WINTER WONDERLAND

Living in a place like San Francisco, you start to forget about the change in seasons. The temperature only fluctuates a few degrees all year and we waver between rain and fog. It's funny how events start to run together in your mind as a result. You don't have those cues in nature helping you mark the passage of time. So, it's nice to get out of the city and spend some time in a place like Tahoe that really seems to showcase each season at it's best. I fell in love with it over the summer and despite my sincere dislike of cold temperatures, I was just as mesmerized by it's beauty in the winter.

I went up with friends for the weekend. They went snowboarding, but I chose not to 1) because I'm pretty much guaranteed to injure myself due to my lack of natural athletic ability and 2) as I said earlier, I avoid the cold almost entirely, have no snow gear, and by the time I rented it all, paid for the ski pass, etc. it would make for an expensive weekend. Fortunately, Mark didn't feel like snowboarding either, he has access to free snowshoes, and he knew of some great trails to check out. So, we set off on a completely new adventure for me. Despite the crowds of people in town to ski, the trail we were on was deserted. It was so quiet up there, absolutely untouched by man and gorgeous. We hiked for awhile and then found a good spot for a picnic overlooking the mountains and the forest and enjoyed the day.

We did have a brief scare when he dropped my camera bag (thank goodness it wasn't my camera) into a little pond about 3-4' down from the trail. In his efforts to retrieve it (which were quite entertaining), he ended up falling in, but fortunately the water was only a few inches deep and his boots were waterproof. So, frostbite was avoided and the bag was saved!

The rest of the weekend was spent enjoying good food with our friends at the cabin, spending some necessary time in the hot tub with the snow coming down above us, exploring the area a bit more, and much, much, too much time in the car trying to get there and back. Word to the wise- leave Friday morning and don't come back until Monday.

TAHOE

At this point in my life, I'm lucky enough to go on at least one big trip a year that takes me outside the country. As a result, I hesitate to count anything that doesn't require me crossing an ocean as a significant vacation, but over the summer a friend helped remind me of all the amazing places I had yet to really explore in my own backyard.

One of those trips was to Lake Tahoe back in August. At only about 4 hours from the city (minus any traffic) it makes the perfect weekend road trip. I'm not sure how I'd managed to go so long without visiting- during winter or summer. I was absolutely mesmerized by its beauty. The water shines with that deep, intense blue. The contrast between that and the mountains in the distance takes your breath away. It only gets better at night when you can see thousands upon thousands of stars. I could have literally stared at that expanse for hours, making wish after wish as the shooting stars passed above my head.

Even in the summer, it's hard to run out of things to do there. Boating, bike riding, giant ice cream scoops at Camp Richardson, hiking, live music at the beach, gorgeous sunsets...They've got it all. Some of it isn't cheap (like taking the gondola up to the top of Squaw Valley mountain), but I would still highly recommend it, especially when you have our luck.

We paid $60 to ride the gondola up to the top (absolutely beautiful), where we hiked around for awhile, even making our own trails at times, finally made it back for a late lunch at the cafe at the top of the mountain, and then lounged by the pool all afternoon. What an amazing setting! We decided to take one last dip in the spa before heading out, when we heard a big commotion. Apparently, some misguided child had decided it would be a good idea to go #2 in the pool. Gross! But, on the bright side, as we were walking out, we overheard the lifeguards telling the guests they could ask for refunds at the base of the mountain for their pool passes. We'd been there all day already, but figured it was at least worth a try. After some hassling, the guy finally handed over the refund. We expected to only get back the $12/person that we'd paid for the pool, but at closer inspection, we discovered it was all free!

Later that same evening, we stopped by the casinos (figured that's part of the Tahoe experience, right?) and decided to drop a couple dollars in the slot machine for fun. A few minutes in and we were already getting bored. So, my friend starts betting the max on each turn so we can move on to our next adventure. All of a sudden, the bells start ringing and the money count just keeps going up. He won $300!

The stars must have been aligned for us that weekend...