We spent this past Christmas in Lake Tahoe with our parents, my sister’s and my uncle’s family. The 3+ families crammed into a nice cozy cabin we rented for a few days– crowded but fortunately all relatives got along. If you’re ever looking to rent a cabin in south Lake Tahoe, I highly recommend the place we rented from this lady; conveniently located, clean, roomy and rental is very reasonable. Had I not with kids, I would normally prefer a more rustic place though :). Good thing, I bought one of those cargo boxes that go on the roof on my Dad’s van. By head count, we had 14 and we even lugged most of the kids’ presents with us. Luckily everybody & everything fit into the 2 mini vans.

It didn’t snow at the lake basin when we got there, so I was disappointed for the kids. But we all woke up to a snowfall the morning after xmas with the kids (and the adults) jumped for joy in excitement. A white after-xmas! Everyday, we hit the snow parks. The older kids were hitting the slopes non-stop. Even the toddlers and one grandma braved the snow and snow-tubed with the rest of us. The grandmas, my uncle & my niece had not seen snow before, so it was especially exciting for them.

I bought a new camera lens in preparation for the trip, figuring there’d be photo opportunity aplenty in Tahoe. But with so much things going on, I didn’t get to take as many photographs as I had hoped for. A few photos I did get with the new Tamron lens, I was impressed. The new lens performed well in low light condition and was sharp overall; it’s extremely sharp at aperture of F/8!

Our last morning there, I got up before dawn, packed my equipment and head out to Emerald Bay, figuring it would my last opportunity for some nice pictures of the lake at sunrise. I hiked through the woods in the dark, with gusty winds and heavy rain/snow. Good thing my new camera back pack is water-repellent. Last time I hiked in the dark was at Bryce Canons in Utah with Suzanne. More than once I thought: “man, I hope these pictures will be worth it!” Well, they weren’t. The rain, snow and wind mitigated my efforts– I could only get in a few shots (most of them not very usable). I did got one that Suzanne really liked.

Our drive home by was interesting, through a heavy snow storm. With chains on, we were crawling about 15 MPH through the mountains. The kids didn’t mind that we were driving slowly, getting a kick out of the snow storm. It was sure pretty!

Here’s the photo gallery from the trip:/trips/tahoexmas05