LET IT SNOW, LET IT SNOW, LET IT SNOW!

Northern California has had record snowfall this winter. I'm not going to look up all the details but let me just say there has been a shitload of snow in the mountains this year (not to mention all the rain we've had in the flatlands but that's a whole other story).

Since we've had several days of beautiful, sunny weather before the next snowstorm and rain fall, Lou and I decided to take a drive to Truckee (a lovely mountain town about 90 miles up Highway 80) to see all the incredible scenery.

About an hour up the road we began to see lots of snow blanketing the Sierra Nevada mountains.

Just before Donner Summit we figured we had better stop at the Rest Area along the highway and were met with some unbelievable photo ops. Both of us have made this drive countless times in good weather and snow covered conditions but I don't ever recall THIS MUCH of the while stuff.

This was the sign along the highway letting us know that the Rest Area exit was 1 Mile up the road, I think. We could barely see the sign, let alone determine exactly what it said.

Unfortunately, this photo has some weird reflections in it but I included it to show just how much snow was surrounding the building. 

These are the two normally free-standing trash cans totally buried in the snow.

Donner Lake from the overlook.

As we made our way down to Truckee from Donner Summit, we took a detour off Highway 80 to drive along the shoreline road of Donner Lake. 

Olaf! I could almost hear Anna singing, "Do you wanna build a snowman?" In case any if you don't have kids or grandkids, that's from "Frozen". 

All of the almost buried street signs were everywhere.

It was fascinating to me that there was so much snow everywhere. You know how tall a stop sign is and the snow was several feet above it.

Driving along the shore of Donner Lake the water was like glass.

I love reflections of mountains or trees or glaciers or anything reflecting in lakes and probably have hundreds of photos of them. But, yet, I still keep taking them. So beautiful!

We arrived in the Historic District of downtown Truckee and found a coffee shop for lunch. I was surprised to discover that several of the places I ate with my parents and family 30-40 years ago were still there. We used to rent a friend's condo in Truckee many times while Darrin was growing up.

Looking west down the main street of Truckee's Historic District.

Looking east in downtown. You can see Lou (in the black jacket near the red car) walking back from photographing the train station across the street.

A restored gas station reminded me of our Route 66 road trip many years ago.

We took another detour off Highway 80 on our way back home to drive along some of the Historic Highway 40, also known as the Lincoln Highway, that Lou loves. We knew it would be closed at some point but drove as far as we could where the road was blocked just past Sugar Bowl Ski Resort.

Here is a normal size guy walking along the snow piled up beside the road.

This road was lined with homes that had to do some creative digging to find their doors. I kept thinking that after the next snowstorm they'll have to do it all over again.

One of the ski lifts at Sugar Bowl.

Looking for the freeway entrance was once again a bit of a challenge as the sign was barely visible.

It was a fun day with a great lunch. The fries were amazing - crispy on the outside but soft inside, delicious! I loved seeing all this white stuff but was really thankful that I don't live where months out of every year, it is pretty much a pain in the ass to live in.

About a half hour down the road, we were basically out of the snow. I've always said that if I lived back in the 1800s it would have been back in Boston or maybe St. Louis because there is no way in hell I'd have come out west in a covered wagon. This plaque talks of early settlers having to lower their wagons on ropes down this cliff. What???

The last look at some snow-covered mountains before descending back to Roseville.