The Fabulous Snowy Day Trip..

The place I meant is Lake Tahoe, which is surrounded by the mountains, 4 hours north from the place I am staying in California. It is the second deepest lake in US and a place for skiing and snowboarding. My friends actually recommended me to go there but I kept my expectation very low. I am happy to settle for San Francisco.

But, another dear Indonesian colleague here was so nice to offer to take us to Monterey Beach for a day in Saturday, which is 1 hour drive away. But since the rainy and cold season started on my 2nd week here, we doubt if we would really enjoy the nice scenery with the rain.

But hey, AD got a better idea, let's go to Lake Tahoe! It would be snowing and nice up there at that time. It wasn't confirmed until Friday and I didn't set any expectation too. After all, 4 hours drive is too far for a day trip and we were not close enough to them for being so nice to us, right?

And he really was being so nice to us and gave us heaps of advice on what to wear and to buy (I bought another water + wind resistant jacket at around USD19 at Target). So, on Saturday the 26th Jan, 5 of us (me and another M'sian colleague, 2 Indonesian colleagues and their Indonesian friend) and his black Mazda3 made it to Lake Tahoe!!!

We left around 7.25am from my place at Fremont, took wrong way to San Francisco, back to the correct route, have quick breakfast at "Jack & the box" and back to the long drive and reach there nearly noon.

My yummy breakfast; croissont with ham, cheese and egg. It looks ugly but it tasted good!

Still a long drive after seeing the snow, towards the mountain…

We had yummy buffet lunch at the hotel casino, which was one of the reasons that motivate the driver to drive us 4 hours there! The bacon was crispy & good and it was an enjoyable meal at around $19 (after tips and tax).
The casino there, it is weird that there is no checking on the door for visitors, unlike in Genting.

The buffet restaurants with various cuisines for selections.

Pretty view from the restaurant, overlooking the beautiful lake and snow mountain..

Next, we proceed to take the Gondola up the mountain for a scenic spot at USD28 for two ways (some sort of cable cars) and the view was really amazing. We took many pictures and now, looking back at those pic, the background seems to be like fake one as it is too pretty to be true!
The gondola, heading toward the mountain with two stops. The first stop is for the scenic view and second top is mostly for ski-er and snowboarding.

The M'sian colleague that travelled with me from M'sia, AD and me!

Isn't the view fabulous?

Me, my Indonesian colleague, her friend and M'sian colleague.

And yeah, we try eating the snow..! Just taste like shaved ice~

After that, we drove to another beautiful scenic place where we could view the lake clearly and stepped on the thick, powdery snow and throw at each other. We made snow angels too, which was silly but very happy ones. The snow is powdery, and it doesn't melt in your hand (or gloves as I have two layers of gloves on each hand as it is very cold!) I think the weather was at border 0 degree Celsius! We couldn't stay too long out of the car! It's freezing!

The drive was pretty dangerous one with curvy roads and not covered at the edge. And you could easily drive down the valley!

I love the view, simply amazing, isn't it?

Look ma, snows!!!

Snowfight?

The big man started it, making snow angel! More like a challenge from us.

Pretty soon, all of us want a snow angel too. Laid back on the cold snow and move your hands and legs.

See my snow angel?? Nice??

The five of us~

Passed by the casino on the way back and this lady won USD1000 jackpot!!! Lucky her!

We left around 5.30pm and had a long drive back, hunting for cheap gasoline (as the price for different petrol station differs at different stations and locations) and we finally settled for USD3.15 per gallon, only to find USD3.09 per gallon at the nearby! Life's always like that, isn't it?

We had late dinner around 9.30pm in Berkeley and it seems to be one of their famous pizza, which is extremely thick, guzzling with cheese and tomatoes and I never had better pizza in my life! Seriously.

The pizza place..

The pizza! Yum yum~

Finally reach the residence around 11pm and was very happy with the trip. Got to know the colleagues better and they're really friendly and fun people, not the pretentious kind. It was a good day and I am grateful for them. =)