Cold beer and hot chocolate

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December 23rd - Driving Day

Well we are here.  Snow boarding for Christmas.  Last year a warm Christmas in Guatemala - this year a cold Christmas in the snow.

Took about 5 hours to get up here from SF.  Relatively straight forward drive with good road conditions all the way up.  Didn't even have to break out the new snow chains :) 

Daph had made the hotel arrangements before hand.  Great room, good price  and walking distance from the Heavenly lift.  Way to go Daph!

Once we got settled into our room we headed out for a beer.  Went to Mc P's right across from the Heavenly lift.  Very cool little chalet style pub that I had been to a couple of years ago with Mike and Lad.  The beer tasted great - or should I say beers :) 

From there we walked down to Harrahs (the closest casino on the Nevada side of the  boarder)  Very different experience than Vegas.  Somehow seems smokier and a little less upscale. We blew our $20 gambling budget and then moved onto the shopping and hot chocalate at the Nestle shop.  Called it an early night so we would be rested for tomorrow.

December 24th - Not so heavenly for beginner snow boarder

The next morning it took us a little while to get going  so when we showed up for breakfast all the tables were gone.  No complaints though it was free :)  After breakfast we walked down to the heavenly gondala.  Since we were running a little behind schedule we decided to wait for 45 minutes and go for the half day lift ticket.  I had skied at Heavenly before and it seemed like a very nice hill.  However,  it was a very different deal for my first day snowboarding of the year and only third time ever.  On the gondola side most of the hills are blue or above and even the greens are narrow and challenging.  Daph was very patient with me as I tried to sort things out.  Overall not the best day on the hill ever but still good to be out

Daph had made reservations at Niephel's.  Very romantic little spot where you can make reservations for a hot tub in an adjoining spa.  All of the buildings are chalet style cabins that have a very warm feeling to them.  We didn't use the spa but had a great dinner.  One of the highlights was when a young college girl, who was there for dinner with her parents, stood up and sang a christmas song.  I know sounds kind of lame but she was studying opera at university and had a beautiful voice.  Women at the other tables were literally crying while she sang. 

That night we found out that we could catch a free bus from the hotel to Sierra.  We decided to try Sierra the next morning.

December 25-27th - Sierra our favorite place to board

Christmas morning and we were off early - beautiful sunny warm day.  Had breakfast at 7 and caught the 8:19 Sierra bus at the front door of the hotel.  Really great free bus service that makes several stops on route to Sierra which is about 40 minutes away.  Once we arrived at Sierra we checked out the various lift ticket options and decided to get a three day pass for around $40 a day.  Far and away the best deal we found anywhere.  (We had bought Heavenly passes at Albertson's for $60 and we thought that was good)  We spent most of the day on the beginner hill so that I could get my toe turns (right hand turns sorted out)  After a couple of hours I was able to control the turns and things were starting to come together.  Daph was boarding really well and making great controled turns all the way down the hill.   Had a great day boarding.  We were both tired around  2pm and decided to catch the bus home.  That night we used the hot tub (our muscles were sore after spending the entire day boarding)  We then headed out to Mc P's for a beer and some warm stew.  Got up early and headed out to Sierra on the 8:19 bus.  Standing room only on the way there but since we were one of the first stops we had seats.  Fantastic day of boarding.  Both of our boarding improved and we had a lot of fun on the Rock Garden runs.  Rock Garden is a lift that takes you to the top of three different green runs.  Perfect place for us to continue to learn.  We had planned on driving home but when we woke up there was a foot and a half of fresh snow on the ground and it was still coming down!  Spoke to the  front desk was able to get our stay extended.  Then we were off. Had a great day of boarding.  We were both turning well and knew exactly where to go.  Spent most of the day on the Garden Run where there were far fewer people.  Boarding in fresh powder is a lot of fun.  Turns feel like you are surfing and falls are nice and soft :)  In the deeper powder we had to be careful to maintain our speed and keep our tips up so that our boards didn't stall and  bring us to a complete stop in the deep snow. Overall a great day that was well worth extending our stay for. The next day it was nice and sunny and although we were sad to be leaving it was a perfect day to drive home -- no chains required :)