Our day started at breakfast and just taking it easy, Dylan was super excited to get out in the snow and play. So off we went to the back of the hotel and onto the patio/ski slopes. The snow was really slick and icy, so making snowballs was a bit challenging and almost not possible but we managed with the help of some scoopers provided from the hotel (these things are pretty cool, they are basically two deep spoons that come together like scissors and they are precision at making a perfectly round snowball given the proper type of snow). After playing for a bit in the snow, Dylan's boots were already soaked, so we headed down to the Northstar Village shopping area to purchase some real snow boots, these things are too cute...made by Sorel and they are black/blue/green (colors you can't go wrong with).
We made our way back to the Gondola and it was time for lunch on the Northstar mountain top at a place called Schaffer Camp, which is a "members only" club. The place was unreal, beautiful views, nothing but fireplaces and windows in the place...literally on top of the mountain and such a great place to hangout and relax. The food was so great, we got to meet the chef, the wait staff, and the GM of the place. Everyone has been really inviting to us and its really nice just to be around folks who appear to love their jobs. After we left the restaurant we made our way back to the hotel room to relax for an hour or so before our Dog Sledding adventure.
We arrived at Squaw Valley Ski Resort (home of the 1960 Olympic Games), this is where we would go on our dog sled trip. We were told to valet park our truck, so I did and we went and registered. Us three all piled into the sled and headed out on the flat country, the trip lasted about an hour. During the ride we got to talk to the owner of the Dog Sled Adventure and just learn more about the Huskies, there diets, and that they are more than just animals that pull sleds and travel hundreds of miles. These dogs are truly cared for and loved by the owners, and best of all they are not forced to pull people all over....THEY LOVE IT. Its so funny to see how much they love doing it, they howl, bark, and literally jump in the air to just keep going, its really insane how much stamina and drive they have to keep on going. It was a really neat experience. I got to speak more with the owner and told him about LIC Motorsports and how we are a Subaru only shop...he replied with that he has owned 7 Subarus and currently owns a 2006 Impreza. I wasn't shocked that he owned a Subaru, as they are everywhere up here, literally 1 in 5 cars is a Subaru. Maybe we should move our business to Tahoe? We made our way back to our truck and I asked Amber for money for the valet guy, as I left the $5 bill in the truck. She handed me the money, I handed it to the valet guy and once we got in the truck I reached for the $5 to give back to Amber that we left in there....low and behold it was gone. I know what you're thinking, I must of misplaced it, I lost it, etc...I know exactly where it was and now it was gone, such a crummy feeling, just came back from something really fun and one of the valet guys stole it. I started to get pretty pissed off to be honest, I was about to turn around in the parking lot and at this point I was already saying out loud what a bunch of losers they were and why would they do that and then I looked in the rear view mirror at Dylan and decided to stop talking about it and just move on...it is what it is, I actually don't care about the $5 but I do care about the principal behind it, maybe that guy needed that $5 more than we did? Oh well, I decided to not let it ruin our time.
We headed back to the hotel and ran into the executive assistant here, her name is Martina, and she has been just fantastic to us. This whole experience is so overwhelming, this hotel is amazing, the people here are top notch, I'm so grateful for Martina as I have no doubt that she is the one pulling the strings to make this whole experience so special...she's such a nice person and fantastic at making this memorable. In addition as we chatted with her she asked me if I work/own a Subaru shop, I said yes I do with my brother. She said this is so weird but there is a guy who works here who would like to meet you, he's a big fan of your business. I said you bet, so a guy named Kevin came over and shook my hand and introduced himself. Its such a small world, Kevin had just ordered a LIC Motorsports Hoodie from us a few weeks back and in the past has bought parts from our business. We chatted and shot the breeze for the better part of an hour, it was really nice to see others appreciation for what we do on a day to day with our business. After this we headed out to dinner.
We ate at a sushi place here in the Village Center called Mikuni, its was very reminiscent of Guy Fieri's (from Diners, Drive In's, and Dives) Tex Wasabi, which is located near our home. Had a very tasty authentic taste with a asian flare...it was really good. Dylan scarfed his food down a bit fast and was wanting to get back to the hotel ASAP, unfortunately Dylan's insides being all out of whack (large spleen pushing on his stomach) sometimes just doesn't sit well. We got back to the hotel just in time to head to the pool/spa's but Dylan was wiped out...
So our Day 2 ends with me sorting through 300 images from today and no means of resizing/color correcting them efficiently, so here are the decent ones, untouched....ENJOY!
-Noah
Slideshow:
***The images below are in a slideshow format, you can hit the "Play" button on main image or click on individual images to have them enlarge. To get more images put your cursor over the last picture shown on the right, it will scroll to more images***