An unforgettable Tahoe experience

Notwithstanding my extreme hatred for snow and anything remotely connected with it, I agreed to go on a skiing trip with the gang. My cousin is visiting from Hyderabad. He had met up with me once while I was still fighting it out in Wisconsin. When we met a couple weeks ago, he was going over things and was mentioning how much he misses snow (cringe!) and I was telling him, he should go to Lake Tahoe. There is practically nothing that California cannot offer in terms of weather/nature. He said he had already heard of Tahoe and the snow and if we could go there, so I told him, I'd talk it over with Subhash and we can "see" if we can plan anything.

Then one of the gang's ever enterprising guy sent this email the very next day asking how about a trip to Lake Tahoe for skiing. I look at my calendar at work. It looks hopeless. I look at the planning pending for that much-awaited Hawaii trip. Again hopeless. All this AND planning a trip to Tahoe. Impossible! My best bet to making my cousin happy was to tag along with the gang. No troubles with planning anything, they usually take care of everything. I agreed! I went, well, we could still take my cousin all the way there, show him snow and get back. Let the rest of the world ski, we can have hot chocolate in the very cozy mansion these guys checked out for the trip.

Little did I know that this trip would be a bundle of firsts!

First, I was dreading the drive up to Tahoe, it was raining incessantly the past couple days even in the Valley, lord knew how it would snow up there. I couldn't get off work fast so we had to leave at 6.30pm. Very bad time. Office traffic coupled with rain. And the darkness?! Not looking very bright. But unbelievably, as much as I dreaded the drive up there, it turned out to be a nothing. Pooh pooh. We made it in 5 hours (Google said 4.5, so that was extremely decent) and Subhash was brilliant as the driver, as always :)

We vehemently refused to ski on reaching there despite the pleas and the taunts and the threats ;) We even left about a couple hours after everyone left, hoping to make the excuse that there are no classes left for "beginner" skiers. But as soon as we reached, since none of the gang was in sight we started getting bored. We inquired about a ski lesson and were told that there was one at 1. We took it. And what did we find as soon as we booked our lesson and turned back! The rest of the gang! Excepting the pro skiers, the rest of them who needed classes (including my cousin and his friend who came along with us) were all lined up for the 1 pm class. Now it was exciting. To be in a class AND to be with company. Couldn't have asked for more.

And so, for the first time I skied . I still cannot believe it. What four winters in Wisconsin could not get me to do, one trip to Lake Tahoe did;) And I should admit I enjoyed it. Doing it with Subhash and friends. Everyone falling and skidding and just having a lot of fun!!

But the best (?!) was yet to come. The next day a blizzard was expected and we left at noon after a hearty breakfast and the Australian Open final on TV coupled with Winter Games live afterwards. It didn't look very promising but we had to get out so we didn't have much of an option. And here comes another first-time event. Snow chains! We needed them for our tires as it was made mandatory on CA-50. We used GPS to cut through grueling CA-50 traffic using by-lanes only to find that we bypassed the one point where snow chains were being fitted on and where the entire gang had stopped. We were hoping that we would find one down the highway. But the drive was getting more and more exasperating. 3 hours into the drive and we still were not even out of the Tahoe checkpoint. Finally we found it! One place that would fit us with chains for the tires. We took the Honda because it was used to snow, it has seen 8 midwest winters, and in general its a very dependable car. I knew it would see us through, but even for that car this was a first. The ride was so bumpy with those chains on, we didn't enjoy it at all;) But the more we went into the snow, the more we realized how life saving those were. Cutting through the snow was not something for ordinary radials. And then we had to take them off when we came down the mountains. While the guy was installing it, I noticed what he was doing and I had to be the tactic person in removing them. Not very welcoming. Now the snow had turned to rain and we finally managed to get the chains off the tires, 20 minutes and a lot of sludge later.

It was an avalanche. It was a blizzard. It was beyond what I can describe. I would have never thought that I'd see something akin to this weekend's ever outside of Wisconsin. I thought I was done with bad days in snow but yesterday was amazing. Terrible and beautiful at the same time. I wonder how Subhash managed to drive. What should have been a 4.5 hour drive back to the Valley took us a grueling 9 hours. (I drove the easy part from Folsom to the Valley.) And of those, we spent the first 6 hours (normal conditions 1.5 hours) coming down the mountains! Wow! Just when you think you've seen it all, there is yet another experience waiting around the corner.


I used to argue with my friends that the midwest was more beautiful than the west coast. (knowing very well that it was a failing and an entirely wrong standpoint). I just didn't think of California as home yet and I wasn't prepared to let anyone think of the midwest as a place less desirable. But after three years here, I feel at home in CA. And its beauty never ceases to surprise me. You have it all here. I don't need to live in depressing winters anymore to experience snow. I can simply see snow-capped mountains all the way to work everyday. Or I can drive to Tahoe and truly experience it for what it has to offer. If I yearn for picture perfect sunrises and sunsets, nothing can beat CA-1, the Pacific Coast Highway. If I want warm weather I drive South for a couple hours. If I want snow I drive north for a couple hours. Its as simple as that. And its simply unbelievable. I can now agree when anyone says, the Bay Area is the best in terms of weather. Maybe not for the weather itself, but definitely for the convenience in the varieties! :)

Today was bright. Perfect warmth. I was driving to work. Green hills in the front and a snow-capped range just behind them. I was thinking, less than 12 hours ago, I was on this very same road, driving in rain coming back from snow, snow and more snow. It seemed so far away, yet it was so near. And I had to pinch myself ..

Go California! :)