1. Our first sight of snow on the ground (and into our windshield) coming over Donner Pass.
2. Our first sight of Lake Tahoe (and Shelby climbing through the rails and into the backseat, stepping on Izzy in the process).
3. The view of the lake outside our living room window at Holiday House.
4. Izzy saying "Elm" (short for Elmo, or rather, her CD The Best of Elmo) everytime I would try to play something else in the car.
5. Shelby the snow dog, her senses totally heightened, looking out into the wintry woods. (Madeline claimed Shelby could simply smell food cooking.)
6. The look of glee on Izzy's face as she and Madeline came sledding down the slopes.
7. "Extreme sledding" -- where I sled down a slightly steeper hill and lifted off the ground for a second. (Madeline claims I simply sled over a hole in the snow.)
8. Alas, Madeline having to carry Izzy up the long hill in the Mt. Rose sno-play area every single time.
9. That castle-like structure in the middle of the island in Emerald Bay.
10. Izzy crying "Boc" at dinner time until we figured out that she wanted broccoli (this after trying everything else on the table). When was the last time you heard a kid cry out for broccoli?
11. Izzy saying "Yeah" after Madeline figured it out and said, "Oh, you mean broccoli."
12. The horrible lounge in the Tahoe Biltmore. (See previous posting.)
13. The feral black chow walking along the highway in Meeks Bay.
14. Izzy eating asparagus, broccoli, French toast, and most of all, spaghetti (with red sauce all over her face).
15. Watching the horse-racing arcade game at Circus Circus in Reno.
16. Trying to sing that Johnny Cash song and knowing only two lines ("I shot a man in Reno / Just to watch him die").
17. Shelby on hunger strike over her senior dog food.
18. The passage in the Donner Party books (at the Donner Pass Memorial Museum): "Has human pen power to express the shock of horror this sister received when she saw her brother's heart thrust through with a stick, and broiling upon the coals?"
19. The massive snow sheds just before Emigrant Pass, coming down from Tahoe.
20. The little Madeline necklaces, and the Thomas the Tank Engine train set, in the Truckee toy stores. (Izzy really liked that last one.)
21. The snazzy dining car from the '40a at the Railroad Museum in Old Sacramento.
22. Watching snow fall onto the porch.
23. Izzy pointing to the white stuff and saying "No."