In Transition: Petaluma, Lake Tahoe, then on to Boston!

My transition back into real-life America has been gentle to say the least. I arrived home in San Francisco on Saturday morning and have spent the week with my family in California (in Petaluma and Lake Tahoe) on what could be termed a post-vacation vacation. Because what do I need to do after having fun for two months? Have more fun!!!

We hit the Americana hard on Day 1 with a trip to the Sonoma County Fair. My sisters and I grew up going to the fair every summer, entering our artwork in the children's competitions, riding the rides, watching the horse races, and showing sheep and chickens through 4H. So we were pretty excited to introduce Liam (my nephew -- almost 1!!!) to all the wonders of livestock and free Clover ice cream cones and corn dogs and giant turkey legs! He had a great time.

Then my parents and I headed to Tahoe to get our beach/mountain time in! I wake up, work out, then go to the beach. My life is absurdly hard, I know. In extreme contrast to my entire Asian experience, the air here is SO DRY! I'm not sweaty at all and I don't even know what to do with myself. Don't worry though, I'm still wearing my same traveler clothes every day, in true traveler-fashion, because all my stuff is stowed away in a basement in Massachusetts.

Liam is such a BIG little person!!!

And dun dun dunnnn, I've decided that after a lazy couple months it's time to kick myself back into shape, so I'm running again! Also because I cannot say no to the trails in Tahoe, they're just too perfect to pass up. Lake Tahoe is at about the same altitude as Dalat, Vietnam, but it feels so much higher because of the thin air. So slowly-slowly I am running. My mama is in hiking training for this, so for the past two mornings she and I start at the same time: I run until I feel like stopping, and then I meet up with her for the rest of her hike. Yesterday I covered 14 miles and today was 12 -- not too shabby!

And to truly shock my system, I threw some yoga into the mix as well. Squaw Valley offers a free outdoor yoga class at 6 pm every Wednesday, so we went to check it out. Guess what's hard after two months off and many many loooog bus rides? EVERYTHING about yoga.

On Saturday night I board a plane yet again. This time I go to Boston, completing my circumnavigation (woot!), and start classes on Monday! Eeeeeekkkkk! 

Weekend Report: Skiing in Tahoe

Happy New Year! Hope everyone had a lovely holiday, finished off 2012 strong, and started 2013 right!

My year ended (and the new one started) with a living room dance party that may or may not have involved my trampoline. Then I for-reals started 2013 with a relaxing day of leftover Chinese food, a little run, yoga, unpacking, and apartment cleaning. Despite its mellow start, 2013 has been officially designated (by 6x6 et al.) The Year To Be Brave. I am ready!

Lookout Mountain at Northstar, looking at Martis Valley.

But before I we fully return to real life, let’s backtrack to my time at home – specifically, my time skiing at home! On the Thursday after Christmas, my mama and I drove up to Tahoe where we were greeted by our little house buried in 4 feet of fresh snow. She handed me a shovel and my dad’s snow boots – Dig us a path to the back door! (Our front door is boarded up right now because a bear broke in just before Thanksgiving!!!)  Shoveling snow isn’t exactly the same as playing in it…but after last year’s no-snow Christmas, I’ll take it.

The next morning we got up, put on all our layers (6 on top for me…I may be a skier but I do not like being cold), and headed to Northstar, the resort where I learned to ski and which I know better than my favorite cookie recipe.

Northstar, driving through Martis Valley.

The Lake Tahoe area is having a pretty amazing December, and on my first day on the mountain the snow gods blessed me with three of my favorite conditions: powder, tracked powder, and groomed powder (aka "hero snow"). We skied 9-4 and it really was pure perfection. Seriously guys, I could do that all day every day for the rest of my life and be completely happy.

West Ridge overlooking Martis Valley at Northstar.

(For those of you who don't know me personally, I am a skier. I haven't blogged about it much because it's a whole huge can of awesomeness that could fill many many an internet page and this is not a skiing blog; but just fyi I literally ski raced instead of going to high school. I grew up skiing in Tahoe for the Northstar, then Diamond Peak, then Sugar Bowl ski teams. For those of you who know ski racing, I raced USSA, FIS, and Elite FIS for Far West and my best events were downhill and slalom.) (Ok, Mollie-life-summary over.)

Though skiing every day of my life isn’t in the cards right now, Mama and I did get in three very solid days.

Don't judge...our faces are frozen.

On Day 2 we headed to Mt. Rose, where I finally got to experience The Chutes, semi-recently opened double blacks that are closed unless there’s a lot of snow. My feet and quads and back hated me a little bit, but it was totally worth it!

The back side of Mt. Rose, overlooking Carson City.

On Day 3 we went back to Northstar for some more tree skiing (what’s better than tree skiing in soft powder when it’s 20 degrees? Nothing. Unless you’re tree skiing in soft powder when it’s 20 degrees after eating blueberry pancakes from the Old Post Office. Oh wait we did that.)

Gratuitous glamour shots of the lake apres-ski. Tahoe is a beautiful place, no?

Sadly all good things must come to an end, and considering that today, 3 days later, I still can’t feel the ends of my toes, a few days off snow was probably for the best…but here’s to winter and snow and skiing and 2013!!!

East Ridge overlooking Lake Tahoe at Northstar.

Weekend Report: My New Nephew!!! (And My Trip Home)

I’m back from a week at home in California and guess what? We have a baby!!!

And by “we” I mean Sister1 and Geoff have a baby, and I have the proud title of Auntie Mollie. Words cannot express how EXCITED I am about this (even more excited than anticipated), but this is a blog so clearly I’m going to try! 

Sister2 and I went for a long run at Mt. Tam on Monday, October 1, while we waited for baby-time. 

The timing worked out perfectly – we texted Mama when we finished running (What’s the status?”), drove straight to the hospital, and arrived just as baby Liam was being delivered. Sister2 and I did our best to wipe off the worst of the Indian summer dust and sweat in the bathroom, then headed up to the maternity floor. Mama met us at the door and led us into Sister1's room. We'd just started to make ourselves comfortable when a blue scrub-covered wide-eyed Geoff (aka my brother-in-law) walked in. 

Geoff! Hi! Do we have a baby?

"Yeah. Yeah, we have a baby," he confirmed in a voice tinged with surprise and a smattering of terror. 

Can we see him?

"I think so. Umm, ok, follow me. This way."

We followed him around the corner to the nursery, just as two nurses were pushing in a plastic bucket on a cart with a baby inside. 

Are you supposed to be here? they asked. Is this your baby?

"Yes! I think so? That's my baby!"

We watched new dad and Liam thought the window of the nursery, oohing and awing and marveling over his size -- at 9 lbs 7 oz, Liam looked like he could eat the other babies! But when we rolled him back to Sister1's room, normal perspective was returned and he looked like the tiny thing he really was.

Mama left to go find Sister1, while Geoff, Sister2, and I waited, watching over swaddled Liam in his cart ("No one holds him until Jeannie can!" was the fatherly decree). But once Sister1 was back, we were good to go. So there we were at the hospital, smelling like winners and holding our brand-new nephew!

We spent that day, and the next, and part of the next hanging out with our newest addition at the hospital and it was wonderful. Liam seriously gets cuter by the day! (Can I just say that pregnancy/birth/babies are NO JOKE. I have learned so many crazy things over the past week!)

On Wednesday afternoon, we gave the new parents some space and headed up to Tahoe. Another reason for this trip home is that Sister2 is about to move to Thailand for at least five months, so we needed some hang-out time. 

The lake in October is very hit-or-miss…the trail running was guaranteed to be awesome, but dipping was definitely not warm. However, I’m not one to back down from a Mama-extended challenge, so that crazy lady and I dipped every day. Oh hello 60 degrees water!!!

Too too soon it was time for me to head back to DC, but it’s ok because I’ll be back home for more Liam time at Thanksgiving!

Also, just wanted to share this picture from the San Francisco Airport. LOVE NorCal! 

December Dipping in Lake Tahoe

I'm home in CA for Christmas. My mama and I drove from our home in Petaluma to our cabin in Tahoe, originally planning to ski, but the 4 runs open did not justify the $90 ticket prices (bahhhh no snow!), so we opted out. Instead we went for walks, read books, oh, and dipped in Lake Tahoe.

Let me give you some back-story on "dipping." Mama worked at a camp in Michigan this past summer, and first thing in the morning the kids ran down to the lake to dip. At the end of the summer, awards were given to all the "Perfect Dippers" -- campers who had dipped every day of the summer. Mama, being the competitor she is, was upset -- If I'd known there was a prize I totally would have done it!

So when she returned to CA in August, she decided that as long as she and my dad were in Tahoe, they had to dip in the lake every day. And they did it through October, but then moved back to Petaluma (there's some weird house-splitting going on in my family right now).

Naturally, we just had to dip in December, mostly for the sake of saying we'd done it. 


The day was surprisingly auspicious -- December 21, Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year. What better day to jump into an icy cold lake?


The water temperature (50 degrees) was only slightly warmer than the 40 degrees air. (Yes, above is an ice-covered rock.)

We drove the one mile down to the lake feeling a bit apprehensive. I'm not much of a jump-in-water person even in the summer, so doing it when there's ice on the edges of the lake and patches of old snow on roadsides did not immediately appeal to me.


We got out of the car and a woman and her husband looked at us like we were absolutely nuts. 


"You're not going swimming, are you???"


"No no," responded Mama, standing outside in a bikini in late December. "We're just going to go dip and come back out."


I held out my camera to the woman, "Actually, would you mind taking pictures of this?"


Luckily she obliged and was a very good photographer! Thus, we have evidence. 


I took off my fleece and was ready to go.

We walked down the rocky beach and kicked off our flip-flops at the edge of the icy-blue lake. I saw Mama's feet go into the water and thought, Oh my gosh we're really doing this! I took three big steps into the water and plunged. 


(You may notice from the picture that I dipped first...not saying it was a race...but I won.)

We came up gasping and spluttering and shrieking.


We trudged out of the lake, shaking and freezing, but surprisingly elated. Our hastily enlisted photographer snapped photos all the while, herself shouting, "Oh my God! I can't believe you're doing this! Quick get a towel you crazy girls!"

It took some time for me to stop shaking, but I'm happy to report that dipping is just as fun and satisfying as Mama promised it would be. 

I hope that wherever you are, you're having a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and wonderful winter season!!!

Lake Tahoe in the Snow

I'm on my way back to the East Coast, so while I'm in the air, catching up on my Top Chef re-runs (and sitting on a chair in the sky!), check out these pictures of Lake Tahoe in the snow. Very different from the same place in August, but just as beautiful.


Here's the view from our back door. (Want to go in the backyard? No. You can't. That is a 4-foot wall of snow on our deck.)

And from the front door - gotta shovel out the car! (Thanks Eric!)

And of course, the lake. This is where we lounge on the grass for days playing Scrabble and reading in the summer. In the winter we just drive by and appreciate its beauty. 

I love Tahoe. My parents are moving there in the Fall, so I'll be flying home into Reno next year. Craziness! 

Visibility? Optional.

Sorry to go MIA on you all of a sudden! Even the most diligent of bloggers needs a break sometimes, and I just spent three days skiing in Tahoe with Sister2 and her boyfriend (just like last year) without internet access.

The first day skiing at Mt. Rose was absolutely gorgeous - a perfect high-20s blue-bird Tahoe day. The second day was just as fun, but not quite so nice. It started out a little gray and snowy, and progressed to become a no-visibility ski-in-a-cloud experience. I didn't mind too much, I've skied in pretty much every condition imaginable. We still managed to have fun despite the fact that our faces were buried in our jackets and every now and then a gust of wind would attempt to blow us off the mountain. 

Which reminds me of another no-visibility experience I once had...

Gather round kids! It's time for a story about a day, not too long ago, when I was much more hard-core than I am now.


When I was a junior in high school, I raced in the Junior Olympics at Mt. Bachelor (Oregon). Mt. Bachelor would be a great place to ski except for one thing: I'm pretty sure it's always in its own personal cloud. 


Our first race of the series had already been canceled twice due to weather, and the race organizers were getting antsy. So they decided to try to run the downhill anyways, despite the fact that we couldn't see a thing. It was so windy on the top of the mountain that the chair lift was closed, but that didn't stop us. 

We piled into the back of a snow cat -- kids, skis, and poles -- and braced ourselves to stay in as we made the treacherous trip up the mountain. Once we got to the top there was no going back down (that snow cat trip was a one-time thing, thank you very much!). 

I sat huddled with my teammates, backs to the wind and hoods pulled up over our helmets, just our very red noses sticking out between our goggles and coats. After what seemed like forever the race was about to start. 


One of our coaches came over, Alright girls, a little rough out there but it should be ok. But listen up! If you're skiing, and all of a sudden you're in a white-out, do not panic. Just stand up, throw 'em sideways, and go to the side of the course. You'll get a re-run or we'll figure something out.


Oh great, I thought. The fact that we're getting a what-to-do-if-you're-blinded talk does not bode well for this race. 

[I should mention here that downhill is the fastest ski racing event. It's not unusual for even junior racers to hit speeds well above 60 mph.]


We watched the first few racers disappear into the clouds, listening to the coaches radio up how the course looked (they were positioned lower down where you could actually see something). 

Ok girls, one more thing. When you drop over the waterfall pitch, be wary of the winds. Some racers are getting a head-wind, so stay low to make yourself aerodynamic enough to maintain your speed. But a few have gotten a gust of tail-wind, so if all of a sudden your maching down the pitch, DO NOT stand up because you'll the wind will push you to go even faster and you'll totally loose control. 


It's a fine line in ski racing between wanting to live and wanting to go fast, so I hoped for a gentle tail-wind as I stripped off many many layers down to my speed suit and ran a few laps around the start area to warm up. 

My coach clicked me into my skis and I waited in the line-up to go, visualizing my run in my head and jumping and shaking an an attempt to stay warm. I slid into the start gate, clicked and planted my poles, and looked into...nothing. Pure white-out. 


Racer ready. Three...two...one...go! Racer on course.