No Snow in Tahoe and Rental Car Games

We are officially on vacation! We didn't book any hotels for the trip because we were not sure how long we wanted to stay at each place or exactly where we wanted to go. And now we are really glad we didn't. The plan was to ski Heavenly in South Lake Tahoe until Sunday and then head to Sonoma/Napa Valley.

We knew there had been no snow in Tahoe but we still though there was enough to ski on- maybe. We learned today from talking to a few locals that only a few slopes are open and there is only artificial snow. We decided the skiing would not be very good- crowded and icy- and it wasn't worth renting skis and buying lift tickets for that. So we drove around half of Lake Tahoe and are now headed to Sonoma. Since we have extra days from not skiing we decided we will go to Yosemite National Park before heading South because it is supposed to Be beautiful.

A pic at the lake. It's beautiful and we want to come back when we can ski.

A shot of the mountains. Not even a patch of snow. They said they had 20 feet this time last year.

Anyway onto our rental car. We didn't reserve one because we thought we would when we arrived. We knew that it was going to be more because we were getting a one way, but the quotes we got today were ridiculous. We went to 5 of the counters and were told it would be $1300-1500 for their economy car. So we got on our phone and I found A quote from Alamo for $550- still lots but much less. So I showed the budget rental people that quote and asked if they could match it. They beat it by upgrading us to an SUV, not a tiny Kia, with a gps for $388. Plus I have a 30% coupon I found online I can use when we turn it in! Their quote was originally $1500. Pretty crazy huh! We were thanking our iPhones for that one. They just paid for themselves! I think we were trying to make ourselves feel better since we had to buy Brett a new one Sunday since his was STOLEN from the VA Hospital. Ugh.

Anyway- I will try to update on our adventures!

Sent from my iPhone