2017-01-31
Once a year, I like to brave the freezing cold and head up to Lake Tahoe to play in the snow. It’s only about a 3 hour drive from Napa, so its a popular weekend get away for some skiing or snowboarding. I’ve never skiied, only snowboarded once in my life and I remember going down the hill a couple times and then went to the bar and drank bloody marys by myself. This time, we went to celebrate my man friends birthday! We both don’t like the cold, so our plan for the weekend was to stay cozy by the fireplace and sip champagne. Tahoe was so snowy and icy, very white, and magical.
The hotel we stayed at was The Ritz Carlton, in North Lake Tahoe. This was my first time staying at the Ritz, I loved the lodge feel. We had access to the Club Lounge, which included food and snacks anytime of the day (buffet style), a fridge stocked with beer and wine, and a mini bar for cocktails. This lounge was perfect for us, it had couches, tables and chairs, and a cozy fireplace to relax, eat and drink all day.
The Ritz has a gym/spa, of course I like to stay at places where I am able to exercise. They had a fair amount of cardio machines, which love because I hate walking into the gym and they’re all taken up. The cardio machines faced the pool/hot tub and the ski slopes. They also had a yoga room they had an amazing view of all the snow covered trees.
Where there’s a hot tub….there’s me in a bikini in the hot tub. People probably thought I was crazy but I don’t care. I will wear a bikini any chance I get. It was sunny! It was also very snowy, but look how beautiful it was!
We did leave the hotel once to eat sushi at Mikuni, it was a short gondola ride down from the hotel. Mikuni was a great locals spot, we sat at the bar and we chatted with the other patrons and they were all locals who just got off of work and came by Mikuni for a beverage. The sushi was really good, we like to order our usual nigiri favorites as well as try the restaurant's’ speciality roll.
The day of Ben's birthday, we had plans to head into town and then have dinner at the restaurant in the hotel, Manzanita. We spent the morning at the gym, spa and hot tub. At about 3pm, the power went out, we didn't think anything of it, we just figured it would come back on. So, I took a shower, and then we headed to the lounge to get a beverage, it was buzzing with people, eating and drinking everything. It was almost like they were in panic mode, survival of the fittest at the Ritz.
About 5 o’clock the power came back on HALLELUJA! It was still light out so we decided to catch the gondola ride down to do a little bit of our original plan before dinner. About half way down….we stopped….the power went out again while we were on gondola! We were probably hanging for about fifteen minutes till we S L O W L Y started moving down.
We were freezing The sun had gone down and it just got colder by the minute. We were probably on the gondola for about thirty minutes total which felt like a week. We took a shuttle back up to the hotel, and went straight back up to the lounge to continue drinking with everyone.
About eight o’clock (our dinner reservation), We took the stairs down to the restaurant, and they. Were. CLOSED. Well of course they were, the power was out, and they can’t cook anything without electricity. So, the Ritz offered everyone staying at the hotel a free buffet dinner, featuring; cheese, bread, macaroni salad, and fruit. Fancy huh? My poor man friend’s birthday dinner was canceled, it felt like we were camping in the Ritz.
About eleven o’clock, the power came back on, just in time for bed.
The next morning, we checked out, and drove home. Even though we had a wild experience, I still had a good time, it was a fun adventure and I look forward to go back to Tahoe next year.
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The hotel we stayed at was The Ritz Carlton, in North Lake Tahoe. This was my first time staying at the Ritz, I loved the lodge feel. We had access to the Club Lounge, which included food and snacks anytime of the day (buffet style), a fridge stocked with beer and wine, and a mini bar for cocktails. This lounge was perfect for us, it had couches, tables and chairs, and a cozy fireplace to relax, eat and drink all day.
 |
The Ritz has a gym/spa, of course I like to stay at places where I am able to exercise. They had a fair amount of cardio machines, which love because I hate walking into the gym and they’re all taken up. The cardio machines faced the pool/hot tub and the ski slopes. They also had a yoga room they had an amazing view of all the snow covered trees.
 |
Where there’s a hot tub….there’s me in a bikini in the hot tub. People probably thought I was crazy but I don’t care. I will wear a bikini any chance I get. It was sunny! It was also very snowy, but look how beautiful it was!
We did leave the hotel once to eat sushi at Mikuni, it was a short gondola ride down from the hotel. Mikuni was a great locals spot, we sat at the bar and we chatted with the other patrons and they were all locals who just got off of work and came by Mikuni for a beverage. The sushi was really good, we like to order our usual nigiri favorites as well as try the restaurant's’ speciality roll.
The day of Ben's birthday, we had plans to head into town and then have dinner at the restaurant in the hotel, Manzanita. We spent the morning at the gym, spa and hot tub. At about 3pm, the power went out, we didn't think anything of it, we just figured it would come back on. So, I took a shower, and then we headed to the lounge to get a beverage, it was buzzing with people, eating and drinking everything. It was almost like they were in panic mode, survival of the fittest at the Ritz.
About 5 o’clock the power came back on HALLELUJA! It was still light out so we decided to catch the gondola ride down to do a little bit of our original plan before dinner. About half way down….we stopped….the power went out again while we were on gondola! We were probably hanging for about fifteen minutes till we S L O W L Y started moving down.
We were freezing The sun had gone down and it just got colder by the minute. We were probably on the gondola for about thirty minutes total which felt like a week. We took a shuttle back up to the hotel, and went straight back up to the lounge to continue drinking with everyone.
 |
About eight o’clock (our dinner reservation), We took the stairs down to the restaurant, and they. Were. CLOSED. Well of course they were, the power was out, and they can’t cook anything without electricity. So, the Ritz offered everyone staying at the hotel a free buffet dinner, featuring; cheese, bread, macaroni salad, and fruit. Fancy huh? My poor man friend’s birthday dinner was canceled, it felt like we were camping in the Ritz.
About eleven o’clock, the power came back on, just in time for bed.
The next morning, we checked out, and drove home. Even though we had a wild experience, I still had a good time, it was a fun adventure and I look forward to go back to Tahoe next year.