First Tahoe of the Season


Saturday morning, we set out for Lake Tahoe—our first trip of the season. Tahoe is my very favorite place in NorCal—a place I can actually imagine us returning to even when we’re living back East one day. We were very excited to introduce Lucia to the lake and the mountains and pines surrounding it. And to snow, it turns out—the Sierras are still snow-covered, and hard-packed snow covered the forest floor by the side of the highway as we inched up in altitude. The temperature was pleasant—high sixties, low seventies—but the snow seems to be sticking around for a while.

We arrived in late morning and went straight to King’s Beach, our favorite part of the lake. We ate the sandwiches we’d packed and then sat for a while on a blanket in a shady spot under a tree, just taking it all in and enjoying the alpine peacefulness. Around noon, we drove to Incline Village, Nevada, and checked into the Hyatt—a luxurious resort with a private beach and fabulous swimming facilities. After hauling our ridiculous number of bags to the room, we went down to the sand and determined that Lucia should nap while we read on a blanket. And she did, for a while; Andrew took a walk with her in the stroller, and she fell asleep; he hastily pushed her back to our blanket. But just when we’d finished congratulating ourselves smugly on our sleeping baby and our ability to read on the beach, she woke up. No amount of strolling would put her back to sleep.

We decided it was pool time. All three of us changed into swimsuits—Lucia sported an adorable yellow and white ruffled number—and went to the Hyatt’s kiddie pool. It’s the best kiddie pool I’ve ever seen, with a sloping entry that allowed Lucia to simply sit in a couple of inches of water while she got used to things. She really loved it, and eventually she sat waist-deep (with Andrew holding her tightly, of course), slapping the water with her little hands and looking at her underwater feet. We took her into the adult pool next—gloriously heated—and she swam happily with Andrew, even kicking her legs when he put her on her tummy. I was on hand to wrap her immediately in a towel to keep her from getting chilly in the cool mountain air.




Despite her swim and some nursing back in the room, no amount of rocking and singing convinced her it was naptime. Finally, with some trepidation, we went to dinner at one of the Hyatt’s many restaurants—a casual bar—where she let out some happy/threatening yells but was otherwise perfectly pleasant. Andrew pointed out that if we were tempted to say Lucia had had a difficult day, the actual truth is that she was absolutely fine—she just didn’t do what we wanted her to do. There was no fussiness, and we all had a lovely afternoon.

Once Lucia was asleep, Andrew kept watch in the room and I went back to the pool area. By nightfall it was in the thirties, but I slipped into the steaming hot tub and barely noticed. It wasn’t yet fully dark, and I could see the snow-capped mountains; eventually, a slim fingernail moon and one bright star emerged in the sky. It’s difficult to overstate how peaceful and beautiful and satisfying the whole scene was; gazing at that clear mountain sky, alternately swimming in the pool and basking in the hot tub, made me love Tahoe even more.

Then it was Andrew’s turn to roam; he took a quick hot tub dip as well and then headed to the casino (we were in Nevada, after all), where he won $1.50 at the penny slots.

Today we once again swam—Lucia really does seem to love it, kicking her little legs and not minding when she gets a few drops of water in her mouth—and then headed to the room for her nap. She slept for two hours—we had to extend our check-out twice, which the Hyatt graciously allowed. Sadly, we then left the resort—a really wonderful place that, unfortunately, we won’t be able to afford once it’s actually in-season. We headed back to King’s Beach, got burgers and shakes to go at the Char-Pit, and ate our lunch at a picnic table overlooking the lake. The breeze was quite cold; once we got to chilly, we loaded ourselves into the car and journeyed home.

A lovely Tahoe weekend, and two weekends in a row of a good traveling baby. Now if only we could get Lucia’s overnight necessities down to a backpack instead of an entire station wagon.






Comments

PletcherFamily said…
she is just too adorable for words!! I love her suit.
The Kovalls said…
I agree with Jen - she is just too much in that bathing suit :-)
Sara said…
Sounds like a great trip. I'm jealous! :)