A room with a patio

We tend to stay in one of the fireplace suites on an upper floor when we do our ~annual trip to Resort at Squaw Creek. This time however, we were in a room on ground level that gave us access to a little patio and another way in and out of our room. Woot!

Mike and I had drinks out there our first night and lunch the next day – what a treat to be out in the fresh air, gazing at the mountains while Cam slept! It also proved to be a great place to put on sunscreen without spraying our entire room. And Cam decided dipping in and out from behind the sheer curtain and looking out the sliding glass door were both very fun activities (kid entertainment is priceless right now).

There’s also just something about leaving the back door open for a cross-breeze, am I right?

Grandpa visits

My dad lives about 90 minutes from the resort so was able to join us on our second day for an afternoon at the pool. Cam recently started swim lessons and it is amazing the difference it has already made in his comfort around the pool. Every time we walked by he would shout “pool! pool! pool!” excited to get in and swim.

There is a waterslide in the kids pool and my dad decided to use it as his way to get in the water. We asked Cam if he wanted to go down the slide “like Grandpa” and he said yes. Mike went down with him and I was sure we’d lost our confident little swimmer right then… He did not look pleased coming down the slide at all. Mike handed him off to my dad as soon as they entered the pool, to avoid getting Cam any wetter than necessary, but Cam was done. He wanted out of that pool and into mama’s arms. I swaddled him up in a big towel and sat on the steps with him for a while. Thankfully we were able to convince him to get back in the pool with Mike signing the song they sing to kick off swim lessons to. He happily splashed around in the water for the remaining of the afternoon.

Date night

Aside from spending time with my dad, another huge perk was him agreeing to watch Cam while Mike & I went out to dinner. We love the steakhouse in the resort and used to splurge there once every stay. Obviously as parents now, we retire to the room for the night as soon as Cam goes to sleep. However with my dad here, we were able to leave him with the monitor and head out for some wine and steaks. Ah, it was so nice to be there again and took me back to so many past amazing stays we’ve had at our favorite place.

Golf course walks

While Cam and Mike napped the next day, I popped in my earbuds and walked the golf course. We love visiting during our anniversary weekend because it is still off season so it isn’t too crowded and the golf course isn’t actually open to play; meaning it makes the perfect makeshift trail to get a nice, paved walk in. I did about a 30 min loop and then rolled out my mat for some yoga. Despite walking and yoga being the 2 things I do most regularly at home, it still somehow feels indulgent to do them when away. (And the glass of wine I had while reading my book after yoga was actually indulgent so a great afternoon overall!)

Breakfast buffet celebration

We’ve visited this resort a lot over the past few years and we have the things we like to do – mainly where we like to eat – down pat at this point. It’s like:

Arrival dinner? Sandy’s Pub.

Take out pizza from the village one night.

Drinks in the lobby in the late afternoon.

Chocolate croissants from Sweet Peas to start the day / chocolate covered Oreos from Sweet Peas to end the day.

Coffee and a hot tub sesh most mornings.

You get it. We know what to do when we visit here. But, despite, having all of these little rituals, visiting annually in May (off season) means we have to be flexible because we never know what will be open and what is going to be shutdown for the season. On this trip more of the restaurants in the village where closed than we’re used to, so we had to expand our repertoire of eateries at the resort for our actual wedding anniversary. Since Cam would be with us we decided what better than a breakfast celebration (typically his best meal of the day!)?

We paid the $35 a person for the buffet breakfast at Cascades and ate our weight in pastries, fruit, and bacon. I think Cam enjoyed it, making friends with the waiter and yelling “Hi, John!” when he passed by. Plus eating as many chocolate croissants as he could handle. It’s crazy to think at that time 3 years ago we were getting ready to get married..!

Bike rides & ice cream

Later in the afternoon, after our breakfast buffet, we rented bikes and rode about 20 minutes over to the village. As mentioned, there weren’t a ton of stores open (even the Starbucks was closed in the afternoon!) but there was a general store that had POPSICLES. We found a little bench outside of a (closed) wine bar to sit and eat our treats. What fun!

More pool time

We spent the last of our anniversary – our last day there – with another trip to the pool. This pool is legendary with its valley and mountain views and I really never get tired of it. Cam is also just so cute splashing around, having the time of his life; it feels like a moment we’re all truly on vacation and disconnected from the day to day.

The fancy daybeds aren’t bad either. 🙂

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When we were driving to Tahoe I asked Mike if he was a mountain or a beach person. After a lengthy chat – one that you would only have on a long car ride – we agreed that we are both definitely mountain people. We’ve been together for over 10 years and I actually didn’t know this for fact about Mike until this trip. After so much time together, I always love learning new things about each other. Although, I don’t think either of us were very surprised given how much we love our mountain getaway here.