Today is day 1 of our Tahoe Trip. This area is beautiful (even with the rain today). The service from Southwest Airlines was quick and efficient even with the extremely long Spring Break lines at the airport.  We were at the airport about 5:00 am and the line had already formed down the side of the terminal outside.  Even with a two-stop flight in San Antonio and Las Vegas we were taken care of every step of the way. We rent a car in Reno to make the 1 hour trek to Squaw Valley after finding out the shuttle was $180 each way (ouch!).  From the moment we entered the incredible resort lobby through glass doors with an overlay of custom ironwork of pine and limbs cones we knew we were going to love this place.  We were greeted by the Marketing Director of The Resort at Squaw Creek, Marc Sapoznic, and the more than friendly, Jackie, at the front desk.  We could not get to our room quickly enough to unpack and scout out the resort and Village.

A few things about this to fantastic resort.  It is the only resort in the area with a ski lift at the back door.  They have a beautiful outdoor heated pool (so bring your suits), an outdoor ice skating rink, and outdoor heated spas.  During the summer months the water slide is great entertainment for the kids and adults.  Kids are more than welcome with great programs like “mountain buddies” that includes full and half day programs in the summer and winter months starting age 4.  They have a full service spa (which I plan to try out Wednesday) along with 4 restaurants ranging from fine dining to casual.  The resort has some of the best shopping I have seen so far so there is little reason to leave.   Our suite is beautifully furnished with a living room, full service kitchen, dining area, fireplace and fantastic view of the mountain.  Tonight we have a view of the lights on the mountain used for night skiing.  This afternoon we ventured into the village to inquire on snowboarding lessons and happened on a place called PlumpJack.  A restaurant with metal sculpture as the fire pit in a wine bar that served us a cheese tray with the best tasting goat brie cheese I’ve had (for those that know I have allergies to dairy this was a great find).  We’d been up since 2:00 am local time and were beat so we plan to decide if we will ski or snowboard tomorrow morning (stay tuned).  So as a close to Day 1 I will leave you with Day 1 of Twitter as well.  Tomorrow is an evening at Northstar and the Charity Tweet Up where we will meet some locals on Twitter and raise funds for a local charity, the Northern Nevada Juvenile Diabetes Association.

Twitter Day 1:

A few basics on Twitter and how I am using it on this trip. Twitter was designed as a micro-blogging tool of sorts. Updates answer the question “what are you doing now”? You follow other Tweeps, some follow you, and you create posts in 140 characters or less to give “what you hope” is interesting insight into your life and/or work.  Although this is what it was orignally meant to be I have found Twitter to be much more as I have exchanged tweets and conected with followers over the past 10 months.  Users are indentified with the @ symbol (re: @DeAnnaCochran or whatever user name they choose).  I started using Twitter as a way to connect with others but also found it was a great way to build brand awareness in the process.  However, let me say that simply using Twitter as a one way communication to blast out “all about me” comments and updates will only get you only so far.  This and following a large number of people only to try and build your list of followers.  This is about connecting with people.  One of the main reasons I don’t like services such as Tweet Later which auto-follows or auto tweets thank yous to followers.  I would much rather personalize it by tweeting thanks myself as I feel appropriate.  To manage my Twitterstream I use Tweetdeck. I am a business owner, work out of a private studio, and find it as a perfect way to connect with other like minded creative types and other business owners. These are people you may not otherwise have the chance to meet in real life.  Twitter breaks down both social and regional walls and creates an online community where people are communicating, networking, sharing ideas, and giving a glimsp into their day to day lives with humor (and in some cases) raw honesty.  I was first introduced to Twitter by @KatjaPresnal and was hooked with my first few followers.  I look back at those first 5 followers that included such Tweeple as @ACowboysWife @JanePorricelli @Zappos.com CEO -Tony @SavvyAuntie and @ShannonNelson. Just read a few of these profiles and you too will be impressed by their accomplishments.  Many of which I hope to share in future posts. So for this particular series I am utilizing Twitter to share our #TahoeTrip which we won on a Twitter contest by @skydiver.  I will be posting photos (using Twitpic) and updates along with using the # hashtag symbol to track the tweets for the trip so they can be tracked.  The # hashtag is a great tool Tweeps use to track subjects and events in Twitter.

Now, off to bed…excited about tomorrow’s full day of activities. Be sure to follow along on Twitter (@DeAnnaCochran or @ThirdHyphen if you want up to the minute updates). We will also be feeding those over to Facebook as well (DeAnna Cochran and Stacey Cochran).