March 5-10, 2016

Made it safely to Lake Tahoe.  Stopped by the shop for a quick visit with Jimbo and to pick up Woody –

Bill and I instantly fell in love with Woody – he is such a good puppy –  such a little love bug!

When we got to the house we were greeted warmly by Chuck and Jan.  They had left us a perfect little spot for our trailer, but they were having no part of us sleeping out there!

I have to say it was a really nice break to move into the house.   I loved climbing into the nice  big comfy bed, enjoyed the hot showers  and for those of you who don’t know our friend Jim -he is an amazing  chef, so every night dinner was out of this world!  Jim is also the best ski guide you could have in Tahoe.  He has spent decades skiing at Kirkwood and is a bit of a legend there…

We had a pretty big storm the night we arrived and the next morning while Jim was making his famous egg sandwichs – he mentioned to me that he thought the backcountry conditions might be a little bit challenging for me – the avalanche danger had changed from moderate to considerable – so the boys promised when they got back from their hike they would take me somewhere more suitable for me and the puppies.   

They had a great morning at Waterhouse and did live up to their promise to me and the puppies – I had fun in Jim’s backyard, or as the boys refer to it as Bremco Mountain.

 
 
  
 
The second day we went up to Kirkwood – There was quite a bit of fresh snow, but it was heavy and very challenging!!  The boys were itching to hit the powder, so I decided to ski on my own and practice some runs I found challenging – so we split up for the day.  Jim and Bill did some long traverses and hit some lighter snow.  I quite enjoyed the day to myself and going at my own pace; although I did miss Karen terribly and wished she was with me.

That evening we had a beautiful steak dinner and a delicious cake as it was our 17^th Anniversary. 

Day 3 the boys went back to Kirkwood as we were still getting snow – they had a great day and came home tired as they hiked a not so secret – secret spot a couple of times.  Don’t want to give it awayJ       I went into town with Chuck and Jan and we enjoyed a nice lunch.   Jan and I did some downtown shopping and stopped at Starbucks for a fancy drink. 

We enjoyed our time in Tahoe so much – it was very hard to leave Jim, Chuck & Jan and Woody.  Woody even jumped in our trailer as we were packing up.   Chuck and Jan cooked us a huge breakfast before we headed out and Jan chased us down the driveway with a care package of homemade banana bread, apple bread and cookies – we are so very thankful for the friends in our lives and the part they each play in the building of memories during our adventure.