tales of tahoe

SO, a couple weeks ago, a friend called me friday morning and said..."we booked a room in the lodge at sugarbowl for tonight and tomorrow, and won't be able to make it.  would you like to take it?"

and i said, "of course! that would be great!"

unfortunately, dave was working on a project, and could not go; but suggested that i enjoy myself and go.  so i did....for the most part.

on the way there, just past auborn, i encountered a 20 mile backup due to an 8 car pile-up.  i sat on the highway for 2.5 hours, without moving.  i left the house at 2:30pm; by the time the accident cleared, it was 9pm.

by this time, it was snowing quite heavily, and i began to be a little concerned about the chain control check-point.  luckily i bought chains on the way there, but had NO idea had to put them on.  i am from florida.  i'd never even seen chains in my life!!

 good thing: there were men you could pay $30 and they'd do it for you.  bad thing: i didn't realize i needed to do that BEFORE the check point.  so, the po-po made me exit the highway, drive back 2 miles (which had taken me 2 hours to get through), get back on the highway, and then go through the chain line again!!  at this point i called dave and cried.  by the time i got through chain-control, it was 12:30am.

now with chains on, and only able to go 30mph max, and with another 30+ miles to go, i finally made it to the exit i wanted around 1:30am.  and unfortunately from here, google maps gave me the wrong directions. sigh.  i had no idea where i was going.  thank goodness for a pg&e guy working late who gave me directions after hollering at him out the window.

i finally made it to the lodge at 2am.  yeah!!  i hadn't eaten in 12 hours, or tinkled in 6 hours.  i was truly grateful that i didn't have to pull over on the side of the road, alone, and improvise!

The next day, i was both wired and exhausted; however, the skiing was awesome! 

the snow was amazing! and everything was beautiful!

i had a great time!

now i just had to make it home...

and being the silly florida girl that i am, i thought i could handle the chain removal myself. ha.

so, 20 minutes after leaving sugarbowl, i find myself on the side of highway 80, with the chains caught over the axle behind the two front wheels; laying under my car on the muddy, snowy, road alone and, well, lots of other emotions.

so, not ashamed to ask (or beg) for help, i flagged down a random blue tahoe in hopes that someone could or even would help.  fortunately for me, what must have been the 3 nephites, stepped out of the tahoe, took off my tires, removed the chains, and sent me on my way.  and from there, i was home in no time...though very gross and dirty.

moral of the story:  it's okay to go alone, just do it in a truck!!