Tahoe Weekend

We spent this past weekend in the Lake Tahoe region. It was a snowy month for us; Matt spent three weekends in the mountains; I spent two. It seems every time I head out there (make that 3 times ever), it snows almost the whole time - from the minute we hit the snow line on the way there to the minute we descend past the snow line on the way out.

This is the (amazing) view we had from the house our friends had rented. It overlooked some of the trails of Diamond Peak, right down the hill. The banister of this balcony had been cleared off right before we arrived. About 6-7" fell as we arrived and over Thursday night.

By Sunday morning, the snow had accelerated a bit. Reports said the area received about 30" over the weekend. The thing is, it's not that unusual around there. The "chains required" signs are everywhere and the requirement seems to be in effect all winter. We were just glad we decided to buy a Subaru instead of anything else - AWD vehicles are exempt from the chain requirement (which is in fact enforced via checkpoints).

It certainly made for a challenging drive home. What I hear is a 3-4 hour drive took 8, 4-5 of which was in whiteout conditions and after a few u-turns for a closed-then-opened road. We were the lucky ones; our friends left 30 minutes after us and when we arrived home, they were idling with hundreds of other cars on a closed interstate, near the top of Donner Pass. They arrived home 5 hours after us.

Friday:

Sunday: