It’s 11:54 pm on the last Sunday of my Spring Break. I just got back from a 4-day trip to Northern California that was really fun. On Thursday around noon, Jes and I packed up the car, dropped off the dog at my parents’ house, and drove up north. We stopped at the Gilroy Outlets for some shopping and arrived at Ryan’s new loft around 8:30 pm for dinner. He’s got a cool place with lots of neat ideas for future construction. We also got to see Ryan and Michelle’s photos from their 2.5-week Asia trip. They were such a mess, coming home with the remainder of an upper respiratory infection and a stomach bug. After the Bangs said goodnight, we bid farewell to Ryan and Michelle and headed to our hotel. We stayed the W, which was one of the nicest hotels I had ever stayed in. It was pretty fancy with the name brand amenities (all for sale at a premium), corner room with a nice view of the city, and complementary bottled water, apples, and newspaper.

…

On Friday, we got up late and had breakfast near Union Square. It was a gorgeous sunny day in the city so we walked around and took in the sights before meeting up with Jimmy at Houston’s for lunch. Thanks for lunch, J! Afterwards, we went for a scenic drive to the GG Bridge, crossed it toll-free, and got some cool photos of the bay and the skyline. Next, we drove up to Tahoe. On our way we stopped at Costco for discounted Kirkwood tickets and arrived at the Blue Jay Lodge by 7. I actually did the drive up the mountain on the curvey roads of Hwy 50. It was a lot of fun and much easier than the drive to Big Bear. That night we walked around in the casinos, lost $5 to a slot machine, and ate at Cabo Wabo Cantina.

…

The next morning we met up with Bang and Vyl at Kirkwood. The snow was great and it was nice and warm. This was our first time back to Tahoe since December and it was fun to have Vyl, a fellow-skier, around. The first half of the day was mostly spent on the backside. However, we did go up to “The Wall” where at the top they have skull-and-bones flags warning that this was for “experts only”. Yup, I got stuck at the beginning where my legs became petrified and needed gentle coaxing to turn as I repeated to myself “turn, you can do it, turn”. I finally got off that initial lip and the rest was fine. At 12:30 we met up with Jimmy and Eleen for lunch. Afterwards, the six of us headed back up the mountain for some gullies and a crazy half-pipe slalom that we weren’t supposed to take. It was super-fast but really fun! I tried a couple jumps but ended up on my butt. By the end of the day, the snow got pretty slushy and my ears were burnt. We finished the day with beers at the lodge and sushi back at the lake.

…

This morning rolled around and Jes and I decided to head over to Alpine Meadows with Jimmy. We’d never been and it was worth the trip. I got stuck again at the top of the first run but the rest of the day was smooth sailing, except for all the traversing!! Overall, we’ve all gotten better over the season and I even took a couple jumps and landed them this time!! Woohoo!! Too bad today was probably our last trip of the season…boo. After lunch, we headed home. The drive was a long 8 hours (including stops) but well worth it for a fun-filled weekend.

…

Now it’s time to rest the car and slow down on the mileage. We’ve had the X3 for less than 3 months and have racked up about 6600 miles! And so, my Spring Break is now over and it’s time to go back to work…can’t wait for Memorial Day weekend.