Adventures with Greg: Reminder to Live Life in the Moment

When I travel for work, I usually try to plan a few days to explore and visit places that clear my head. I was in San Fran for an adtech conference this week, and was planning to break out to the wine country to do a little wine tasting. As always I waited until the last minute and tried to book something the week prior to the conference. My friend Kimmy sensing my ambivalence suggested I play it by ear and figure out what / where I wanted to go the week / day of.

During the conference my boss suggested Tahoe, how did I not think of that? Once I found the drive was 3 hours and Tahoe had a ton of snow (and gambling) all of a sudden wine tasting wasn’t as attractive. I did not have a single ski item with me, but the urge was strong in this one. Ignoring the major winter storm moving into the area, Friday afternoon, I made the decision. Tahoe baby!

After a beautiful drive, the storm moved in and started dumping snow on the beautiful Tahoe basin. To my HUGE disappointment the snow and storm was so good that the resort shut down majority of the lifts due to the strong winds, apparently 20-50 mile wind gusts over the peak is not a good thing when you are dangling on a ski lift. Since the lifts most vulnerable are at the top, with it shut down the blacks and most blue runs. After pondering and struggling with the decision, I decided not to ski.

While I decided to forego on the skiing, I did not skip the drinks after, in the afternoon I wondered over to Tahoe village and jumped into Basecamp pizza. There I met a few dudes who were having shift beers, they insisted I stay and drink with them. As the night wore on more and more of their coworkers joined us or came out to have drinks, combined with other locals the group size grew. The storm was really moving in at this point, it was steady and covered the Village with fresh powder. There is something about winter, good people, music a fire and good conversation. I think its nostalgia.

I cannot find the words to describe the hospitality that I got from the group, whether perceived or otherwise, it was a special night. Its an interesting mentality of the ski town locals, they are all college educated and most were in their very late 20’s, most moved there after college and cant leave. The life is addicting, ski, hike, exist in nature, its hard to compete with that. Most of us work very hard, so that we can have a few days to live like they live. Why are we so attracted to the free spirit? To the people that seem to live life in the moment? Is it because its our natural state? Is it because most of us trap our spirits and jump into the career world so young and then afraid to take a break as some other upcoming young buck is gunning for your job? Continuing the same cycle? I would teach my kids to live first and work to balance in the rest of the “societal norms”, but not the other way around.

Whatever it is, it draws me like a magnet and in those moments I truly feel alive, I feel my natural state. We live in a magnificent time, technology, connectedness, wealth its amazing, as I write this in Atlanta, its insane to think that at 5am this morning I woke up thousands of miles away. Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to live back in the day, when you had to hunt for your food, gather in small groups to survive. On the contrary, I know a lot of people who fear this “natural state”, which is scary, I think as a society we need to balance our love for living with the magic of technology. A fitting quote “I fear the day when technology overlaps our humanity. It will be then that the world will have permanent ensuing generations of idiots. - Albert Einstein". Its up to all of us to not get lost in modern comforts and sometimes live life in the moment.

On a more practical note:

· I have yet to experience a great “Tahoe ski experience”, every time I go, I have a blast, but the skiing eludes me. For Cali locals, a 3-4 hr drive to Tahoe is an incredible feature! But for a someone who travels to ski, and is becoming a ski snob, it still ranks on the bottom of my list :) I will keep trying though

· One of the major drawbacks of these spots is the need to rent a car and drive through mountains to get to the resort. I still favor Utah or Jackson hole, where you can shuttle or cab to your destination

· Sport betting is available in Tahoe (I did not know that)

If you are in Tahoe, check out Basecamp pizza (in the village at the bottom of the gondola), ask for Dustin, Dylan, Bobby, Jenna or Jordan, they'll take care of you
If you are ever without gear, the rental spot by the gondola will rent you ski gear, pants, jacket, helmet (no goggles)

· When planning your trip, be very aware that the El Dorado pass (or whatever its called) is finicky, meaning it can easily be closed or require chains and hours of waiting (travel insurance for your flight may be a wise investment for easy manipulation of travel plans)

· If you get stuck needing “chains”, hit up the Rite Aid in town and buy cables ($30 vs. $100)

For some pictures from one of the guys, check out his website www.dylanwarrenphotography.com