it! what Homewood lacks in size it makes up for in scenery as it is the closest ski area to the lake so the views were unbelievable!
during day 2 Molly had found her confidence again so we took her off with us for a bit of aggressive down hilling, she's a real speed demon and I get a real kick out of watching her fly down the mountain. she went down a black diamond and only fell twice. dead proud of her. Jen, Lily and Selena all prefered to take it easy.
In all we had a great time, the pictures on flickr speak for themselves and i still cant do a 360. everyone should ski!
