Journeys›Photograph

Fourth of July Week Snow and Sun

·Placer County, California·#lake life#family trip#tahoe#fourth of july#summer-skiing
A vintage red and white Volkswagen pickup truck with kayaks and ladders drives on a road by a lake and trees.

Fourth of July week up at Donner and Squaw, and the snow still hasn't given up. From the road above the lake we watched a parade of old VWs roll past with kayaks and surfboards strapped to their racks — a split-window bus, then a Beetle right behind it, both headed the same direction we were.

Up at Squaw the pool was full of people in swimsuits with white slopes right behind them, chairlifts hanging empty over the snow. We rode up and walked around on it in flannel and sunglasses, no jacket needed. There were still a few snowboarders picking their way down. Lower on the mountain the wildflowers have come up right at the edge of the snowline, and the kid stood in a whole field of yellow ones.

The rest of the week was the lake — the girls out on the water, the tandem kayak, floats, a sailboat crossing behind everything. Snow on the ridges one day, swimming the next, sometimes both before lunch.

A white vintage Volkswagen Beetle with a kayak on its roof drives on a road by a large blue lake.An outdoor swimming pool filled with people sits below a snow-covered mountain with ski lifts under a blue sky.A man in sunglasses reflecting other skiers takes a selfie on a snowy mountain with trees and distant peaks under blue sky.A man smiles in a snowy mountain selfie, with three smaller images on the right showing a snowboarder, trees, and a map.A person sailing an orange boat on a lake, with a dense forest covering the background hills.A smiling child stands in a field of yellow wildflowers with snow-covered mountains in the background.Three smiling women in sunglasses and swimsuits with the ocean and bright sky in the background.Four people are on a blue lake, two in a red kayak and two on inflatable rafts, with snowy mountains behind.

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