America 2013: Day Twenty - December 11 | Heavenly Mountain Lake Tahoe Fire + Ice

Some folks are born to wave the flag, ooh, they're red, white and blue. And when the band plays "Hail to the chief", ooh, they point the cannon at you, Lord. It ain't me, it ain't me, I ain't no senator's son, son.  It ain't me, it ain't me; I ain't no fortunate one.

- Credence Clearwater Revival

Our third and final day skiing in Lake Tahoe dawned like the two before have: clear blue skies and sunshine. Thankfully, the bitter cold that characterised our first day over at Northstar. It’s always nice to stroll down to the gondola and enjoy the endless views of Lake Tahoe before hitting the slopes.

Nothing beats late-afternoon skiing at Heavenly

Thanks to the massive dumps of snow over the course of last weekend, Heavenly have been opening up new terrain pretty much every day since, and did so today as well, spinning the Stagecoach Express quad for the first time all season. It was nice to ski somewhere new, over on the Nevada side of the mountain. We were able to ski an immense top-to-bottom run through the snow-heavy fir trees, with vistas, alternately, of Lake Tahoe and the distant, frozen desert. Yeah, it’s been a tough few days, but someone’s gotta do it!

As soon as the sun goes down – around 3.00pm on the mountain – it gets bitterly cold, so we headed down the gondola and got into the beers early. There’s few things better in the world than a nice cold Bud Light (or two…or maybe three) after a day of skiing.

It’s a good chance to download and remember all the craziness we saw today; everything from awesome tricks on the terrain park to guys having their passes revoked by the incredibly-vigilant and multiple Ski Patrol, who really take their jobs seriously here, for skiing outside the boundaries, to someone who’d somehow managed to get herself so off course and down in amongst the untracked snow in one of the canyons over which the chairlift travelled.

Did I mention last night we all had a fair bit to drink and watched The Rock with Sean Connery and Nicholas Cage on the awesome TV in our living room? In case I didn’t, rest assured that we did, because we were all too tired to go out. It’s also kinda tough to leave the palatial accommodation that we’re in. Everything is so comfortable here. We’re very, very lucky!

Tonight, for our last night, we went down to the Marriott’s Fire + Ice, a really cool restaurant that’s sort of like Teppanyaki in that you choose your ingredients (sauces, meat, seafood, salad, whatever) and have a chef, who cook them in front of you on a big grill, whilst juggling their cooking implements all about the place. Best of all, it’s an all-you-can-eat place, with a full service bar and plenty of TVs showing sport from all around the country. My sort of joint! I can proudly lay claim to six bowls. The ‘Jamaican Jerk’ sauce seriously made me cry. But I soldiered on!

Food cooking at Fire + Ice

We’re up reasonably early tomorrow to drive to Sacramento, where we’ll catch a plane to Las Vegas, Nevada!