And so I arrived in Truckee, CA with my five-year-old to introduce him to the snow, the trees, and the fun of trying new things. We don’t often have an opportunity to spend one-on-one time together. This called for an overnight that was a little more special than normal. I couldn’t have called it better when I found the Cedar House Sport Hotel. The hotel is divided into several buildings. All of them look as though they were built from the surrounding trees, all smell of fresh cedar.  One thing I love about this particular place is that it demonstrates that you can be both environmentally friendly as well as high-end. The rooms are contemporary in style. Each room offers individual down comforters, thus you don’t need to have the thermostat on at night. A well-thought out plumbing system allows for instantaneous hot water in each room. (The shower heads also have anti-scald devices.) Not many snow-surrounded hotels can offer such guilty pleasures. Also worth mentioning, a water-retention pond was built at the front of the property so that run-off water stays on site and can be used again.

Dare I ask for more? It’s a gorgeous place to stay, it’s environmentally conscious in design… but can we call it kid-friendly? My five-year-old was sold when a plate of cookies adorned the mini-bar near the front desk. The hotel was originally designed as a couples’ getaway. Patty, the owner, mentions that although not originally intended to attract families, they have many families who come back year after year. Five of the hotel’s rooms are apartment-like suites, great for extended stays with kids. Ten rooms have two queens in a standard sized room, the other 27 rooms have one bed, and all include a mini-fridge.

Also on the property is Stellas, which serves dinner several days of the week and where the complimentary gourmet breakfast is held. Many hotels offer a complimentary breakfast – often a buffet of cereals or bagels and donuts. My chin about hit the floor when we came down to breakfast and found white linen tables and a menu of delicious home-cooked choices. The waitress offered us a choice of pastry items from a basket as we first sat down. Then my son had the bagels with cream cheese and lox with fruit on the side, and I chose a vegetable omelette. We had juice, chocolate milk, and coffee as well. It was more food than either of us could finish.

And if you are still not sold on the Cedar House Sport Hotel, let me also mention they are pet-friendly (some restrictions apply and a pet fee is required). Need some ideas of things to do? The hotel has partnered with adventure activity businesses, and offers a range of winter packages. You can have multi-day clinics at the North American Ski Training Center, take a Wilderness Adventure Dog Sled Tour, go on a guided snowshoe hike, learn to rock climb or mountain bike, or book an ice-skating package.  Check their website calendar for onsite cooking and gardening classes which occur in the spring.

Its true that my visits to the mountains are often short. But like my visits with my oldest friends, I will keep talking about them for years.

Note: I received a complimentary night’s stay. This article is, however, is my own reflection of our experience.

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Renting someone’s home/cabin can feel like coming into a cozy home, but can also be a hassle to arrange. A successful lodging experience may be determined by thinking through details ahead of time: Is it centrally located? How much will the cleaning deposits add to the cost? Who will I call if something doesn’t work? Hotels are great for weekend stays; maid service is included (sometimes breakfast is as well!), you can reach the front desk any time day or night, and they are located more often than not in the middle of town. Some hotels can feel a bit sterile, however, so I tend to look at this option when we don’t plan to spend much time at home base.

Its refreshing, then, when you stumble upon a hotel that makes an effort toward being a cozy retreat. When we were tubing last week we stayed at the Hampton Inn and Suites. The first thing I noticed when coming in from the frozen tundra (okay, maybe a slight exaggeration) was a huge fireplace directly across from the front desk. It was a great place to warm up with the kids while my husband gathered our bags from the car. Mounted on the fireplace on the opposite side from the front desk was a large flat-screen tv, with several couches gathered round. Here was a perfect place to watch some Olympic sports or curl up with a good book. Behind the couches there were several tables and a buffet of games available. Throughout the weekend I noticed that the games were well utilized. This table area became like a dining room at home, groups of people would be hanging out there at different times. Also worth mentioning, behind the tables was the breakfast buffet area which, in the morning, offered both hot and cold breakfast items. So if you are looking for a cozy hotel with a good location, the Hampton Suites in Truckee is it.

We stayed in a studio suite. When you are traveling with kids, one ammenity I shoot for is some separation in the room between where the kids will be sleeping and my own bed. Without it, the entire room must be dark to get the kids to settle down and sleep, leaving me little ability to do much after their bedtime. The studio suite did not offer any separation. For an additional $40 per night you can rent a one-bedroom suite which has a wall with a door between the bedroom and the couch pull-out bed. The only drawback I find for this hotel is the price. During the high season studio suites cost $299/night and one-bedroom suites are $317 during the weekend (with a two-night minimum). Standard rooms start at $199.  In April there is no two-night minimum, and suites are $259/$299.  This drops to $149/$169 on weekdays.  This cost, combined with lift tickets and skiis, would make a weekend getaway outside many families’ budget. If, though, you are looking for a luxury retreat, there’s something to be said for finding a cozy home away from home.

Note: Our family received a complimentary night’s stay.  My review reflects our family’s experience there.

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Planet Kids at Soda Springs

The cost is $25 per child. Planet Kids is targeted to the beginning winter adventurer.  It is located in an area to the side of the Soda Springs ski resort. To get there is a short walk from the resort entrance where you buy the tickets, or you can take a snowmobile “sleigh ride” from the ski resort to Planet Kids.  As you enter, the right side of the park features two tube carousels.  A tube carousel looks like this:  three small tubes are each secured to a metal pole and four of these poles are attached like arms to each side of a spinning square. Essentially the tubes slide around in a circle at a speed that isn’t incredibly fast, but still gives that wind-in-your-hair kind of rush. On the other side of the park is a hill with a very gradual slope. One part of the hill is designated for the young tuber, a middle area is for the beginning skier, and the farthest part of the hill is where kids can learn to snowboard. A short ride on a moving walkway gets you from the bottom of the hill to the top. Adults don’t really participate in the activities, but can coax, cheer, and help the kids from nearby. Equipment rental or private lessons can be purchased near the entrance.  Also within Planet Kids is a steep hill of snow for climbing up,  sliding down, or just having some old-fashioned snowball fights. This seems like a great place to take young kids or those just starting to navigate going downhill. This also seems like an ideal location if you are with grandparents or other adults who are mostly interested in watching the kids.

Playland at Boreal

The cost is $25 for a 2-hour tubing session for those 42″ and above. Kids under 42″ cost $15 and have a separate mini tube area that does not include a “magic carpet” (a moving walkway that goes uphill). The tubing area is a separate area of the ski resort. There are five lanes that the full-priced tuber can choose from. Some have more bumps to catch air on than others. I have learned that you can control the speed (slightly) by choosing tubes that are less inflated. My 5-year-old had a great time going down by himself. The tubes were a little difficult for him to manage when he was not riding them, especially getting onto the magic carpet, but overall he was able to take on the hills independently.The mini tubers have access to a portion of the hill directly next to the tubers. There are small tubes freely available for you to haul your little one up a short distance and let him slide down the hill on his own. As much as Joshua enjoyed this, I could not physically haul him up the hill very many times in a row. Also, the area designated for mini tubers is not very wide, so we often had to wait for meanderers to clear out of the sliding path. After the downhill slide, if you didn’t jog down the hill and tow your kid-in-a-tube out of the way quickly, he may get bumped by the next parent sending his kidlet down the hill. All in all, we found this to be a  fun place to go tubing, but particularly if your kids are over 42″.

 Kingvale

The cost is $18 for ages 3-12 and $20 for ages 13 and up for 2 hours.  Kingvale, which is not attached to any ski resort, is much smaller than the above-listed tubing places. It has two lanes, but these two are longer and to me were more funthan the ones at Boreal. (Though the ride at Boreal was steeper, Kingvale had more ups and downs and a bend in the course.) The ride up the hill was also a bit different than the magic carpet we had seen at the earlier two places. Here you give your tow rope to the employee at the bottom of the hill, then sit in your tube as he attaches it to a tow cable. Your tube is then pulled up the hill until you reach the top, when the tow cable automatically releases. This in itself made for an enjoyable ride to the top of the hill. What I liked most about Kingvale was that you could hook two tubes together and ride tandem. That made it possible for all of us to enjoy the hills together. Our 3-year old sat in a full-sized tube in front, while one of us adults looped our tow rope to his tube and rode tummy down. My face was close enough to Joshua’s that he felt safe as we took our first trip down the hill. This kid, who will not set foot on a carnival ride that leaves the ground, was asking for more! Our 5-year old had no problem navigating the tubing park from beginning to end.  After the first run, he more or less decided he didn’t need either of us around and took himself up and down the hill. In a large, crowded place this independent streak might make me worry. Kingvale, however, seemed an appropriate place for him to get his snow legs. I must say we arrived late in the afternoon on a weekend that was predicted to have miserable weather. The crowds were light. With only two runs, I wonder if it quickly reaches capacity here. Still, out of the three tubing places we tried, I would say this one was a great fit for our family.

Check out more Photo Friday posts, hosted by Delicious Baby

Note: I received complimentary passes to each of the three tubing locations. The review is a true reflection of our family’s experience.

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Get a cabin: One would think finding and reserving a cabin at the height of ski season in north or south Lake Tahoe would be incredibly difficult and expensive. This does not have to be the case. Checking out craigslist under “vacation rentals” yielded some excellent deals. One gentleman, Jim, let me know that he found a studio condo at the base of Donner one Friday night for $100/night, negotiated to have the cleaning fee waived, and had it booked within one hour. He mentions that on Thursday or Friday night, its a buyers market for great cabin deals.

Go skiing:  Boreal (one of the closest ski resorts to the Sacramento area) has a really nice program if you stay for a while. Its called 1-2-3 Ride Free where the first lesson is $75, the next two lessons are $25 each, then on the fourth lesson you get a season pass. This is offered for kids/adults ages 8 and older and includes equipment rental. Mount Rose, which is actually about 15 minutes northeast of Lake Tahoe, offers an nice family deal called Runs N’ Roses in which you can get 2 adult and 2 kid (12 and under) tickets for $130 any day of the week.  Kids 5 and under ski free.  Many skiers have their favorite hill, but if you are not so familiar with the plethora of ski resorts surrounding Lake Tahoe, here is a site that seems to rank them according to what you might want out of a ski run.

Find a snowpark:  Personally my kids (5yrs and 3yrs) are a bit young for me to want to try skiing with them. I have heard of a few snow parks with tubes and fun that are worth checking out. A couple of people have suggested I check out Planet Kids. It is in Soda Springs, which is a little over 2 1/2 hours from Sacramento.  For $20 -25 your kid can tube down hills all day. There are areas designated for kids 42″ and higher, and a place appropriate for the little ones as well. The latter, designed for kids 8 and under, has a climbing carpet to help them get up the hills, a tube carousel,  a climbing volcano, and a sleigh ride to get to the location.  A bit closer to the Sacramento area is the Dell Osso Family Farm. It is less than an hour and offers 90-minute tubing sessions, a zip line, reindeer, lights, and looks to be a whole lot of fun. At this point in the year they are only open on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, and close after the end of February. Also, here is a list for snowparks through the CA Parks and Recreation Dept.

We admittedly only see the snow once or twice a year. As of now, that is just about right for us. But I do look forward to getting to the mountains more often and really enjoying the frosty air. Besides, a good few hours in the snow makes the Baileys/hot chocolate taste even better.

Thanks to Mara for hosting the Mondays are for Dreaming. Be sure to check out her site for more travel dreams.

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