Our Winter Holiday in 2021 was set for December 28 - January 1 at Lake Tahoe, California. This location was chosen by Rachael and Kevin since it was their year to select the site. Liz and I had just spent Christmas in Riverside with d and Zhouyi so we were already in California with our Toyota 4Runner. We began the drive from Riverside to Lake Tahoe at 5:00 in the morning on Dec 28. In normal weather this would be about a 7.5 hour drive. However, this was not normal weather. By December 27, the day before we left, it had already snowed 193.7 inches (over 16 ft) in Lake Tahoe during the month. It snowed an additional 20 inches between Dec 27 and 31, making this the snowiest December on record at Lake Tahoe.
We drove up the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada Mountains on HWY 395 through Bishop, CA without any problems. However, as we went further north into the Mono Lake area we began to encounter travel warnings that required either chains or 4WD with snow tires to proceed. We had 4WD with good tires so we continued until we reached Mono City. At that point the highway patrol had closed the road and diverted all traffic east into Nevada. We drove on snow-packed roads making a big loop through several small towns like Hawthorne and Yerington until we were able to join up with Hwy 395 again near Topaz Lake. We stopped to shop and eat at a Walmart in Gardnerville, NV. The poor road conditions and detour had slowed our travel substantially so we didn't arrive at the Walmart until about 4 PM.
At this point we were about 20 miles from our Airbnb venue in Lake Tahoe but we were at the base of the Sierra mountains and had a long and slippery climb ahead of us. There were two highways to get up to Tahoe from Gardnerville but both of them were backed up for miles with stuck traffic. We decided to try our luck on Hwy 207 which was the shortest of the two. That highway had a series of switchbacks going up the mountain and we could see the car lights barely moving all the way up the mountain. The road had been plowed but is was very snow-packed and icy. At 5:00 we left the Walmart and drove up Hwy 207 as far as we could and soon came to a stop. From that point the traffic was inching along for the next 15 miles.
After inching along for 3 hours, at 8:00 PM we finally pulled into the driveway of our venue. Fortunately the driveway had been plowed, but the snow had been pushed against the front porch and garage doors of the house. We located some snow shovels and dug a path from the driveway to the front door and were able to get in the house. The next job was to dig out the garage doors so we could get two cars in. We needed the garage because each family was bringing a car which means we needed to clear space for 5 cars.
Next we focused on getting all the kids to the venue. d and Zhouyi came the same route that we did but left a few hours later. We were able to give them advice about the best way to come avoiding road closures and getting tire chains before trying to climb the mountain. They were next to arrive at about 9:00. Topher and My flew into Reno with their family and we suggested that they take the Hwy 50 route up to Tahoe. This turned out to be bad advice because they go stuck in traffic along the lake after they had climbed the mountain to Tahoe. They finally arrive about 10:00. The Keetons and McLaughlins both flew into Sacramento. Trying to get to Tahoe from the west was a nightmare. Hwy 50 going to Tahoe had roadblocks that stopped all cars that didn't have chains so they had to find chains which were in very short supply because of the storm. The road was treacherous and the traffic was terrible, so after they installed their chains it was stop and go. The McLaughlins finally arrived about 1:00 AM but the Keetons were still on the road. Finally, at about 3:00 AM the Keetons arrived completely exhausted. One of the chains had poked a hole in their tire so they had to put on the spare (donut tire) on the side of the icy road. Just getting everyone to the Tahoe venue was a major accomplishment and an experience none of us will forget.
During the next three days we did everything in the snow. The kids and grandkids went skiing at Heavenly Resort and found a tubing hill nearby. We also dug out the hot tub that was on the back patio of the venue. The snow was so deep that the hot tub was completely buried and we couldn't even find it. After we finally located it we were able to dig it out enough to get the cover half open and amazingly it was still hot.
 |
| We finally found the hot tub |
 |
| Dug a path to the hot tub |
 |
Cleared off enough snow to get the
hot tub half open |
 |
| Quentin dressed to go outside |
 |
| d grabbing a bite to eat |
 |
| Loading up to go skiing |
 |
| Quentin and snow piled up against the window |
 |
| John and Kathryn |
 |
| View of the grill from the outside deck |
 |
| Meila and Quentin |
 |
| Euan and Beau playing video games |
 |
| Reayen lost a tooth |
 |
| Grandkids at the bottom of the venue driveway |
 |
| John pulling grandkids on the tubing hill |
On January 1, everyone left Lake Tahoe to return home. Fortunately, by that time the roads were clear so we didn't have a repeat of the arrival experience. We checked out of the Airbnb and drove the Las Vegas for the night. Liz and I had picked up a bug around Christmas time and had been feeling the effects for the whole week so we were anxious to get home. We stopped one more night at Albuquerque and arrived home on January 3. We had another surprise waiting at home when we discovered water on the floor under the carpet of the family room. After removing the paneling from the wall to expose the plumbing I was able to finally trace the leak to the dishwasher. We ended up replacing the dishwasher and the family room carpet as well as hiring a plumber to come and repair the hole I made in a cold water pipe. It was good to be home!
