South Lake Tahoe in March with small children

A quick summary of our trip:

-Discovered that March is an awesome time to go - no crowds and no traffic!

-After reading reviews, I took a chance on Lake Tahoe Vacation Resort by Diamond Resorts and loved it.  (We requested a ground floor to stay safe and avoid taking elevators.  I also wiped down a lot of high-touch areas in the hotel room after checking in.  

-Parking gets full by 5:00 - 5:30 pm but there is off-site parking across the street at Five Guys.  With people leaving for dinner we never had an issue finding  on-site parking 

-If you're a family of four with two kids under 6, I highly recommend the one-bedroom standard.  Originally I had booked the studio, but after being upgraded to the one-bedroom standard, we can't imagine staying in anything smaller

-We mainly grabbed food from Whole Foods and ate at our hotel room which has a huge dining table that easily seats 7 people.  There's also a full kitchen with utensils, dishes, bowls, cooking ware, dish soap, towels, garbage bags, and a dishwasher.  

-I made the rookie mistake of using last year's snow pants for the kids - they fit but but my daughter must have had a crazy growth spurt, the pants were too short and I felt guilty she cried half an hour into our time at Adventure Mountain (we made up for it by having her sled at a park without deep snow and she didn't want to leave).  In the past we've always gotten the kid's snowpants from Target.  

-Children's snow pants may be difficult to find; all the major stores were sold out.

- We love Adventure Mountain for sledding (if you can afford sleds, buy them, otherwise the lines to rent are looooong.  We got ours from Costco).  I highly recommend getting here right when it opens at 9:00 a.m. on weekends.  The crowds started showing up around 11:00 a.m. 

Lake Tahoe Vacation Resort by Diamond Resorts in the background.  There's a nice little duck pond in the back as well as adirondack chairs around a fire pit.  

I grabbed my family and took an impromptu trip to South Lake Tahoe.  Most people wouldn't think to come here in March, but in my opinion it's one of the best times to go - no crowds and no traffic!  The worse trip I can recall was in 2017, it was a 9-hour drive on a Friday afternoon and I was two months pregnant and had a whining 2-year old (granted we did make multiple pit stops).  We learned the hard way to never leave the Bay Area on a Friday afternoon, even on a non-holiday weekend!  We've lived and worked in or near the City for so long that we've forgotten how bad traffic could be.  

We stopped on the side of the road to take this breathtaking photo - you can see a small slice of that Lake Tahoe blue.

Adventure Mountain - Try to get here as soon as it opens which is 9:00 a.m. on weekends

I made the mistake of using snow pants that were 2 years too young for my daughter - I couldn't help it, they still fit!  But I wasn't expecting her to have such a growth spurt before our trip that the pants were nearly like capris.  Of course she had to step into snow that was 4 feet deep - she couldn't resist its invitation.  Forty-five minutes later, her socks were soaked and she refused to stay on the mountain any longer, but later on in the day she had a great time sleding at a park that didn't have deep snow.  It was a shock to learn that it was impossible to find snow pants in any of the stores - apparently, there was a manufacturing issue and the stores have been been sold out of children's snow pants for weeks.  

Overall, we had a great time and most importantly we stayed safe.  It was a nice change of scenery and it was so beautiful being in a winter wonderland at the end of March.  

 

Pacifica State Beach (Linda Mar Beach) with small children

Pacifica State Beach or Linda Mar Beach  is one of our favorite beaches.  I have one particular fond memory of coming here one day on a cold foggy morning and seeing about thirty or so surfers, all lined up horizontally, bobbing in the water in their black wetsuits - a classic California beach moment.  I wish I had brought my Nikon camera to capture that moment, maybe next time!  

Not only is it a spectacular drive on Highway 1 from SF, it's also cleaner than most beaches we've been to in SF, Santa Cruz, and Parks Desire Beach near Tomales Bay.  We also love how Taco Bell is not too far away - my husband will walk over and bring lunch back to our tent - with miniature makeshift tables and all.  One of our favorite things to do is collect cool looking rocks and seashells.  I would avoid coming here on a holiday, if you do, come as early as possible.  There is a parking lot across the street, but if you come early enough you can snag a spot by the beach.  We paid $7.00 for parking and stayed for a couple hours.  (I believe it's $7.00 for less than a 4-hour stay)   

D. Porthault Sale

 

Uh-oh, look what popped up on my IG feed today!  Last fall I set my alarm for 6:00 a.m. for D. Porthault's semi-annual sale and managed to cart the Plumes Lavende boudoir but couldn't get the neck roll in time.  This time around, I've been eyeing the beautiful Bouquet Eclate Celadon Bed Linens pattern.  I know most people can't justify spending a lot of money on linens, but for someone who grew up with a mother who collected high quality bedding, it's one of the very few things I have an appreciation for and is in my DNA.  They make great heirlooms and can be handed down for generations.  

Top right is by Matouk in a scallop design that I got from a great sale from Horchow

Bottom left Plumes Lavende boudoir - my son's favorite pillow.  

The others are vintage pillow cases

My son really does love that D. Porthault pillow.  My husband makes fun of that purchase by dubbing it the poop pillow - whenever my son is ready for his diaper change, it's his pillow of choice for resting his head on!

Bouquet Eclate Celadon Bed Linens

Where to take your kids in San Francisco - West Portal Playground

 

We visited the recently renovated playground near West Portal Elementary School and my kids couldn't get enough -they loved the dragon slide and the roller conveyor.  There's a seating area near the playground when your kids want to snack and also a large grassy field to play soccer or to have a nice picnic when it's lovely outside.  

Where to safely take your kids in San Francisco -Spreckels Lake at Golden Gate Park

It's funny.  Every time we run into someone we know at a playground, the parent will say how surprised they are to see us since we live so far away (note: we only live less than 10 minutes away from this park).

My husband and I take our kids everywhere in San Francisco; the City itself is our playground, otherwise what's the point of living here (and paying for the high cost of living, etc).  

One of my favorite places to take the kids is Speckles Lake in Golden Gate Park.  There's usually a vendor selling ice cream, a family of turtles who ironically like to chill on top of a large bronze statue of a turtle, lots of birds (be weary of the poo littered everywhere), ducks, and sometimes you will see toy boats floating on the lake.  

What I love is how serene and peaceful the place can be.  Also, there are plenty of benches and seating areas, which is great if you're taking a grandparent with you on a stroll who occasionally needs a break.  My kids particularly love the monkey bars.  Yes, strangely to the right side of the lake you will see a couple of monkey bars.  My kids are obsessed with it and are happy to to just hang out and say hi to any passerby young and old.