Where do you go for snow from San Francisco?
For many who live in the San Francisco Bay Area, to see and play in the snow is to drive to the Lake Tahoe area, which is a 3-4 hour northwest drive from the Bay Area to the California Nevada state border.
By late March, normally there is still some snow, especially in the higher mountain elevations. But this Winter, it has been an extremely very wet one.
Here in the Bay Area, after 5 years of drought and water rationing, the last couple of years have been truly a blessing. We have been receiving unseasonably high amounts of rain!
Well, with all the rain we have been getting here in the last few months, the Sierra Nevada, which is where Lake Tahoe and many of the ski resorts are located, have been hit with 155 percent of average snow!
Everyone is happy - both us, the tourists who drive up, and the locals who live up there because this means the snow and ski season will be extending at some places now up to July!
Here are some of the photos of my family vacation 2 weeks ago.
The snowpack was at least 10 feet (3 meters) high which is normally unheard of this late in the season. Under all this snow is a huge wooden deck. We had to dig out and make “stairs” to get out to the backyard from the French doors.
We had so much snow we didn’t have to leave our cabin for the 3+ days we were there. We just played in the backyard for hours each day.
With a couple of engineers in the family and shovels found in the garage, in a few hours of shoveling they created our very own 100+feet (30+ meters) toboggan track with a couple of turns in the trees.
If you laid on your back, it was like a homemade luge track. Both the kids and adults were having so much fun! I felt we were having own mini Winter Olympics. Us, big kids were getting competitive by trying to figure out how we can go down faster with each run.
My #LetsGuide Tips
Again, I want to say it is not normal to have this much snow this late in the season. But if you have the opportunity to visit the Tahoe area during the winter to early Spring no matter what your snow skill level is, you can have lots of fun. Tahoe is also a great outdoor playground during the summer too, especially for families – Hiking, river rafting, boating, swimming in the Lake, etc.
We were enjoying just being outside and watching the snow falling and landing on us. We built a snowman and had snowball fights.
We even ate snow which tastes like a snow cone or shave ice without the flavored syrup. It was great to have your very own backyard freezer to keep your drinks ice cold while playing outside.
Be sure to wear warm, waterproof snow clothing, snow gloves, and snow boots and sunscreen. For us, being in the mid 30Fs (or 0C) is COLD. This is not what we are used to and had to buy and rent appropriate snow clothes and snow gear in the Bay Area prior to driving up.
Bring emergency food and supplies for your car. We also brought water, food, snacks, blankets, and a fully charged power pack for our phones for the drive up and back down the mountains in case if we got stuck in the snow and had to wait for the snow plows to get us out.
I highly recommend renting a cabin, house, or a condo with a full kitchen during the snow season because it is nice to cook and eat your meals there instead of having to drive into town for meals, especially at night for dinner. It saves money from having to eat out or staying at a resort. And if you and your friends like to cook, you can have fun in the kitchen and share your favorite dishes with each other.
Have you ever experienced snow? If you live in a 4-seasons climate, do you like the Winter season more than the rest of the seasons?
Cheers,
Karen
