See my strategy is to have you all on the edge of seats wondering “What did Emma do on her holiday??” It has noting whatsoever to do with the fact that I haven’t made time to post these… or perhaps even write them. Suspense dear Watson. That’s the name of this game! ENJOY!
Day 3, Wednesday 24 February 2016.
SKI DAY!! Snow Snow Snow! Woke up and leapt out of bed, pulled back the curtain and greeted by snow covered rooftops, tall mountains all around, a lake view and blue bird skies. Perfect day!
I was like a kid at Christmas and jumped on Matt to get up asap so we could get snow ready. We planned to go to Heavenly on this day so that we didn’t have to travel far. It’s also the mountain we had heard the most about. I went online though to checkout tickets and see how we did that… $125 USD!! I was in shock. I mean I know it’s a famous mountain, but what, that’s about $170 AUD – almost 1.5 times what we pay in Australia. Well in Australia it’s about $110 – $120 at most mountains, but with the sucky dollar, this was hurting!
We got out into the town and It was fresh but really not too cold. It’s a really lovely little area and we had everything we needed within walking distance. Matt hired his skis and decided to give some demo skis a go, why not! It was then off to the ski lifts. Both of us were getting excited now.. we almost forgot about the pain that was about to hit our credit cards!
The first thing you do is hop on the Gondola and head right up, turning around to see the most incredible views of the Lake.
Ok! I can see where the expense of the ticket comes in, this was absolutely spectacular. We were two very happy ski bunnies.
Matt hadn’t been skiing for about 5 years and when we got to the top of the Gondola and actually onto the snow, he did a little happy dance. It was adorable! We asked the helpful man near the giant map where we should start. He gave us great advice on a cruisey area to begin on and where the sun had already hit so the snow will have softened up. We were off.
We got to the run and Matt said he was going to just take it easy to start. I said “sure, ok see you at the bottom.” And took off down the run, cruising along and loving being back on my board. Then out of the corner of my eye goes a flash of yellow pants and then Matt skis off in spectacular style down the hill. WHAT! I mean he said he was good but seriously, the boy can ski! I was attracted to him before but this just added a whole new level. Talent on snow is sexy. Yes, I had a crush on my boyfriend!
Absolutely perfect skiing conditions. Couldn’t have asked for better weather with warm sun, bluebird skies and the snow was soft and even. The California Run down with the lake view was absolutely epic. Pretty cruisey and flat, but just to be able to look at that view the whole way down, worth it!
But now, I’ll just let the photos speak for themselves.
We took some time out to chill out a couple of times on the deckchairs in the sun. It was a perfect day for people watching and such a great setup by the lifts. We spent $20 on coffee, Gatorade and two chocolate bars. Definitely need to pre-plan food and shop at the market. Good to be able to take a rest and enjoy the scene.
We lasted until about 2.30pm. We ski hard and fast, and pretty sure we were still jetlagged. With five days ahead of us, we decided to take it easy. The gondola ride down facing the lake was just incredible. Seriously how has it taken me so long to get here. A friend of mine in California goes every year and has been raving about the region. Since staying with him 4 years ago, it’s been on my list of ski holidays. To share it with matt and to be able to enjoy skiing together was a dream!
Shattered from our day on snow, we really appreciated being able to walk to our hotel and having all the facilities within the complex. We opted for an easy dinner again. Showered and fresh, we walked to the lift, out of the lift and about 30m into the Hard Rock Café!
We knew this would be a more expensive dinner but we also know what to expect, we knew it would be all American food and just easy. Big burgers, lots of fries and beers. We then were tempted by the dessert menu. We chose a hot fudge sundae after a tough decision making process… aka scissor, paper rock.
This happened. Urghhhh we dug through the mountains of whipped cream and discovered ice cream, hot fudge and not one, but TWO brownies under all of that. Needless to stay we waddled to bed and slipped into a food coma!
Lovelly Travels 