I grew up in the Midwest spending snowy winters skiing, ice skating, sledding and building snowmen. After moving to warmer climates and taking a twenty year hiatus from winter activities it’s nostalgic and exciting to see my family dive into all that winter has to offer. Resort at Squaw Creek is a convenient lodging choice for families and complements a Squaw Valley family ski trip well because it offers so many on-property winter activities.

Ski-in Ski-out Lodging

It’s a five minute walk from the hotel …

My family just returned from Squaw Valley and discovered why families love skiing here. Mother Nature provided perfect conditions with good snow and beautiful blue skies. My kids, seven and nine, found their ski legs and my husband and I discovered why we like skiing as adults – it’s exercise in a gorgeous setting. We’ve caught the ski bug and there’s no going back.

The Hyatt Regency Lake Tahoe has been in our USA best family hotels portfolio for a few years now. It was originally reviewed as a Community Recommended property. Although I know the Hyatt is wonderfully located in Incline Village, I never considered staying there over our usual haunts in and around Tahoe City.

I jumped on the chance to stay there a few weeks ago; as Dana just reaffirmed, fall is a tremendous time in Lake Tahoe with gorgeous weather and few crowds.

Our good friend Mara Gorman is managing a ridiculously clever “Back to Ski” carnival on her blog Mother of All Trips this week. I kicked off our 2012-13 family ski vacation coverage on Ciao Bambino with my tips for skiing in Europe with kids post in September. Of course, if you live in the US, it’s much less expensive to ski at any one of our glorious ski resorts across the country.

I’m going to join Mara’s skiing with kids celebration with some tips for skiing in Lake Tahoe. I great up skiing in California and look forward to our weekend ski getaways all year long.

The kids are back in school and hopefully a nice routine is settling in. But less freedom to get up and go, makes me even more determined to put family getaways on the calendar. Folks count the days until Lake Tahoe gets its first blast of winter. Stop counting and start packing for a fall family weekend in Lake Tahoe at Squaw Valley.

Less to Pack

Dreaming of winter is fine, but no snow is no problem, and makes packing a breeze. Hiking boots and swimsuits …

Lake Tahoe is a dream for active, adventurous families. I consider my family in this category with a twist — we’ll never be the family that camps or does the true roughing it vacation, although we do prioritize outdoor adventures and exercise. A great compromise is a hotel that allows us to experience the outdoors but at the end of the day has all the creature comforts we equate with vacation. The Resort at Squaw Creek is a perfect fit.

Squaw Valley has Olympic history; it hosted the 1960 winter Olympics and is the home mountain of Olympic gold medalist Jonny Moseley who is now a spokesperson for the ski resort. It also has a reputation for extreme skiing.

What you may not know is that Squaw Valley is transforming itself to appeal to a larger audience; beginner and intermediates skiers, foodies and families take note – there is more here for you now.

I recently wrote an article for our friends at Shermans Travel highlighting three family favorite ski areas in North Lake Tahoe: Sugar Bowl, Northstar-at-Tahoe, and Squaw Valley. Each of these resorts offers a very different ski experience. The beauty is they are located close enough together that you can easily try all three ski areas in a single vacation.

Matt Heron Fly Fishing is a full service fly fishing education program (or fly fishing school), geared for everyone … kids, adults, beginners and experts. He offers nine different classes on property at the Resort at Squaw Creek ranging from a simple hour and a half casting, or fly tying class, to the “Sundowner”, a half day fly fishing class that covers everything from A-Z.

We were hiking in Lake Tahoe a few weeks ago on the Rubicon Train (DL Bliss State Park) and came across these teen-agers jumping off big rocks into the lake. The joy of being young and fearless!

I love how the deep blue color of the lake comes through in these photos. What you can’t tell, however, is how cold the water is (hint: very).