Jan 12 Tahoe trip in review
Let's rewind to Wednesday January 9th, the day it all came together. Sure, there was a lot of talk beforehand, especially since the guys were just starting to kick into things the last time we headed up in December. That was a practice run, with little planning and a lot of unknowns. Time was wasted that time, but we were wiser now. We knew what we were doing and what we were getting ourselves into. Last time, the guys got schooled. They were a tired, pathetic mess, whimpering on the way home from the beating they had received. But they had paid their dues, and now anticipated only retribution for the coming weekend.

On Wednesday we reserved a minivan with Hotwire, where we found a room at the Peppermill in Reno for $56/night. Xun and I went to a nearby ski and snowboard store to pick up early season coupons for Northstar ($36 day pass, down from $54). Billy did some research and found $20 snowboard rentals (which went down to $15 with a coupon) at Truckee Sports Exchange. We were good to go.

Saturday morning started us off twenty minutes late, as the self-declared 'Alpha House' loaded into the blue Mazda MPV we picked up the night before. Sinyee and Xun had had snacks handled, and after packing in a cooler and a trunk full of backpacks and sleeping bags, we were headed off at 6:30 am. Xun drove us to Billy's San Francisco loft; Billy had been waiting and quickly packed his stuff into the back. I took the driver's seat and Billy rode shotgun. We headed across the Bay Bridge and up the I-80. Billy loaded some soft jazz into the CD player, and by the time we switched over to Enya, the rest of the van was pretty much asleep.

The sky was light as we approached Sacramento; the sun was blinding to eyes accustomed to darkness. It was past 9:00 am as we headed into the Sierras. The sun had made its way above the mountain horizon. The tank was down to 1/4 as we pulled off the road to fill up and take a break. The air was chill at the service station. It was a quick rest stop, and soon we were back en route, with Billy behind the wheel. The mountains unveiled themselves as we climbed, clad in snow and covered with trees. We soon got of the I-80, and headed for the town of Truckee. Truckee Sports Exchange wasn't too hard to find, and Billy and Xun got in to pick up boots and boards. Billy got a board by M3, Xun got a decent Burton, both with Switch bindings. As soon as we crammed the equipment into the van, we got back on our way. It was 10:30 by the time we pulled up to Northstar.

Xun, Billy and I got our stuff together. There was no snow on the ground in the parking lot, and it was incredibly warm. I left my coat in the car and grabbed my board. Johnny and Sinyee got back into the car, and Shao took the wheel and headed out to Reno. After getting our lift tickets, we lined up for the gondola and finally headed up the slopes. Happily, there was snow as we got off the gondola, but not as much as we had hoped. As a fellow gondola rider had explained to us, it had rained in Tahoe for the past week, taking down much of the snow from December.

It took me a few runs to get into the swing of things. It was a warm day, and I felt great without my coat. Unfortunately, the lifts were crowded, and there were a suprising number of Asian skiiers and snowboarders (primarily snowboarders) on the slopes. After my first two runs, I found Xun and Billy, who had been giving the easier runs a try. We hung around the Arrow Express lift for a few runs. Xun could make his way down the hill, turning slowly. Billy was fine on his heel edge, but had trouble keeping his toe edge, and hadn't quite gotten the turn, or so it seemed. A few runs later, he tried riding fakey, with much improvement. Always figured he was goofy.

We stopped for a late lunch to avoid the heavy crowds. The lodge was still busy, but it looked much better than it did at lunchtime. After relaxing for a bit, we decided to head to the top of the mountian, as Billy and Xun were confident enough to ride the blue runs. The last two runs I hit were the two best runs of the day. The crowds were disappearing, as the sun sank behind the mountain, casting the resort in shadow against a violet sky. I was the last person up the Comstock Express for the day; it was pretty much empty when I got to the top. I bombed the first half of the mountain until I started catching up to other riders. Reminds me of the recent Cartmanland episode of South Park... if I had my million bucks I'd buy a ski resort... yeah!

After wandering around the village at the bottom of the hill for a while (it had gotten quite cold in the shadows), I eventually found Xun and Billy, and the three of us quickly found the rest of the crowd, who had kindly returned from Reno, just to pick us up. The ride back to Reno wasn't too long, maybe a half hour. Like Vegas, it was a small lake of light against the black wasteland around it at night. It was however, much less exhuberant; it took us five minutes to drive through the main strip of epilepsy inducing displays, crowned by a brightly lit "Reno: the Biggest Little City in the World" sign that arched across the roadway. Past the main strip, we hit an average American town, set apart only by the frequency of adult novelty stores.

The Peppermill stood alone, set apart from the main strip of casinos. The gayly lit monolith was huge compared to the rest of the Reno strip, although really it would be substandard fare compared to the ubercasinos of Vegas. Shao drove us past the lights of the Peppermill, to the dark lodges hidden behind the hotel, where our $56 room was situated. Before stopping to check out our room (where Shao and friends had already checked into earlier during the day), we circled around to the front desk in hopes of upgrading to a cheap suite.

Shao came back to the van, defeated. No more cheap suites, and we were resigned to our hotel room. The room was sufficiently clean, not half as bad as what Johnny had warned us it would be. The large washroom had a heated fan on the ceiling, a warm welcome from the evening chill. We relaxed in front of the television, watching "the Mummy" until sufficient complaints caused us the venture forth in search of food. We passed on the "White Orchid", the hotel restaurant that featured $45 entrees, and headed back over to the Circus Circus on the main strip. We had decent American/Italian food at Amici's. After dinner we realized why we had come here: Shao's passion for the camel game.

Circus Circus featured an area of midway style games, with the standard stuffed animal prizes. The particular game in question involved rolling a ball down an alley so that it would fall into a bunch of holes, which triggered a plastic camel on the back of the stall to move a portion of the distance from the right to the left. Sinking enough balls caused the camel to race across the stall. The game was a race with the 15 other players, all trying to roll balls into holes to get their camels to run. Apparently during the day Shao had already mastered the game. We watched as throngs of people shuffled past behind us, adults carrying children and pushing strollers. We cheered as Shao won race after race, establishing his dynasty over the prepubescent challengers, all helplessly trying to goad their camels on. But alas, all empires are eventually crushed, and an adult eventually sat down in alley 14. After a few losses in succession, Shao surrendered the crown, but he left carrying a bagful of loot garnered from the stall.

We headed back to the Peppermill, but since it was still early we hit the casino before going back to our room. We wandered through the mostly empty slot machines and half empty card tables until we lost Shao. We doubled back and found him sitting next to a smoking white chick on a single-deck blackjack table. As Shao played, the white chick puffed, and the gay guy in a white coat at the end of the table made lewd remarks at the Philipino dealer. Eventually Xun joined him and lost $20, and Shao quit with $45 more than he started off with, wisened by his last attempt in Vegas.

Billy also gave it a shot at a $3 table. At first he was tossing chips to the dealer, as the live entertainment in the background belted out mangled versions of pop hits. Eventually Shao came around and Billy's luck turned. He left with $20 more than he started off with, and we headed back to the hotel room around 11:30pm, to get the sleep in before skiing the next day.