Here's a winning idea: when the East Coast is enjoying the biggest snow dump since Snowmageddon, pack your bags and head to the drought-ravaged West Coast where the most ice you'll find is in a Blue Raspberry Arctic Rush from that Dairy Queen off I-80. Ah the perils of early booking.
Hang on, things are looking up. There's a bit of the good white stuff out there. The kind you slide down that is. Silicon Valley may be the new Wall Street, but the Wolf of WhatsApp doesn't quite have the same ring to it.
Looks like the boarders are stirring up trouble again.
Things look promising from base camp, but alas high winds on the upper slopes have shut down the lifts for the day leaving only a small section of the lower runs open.
Luckily high winds can't stop the hippie breakfast burrito joint from churning out their legendary sausage, egg, and hot sauce fuel sticks.
With the real mountain shut down, the opportunity presents itself to refine some techniques on the lower slopes under the watchful eye of Squaw Valley's ski school instructors. If you can call this technique.
The conflict between skiers and boarders is as old as the mountain itself.
There's something to be said for an enforced afternoon of perfecting parallel turns, or in the case of the boarders, perfecting the low-slung pants line.
Looks like someone missed her flight to Sochi. With that kind of speed there's a Wheeties box waiting for you.
As the weather closes in it's time to reluctantly call time on a frustrating day of what might have been. Luckily there's plenty of other chances to try out for Team USA.
With the day on the slopes a write-off, there's plenty of pent up energy for the night's big event, an open-air concert by Jurrasic 5 right in the middle of Squaw Village.
Things are looking up. The music is pumping, and there's snow in the air. This bodes well for an epic day tomorrow.
Spring is definitely around the corner; the bears are ending their long winter hibernation.
Strobe lights always look cooler in a blizzard.
Time to refuel and cross the fingers for better luck tomorrow.
Tomorrow is going to arrive sooner for some than others. It may not have been a big air day, but it's certainly a big hair day.
Bingo, this is it! The day dawns crystal clear without a breath of wind, the lift indicators are green across the board. Let's drop dudes!
It doesn't get any better than this. The fresh snow overnight seems to stretch all the way down to the sparkling Lake Tahoe far below.
With scenery like this it's hard to keep an eye on the piste.
The best thing about skiing the West Side is it's actually warm, on a day like this you could cruise these slopes in a t-shirt. Most likely with a suitably faux-retro Google logo on the front.
The start of the epic Home Run, a four mile cruiser that starts at the top of the highest lift and weaves its way down to the village far below.
After an mega day shredding the slopes it's time to reluctantly point the GPS back to the Bay area. But not without a pit stop at Joe's Crab Shack, a monument to American Kitsch that also happens to serve up some darn good crab.
Joe's is about as far from farm-to-table as you can get without opening a can of spam, but hey, sometimes those elitist coastalites need to reconnect with middle America. And no, rolling out Google Fiber in Kansas City doesn't count.
Corona Street. Out here that takes the place of Park Avenue on the Monopoly board.
The newest wing of SF airport is reserved for those with restricted stock options in their carry on and Google Glass in the pocket of their $300 flannel lumberjack shirts. It's not clear why they let this dude in, perhaps they mistook him for the guy who delivers the free sushi every Wednesday?
It's five minutes after takeoff and there's Lake Tahoe again. Why did we drive four hours again?
United is the official airline of Team USA, which means its a miracle our athletes made it to the starting line on time. Whatever you do, don't put your gold medals in your checked bags.
Postcard over the Rockies.
Luckily the incessant snow storms part just long enough for a spectacular approach into JFK.
Heck, that's a lot of snow. Who's up for a little skiing?
