Spring Break - Day 4 (Tougher Ski Runs)

Another beautiful day on the slopes

Monday, March 26, 2012

We woke up a bit earlier today, but didn't make it to breakfast until about 10:30.  The location of choice this morning was Jazz Kat Cafe.  This was a pretty chill, small place, with jazz music and interesting art on the walls. There were only two other patrons in the restaurant the entire time we were there, and both were happily surfing away on their laptops using the free Wifi.  Besides enjoying the ambiance, the food was good too.  I got a Meat Lovers Scramble and Steph got an Eggs Benedict, both portions were quite large and relatively inexpensive for the area.  The service was nice too, with a very pleasant waitress who kept our coffee mugs full at all times.  No, I'm not practicing for a career in Yelping, but if I did happen to be a Yelp reviewer, I'd give this place five stars.

Action shot, sorta

Along with our leisurely paced breakfast, the overnight snowstorm and early morning flurries made the drive back to Sierra at Tahoe a bit slower.  We ended up on our first ski lift at 12:15 pm, which left us about 4 hours until the park closed.  So we decided to use that time as effectively as possible - meaning four straight hours of skiing with no breaks.  The cafeteria and bathrooms could wait, we wanted to pack in as much skiing as possible.  During that time we expanded to a much bigger part of the mountain than yesterday, mostly utilizing the Grandview Express ski lift that goes to the very top of the mountain and the 2.5 mile run that goes back to the bottom.  We did runs on pretty much every green slope in the mountain, and I also mixed in a few blues (intermediate level runs) along the way to spice things up a bit.  The whole day was a blast and we could feel proud about the noticeable improvement in our skiing skills over the course of two days.  Steph looked like a completely different skier from yesterday morning, and I felt that I had solidified a lot of the skills I had been trying to develop my last several ski trips.  When we finished our final run at about 4:15, it was probably for the best that the lifts were closed; the snow was coming down very heavily and the winds had really picked up.  The temperatures were in the low 30s when we started the day, but was feeling considerably colder by the time we left.

We returned our ski gear to the rental shop on the way home, and then after showering and changing into normal people clothes again, we headed to dinner.  Our first choice was closed, so we ended up at Rojo's Bar and Restaurant.  Having skipped lunch and burned a ton of energy throughout the day, we had no trouble putting down full rack of baby back ribs, a burger, mozzarella sticks, fries, and bread before we left.  I doubt it was the best food we had on the trip, but it might have been the most satisfying.

Evening entertainment included playing pool in the hotel game room, and then a short trip to a nearby state park for some stargazing.  According to this random website, South Lake Tahoe is a Top 5 location to look at stars.  So how could we pass that up?