Bear Valley

Wheeee!

This weekend, we drove up to the Sierras for some cross-country skiing! This winter has been a relatively wet one out here, which of course means lots of snow in the mountains, and we were chomping at the bit to get up there while it lasts. Rather than heading to Tahoe (too crowded/expensive) or Sequoia (too far, and besides, we went there for the past two winters), we tried out Bear Valley, a resort located on Hwy 4 in between Tahoe and Yosemite. Our adventure started before we even arrived when Susannah threw up copiously on the winding mountain road. The passing motorists must have been quite amused to see a toddler standing in the snow, stripped down to her diaper while her parents scrambled to clean up. It was a huge mess, but we pressed on and resigned ourselves to smelling barfy for the rest of the weekend (and believe me, we did). I figure you really have to be OK with these kinds of things if you have kids, otherwise you'd never go anywhere.
From that low point, things improved. We rented a little pull-behind sled for Susannah, where she mostly slept and ate animal crackers while we skiied. The snow was abundant and the views stunning. Cross-country skiing is a great workout, especially if you're dragging a sleeping kid behind you. Shockingly enough, after three hours of hard work at 7000 ft, we were absolutely exhausted. Back at the hotel, we hobbled around while Susannah enthusiastically helped us unpack and "clean" (she was raring to go after sleeping for most of the time that we skiied). After the long day, Alex and I were tired to the bone and decided to call it quits and hit the sack when Susannah did (7pm!).
Feeling better after 11 hours of sleep and a big breakfast, we picked up a sled at the hardware store and headed back out for some sledding. We found a very baby-sized hill and sledded down with her, but she preferred to do it herself, getting down on her behind and scooting, very, very slowly..... Alas, one can only do this for so long, so by lunchtime we were back on the road, and back home by late afternoon, leaving plenty of time to clean the car.



Time to go home.....