Winter Vacation in Squaw Valley, California II

Our second day in Tahoe began like any other day with a 7:00am wake-up growl from our beloved Gigi.

There was still quite a bit of snow on the ground considering we were there relatively late in the season.

Prissy-face Gigi was not a fan of it at first. Her paws began to sink in around the thicker areas of snow and she started trembling because she had no clue what it was. And because it was cold, of course.

After everyone got to use the potty, we headed to the bar area of PlumpJack Inn to try out their complimentary breakfast.

There was a wide variety of delicious options to choose from. Decisions, decisions.

I ended up with the free range scrambled eggs, home fries with peppers and onions and a few buttermilk pancakes.

I also had to try some their granola paired with plain yogurt.

Oh, and a glass of fresh squeezed orange juice with a few pieces of pumpkin bread.

Everything was so delicious. Their pumpkin bread blew me away, it was so good!

I know it’s a lot but I seriously LOVE breakfast so I got way more than I could eat, as I usually do when we eat out for breakfast. I needed to fuel up for an exciting day on the slopes!

After we were nice and full, we headed out to the Ski Rental shop to get our gear before meeting at the base of the mountain for our 9:45 Beginner Ski Lesson.

The last time we went to Tahoe, we both tried snowboarding which was a lot of fun but was especially difficult for me.

That’s me holding onto the sign that says to move out of the way of other people getting off the lift…Brandon not only laughed at me but took a picture of it too! I was on my butt 90% of the time we were up there.

Needless to say, I decided to try skiing instead this time and Brandon was nice enough to try it with me so we opted for group instruction our first day. After meeting our instructor and other people in our group, we learned how to take our skis off and put them on, how to carry them, and other basic stuff. Then we all hopped on the tram and headed to High Camp which is at an elevation of 6,000 feet.

Once we reached High Camp we began on a very small slope so that we could all learn to control our speed and also how to stop.

Brandon listened to LeeRoy (our instructor) very well and kept his arms out wide, even though neither of us figured out why he kept telling us to do that…

We continued trying different little runs for the next few hours while LeeRoy helped everyone to perfect their form.

Around 12:45pm we broke for lunch at a small café right at the top of the mountain. We ended up getting soup and sandwiches that were extremely pricey but it did save us a time consuming trip down the mountain.

After another hour with LeeRoy, I began to get antsy to try things out on my own. I can be impatient sometimes so I convinced Brandon to ditch class early and head out on the beginner slopes for the next few hours we had left.

This slope felt so much steeper than it looks! You could really catch some speed on it. It was great that it was wide open so you don’t have to worry about trees and rocks and all that fun stuff! And the view was unbeatable…

After getting in a few good runs and exploring some slopes that left us both on our butts, we called it a day and head back down the mountain around 4pm, right as the lifts were closing.

The sun, cold and wind really did a number on both of us so it felt great to take a warm shower and get ready for dinner. We ventured across the street to the small downtown village in Squaw.

The first night, we ate at Fireside Pizza Company where we enjoyed a veggie pizza, salads, and a few glasses of Malbec. Most of the restaurants had fire pits out front so you could hang outside if you wanted.

Although dinner was good, we were both excited to get to sleep so we could wake up for more delicious breakfast!

Have you ever tried skiing or snowboarding? Which do you prefer?