At the Cabin in Lake Tahoe



This weekend, Susan and I drove to the family cabin in North Lake Tahoe. The drive took 8.5 hours, but we were greeted with sun, family, friends, one happy puppy, and Senor Presidente Martino. In addition to R & R, we were celebrating a bunch of birthdays (more below)...

We left SLC just as an inversion event was happening. What this means for Salt Lake City is smog and cold air. Because the Salt Lake Valley is surrounded my mountains, it is like a giant bowl; when the wind stops, cold air sinks to the valley bottom and collects...incredibly, it can be 20 degrees warmer at 10,000 feet!
Beautiful sunset on our ride out, but about 7 hours of driving to go!
We were greeted by Maile (My-Lee) when we arrived around 12:30am.
This is outside the Boatworks Mall in Tahoe City.
I was shocked to discover that one of my favorite family style mexican restaurants that was located in the mall, Hacienda, had been converted to a nose high establishment called Lago y Sol. This move highlighted a pervasive theme in my visit. I had not been to the North Shore and walked around Tahoe city in nearly 5 years. Although Tahoe city has not changed drastically in appearance, I was told that land prices have rose steadily. In fact, one of our favorite pizza parlors had burned down, and the owners refused to rebuild for fear that the profits would not cover the rising cost of rent. I also noticed many high priced automobiles. Particularly, those overgrown toys driven by past members of the hair club for men, the H2.
The ski resorts have dramatically changed in appearance. Unfortunately, they are all looking like the same generic “European village” mega-resorts. It seems that they (the owners of the local ski resorts) are all about volume these days...kinda sad when compared to places like Brighton and Powder Mountain.

But, when a place is this beautiful, of course, its going to attract a bunch of people.
inside the cabin at night
it all starts innocently enough...
add a family get-together. Susan and her 2 brothers, Martin (L) and Tony (R).
and some friends, a table, card games, and beer...
And you get El Presidente (es hot?)
This was a great trip. Happy B-day to Martin, Moira, Tony, (and me i guess)...thank you Al and Phyllis and everyone that was there. Can’t wait to do it again!

Posted: Sat - February 11, 2006 at 10:30 PM          

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