spur of the moment middle of last week, jodi ava and i decided to go snowboarding. so, we did. booked hotels, rented boards, got snow gear for ava, and drove up to reno on friday night. four hours of mindless highway later, we were there, in the biggest little city in the world, reno. the decision was made to stay in reno because it was still close enough to the mountains, and with all the casinos there, the room rates were a hell of alot cheaper than near the mountain.

casino hotels are amusing. they'll do anything to get you to gamble there. we kindof beat the system, by staying there, and not gambling. food 24 hours a day. free valet parking. nice rooms. buffet. in the time that we were staying there, we had the buffet three times, at different meals, ate until we couldn't eat anymore. i played twenty bucks in quarters in the slot machines for about an hour, amused at all the old people sitting there feeding the machines as if their retirement depended on it.

last morning the next day, still sleepy, we headed up to northstar @ tahoe. just as we got into the hills, it was snowing, and they were requiring snow chains. luckily, i had borrowed some from jim before we left, so i didn't get ripped off with the last minute prices. the chains were nothing more than steel wires with bars of steel that got wrapped around the drive axle's tires so that you basically had a bar of steel every few inches around the tires.

the downside to driving in the snow with snow chains on is that you can't drive too fast. they had a mandatory 30mph limit so, the going was a bit slow. all the rich folks in their SUVs thought that they were the shit, and were passing everyone, driving 50 without chains on, becuase hey. they had a SUV. i saw at least five SUV's stuck in the snow off of the side of the road where they lost control because they were driving too fast. idiots.

the first day snowboarding it was hella snowing.you couldn't really see to far in front of you, and we were all convered in the falling snow. the second day, it was a bit clearer, and there was eleven to sixteen inches of fresh snow in the trees. jodi and ava were still learning, so they weren't in the trees, but i was. i'd take a run with them, and then a few on my own, and i spent the entire time in the trees. it was tiring as hell, but worth the sore legs.

now, what to do next weekend?