South Lake Tahoe Ski Trip

Valentine's Day/President's Day weekend was a long anticipated trip to South Lake Tahoe with most of the biodesign group and their families. Elise and Jonathan found an amazing house big enough for everyone to stay in (which was available!) and managed the planning of a monster trip for our group of 17 adults and 5 kids, ranging in age from tiny 2-month-old baby Charlotte to Valerie at 3.

The house was perfect and had gorgeous views of the lake from the hot tub deck, definitely its best feature, as well as its location, just a few minutes from the Heavenly Ski Resort.

view from the deck

We decided to stop in Sacramento and rent an SUV for the drive up into the mountains since we weren't sure if there would be snow on the roads and chains needed on our tires. It turned out we wouldn't have needed chains after all, but the extra space was nice with all our stuff, including Rich's skis. We overpacked and were just barely able to squeeze ourselves and our stuff into Rich's car for the drive to Sacramento. We didn't end up needing the air mattress, sheets, or potty seat... but oh well. At least we didn't need diapers!! I tried to take notes on this experience to pack lighter for our next trip, but, on a ski vacation with a toddler, you're going to have a lot of bulky stuff. All our coats, snow pants, thick layers, boots, and ski equipment would have been difficult to condense any better.

Friday, the day we arrived, was Elise's birthday, and I made a buttermilk spice cake recipe with brown sugar cream cheese frosting from her pinterest board to bring - and the well stocked kitchen even had candles and a lighter when we arrived. We first stopped for dinner in town, which was less than satisfying for me... we tried to get into one of the nicer sit-down places but there was a long wait everywhere and Valerie was melting in a hurry so we ordered from Baja Fresh. My vegetarian bowl was lacking in flavor and Valerie was on her worst behavior the entire time due to hanger (a blend of hunger and anger, not the thing you hang clothes on). She refused to eat the quesadilla we ordered for her and tried to run away from our table and cause a scene. Mama was in serious need of a drink after our long drive and that crappy dinner.

We finally made it to the house and selected our room for the weekend - we stayed upstairs with the other 3 families with kids. Our room had a bunk bed that was a double on bottom and twin on top. It said "ABSOLUTELY NO CHILDREN UNDER 6" should sleep on the top bunk, so we quickly determined Valerie would be fine up there. It did have rails so there was no danger of her rolling off, and she did fine. She navigated the ladder up and down by herself with no problem. I had brought ear plugs, so I was prepared to sleep in the same room with her, and on the same floor with the babies. The ear plugs did the trick and I never heard any crying during the night. Sharing a double bed with my husband, on the other hand, was sucky and uncomfortable as always, but, ya know, first world problems on your Tahoe ski trip. Occasionally enduring cramped sleeping quarters helps me to appreciate my spacious comfortable bed, I tell myself between gritted teeth.

All complaints aside, once we finally arrived and got settled to wait for the others to trickle in, the drinks started flowing, and it was a fun chill night by the fire talking and listening to our playlist with the group.

We enjoyed the amazing view of the stars from the hot tub on the deck once it got warm enough, and I stayed close to the blazing fire in the fireplace when inside.

On Saturday Valerie and I stayed back at the house while Rich and the other more advanced skiers went to Heavenly. Valerie got to snuggle with Elise and watch Cinderella, and then we ventured out into the snow to slide down the hill behind the house on our butts a few times. I tried to get her to nap, but that wasn't happening, so she joined me and William and Kelly in the hot tub while their kids napped. I wanted to go into town with Elise and Megan after that, but then she was finally ready to nap so no trips to town for me. Fortunately they brought back some sushi from the Naked Fish so I had a happy dinner.

sliding down the hill

That night was a blast. We played the most hilarious round of Cards Against Humanity, with teams of two since there were so many of us, and I can't remember the last time I laughed so hard.

Sunday was our big ski day. We rounded up our things and drove into town to rent skis and boots for Valerie and me. Since we had to carry our own equipment as well as Valerie's we moved at a turtle's pace to the line for the gondola. We finally got in line, and Valerie announced she had to go potty. I picked her up and hobbled in my ski boots to the nearby coffee shop to ask if they had a bathroom - they did not. The man behind the counter indicated the direction of the bathrooms and I ran/hobbled at top speed there. Valerie went potty and we successfully raced back to our spot in line.

What amazing views on the gondola ride up. Absolutely gorgeous panorama of the lake, mountains, trees and sky. We lucked out with perfect weather, too, about 50 degrees and quite comfortable. We made it to the ski area and found a nice tiny hill where we could put our skis on and practice before tackling the bunny slope. Valerie wasn't too thrilled. She saw a snowman nearby and all she wanted to do was build a snowman. Rich patiently insisted she practice going down the hill with him holding her by straps attached to her skis. He worked with her, and I practiced going down by myself, since the only time I ever skied previously was my freshman year of high school and "skied" is not an accurate term for what I did, which was fail to even attempt a single bunny slope.

I learned to angle my skis inward to slow myself down and made it down the tiny hill a few times, which I saw as enormous progress. Finally we went to get in line for the chair lift to the bunny slope.

The low point of the day for me was when we got to the bunny slope and I tripped trying to get off the chair lift, lost a ski and went down like a rock. The workers had to stop the lift and help me get up. I flashed back to my last ski experience, when I fell face down in the snow with my butt in the air and couldn't get up.

I pulled myself together and braced to make it down this very gentle slope, of which I was admittedly terrified. Though not as terrified as Valerie. Rich guided her very, very slowly down the hill, and I let myself pick up a bit of speed and get ahead of them. I was doing it! I did it! I practiced stopping and starting and slowing down, and going a little faster. I was soooo proud of myself for making it down the slope without falling! This was a huge success and everything I had hoped to accomplish.

Valerie kept saying, "Stop! Stop! I want to take a break." After several breaks we were able to coax her all the way down at a snail's pace. It was quite exhausting making it down that slope once. At the bottom, we made our way to the lodge for lunch. We got some overpriced but absolutely delicious vegan chili in a bread bowl and I was just happy to get those horrible, awkward, heavy ski boots off my feet. Rich wanted to go for another run after lunch, but the thought of waiting in the long line for the chair lift again was too much for both Valerie and me. We headed back to the gondola to go home and Rich went to hit some advanced trails.

The most difficult part of the day, it turned out, was getting back to the ski rental place with Valerie's and my skis. I carried mine and hers, and prodded her to stay with me. We both struggled to walk in our ski boots. We made it to the bottom of the gondola and I grabbed all our stuff, and exited on the wrong side. By the time I figured out where we were, I saw we were going to have to walk the long way around the gondola to get back to the rental place. We limped and hobbled and dragged our skis and finally made it, and I've never been so happy to be rid of a load of heavy gear.

It was another fun night at the house, taking pictures of the gorgeous sunset, playing games, singing songs, eating cookies and watching old music videos until we all crashed.

In the morning we all packed up to head home. Little Nicolas even took some of his first steps just as we were loading up the cars! We all had such a great time, it was sad to say goodbye to everyone and go back to reality. After we dropped off the SUV, we found a perfect little lunch at the Hoppy Brewing Company just down the road from Enterprise, and sampled their tasty beers. What a fun and memorable trip! It was definitely a highlight of this year with biodesign.