In September, my husband and I bought a lovely mountain house in Lake Tahoe. Since then, we've been spending a lot of time setting it up and making it a home. It's amazing what some heart and soul (and furniture) can do to a place!
We've been working hard to transform an empty 3,800 square foot behemoth into the ultimate mountain vacation paradise - full of everything we've ever wanted when we've rented houses, and ripe with some ideas we brought from spending time in the unbelievable cuteness and sophistication of the Swiss Alps during the last few Decembers.
This weekend we got the first snow of the season! After last year's bad snow, excitement was in the chilly air everywhere as locals geared up for what everyone hoped might be up to a foot of fresh snow.
On Halloween night at about 11pm the snow began and by morning we had a fresh layer of powder, coating everything like sugar. Coco, our beloved fluffy small rescue mutt, had her first encounter with snow, and after some adorably awkward attempts at numbers one and two, she got the hang of it and was ready for action (at least until her ears got too cold)!
In honor of the occasion, we all dressed up in our Alpine best. Eric and I donned some fashionable Bavarian outfits we got for Oktoberfest on our honeymoon in Tegernsee, a beautiful lake town in the Bavarian Alps about an hour from Munich, and Coco brought the magical tinkle of a Swiss cowbell along for our walk to Himmel Haus, a German bar and restaurant across from Heavenly, just a quarter mile from our house. Even in the crisp cold of pre-snow Halloween, the walk was refreshing and fun, and even Coco, with the help of some mushers paw wax and her stylish red dog parka, was able to make it to and from without too much trouble.
By the end of Saturday the snow had mostly melted, and with it the ambiance returned to fall with its yellow aspens glistening in the cold wind. With any luck, the snow queen will find her way back to Tahoe this winter for many more feet of fluffy powder to come.
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| The upper deck offers a beautiful view over Lake Tahoe as the winter storm approaches on Halloween Day |
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| Sugar coating snow on the upper deck, what a difference a day makes! |
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| All Saints' Morning brings us a new fantastic view of Mt. Tallac covered in snow, all without getting out of the comfort of the king bed in the "fire and ice" gaming guest suite. |
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| Fall meets winter at the Heavenly Starlight driveway. The ski lift swing on the guest house looks right at home! |
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| Eric cleans the gutters in preparation for the storm, alpine style! |
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| Coco tests out this mystery substance that has invaded her favorite grass! |
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| A bit bewildered (and cold), Coco is ready to go inside. |
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| Our newly furnished living room is a cozy place to wait out the snow by the fire. |
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| Back to warmth, Coco enjoys her doggie bone doughnut on the fire rug in the "fire and ice" gaming guest house |
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| By Sunday we were back to a beautiful sunny autumn, but snow across the lake (and on the Heavenly slopes) remains as an exciting preview of this coming winter. |
