Muscat, Oman

Arrived here late Monday evening after an all-day flight from London, via Abu Dhabi.  Spent all of today preparing for tomorrow's customer presentation, so no time for lounging by the pool drinking a cool beer. This would actually be rather difficult even if there had been time as:

(a) there is no pool at our hotel

(b) there is no beer anywhere in Oman as far as I can ascertain!

Went for a walk to the Grand Mosque, which is quite near the hotel.  Very impressive architecture. Not likely to be much chance of seeing any more of Oman on this trip, but not sure whether there much more to see anyway. The place has a rather unfinished look to it.

Homewood

After weighing up whether to go to Northstar or Homewood for our final day's skiing, I opted for Homewood as I had never been there before.  Not as expansive as Alpine Meadows but enough runs to keep us occupied all day, plus great sunny weather and snow, and virtually no one around made for a perfect day on the piste.  As a bonus, some stuning views over Lake Tahoe.

Alpine Meadows

This is the nearest ski area to our lodge.  Turned out to be a great day's skiing, with sunny skies, good snow, and very few people.  We managed to cover virtually all the pistes at least one, so probably no need for a repeat visit this trip.

Heavenly

Heavenly is located on the South end of Lake Tahoe, about 90 minutes leisurely drive from Squaw Valley.  The route was looking much more picturesque than when we last did the trip six years ago, with snow covering the trees and vapour clouds rising from the lake.  Unfortunately, all the view points were closed off for the season, so no chance for a long look.  

The resort was relatively quiet when we arrived, perhaps because Sunday is transfer day for the British holiday makers who make up much of the visitor numbers.  Or maybe they are being put of by the weak pound?  Anyway, plenty of perfect uncrowded pistes for us to enjoy, plus spectacular views over the lake.  The sunny weather made it onto a perfect skiing day.

After packing up for the afternoon we headed across the state line into Nevada and sampled the atmosphere in one of the casinos.  Interesting to see all the bored looking punters pouring their money into the various games.  I was not in the least tempted to take a flutter.

Dropped in to the Sunnyside Lodge on the way back for an excellent meal to round of a great day out.

Squaw Valley

Skiing conditions at Tahoe are perfect.  Good snow base and more fell on Friday. I have managed to cover all the easier runs at least once, and am now starting to tackle the more demanding ones.

New Year in Tahoe

The road journey from San Francisco to Tahoe along I-80 was rather tedious, with a lot of other holiday traffic slowing things down considerably.  We eventually got to our destination, the Riverside Lodge on the Truckee-Tahoe road.  Just managed to get a table for dinner, which was excellent, then found a seat next to the log fire in the bar and got started on the bubbly.  Surprisingly, quite a few people stuck around to see the New Year in at midnight and the hotel staff did a good job of making sure that everyone joined in the fun.

Golden Gate Park

We had half a day for more sightseeing in San Francisco, before heading off to Tahoe.  I was keen to visit the de Young art museum in Golden Gate Park, which had been completely remodelled since my earlier visits to the park.  The outside of the museum does not look particularly attractive from a distance, resembling a massive industrial shed clad in rusty iron sheeting.  Things do not really improve as you get closer, although the exterior cladding does have some interesting textures. Inside, however, the building is much more impressive and provides a functional setting for the art works that it contains.  Three hours is not really enough to do justice to the collection, but I did have time to take in the art of the Americas collection, the modern art collection and do a quick walk through the other sections.  The observation tower was an interesting new feature, providing a view out over the park and much of the Western sector of San Francisco.  Overall, well worth a visit and ideally needing another half day to do it justice.  I would have had liked to have had the time to look round the updated science centre too, as this has been completely revamped since I last visited, but sadly not enough time on this trip.