America / California, USA / Squaw Valley 4

Squaw Valley (4)

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Full Moon, Bright Sun, and That Forget-Me-Not Blue Sky

             Day 17

Euben woke me up.  He wanted me to have a look outside.  I drew the curtains to the sides the night before, that’s how he saw it from the window.  I asked what time it was and he said it was half past four in the morning.  The full moon immediately caught my eye, but what captivated me was the enchanting mountain and valley below it.01

The light of the moon glimmered on the blanket of white snow over Squaw Valley.  It looked serene, like how I always imagined a winter in the mountains would be.  I remember that Euben and I stayed awake for a while, and continued to stare at the valley till we fell back to sleep…

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Now rise and shine!  Our day kicked-off with an American breakfast, and Starbucks coffee and hot choco to go.  It was our last day at Resort at Squaw Creek so we started early to make the most out of our day, that bright sun and the forget-me-not blue sky that graced us that morning.

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Snow ready

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Euben got Joaquin’s virus and was suffering from stomach flu that day.  My poor hubby stayed in the room while the kids and I had a fun morning out in the snow.05

We sled and slide.06

Tumbled and fell.

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“Let me push you, mommy!”
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Joaquin speeding down the hill

 The kids tried making a snowman but couldn’t so they settled for a snowball fight instead.09

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Benjamin building a fortress here
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Joaquin preparing to strike
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Game on

After checkout, we drove off to Squaw Valley to see if we can do a bit of snow tubing before we head back to San Francisco.  But right, we had to get that snow off our rented 4Runner first.   One tip if you’re driving in a snowy area is to bring a snow scraper.  We bought ours at The Village in Squaw Valley the other day. Without it, I think it would be very challenging to remove the snow off the car.

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A chore to some but part of the fun for others

The waiting time for the snow tubing was long and Euben’s stomach flu was getting worse.  So we decided to say goodbye to Squaw Valley earlier than scheduled and started driving towards San Francisco.

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Hope to see you again someday, Squaw Valley
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State Route 89 before entering I-80

 Interstate 80 looked gorgeous that afternoon as we drove south.  The same snow-dusted trees lined the highway.

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Day lights of cars are required to be turned on all day along these roads

Benjamin took the next picture.  He and Joaquin got a bit sentimental; they knew that in two days our US holiday would be over and Squaw Valley would be very far away.

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Melting snow on the windows

Euben started to develop a high fever so instead of driving the entire route to San Francisco which would take at least 3.5 hours, we knocked at the door of Euben’s cousin in Sacramento to spend the night.  Their house was halfway between Squaw Valley and San Francisco.  We were grateful for their hospitality despite the unannounced visit.

We also managed to cancel our hotel booking in San Francisco without penalty.   Marriot was easy to talk to when I said that we will be arriving the day after instead.

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For details on our road trip to Squaw Valley, some reviews on our hotel there (Resort at Squaw Creek) and pictures, do check out the previous 3 blog entries (Day 1, Day 2, Day 3).

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The last day of our vacation in the US and my last entry on our road trip is up next!