Well we are at it again. This is a short trip with a focus on skiing, food and wine.
February 23-26, 2000 - Squaw Valley, Tahoe, California
February 26-29, 2000 - Sonoma/Napa California
Well we started off fairly early. While time was on our side, but the weather wasn't. We picked up Michael and made the last pre-requisite stop at Pete's before getting on the road. It was raining hard and the fog settled over Interstate 5. We widdled away the time with music and Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - unabridged. The last leg of the trip, as we gained elevation, snow started falling. The windshielf iced over, but the truck swooshed through with no problem. We stayed at the Sunnyside Lodge about 5 miles from Squaw Valley. Nice place with a great restaurant. We unpacked and then regrouped for beer in the bar (it was taco night). We were all tired so we had dinner at the restaurant. Then early too bed. I was still fighting a nasty cough and the dry weather was wiping Jeff out, too.
The morning was cloudy and the car was covered. We headed up to Squaw Valley and got our skis. We headed all the way to the top and then over to the Shirley Lake side. The runs were groomed, but when you are not used to freshly fallen snow, it's tiring. Jeff found a new place for us to eat lunch. The Plump Jack, at the bottom of the hill. It is labeled Mediterrean, but it was Cal-French. We had guyere and ham grilled sandwiched, hot chocolate made with milk (I found this hard to find in Tahoe), salads, soup and beer. Michael felt very spoiled and happy about this find. Then we went back for an afternoon of skiing. The sun disappeared early, so our pictures are not very good.
We went back to Sunnyside and relaxed before heading out to dinner. This took us to our favorite pizza joint, Steamers. Just say this word to Jeff or Michael and they will both make yummy noises. Of course the pie was great and we were all exhausted. Again we called it an early night
The sun decided to peek its face out today. The car was not as buried in snow and we made an earlier start to Squaw.
We had breakfast at Mother Barkley's in Squaw Village. Do not order more than one pancake. They are huge. Skiing was much better today with the sun shining and our ski-legs on. Michael wanted to go back to the Plump Jack for lunch. He had to twist our arms. Then back for as many runs as we could get in. We headed back to Sunnyside, changed and enjoyed some drinks before dinner.
We got an early start, well early for vacationers. The storm was coming in and we wanted to be down the hill. We did have to drive through some snow, but by the time we got down into Sacramento, it was just really heavy rain. We stopped for lunch at In-n-Out for Michael's first Double-Double.
Sunnyside Lodge, 1850 West Lake Blvd., Tahoe City, CA 530-583-7200
Plump Jack Squaw Valley Inn, 1920 Squaw Valley Road, Olympic Valley, CA 916-583-1576
Steamers Bar & Grill, 2236 Lake Tahoe Blvd, South Lake Tahoe, CA 530-541-8818