DATELINE: SOUTH LAKE TAHOE

DATELINE SOUTH LAKE TAHOE.  Weather Update:  The sun is out, shining down on about 3 feet of newly fallen snow in the Heavenly Ski Resort Village in the past 48 hours.

After driving 2 long days to get here, through stretches of horrifying ice and snow on I-5 from Portland to Cottage Grove, Oregon on Day 1 then through raging winds, pouring rains, and alongside threatening to overrun the highway flood stage rivers on Day 2,  we got here late Sunday afternoon to discover that "Heavenly", the mountain, was closed to snow sports due to power outages and high winds.  And remained closed until this morning.  (Worst storm in a decade!  Yay timing!)  Imagine the mood of my snowboarding-fanatic husband.  Not good.  But to his credit and newfound "mindfulness" and acceptance of the present moment, he did not rant or pout (much) and substituted snowboarding with snowshoeing yesterday and seemed relatively (very relatively) content-ish.  But this morning, he was out the door with high hopes and it looks like he might be having a great day up there in the powder.  I hope so.

As for me, my vacation week is much as I expected it to be regardless of snow conditions.  I brought my snowshoes along, but that was just an "idea" more than a plan.  He went out in a blizzard yesterday, and admitted he was happy I didn't go.  He was rather miserable on his return trek along the lakeshore as the wind blew pellets of wet snow in his face.  He came back soaked!  He knew I'd have hated it.  So, I've been hanging out in our sweet cozy condo with my computer, my books and magazines, a fridge full of food, and my coloring books.  I am sort of compulsively addicted to coloring right now.  I got two new books for Christmas and a new 100 pack of watercolor brush pens.  That's MY idea of Heavenly!  They also offer yoga here at the resort.  I'm all set.

We've explored the Village here and I was left feeling a bit disappointed at the limited number of little shops close by -- I expected more diversity.   Lots of ski gear and clothing shops, tons of restaurants, a couple of coffee places (yes, Starbucks, of course), a real estate office, a donut shop...and one cute little boutique called "What a Girl Wants" (they were right) where I bought two overpriced shirts (one for yoga and one lightweight hoodie) that are super cute!

We wandered over the state line (we are currently in California -- a block away is Nevada) to Harrah's Casino, a behemoth of a drab gray reflective building that looks a bit like a high security prison with its no window aesthetic.  Of course that's to confuse the gamblers into losing track of time passing...hours, days, weeks.  We are not casino people.  We walked in and saw all the slots (that don't even spit out money anymore!), roulette tables,  21 tables and the sad looking people staring like zombies at the games, smelled the stale cigarette odor, used the restroom, walked to the next closest exit, and left.  Casinos are soul-deadening places, in my judgement.  Vegas has a certain attraction because it's so iconic and it has a vibrancy with lots of shows and people-watching, but as a rule, the actual casino part of Vegas is also sort of awful.  Haven't been there in many years; no desire to go.  So, no, the casino wasn't a distraction choice for us while waiting for the mountain to open.

Instead we went to another Marriott sales presentation and bought some more Destination Points.  That's their thing now instead of "timeshare".  You buy points and "spend" them on various vacation options -- resorts, airfare, guided tours, hotels, luxury home rentals,  cruises, "experiences" like the Kentucky Derby, Grand Prix, etc.  Of course we had NO intention of buying anything, but we'd been talking about taking one of the European River cruises and spending some time in the British Isles.  (HaHa!!! I say this like a seasoned traveler.  We've never left the North American Continent!)  And we have an idea of doing a family vacation with our adult children and grandchildren.  We have many ideas for modest (by some standards), comfortable (by any standard) travel and this will help us realize some of them.  Hub has always wanted to travel more than I, but I'm starting to come around.  A little.  On my own terms.  Will keep you posted.

Vacations do provide one thing, regardless of unexpected snafus.  They get us out of the normal routine.  An unintended consequence of our slowed down trip due to the driving conditions over the weekend was more time in the car together to talk.  We love to either be totally silent in the car, or to talk for hours.  Sunday was talk day.  We did sort of a review of our lives together and talked about what may have happened had we made different choices along the way; what we'd have missed and what we might have gained -- or not.  It was a time of deep sharing and reflection and helped us both know ourselves and each other better.  We love that kind of thing.  Introspection, teasing out with questions to each other the next layer of thought and feeling about our perceptions, our decisions, our hopes and dreads.  We always end up feeling closer.  And for that, even a trip that is less than perfectly meeting our expectations is actually an opportunity for growth and connection that would have been lost in the routines of home.  A good thing.

At least, that's the view from here...©