Many of us desperately need a change of scene, all at the same time, some sort of post-Camp Fire paradigm shift. You know someone needs to get away when the lady in line ahead of you just goes off at that poor store clerk, and the big-truck guy at the gas station guns it and looks like he’ll ram that little old lady, just to get in front. Yikes. The social fabric in these parts is not just punctured and frayed, with one whole town living atop other towns, as we are now. It’s tearing, loudly. We all need a timeout. Thank heavens for the holidays.
How about just hiding out somewhere in the snow? The weather is obliging. That’s some soft, powdery blanket tucking itself into the mountains. Could there be a better time? And could there be a better place than in and around Tahoe?
Tahoe’s got it all. The usual snow-go travel advice is action-oriented: “Go here for snow play and to snowshoe or ski cross-country, go there for downhill and snowboarding. Here’s the new info.” And I’ll get to that, promise.
But you can also just Airbnb it, burrow in, beat a full retreat from regular life. Pull the plug on being busy. Sleep in. Cook long, complicated, amazing meals. Watch worthy movies, served with popcorn and real butter. Read good books.
There’s one particular book I’d recommend this year, a California classic, telling a cautionary Tahoe story with immense grace and sensitivity. It could change your life, to settle into a snowy hideout and read it aloud, as a family. Older kids only.
As you dive into The Donner Party by Chico’s own George Keithley, a lyrical book-length poem first published in 1970, you’ll realize you don’t know this story, even if you thought you did. Yes, what happened was tragic and horrible. It was also about human generosity, courage and love, under gruesome circumstances:
A small party of wagon train travelers, led by George Donner, our narrator, and his brother Jacob, split off from the main train in Utah in the spring of 1846, to try a shortcut—one which took much too long. They arrived at the base of the Sierra Nevada very late in the season. They decided to cross in late October, too late.
Even so, the Donner Party almost made it. Having climbed to the pass near Tahoe—we call it Donner Pass, today—and prepared for passage, the group decided to wait a day, sleep, and then set out at sunup. That one-day delay sealed their fate. New snowfall during the night obliterated the trail; waiting for a break in the weather meant still more snow. Most of the group’s oxen were lost in the ensuing storms, due to carelessness and panic.
Without adequate provision, huddled in flimsy tents, makeshift cabins, and snow caves along Alder Creek, the Donner Party settled in for a horrible winter, reduced to eating mice, sticks, shoes, and even their own dead just to survive.
Why immerse yourself in this tragic tale at such a sad time in our own lives? Perspective. Life is not a Disney movie. And life, now, is not so different from life then. Terrible things happen to good people, good things happen for terrible people. Most terrible thing of all is realizing we’re not in charge. Still, it can all be redeemed, as George Donner might tell you.
