Jo & Keith's Most Excellent Ski Adventure

What a wonderful day Keith and I had at Sierra-At-Tahoe today. The photo below is taken at the top of the mountain, with Lake Tahoe in the background.

We left home right before 6:00 this morning and pulled into the parking lot at 9:00. The car told us it was 14 degrees and since I can't stand being cold, I pulled on all my layers. Two base layer tops, one fleece pull-over, then my shell with the zip-in liner. I also put on my neck scrunchy thing, my hat, my gloves with my glove liners. Oh, and I had long underwear under my ski pants. As we were walking to the base lodge and I was carrying my new (heavier) skis, I was already rethinking my layers. But, off we went, down to the chair lift and onto our first run. We went down a long intermediate run and when we got to the bottom and to the line for the lift, I was already sweating. I never did strip off layers, I just unzipped my jacket and took off my gloves and kept on the liners and finally took my hat off. Keith said it was going to be 46 degrees there today but I was concerned because of it being 14 degrees when we got there. There wasn't a cloud in the sky or any kind of breeze at all.
We had a delicious lunch at the Smokehouse 360 at the top of the mountain. I had a grilled portabello mushroom sandwich with a salad and Keith had a tri-tip sandwich with onion buds. I had bottled water and Keith had a beer. Lunch totalled $35. When you add in the price of lift tickets, I wonder how in the world do families vacation and ski in Lake Tahoe? We left right before 3:00 and were back home by 6:00.
The snow was perfect! The lift lines were just a tad longer than I like. Most people seemed to be behaving themselves, considering it is New Year's Eve, but I do think I may have caught a contact high from skiing behind a snowboarder for a little while. :-/ I'm happy to say that neither of us had a fall. I came close just once. I lost my balance and was on one ski for a few seconds. Both of us had sore thighs when we left. The first day up of the season is usually a little tough on the body.

I don't think either of us will be able to stay up until midnight to welcome 2009. I have a running date with Christy (and hopefully Lori) in the morning and Keith has a golf date with Christy's husband. It is so great to live in a place where we can ski one day and golf/run the next. How lucky are we?