Katie in Cali – Day 2
Since it reads more clearly, I am writing this post in first-person; however, Katie is sitting next to me, and we are creating this content together. Also, she took all the pictures!
Destination Tahoe. Departure time 3:30 a.m. Needless to say, the ride felt long with Katie taking a well-deserved nap in the passenger’s seat. But, 4 hours later, we arrived at the place we stayed for the night – Jan’s beautiful cabin home next to Lake Tahoe. Literally… you can see the lake from the kitchen window, it’s breath-taking.
Jan is absolutely the best. She greeted us with warm coffee, fresh fruit, cereal, and some tips for facing the mountain. After a quick meet and greet, Katie and I were off again to Mt. Rose Ski Resort! For Katie, this was her first time skiing so we bought tickets for the beginner slops and a private 1-2 hour ski lesson. Our instructors for the lessons were wonderful, a huge thank you to Hans, Rick, and Patty! Mt. Rose is absolutely awesome for beginners: they have 4-5 learning slops, and (as I expected) Katie was a natural. Within an hour, she was turning, stopping, and zooming down the slopes. And, thanks to Chris and his GoPro, we have video evidence (I’ll add it later once I pull the video)!
After two or three times down the first Ponderosa slopes, Katie and I stopped for some clam chowder at the ski lodge. It was just the warming treat we needed to battle the more difficult trails later in the afternoon. In total, we probably went up and down the mountain a dozen or so times before stopping around 3:00 p.m. Surprising to me, and to everyone we’ve spoken to, I do not think I saw Katie fall once the entire day. I, however, was not so lucky. I bit the dust, and I bit it HARD on the final time down the mountain. While Katie took the high road, I should have listened… the trick ramp/jump was a bad idea. But thankfully I sustained no large injury, just some bumps and bruises.
With our fair share of skiing done for the day, Katie and I started looking for dinner locations. We both agreed it would be a good idea to find place warm and cozy, with music possibly? Although we could envision that restaurant in our heads, we did not actually find it until asking Jan for a dessert recommendation. The place was the Long Eagle Grille, and it did not disappoint. The restaurant was a beautiful, open space full of fireplaces, mountain-esk decor, and live music. We sat at the bar and ordered a not too big, not to small, but just right vanilla crème brûlée with a biscotti. A yummy end to an action-packed Day 2!
