6 Days in Tahoe

We set out for our annual ski week trip on a day when the National Weather Service had a severe winter storm warning for the Sierras. Even so, with chain control for about 50 miles, we still made it up to Northstar in about 5.5 hours.

We've been coming up to Northstar for many years now, and have rented all sorts of properties from houses on the golf course, to rustic condos and now, the new large condos located directly in the Village. They are practically ski-in/ski-out, with nice and convenient large ski lockers to dump all our gear. We usually come in for lunch so we don't have to deal with all the lines and crowds. After all these years, we've finally perfected all the elements of the trip!

The snow was wonderful, the weather was great, the kids were thrilled and we had the same lovely ski instructor as last year - the incomparable Alina. Our condo overlooked the ice skating rink and we learned after we arrived that the Dew Tour was taking place that weekend. Don't worry, we had no idea what it was either!

We were a little apprehensive when we learned that about 20,000 people would be pouring into Northstar to watch stars like Shaun White compete in freestyle and half pipe events. And there was a concert. And music. Lots of music. Music that started at 7 am. Right. Out. Side. Our. Condo. The Friday night concert was like having Common rapping to us in our living room. A minor inconvenience.



The Village at Northstar has been upgraded over the past few years - other than a quick supermarket run, we never had to leave. We had dinner at Mikuni twice (loved the japanese fries), pizza at Rubicon and a fabulous but excrutiatingly slow meal at Baxter's Bistro (their fromage frites - fries with truffled cheese topping - was out of this world). As you can see, fries featured prominently in my diet for the week. We tried to dine at a new place called Chocolate Bar, which sounded fabulous, but the too loud, thumping techno beat chased us away. I definitely felt old...

Our drive back clocked at a remarkable 7 hours of drive time (for those who are unfamiliar with this area, a reasonable drive is around 4 hours). It took us 3 hours to get down the mountain alone while the storm surged around us. I comforted myself by the thought that California needs the water.

Snow, Snow and More Snow

We spent much of last week up in Lake Tahoe at Northstar for our annual ski trip. This time, due to some one-time only circumstances, we were staying in the largest and most luxurious accommodations that Northstar Village had to offer - the Great Bear Lodge 4 BR condo. At a whopping 2,700 square feet of space for 4 adults and 4 kids, we were living in the lap of luxury!

The first pleasant surprise was that the lift from the parking lot opened directly into our unit. The second surprise was that the unit was HUGE, with lots of living space and an attached bathroom for each bedroom, plus a guest lav as well.



There was also a simply enormous central fireplace, and large decks overlooking the central ice skating rink.

Now we go up there every year, and this year, I think we've finally figured out the perfect algorithm. We booked 3 full days of private lessons and alternated the lessons between the two pairs of kids. And boy did they get better in just a few days! The two older girls skied a black run and I'm sure they will all surpass me within a year or two.

There's a bit of a building boom at Northstar with the new Ritz Carlton residences going up mid-mountain (target opening is Nov 2009) and a Hyatt Residence Club next to the Village. And a new Japanese sushi place called Mikuni has opened up, adding to our dining selection. In fact, we did not leave the Village once for a meal the whole time.

A huge snowstorm delayed our departure by a day but the girls made good use of their time by constructing a huge snow fort!