Lake Tahoe Ski Adventure - Reno and I-80 - March 13-14, 2010

One of the things I really wanted to do on this trip was attend a session at the Reno Temple.

We planned to go first thing on Saturday morning and then drive home directly afterward. But we'd come such a long way and not spent much time with Uncle Rod & Aunt Laura and Jonathan, that we decided to stay all day Saturday and drive home on Sunday.



So we hung out with the Bonnell's all morning and then went to the 12:30 session. The 12:30 session on the second Saturday of the month. The Spanish Session.

I learned a few things. Apparently "James" translates into "Santiago". "Peter, James & John" = "Pedro, Santiago & Juan." I learned that I don't know the endowment well enough to follow along in Espaniol!

It is a small temple and a was full session, so they didn't have enough translaters for all the English speakers. James and I shared a translater. He told me afterwards that he listed to the session in German, English, Spanish, Tongan, Dutch, Japanese, etc.

Luckily, my name was from Mexico, so I hope she was able to absorb all that she needed.

Very glad we made the effort to come - shouldn't forget that experience!

Our drive home on Sunday was uneventful and very quick compared to poking across the state on Highway 50. I-80 was fast and straight. We did stop at the salt flats for a walk/stretch/bathroom break and read the signs about world-land-speed records. But my camera was somewhere in the car. No pictures.

Finally, finally home again. And after about 50 trips with stuff from the car, it'll take a month to put the apartment back together. That was fun.

Lake Tahoe Ski Adventure - Lake Tahoe - March 11, 2010

Ah sad! I didn't want to check out of the hotel and pack our car full of all the stuff. But I was really looking forward to our 'poke-around-the-lake' day. It was BEAUTIFUL. Sunny and in the 50s. Most of the public parks to the water were closed for the season, so we never got close to the shore, but the views from the road are beautiful.

We stopped at Emerald Bay lookout and tromped through the snow to read the signs and look over the only island in Lake Tahoe. It has a little stone building on the top of the hill that was used as a tea house by a very rich woman who built her home at the tip of Emerald Bay.

We also stopped at a state park commemorating Donner Pass. The museum was closed, but we tromped through the snow to look at the statue anyway.

We ended our tour by driving by Donner Lake, Donner Summit and all the ski resorts out that direction that we didn't have time or money to ski.

James is interested in a ski company called Moment. They build their skis in Reno and James was determined to see if he could demo any skis. We finally found their workshop (they were just finishing a move to a new building) and even met the CEO. He let us each borrow a pair of skis for free and without collateral of any kind. James really wanted to try out a particular ski, but most of their inventory was out at a retail show. So James borrowed the Rubys and I got to try the Pikas.

(When we returned the skis on Friday night, we got to tour their new workshop and see some of the ski making machines. It was interesting to see their topsheet graphics printing out from a big printer.)

Lake Tahoe Ski Adventure - Homewood - March 9, 2010

CLICK FOR HOMEWOOD TRAIL MAP

This is the view out of our window at the Mont Bleu Casino in Stateline, NV - just on the Nevada side of the border on the South Shore of Lake Tahoe. Staying 3 nights, SO glad to have a 'base camp' for a few nights.

Conditions at Homewood were WONDERFUL after Squaw! We skied mostly powder (10in.) all day in the sun after exploring the resort. The north facing slopes - especially the trees - were fantastic. But the south facing was crunchy underneath. The groomers were fantastic all over the mountain and I was ready for some groomers - can't remember the last time I skied 2 days in a row!

This is the main base lodge - I wanted a picture with the Homewood sign, so you can't see all the tables (to the left of the photo) where everyone ate lunch and enjoyed the sunshine.

Gilbert's Gulch is one of my favorite runs at Homewood. We skied it right at the end of the day and it still had lots of powder. James found a sweet tree powder run and just made laps! sunshine and clouds with beautiful views.


The visibility was SO much better and much less wind than yesterday. We like Homewood. Just look at the view!



Video - Jessi tree skiing

Video - Following James

Video - Following Jessi

Lake Tahoe Ski Adventure - Reno - March 7, 2010

We explored the most enormous sporting good store in Sparks/Reno called Scheels. It reminds me a lot of Cabellas. I loved the different statues outside the doors. These are huge! And there are a half-dozen more depicting different sports or activities.

Just inside the main doors is a huge double-arch fish tank. A fresh water tank on one side of the store and a salt-water acquarium on the other side of the store.

Amazing to see a catfish swim above your head - right James!?

I don't know what kind of fish this is, but isn't he pretty!

It is a two-story building and the center is dominated by a Ferris Wheel! It only cost $1 to ride.

Jonathan and Aunt Laura

Uncle Rod & James standing on the 2nd story watching the Ferris Wheel. All the way around the 2nd story landing are "Presidents". Life Size manequins of American Presidents (the most recent I saw was Ronald Reagan. I suppose they can't use presidents who are still living?) The Presidents are dressed in period clothing and are giving a speech - out of speakers near each president.

Like Cabellas, there are life size animals all around the store. This mountain of animals is on the 2nd story, so you can see how tall this building is!

Outside Scheels is an outdoor mall. Many different shops in stand-alone buildings. With lots of sculptures and several places to sit and rest. One of the other stores that I really enjoyed was frozen yogurt! James tried on shoes at the Nike store and the Adidas store. And we stopped at the Farmers Almanac store and the Harry & David store.

We said goodbye to the Bonnells and headed south to Lake Tahoe. Our first hotel was the Tahoe Biltmore in Crystal Bay just inside the Nevada border on the North Shore. We did a stay-and-ski-free deal - we paid the total cost of two full-price Squaw adult lift tickets to the Tahoe Biltmore and we also got to stay the night in one of their "cabins".

Here are the "Cabins" - basically a motel building outside the Hotel/Casino. Oooooold! But the price was right (essentially free). And once we turned up the heat at 2:30 in the morning, we slept just fine!

Lake Tahoe Ski Adventure - Highway 50 - March 6, 2010

Whooo Hooo! Vacation! James & I saved my Christmas bonus and spent it all on lift tickets at Lake Tahoe. We decided to take Highway 50 across Nevada on the way to Reno and then I-80 on the way home. James had already driven the "Lonliest Road in America", but this is my first drive. The state of Nevada turned the designation of the Lonliest Road in America into something of a tourist adventure and they give out Survival Guides. If you get your guide stamped in each of the 5 towns, they'll send you a certificate and a bumper sticker. We got our survival guide in the mail and used it to tell us a very little bit about the towns we were driving through.

Our first stop was Uncle Doug & Aunt Barbara's house in Santaquin, UT. We had the most fantastic buttermilk waffles, eggs, sausage and fruit. There house must be my favorite place to eat in Utah County! Thank you for feeding us!

Just over the border into Nevada is the Great Basin National Park. I had never heard of Great Basin National Park, but we didn't hesitate to stop and eat our lunch here. If we had an extra half day, we'd have stayed for the tour of the Lehman limestone Cave.
And we skpped the scenic drive up Wheeler Peak to look for the ancient Pinon Pines - the state tree of Nevada. Even with a week, we don't have enough time to do EVERYTHING there is to do, so maybe we'll get another try at the Great Basin National Park...

Our first stop for a stamp in the survival guide was in Ely, NV. And sure enough, there seems to be a casino for every town!

The second stop is in Eureka, NV - a historic mining town with some neat old buildings. We explored a museum in the old newspaper printing building that had a lot of history of the town and of mining.

Third stop: Austin, NV. This is a picture of Stokes Castle, located at the west end of town on a steep dirt road. The "castle" was built to resemble a Roman tower and is was used for only a short time as a summer home.

We only got stamps from the first three towns, the tourist stops in the last two towns were closed - plus it got late! So we mailed the survival guide postcard to the Nevada Tourism Office and are eagerly awaiting our Certificate of completion!

Just as it got dark, in between towns, we came across The Shoe Tree.

The story is that a newlywed couple got into an argument and one of them threw the other's shoes up into the huge Cottonwood Tree. After making up and as a peace offering, a pair of (the other spouse's) shoes were thrown into the tree. Ever since, shoes have been decorating this tree (and a huge pile at the base of the tree!). Makes the 'bead tree' at Brighton look pretty small!

This last picture is a casino in Fallon, NV. We stopped across the street for a quick bite to eat before finishing our drive to Reno and our air mattress in the living room of Uncle Rod & Aunt Laura's apartment.

A very mellow, very enjoyable road trip. Lots and lots of things we didn't drive off the highway to see, so there are definitely reasons to drive this road again!

2008 Review

I saw a similar post on Jenna's blog & LOVED the idea - so here is 2008 in review for the 'Jessi James Gang'! Actually, most of these are the pictures I had picked out as potentials for our Christmas Card. I finally chose four, but why not share them all? All these pictures are in other places in the blog, but it was very fun to hit some of the highlights all together.

March 11, 2008 - Mt. Rose Ski Resort near Reno, NV - The lake in the background is Lake Tahoe. Mt. Rose has two-for-one on Tuesdays and some really, really fun runs. There is a section of the mountain called "The Chutes!" This means I skied the chutes and James skied the ridgelines and hopped over rocks. We visited James' Uncle Rod & Aunt Laura & cousin Jonathan. We stayed in a casino in downtown Reno - I think James won $2 at a machine and then lost it again! We spent a day in Virginia City and saw wild horses and toured an old mine. We spent our last day driving along the shore of Lake Tahoe.

May 17, 2008 - Cascade Airport, ID - James got his private pilot license in January, and we finally got to fly together in May. We rented the plane from his flight school, Jetstream Aviation, and made arrangements for Uncle Neil to pick us up at the Cascade Airport. We flew over Bogus Basin to see the melting snow and then did a 'touch & go' at the McCall Airport before landing in Cascade. We had lunch with U.Neil, Oma, U.Norm & A.Marlene before flying home again. Of course, James scouted West Mountain and the snow available as we climbed up above Cascade.

May 25, 2008 - Sheridan Glacier - We spent almost a month in Alaska for a wonderful vacation / high school graduation (Congratulations Kathleen!) / job interview (Alaska Troopers, try again another year) / family reunion / mission homecoming (Congratulations Brian!)... I have a whole scrapbook full of pictures, but this is one of my favorites. I also saw an actual, living ice worm at this glacier!

May 30, 2008 - Delta Junction, AK - The Alaska Highway was constructed during World War II and connects the lower 48 to Alaska through Canada. It runs from Dawson Creek, British Columbia to Delta Junction (about 100 miles southeast of Fairbanks). Completed in 1943, it is 1,522 miles long. This is the only bit of the highway I've been on - but we have plans to drive the highway together sometime! We drove past these incredible mosquitos & I had James turn around and go back for some pictures!

July 5, 2008 - Waterfall near Ogden, UT - During the Price Family Reunion, a small group of us (Mom & Dad, Cody, Aunt Lynn & Chelsea) hiked from the trailhead at the top of 29th street to the base of this waterfall. Then we went to Lagoon!

July 11, 2008 - West Mountain near Cascade, ID - We went skiing in July! Jed, Kurt, James & I brought our ski gear to the Simpson Family Reunion and hiked for a few turns. Later the same day, there was waterskiing and canoeing on Cascade Reservoir!

August 29, 2008 - Trailhead to Vanity Lakes near Stanley, ID - Jessi, James, Kathleen & Kathy. Not pictured: Gil, Jed, Hannah, Hallie, and Stella. We had a great trip - there were minor injuries and fishing lures in the tree branches and perfect pan-sized trout and mountains to climb and snow!


August 31, 2008 - Overlooking Upper Vanity Lake - James & I hiked to the top of the highest ridge above the lakes - We had a beautiful view of all the lakes we fished, the next valley & even a few deer.


September 1, 2008 Labor Day - Vanity Lakes campsite - Gil, Hannah, Kathy, Jessi, James & Kathleen - James was excited to get 'first tracks' all the way to the car. We stopped at Kirkham Hot Springs on the way home to finish thawing our toes!

September 6, 2008 - Yellowstone National Park - We got to drive with James' sister Kathleen to BYU-Idaho. She had freshman orientation, so we left her to get settled in Rexburg and explored Yellowstone.

September 7, 2009 - North East Entrance near Silver Gate, MT - This was our first time out the North East Entrance of the park - it is so pretty! We found an inexpensive campsite a few miles outside the park and even saw wolves (from a very very very long distance through a borrowed scope - never forget your binoculars while visiting Yellowstone) along that stretch.

September 27, 2008 - Boise River Greenbelt - Kurt & Carlee, Tyler, Christy & Jake invited us to spend a Saturday on the Greenbelt with them We had a wonderful time & I'm embarrassed that this is James' first adventure on the greenbelt and we've lived in Eagle for 2 years!

October 23, 2008 - Boise River in Eagle, ID - Simpson Family photo. Left side: James & Jessi /Kurt, Christy, Tyler, Carlee & Jake. Center Left: Clay & Kristen, Emma & Aspen. Center: Gil & Kathy Simpson Center Right: Jed & Maria, Tucker, Hannah, Hallie, Stella & Zoe Right: Deven, Ellie, Kim, Bree, McKayla & Carter

October 23, 2008 - Eagle, ID - This year we have a new nephew - Jake Wendell - born July 1st and an new niece - Ellie Jane - born September 19th. This (obviously) is Ellie - just over a month old & so, so sweet.

November 26, 2009 - backcountry.com warehouse, Salt Lake City, UT - We moved to Utah on November 1st and began new jobs on November 3rd. James now works for Backcountry.com in the warehouse. He started out in inventory (pulling items from the warehouse to be shipped), but he was quickly moved to backstock. Now he spends all day looking for 'suspends'. Items that have been ordered, but are in backstock and need to be picked and put into regulary inventory so they can be picked and then shipped. I think I have the process right.


November 26, 2009 - Intermountain Life Flight hangar, Salt Lake City, UT -
I work for Intermountain Life Flight (again) as their Lead Billing Specialist - I have one other employee on my team! We live with Grandma & Granddad Price (THANK YOU!) and commuted from Ogden to our jobs in Salt Lake City. It is about 45 miles each way and an hour of commute, depending on traffic. We carpool, leaving home at 5 am! Since it is winter, usually not getting back until after dark.

November 28, 2008 - Temple Square, Salt Lake City, UT - Now that we live in Utah, James' sister Kathleen came to Ogden for Thanksgiving. We really enjoyed her visit and made the most of it - a Utah Jazz NBA basketball game, turkey dinner, skiing at Brighton Ski Resort, and a visit to Temple Square to see the Christmas lights.

December 27, 2008 - Wolf Mountain Ski Area in Eden, UT - Seems like skiing has been part of Christmas for ... forever. We enjoyed having Christmas with Grandma & Granddad Price and then skied for the first time at Wolf Mountain Ski Area - the closest one to G&G's house.