2007 St. Patrick's Day weekend: Phil treated me to a vacation in the Lake Tahoe area! Now I understand
why people build vacation homes there. The lake is crystal clear, ringed by snow-capped mountains, and
reflects the sunny sky of Nevada and California. And the Squaw Valley ski resort is an adventure in
itself, with an ice skating rink and pool/spa on its summit.
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Approaching Lake Tahoe from the air. March 16, 2007.
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We arrived at Squaw Valley on Friday night.
The night skiing was closed, so we hung out in
Squaw Village, a picturesque shopping area.
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Below: I have no idea why the Village had a giant chair, but here it is.
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I rented skis and Phil rented a snowboard.
Lots of people on the slopes wore green for St. Patricks Day.
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Lots more people wore shorts and T-shirts because of the warm weather!
A few guys even skiied shirtless. Click to see more overheated skiiers.
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A swimming pool and spa on top of the mountain!
It was warm enough for swimsuits. All that snow was melting fast.
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The spa where overheated skiiers and snowboarders can cool off.
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Right next to the pool, there's an ice skating rink, quickly melting, but still open for skaters.
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Kids playing behind the sports complex on top of the mountain.
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Here's Phil pointing out the view of Lake Tahoe.
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And me, sweating in all that ski gear.
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My kind of place!
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We rode the Funitel up the mountain.
This photo isn't the Funitel, but it's the neighboring cable car,
which is basically the same thing.
The Funitel stopped for a long time in mid-air!
We started wondering if we'd need to phone for rescue.
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We planned on sticking around for night skiing, but the conditions were so slushy, we got tired and left early. It
was like skiing/snowboarding in water. We both had trouble getting enough speed to make it over small hills and bumps.
Phil had trouble stopping. The long 3 mile trail to the base of the mountain had deteriorated into a series of
choppy moguls, and the effort of turning on them wore out my leg muscles. Anyway, we enjoyed the top of the mountain.
That night, we took a shuttle down to the CalNeva hotel-casino on the state border. We played some roulette
and Phil won $10!
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This is Lake Tahoe as seen from CalNeva.
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Before we caught our flight back to L.A., we found a
tiny public beach, surrounded by fenced-off private beaches.
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I love how clear that water is! We saw guppies swimming in it.
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The water is icy snow melt, but some guys waded through it to get on the rocks.
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