It’s been years — close to 20 — since I’ve been sledding. During my childhood we would take semi-regular trips to the snow for play days or skiing but, unlike my mother, I never became an avid skiier or snowboarder. Still, I enjoy spending time in Tahoe and wanted an excuse to head up there for a weekend of fun before the snow melted away into summer. The answer for a neophyte in the world of snow sports? Snow tubing!
Pretty views from the cabin
After a fun weekend together in San Francisco, my date (we’ll call him Boat Shoe Boy) and I decided we could deal with each other enough to spend another weekend hanging out. Since his family has a stellar place in Incline Village, it was the perfect home base for a weekend of exploring, relaxing and indulging. We ended up heading down Friday night, got settled and headed out to Bite, an amazing little American tapas place in Incline Village, NV. I’ll elaborate a bit more on some of our dining experiences in an upcoming post (we hit up a number of note-worthy spots) but suffice it to say that this place is stellar; definitely an amazing rendition of standard tapas.
Saturday, we grabbed lunch and made our way to Northstar for an hour of tubing! If the snow were a bit more intense and we had come equipped with sleds, we could have definitely created our own sledding experience without having to pay. Without sleds and with limited snow, though, we decided to head to Northstar for a real tubing experience. An hour of tubing (that’s all you’ll need — I swear!) will run $21 per person ($12 for every hour thereafter) and makes for an awesome mini adventure! Sadly (& rather atypically), I didn’t take my camera up to the mountain for fear that I would lose it or ruin it so I don’t have any pictures of our epic tandem/group runs, but take my word for it — awesome! For anyone looking for alternative sources of fun in Tahoe, Northstar actually has loads of fun options for both winter and summer!
We wrapped up Saturday by bouncing around North Shore and popped into some awesome spots for drinks before grabbing dinner. Boat Shoe Boy is more than a little familiar with Tahoe’s awesome spots so we started out at Gar Wood’s per his suggestion, sipped on their famous Wet Woodys and enjoyed Tahoe’s awesome weather for a bit.
Afterwards, we made our way over to the Hyatt to enjoy the last few hours before sunset. Gorgeous views from the deck and an all-too-inviting fire pit made for a great venue to enjoy the scenery before grabbing dinner at nearby Tomaato’s. As per usual, we made some new friends on the deck (including a 10-month-old baby that I was tempted to take home with me) and then headed back to the cabin where we attempted to watch a movie (read: popped in the movie and passed out early).
Sadly, Sunday came entirely too quickly. We grabbed breakfast at the Log Cabin Cafe (which carries the title for the ‘Best Breakfast in Tahoe’) and were back in Sacramento by midday. All in all, an amazingly wonderful weekend. I had forgotten how amazing California actually is, and spending time exploring Tahoe certainly reminded me of how lucky we are to live in the best state in the US (I’m a bit biased, but I definitely stand behind that statement)! As much as I miss living in London and exploring Europe, it’s times like these that make me so happy to be Stateside!
xoxo from California,
