Under the Lemon Tree: Spring Break 2014

Monday, March 17, 2014

Spring Break 2014

This winter has been crazy. California is in a drought, and there has been very little snow in the mountains. Our favorite ski place was open, but yesterday they announced that they were closing for the season. So, we had to find a new snow adventure for spring break. We decided to go sledding at Adventure Mountain. It is right on the border of California and Nevada, and is at 7,300 feet. We didn't see snow until we were over 7,000 feet!

We arrived mid-afternoon and decided to just use the little plastic sled we had borrowed from friends. The boys went down the hill once or twice, and then they saw the big pile of snow to climb up! They sat up on the hill with their snowball makers and had lots of fun. Mady really liked sledding and Phil and I took turns riding down a small hill with her.

At the end of the day, we decided to take the kids to a new state, and crossed the border into Nevada. We ended up at Harrah's Hotel and Casino for the night and thought that Zachary would enjoy looking at the walls at the Hard Rock Cafe. Our meals actually exceeded my expectations. And everyone enjoyed the videos and memorabilia. For breakfast, we ate at the hotel's restaurant. There were a bunch of carved bears that Mady enjoyed. We had trouble pulling her away.

Lake Tahoe in the morning.

We returned to Adventure Mountain and rented a big inner tube for the day. Oh my gosh! The inner tube was so much fun. We wound up renting another one. Alex and Zachary started out sharing the tube and riding down together while Mady played in the snow.

They started out on a shorter hill, and didn't climb all the way up and by mid morning, they were at the top of the big run. I went down will Alex once, and we went so fast my hat flew off and we jumped the side of the run! Mady even went on a couple of runs by herself.

She was crying on the way down, but laughing and asking to go again at the bottom. Alex and Zachary tired themselves out and just wanted to play on the big snow pile. While they were doing that, Mady and I found an unused short run nearby and went up and down and up and down. We closed the place down and headed home for part two of the spring break adventure.