That sounds like a great plan. Have a terrific time - we're all hoping for another good snow year.

Suzie, (or anyone else) if you're around and checking, please help with our dinner plans if you can.
Based on Dayeau's info above, I booked us into Kalani's for Christmas Eve. I'm interested in Swiss Chalet (looks cute and we like raclette and fondue) and saw that Mirabelle is open for Christmas Eve and day. Thinking to book Mirabelle for Christmas Day dinner and Swiss Chalet for dinner on the 26th. Does that sound like a good line up for our dinners or should I look at other places?

For lunch options I'm looking at Cafe Fiore, Gi Fu Loh (DH is an Asian food fanatic), Fresh Ketch, and Samurai Sushi. Figure I won't need lunch reservations and can check them out a bit before booking or just walking in. Am I on the right track with these places and my no lunch reservations policy? Your advice very much appreciated.

Quick update: We are set for our holiday trip. Son leaves Dec. 22 to stay in North Tahoe for 2 days, then pick us up at the Reno airport on Christmas Eve and drive to South Tahoe for three nights before moving on to 3 nights in Napa and then 3 in San Francisco. We have dinner christmas Eve at Kalani's, Christmas day at Sage in Harvey's, and the 26th will be dinner at the Swiss Chalet. Our lunches are open so we'll shop around for what looks good. We're excited for our trip--Now to get there!!

Can anyone living in the vicinity give me odds on
1) son being able to get to Plumpjack and Squaw from RNO on 22nd (I've been watching that reporter on the weather channel standing in downtown Truckee talking about 13 FEET of snow on its way)
2) us being able to get from Seattle (after FLL and ATL) to RNO and then to South Tahoe on Dec. 25.

Thanks.

I don't live in the area, but this is the website to check for road conditions: www.dot.ca.gov/cgi-bin/roads.cgi Just pop his intended routes (80,89, etc.)into the box. Also helpful is: www.safetravelusa.com/nv/

Looking at the Reno airport website, currently flights seem to be running on time: http://renoairport.com/ , so his odds of getting into Reno look good. The problem doesn't seem to be in Reno, it is getting from there into the Sierra, where there has already been 7-10 feet of snow in the past week. I'm sure your son knows to rent chains with his vehicle. He might also want to check hotel availability in Reno, just as a backup plan. It is scheduled to let up on Thursday, so you should be okay on Saturday.

Have a wonderful, white Christmas!

We drove from San Francisco to Truckee and back on Saturday. The only part of the drive that was difficult was over the summit (about 9 miles from Kingvale to Truckee). I don't know whether it was a similar problem on the "other side" (i.e. Truckee to Reno).

Is your son driving his own car? He will have to have chains (the car in front of us must have convinced the inspector he had 4-wheel drive, and didn't, and he was skidding all over the road, whereas we had 4-wheel drive and snow tires, and had no problem at all).

At the moment there are no chain controls in effect on Hwy 395 from Reno to South Lake Tahoe.

Should you need to stay over in Reno, there will be no problem finding a hotel, and very inexpensively.

Correction. I don't believe the rental companies will rent or even allow tire chains on vehicles. I hope that he has reserved a 4-wheel drive vehicle. For R1, R2 conditions, this should be allowed. (They say you need snow tires, but I have a 4wd w/o snow tires, and anytime we have approached the chain areas, we just hold up 4 fingers and the CHP waves us through, without checking our tires.)

If the conditions reach R3, even 4wd's need chains. However, most roads will be closed before that happens. www.dot.ca.gov/hq/roadinfo/wo.htm

I would NOT have wanted to be on the road on Saturday without snow tires, especially if your son does not have experience driving in the snow!

Maybe your son can check with the rental car companies at the Reno airport to see if they rent 4wd's with snow tires. Some rental companies in winter resort areas do.

I agree with the experience comment. DH learned to drive in the German Alps without the benefit of 4wd or tire chains. For this, he wins the privilege of all winter driving in our family. :)

Thank you all so much for this information. We've rented a Nissan Xterra or similar which is a van with I believe 4 wheel drive. Son grew up driving in Minnesota though he now lives in NYC and only drives when he visits us in FL or when he travels to ski. Sure hope snow driving is like riding a bike. I'll send all this info on to him. Thank you, again for your speedy and complete responses to my question.

I got through to the rental place at RNO. The xterra is a 4wd and it will be equipped with snow tires so it sounds like we're as set as we can be. Now if the old skills are still there. Sonny was hoping for good snow. Be careful what you wish for. Again, thanks for the helpful responses.

As I said, that's what we had on Saturday, and we had no problem (except for visibility, part of our drive being at night, but we're very familiar with the area). As long as he takes it slow, he'll be fine. Cars with chains on are supposed to drive 25-30, and he shouldn't plan to go much faster. Do tell him that if he hits a chain control point (where they check), he should get in the empty lane -- he'll tell them he has 4-wheel drive and snow tires, and they'll wave him through.

Thanks sf. I'm sending him this post and telling him to pay attention. He's over 30 so there's some hope that he'll listen.