Winter in Tahoe is spectacular.
Over the recent Martin Luther King long weekend, fifteen children between age 6 and 12 joined the ChildReach crew in the snow at Lake Tahoe. The trip to Tahoe is designed to give the kids a sense of what the changing seasons are like in places where there are distinct seasons, unlike San Francisco. Everyone was eager the day of, so much so that many kids showed up early, packed and were ready to go. After we packed up our snow boots and warm coats we left Raphael House and headed for Tahoe.
As soon as we got to our Tahoe home, it was flooded with screams of joy, whoops for being out of the car, and hollers for the fun we were about to have. The sun set too early for us to play outside on the first evening, so we made grand plans to watch a family movie over some hot chocolate and popcorn but disaster struck!!! Half of the lights went out in the house, and all power to our televisions and DVD players. This may have been a challenge for another group, but our kids just played Hide n' Seek, and card and board games before retiring to bed. We did still get our hot chocolate, thank goodness for that!
The blackout was an unexpected lesson for us all in keeping our heads cool in an emergency, and how much we rely on and for what things we use power.
The adventure continued the next day. We ate a big breakfast, and braved the snow to sled on some mini slopes in the back-yard, have a giant snowball fight and make snowmen! Some children helped make a slope by fastidiously digging and shoveling snow to the top of the hill. Mostly, it got too cold and everybody retreated inside. Later in the afternoon we decided to hit the real slopes and found a great sledding hill where children slid down two by two. Some of us took a short walk to find gorgeous views of Lake Tahoe at sunset.
We then returned home to play more games, enjoy each other’s company and watch icicles melt from the roof through our windows. Next, everyone pitched in to help make a delicious dinner.
The electricity remained on and it’s a good thing too. We needed all of the stoves and ovens for we were feasting in honor of our birthday boy! We ate cake and cobbler to our heart’s content.
The next morning we packed up, and headed home. The drive back was just as spectacular as Tahoe itself. The children noticed our rapidly declining elevation by the ear pops they suffered. They noticed that the vast snowy peaks and pine trees disappeared quite suddenly after a certain point, and that there was a stark difference between the alpine forests we left to the farmland of the central valley.
The kids that went on this winter trip will also get the opportunity to go in summer to compare the seasons and what they like (or dislike) about each. One child, who had been on the summer trip, decided that he liked the summer better because it didn't make his hands go numb, a common casualty of being in the snow too long. Another child said she much preferred the winter because it was so fun to sled down hills and the snow tasted just like water! We are all looking forward to what the kids will have to say about the next trip to Tahoe!
