Zoltan’s never skied. We decided to change that.
Pre-Trip
Sports Basement
Berkeley, CA to rent our ski gear.
★★★★★
Michelle had a set of, rather jazzy, hand-me-down skis from a family friend but could no longer use them due to liability reasons (they were from the 80’s). But, thanks to the friendly and knowledgeable staff at Sports Basement (This post is not sponsored by them), they took care of Michelle and Zoltan, then off to the snow we went.
Total Cost: $117—Skies + boots for Zoltan, and Michelle only needed the ski for the weekend.
$0 for me. My buddy Vic hooked me up with a full set of snowboarding equipment. (Thanks, Vic!)
The Trip
The destination was Bear Valley, about 3-hours away.
We left at 1pm, Enzo’s nap time, to sprint through as much as we could without the crying baby.
It all went well until we had to stop for the snow chains.
…this part took us 40 minutes.
6:03PM—Arrival
We rented a cabin via Airbnb near the Bear Valley Lodge. But it was located around 100 yards from the closest parking lot. Hence, the sled with our luggage. Good times.
Day 2—8:14AM
Everyone was excited. Our first snow since 2017.
But the real highlight…
The host left us sleds. So, we let it rip.
9:42AM
How could we not build a snowman? We’ve built a miniature snowman in the past. But the occasions called for something grander—a snowman taller than the kids. (the kids were around 43 inches.)
Everyone came to help.
Ah, yes, the nose. You’re not done unless there’s a nose.
But wait, Teresa took it up a notch with a full smile.
We had a fair share of spectators
Mission Accomplished.
10:57AM
There were shuttle buses at the hour to take folks up to Skyline Bear Valley Resort, where the ski and snowboard happened.
Geared up and ready to roll.
12:01PM
The kids had their first skiing lesson.
1:35PM
After a quick, but expensive lunch (hot dogs with a side of fries were $22), we headed towards the carpet to put turn lessons to experience.
Went well, so we headed for the slopes.
Day 3—8:40AM
Last day–had to check out at noon, so we squeezed the most of the last hours.
11:02AM
Had a chance to do a last bit of skiing too.
’til next time.
