Avery Sun Week #9 I Hate Tahoe
Avery Sun
Week 9
I Hate Tahoe
Over winter break, I had my worst experience in Tahoe ever. For starters, I’ve been going to Tahoe nearly every year since I was four. I used to enjoy skiing, but over the years, as I mastered the sport, it lost its thrill. Two weeks prior, I argued relentlessly with my mom in an attempt to convince her to let me stay at home to no avail (children are quite powerless against their parents).
At Tahoe, we lived in a cabin with four other families, and there weren’t enough rooms so I was forced to sleep in the closet. The second day, there was a snowstorm and we couldn’t go skiing, so we drove an hour to Carson City just to watch the Matrix. I couldn't understand it as I hadn’t watched the previous movies and I ended up falling asleep. Then, we drove another 2 hours back to the cabin and were almost trapped on the road.
In less than an hour, a haphazard group chat of over 500 strangers stuck in Tahoe was formed on Wechat (the power held by Chinese parents’ connections is quite terrifying). Everyone was sharing potential routes and many opted to loop down to Las Vegas and then drive back north. Someone shared that they tried driving the main road and moved 100 meters in 3 hours before turning back.
After being trapped for two days, the weather cleared enough for us to leave. We planned to leave on the morning of the third day but one of the families wanted to leave at midnight. My family was peer pressured by the remaining two to accompany them as it would be safer to travel in pairs. I was lucky to have made it home at 5 a.m. as the other two families suffered heavy traffic, leaving at 7 in the morning and arriving at 1 a.m. the next day.
The experience in itself wasn’t that bad, I was just extremely disgruntled because I was planning on sleeping in during break with an actual bed where I didn’t have to be woken by 10 other people talking loudly at 7 a.m. I also had to reschedule a secret santa exchange with my friends just because of this and the fact that I was so against going in the first place made these inconveniences more aggravating.
Hi Avery, that sounds like a really awful experience. Personally, I've only been to Tahoe once when I was really young, and I also didn't have a great experience. I tried skiing but I ended up skiing straight into my mom, and both of us were really hurt. I definitely heard about the trouble at Tahoe over this recent break, and I saw a video of the humongous line of cars that were trying to drive out of Tahoe. But, I also hear that Tahoe is a really beautiful place, and hopefully one day, you will have a better experience there. Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteHi Avery! Your article selection on the topic of coronavirus is one that I greatly respect since I think it is vital at this time to educate the public of taking all the needed vaccines to prevent adults and children from getting affected by the new Omicron variant. I really admire the way in which the mayor of New York City, Bill de Basio, took the time to ensure that the children who are participating in extracurricular activities are taking care of their health by taking the needed prescriptions before getting in contact with others surrounding them. I liked how you related this to your trip to Lake Tahoe because in addition to how worried we might be due to this variant spreading really quickly around us, if there were not enough rooms, forcing you to sleep in the closet, I could understand how tough of an experience that might have been for you. Especially when you are tired and simply just want to cook yourself something, if the power goes out and you aren’t able to do much in the new place due to the weather conditions, it could be very sad for all the planning and travel time involved. I can completely understand how it might have felt for you.
ReplyDeleteHi Avery! I’m sorry that you had to put up with that during winter break. From my own experience and from what I heard from some other people, it seems that a lot of people kind of wanted to just stay home over break. To be honest, being able to sleep in is one of if not the best part of winter break, and I cannot imagine how exhausting it must have been to not be able to do that. I’ve always heard good things about people going on vacation to lake Tahoe, so hopefully you’ll have a better time the next time you go.
ReplyDeleteHey Avery, though I personally love going to Tahoe, the trip was a primary reason why my family hasn't gone in the last few years. It must have sucked to have such a long and tedious trip, and I can't imagine how it was to be without power and trapped by weather conditions, so much so that you literally couldn't go home. During my winter break, I spent a lot of time just sleeping in and relaxing, so I'm sorry that you couldn't do that as much as you would have liked to. However, Tahoe is a very fun vacation place excluding the trip there and back, so I'd totally recommend you to go again with less tedious circumstances and COVID conditions.
ReplyDeleteHi Avery, I am sorry to hear that you had such a bad experience in Tahoe. I have been to Lake Tahoe a few times before, and personally I have always enjoyed it, but I can totally understand that it would get really boring if you were going there every single year. Maybe next year, if you end up being forced to go to Tahoe again, you could try sledding or snowboarding instead of skiing so that it is more thrilling for you. Anyway, your experience sounds absolutely horrible and something that I would expect to see in a comic book. It seems like everything that could have gone wrong did, especially with having to sleep in the closet and then getting stranded. I would probably be quite nervous if I was stranded in an unfamiliar area. Anyway, hopefully, you are still able to see some good in the situation, and on the bright side, at least you got to go somewhere away from home. I hope you have a more enjoyable break next time, whether that be by having a staycation or by going somewhere other than Tahoe.
ReplyDeleteHey Avery! Sorry you had such a terrible experience at Tahoe. Being stuck in the cold is one of the worst experience. I've only been to Tahoe once when I was much younger during the summer. It was still really hot out so my experience was certainly a lot different. Though we still ran into some issues. There was a wildfire going on at the time and we couldn't do a lot of outdoor activities. I also remember going water skiing once and the water was freezing. I was so cold that when I took a warm shower afterwards the water burned. It's quite interesting how you and all the other families made it out of that kind of situation though. I'm sorry you didn't get to have the vacation you hoped for.
ReplyDeleteAvery I am sorry to hear that you had such a horrible experience at Tahoe. I don't remember the last time I was there, but I do remember the last time I went skiing, and I never want to put on a pair of skis ever again. The situation with the rooms is something that I have experienced, very sadly, in China. It was extremely maddening to be find out the rooms we were supposed to stay in had been flooded due to an issue with the pipes: we felt scammed and cheated at the same time. While it was not freezing cold like you had to experience, I hope that you knowing that your pain is shared among us all will bring you even a crumb of comfort and relief. I am sorry for your loss.
ReplyDeleteHi Avery I am sorry that you had such a bad experience at Lake Tahoe. I went there around two years ago, and I had a pretty good time there. I went skiing. I am not as good at skiing as you are but I manage to get by. During my first trips down the slope I always trip on the escalator thingy, and then I fall like ten times on the way down. However, I get the hang of it after a few tries. The last time I went, I forgot how to slow down on a skii. I forgot that I have to be perpendicular to the ground. I went down the slope and I was accelerating like crazy and I was trying to figure out how to slow down so I had to save myself and the people around me by just throwing myself on the ground.
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