Lake Tahoe Ski Trip Day 1: Travel

View from My hotel Room

I have been on the road since 4pm yesterday morning. After a challenging 16 hours of driving through the evening and early morning, I finally made it to the Ritz Carleton Hotel in Truckee, California. I am on a ski/snowboard trip with four friends at this beautiful hotel through the weekend. Despite how unglamorous this trip has been so far, this trip is shaping out to be what my adolescent self always hoped my young adulthood would be.

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The evening sky as we left San Diego

Snow flakes at our Caravan Buddies' home

Traffic as we hit LA

Everything OK under there?

We had a bit of drama to start. During the stop and go traffic through LA (pretty much still at the start of the trip), the car’s check engine light turned on! We pulled over to check it out, worried that we overheated the car despite the temperature gauge reading steady. The check engine light turned off on our way to the gas station to check it out. Despite my strongest instincts, we decided to press forward and run it until the car actually stops working. From that point forward, the engine temperature read unusually low, like in the bottom quadrant. We were concerned that whilst looking for the reason for the check engine light to turn on, we accidentally unplugged the radiator hose or something. I had to watch it like a hawk for the rest of the 10 hour car ride. We even pulled off the highway a few times just to check under the hood. That was not stressful at all (sarcasm).

One of the many pit stops

Our Trusty Vehicle

The worst part of the drive was the last two hours after we got on the I-80 in Sacramento. It went from chilly San Diego night into winter wonderland in the span of about 10 miles. It started snowing right when we were heading downhill. We ended up putting snow chains on at the chain advisory check point. The sound the snow chains made going 20 miles an hour was nerve racking. The car sounds with snow chains on was the same as the car sounds when its breaking down. The theme of the trip so far was car engine worry.

My handy dandy snow chain job

Road Conditions from the safety of my vehicle

But then we got to the hotel! As soon as I saw the beautiful hotel, a huge weight came off of chest and I breathed a sigh of relief. We made it.

Okay, I admit I haven't really explored yet. And I can tell there is a lot to see. All I have done since I got here was take a shower and lay down. I didn't get to sleep last night! But so far, everything, just everything, is perfect. From the smiling valet to the cozy white robes that immersed my exhausted clean body, everything is perfect.