Sea to Snow and back again

Two weeks ago we got an invitation to join Rae's family skiing up at Alpine Meadows near Lake Tahoe. Peter and Lenora, Rae's father and stepmother made reservation last year to stay 3/20-24, at the Stanford Alpine Chalet, of which he is an alumni. Unfortunately, Timothy, Rae's oldest brother, cancelled at the last minute so there was an extra room and would we like to join them. Rich and I thought, sure why not, but we only had our ski jackets but no other ski stuff. Rae said, no problem, she would bring family extras. So on Monday, 3/21, we packed up the Subaru and headed east on I-80. Even though there was snow on the highway, the mighty Subaru got us there with no trouble and we did not have to put on chains. That evening we joined Peter, Lenora, Katie (Rae's stepsister), Jenny (Rae's twin sister) and Rae for dinner at the Chalet. We also went through some of the ski gear that Rae had brought and selected some items such as goggles and gloves and ski bibs. Tuesday morning after breakfast we got a shuttle ride, all of 5 minutes, to Alpine Meadows ski area. At the ski rental area, you filled out all of the necessary information for ski rentals, took the printout to the cash register, and after paying, on to the boot section and ski section respectively. The longest part of this process was putting on the boots. The snow was coming down in buckets and there was already a considerable amount on the ground already, as much as 2 feet of new snow in the past 24 hours. We rode up the Roundhouse chair with groomed slopes to get our ski legs back and then up the Summit chair to Alpine Bowl. This is usually an intermediate slope but with no grooming and a lot of new snow it was a lot more challenging. Leaning back was the order of the day. If you fell and your ski came off it could mean an ordeal trying to find your ski in the deep snow, much less standing up and putting it back on. We saw at least two people that day that were furiously digging in the snow looking for their lost ski. Unfortunately Rich forgot to take his meds in the morning and with the altitude, and the deep powder he was having difficulty catching his breath. Wisely he quit after a few runs and hung out at the lodge. I skied with Rae, Jenny and Peter but I was pooped by the end of the day.

Our car is somewhere under the snow

Peter, Elaine and Rae with Lake Tahoe in the background

Rae, Jenny and Katie

On Wednesday Rich and I passed on skiing and checked out Tahoe City - a small burg covered with snow. We picked up Lenora after her cross country ski lesson and the three of us went out to lunch.

Thursday we started to drive back to Emeryville. Unfortunately we spent 45 minutes going from one exit to the next and putting on chains only to be told that the road was closed for an indefinite period of time due to whiteout conditions. We stopped for lunch and then tried again. This time it took us only 30 minutes to go from the same first exit to the same second exit to find out that the road was still closed - proper signage would have been sooo helpful. So instead of going west we drove east to Reno and then south to Carson City, Nevada. As Highway 50 was our next planned road and it was closed partially for avalanche clearing we decided to stay the night and get an early start on Friday morning. The Best Western hotel included a casino so I told Rich that I wanted to play the slot machines after dinner. Of course he thought I was a little silly but he played along. I tried to put in my $10 to start playing the machine but it would not take it so I went to the cashier and got 10 - $1 tokens. I put in my token, pulled the handle and watched the things (tumblers?) spin around. After a few coins and no joy, I was resigned to just losing my $10 and going back to the room when, wait, wait, jackpot!!! $50 in tokens started to pour into the tray. WooHoo! I counted my tokens and put them in the tray I got from the cashier. I still had a few of my original 10 tokens left, so I continued and wait, wait, jackpot again!!! Another $50 in tokens poured out. I carefully counted them. Now I had $100 in tokens on my lap. I had 2 tokens left of my original 10 plus a few credits on the machine, in they went. No more pay outs. So I took my tokens and cashed them in. I had won enough to pay for our night at the hotel, dinner and breakfast the next morning. I was so proud of myself. I didn't do a happy dance (but I felt like it). Rich thinks I was channelling my father, getting something for nothing.

Friday we drove back to the boat, with little fanfare. It was a fun few days.