Lake Tahoe Week in Review: December 23-29, 2012

Can you say, "snow?"

This week was a study in contrasts, from snow, snow, and more snow, to bright and brilliant sunshine and the bluest sky one can ever see. You'll need to forgive me for including so many photos of this area. Lake Tahoe is so beautiful; just couldn't decide which ones to include!

We were impressed with the tremendous snowfall in such a short amount of time. Sunday morning we awoke to yet another--or perhaps I should say "continuing" snowfall, which only added to the beauty of this area of Lake Tahoe. Hollee and David braved the elements to travel to South Lake Tahoe to deliver our granddaughter Schuyler to her dad for their trip back to the San Jose, CA area. (She stayed with us at Hollee's for Friday and Saturday nights, after our family Christmas dinner Friday night.) Hollee and David made the hairy round trip in about 2 1/2 hours, which is about 1 1/2 hours longer than usual.

Christmas Eve brought only snow showers, but it added to the heavy snow already gracing the trees. The snowplows went up and down the hill about 6 times that day, with ever larger berms at the side of the street. Later that day the sun came out with blinding brightness against the snow. Hollee and David attempted to go skiing, but the both parking lots were full at Mount Rose Ski Hill so they to returned home. Instead, they put on snowshoes and traversed the snowy forest for about an hour and a half. Dick and I hunkered down at home (since we didn't have good snow apparel with us in the trailer to bring with us). Snow fall so far was about 3 1/2 feet in as many days.

Cummings home on Jennifer Street

David with his Led Zeppelin CD set

Hollee added to her Green Bay
Packer's paraphernalia.

Christmas dawned bright and sunny, but soon transitioned into clouds and snow flurries. After opening gifts and having breakfast of waffles and sausage, we just enjoyed the day reading and watching "The Christmas Story," among other Christmas movies. Hollee and David went snowshoeing again rather than attempting to go skiing; the wind at the slopes was around 45 mph. That night a friend of Hollee and David came for salmon dinner. Gwendolyn was here for only about 4 hours, but during that time another foot of snow fell! We're now at about 4 1/2 feet! Impressive!

Wednesday morning brought with it the job of shoveling more snow--even though it was still snowing a bit. Dick tackled the deck and David the driveway with the snow blower.

Thursday was sunny and bright. No wind. Lovely, with temps reaching the high 20s. We decided on brunch at a local restaurant, The Log Cabin, located in Kings Beach just west around the lake from Incline. The Log Cabin  has been in business continuously since 1981, and is still run by the original owner. Open every day from 7 a.m-2 p.m., except Christmas and Thanksgiving, they are the oldest originally owned dedicated breakfast/lunch restaurant in Lake Tahoe. We dined sumptuously on lobster or Cajun-inspired Eggs Benedict, waffles, scrambled eggs and coffee. YUM!!!

Afterwards we took a scenic drive through Incline Village and the east side of Lake Tahoe. (The west side is closed during winter months due to the terrain and snow fall.) We stopped at Burnt Cedar Beach to take advantage of the beautiful scenery and photo ops. (After last week's post we learned that our friends Chris and Claire Berry from Washington State met here in Incline a few years ago. They married and have 2 great kids. I sent them a few photos, and although they met in August, they recognized the area where they played volleyball together along the lake.)

Then, we headed down to Sand Harbor on the east side. The snow was puffy, mostly virgin snow, so pure and white. It brought to mind the verse in Isaiah 1:18 where God told us, "Though your sins have stained you like the color red, you can become white like snow; though they are easy to see as the color scarlet, you can become white like wool."( This is possible only through believing that Jesus is the Son of God and accepting Him as Lord of your life. We pray this is true in your life.)

Friday we decided to go to Carson City, about 20 miles away, to have dinner and see "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey," in 3D! For those of you have not seen this movie, it's J.R.R.Tolkien's adventure of Bilbo Baggins (the Hobbit) who is swept into a quest to help reclaim the lost dwarf kingdom of Erebor from the fearsome dragon Smaug. The end of the movie left it wide open for a sequel.

Saturday started out sunny, but by noon was overcast with more snow, without too much accumulation--just enough to be a nuisance. Ha! It was beautiful, and thankfully there was no wind so the snow continued to pile up on the trees. We had a late brunch of chocolate chip waffles, sausages, raspberries, blueberries, OK and coffee. YUMMY!!!! What more could a person want!

Last week I posted a photo of the back deck area with snowfall on the patio furniture. Here are before and after photos of the same furniture, to give you an idea of the volume of snow. Impressive!

Before the snow storm.

After the snow storm!

Here are a few more photos of the street where Hollee and David live. Snow, snow, snow...

We hope this finds you enjoying the Christmas holidays. I know we are, and we're so thankful for all that God has blessed us with: family, friends, and the gift of His Son.

Blessings 'n' hugs,
Gail and Dick