My dad was an avid skier. He founded a ski club and even lived in Switzerland for a month to learn how to ski. He was also a ski instructor in his youth and that’s how he met my mom.
My dad was also a very smart and successful man. He was a mechanical engineer by trade, but he really had a keen sense of business and investing. He bought properties and was even into commodities in the ’80’s like pork bellies that I thought was only in Trading Places.
He and my mom bought a cabin in Tahoe as a rental before they bought their first home. Who does that? Well my dad did and it worked out for them. They actually bought a different place, made some money, and sold it buy this cabin that we spent just about every winter weekend in. My parents would pick us up from school and we’d drive up to Tahoe, ski Saturday and Sunday and drive home. I can’t imagine doing that by myself, let alone with two kids. I really don’t know how they did all of that, but I’m grateful they did.
In 2011, I wanted to make a trip up there since I hadn’t been for over 10 years. We went up there for Memorial weekend and I invited my childhood friends. We were considering playing golf but some crazy storm came through. It probably ended up being more fun that way since all the kids got to play in the snow and we didn’t even have to go anywhere!
I think we stopped at Ikeda’s every trip. I can still remember their burgers, but I’m not sure if I ever really liked them. But they always had candy and I know I liked that.
It was so cold, but my wife and I still made it fishing. I only caught one trout, but someone gave me one and we had a nice dinner.
Being there brought back a lot of memories. I would’ve like to go there more often, but Tahoe is so hard to get to from southern California. We drove and it took us over 9 hours. My wife was pregnant too but she did great!
Looking back, I’m not sure why we still went but I’m glad we did. My mom ended up selling the place shortly before she passed. Maybe we’ll make it back there one day, but it won’t quite be the same.