Snowbizzlin'

So I went snowboarding for the first time yesterday. Tyler, Kevin, Sami, Mercy and I piled into a Jetta and cruised up to Sierra in Tahoe for the day. First off, we did a remarkable job of packing the Jetta, which did not have a rack. We were able to COMFORTABLY fit 5 people, 4 snowboards, 4 pairs of boots, one pair of skis, 2 poles, and assorted backpacks and smaller travel gear into a normal sized Jetta, without threatening our lives. Let's just say that Keith would be proud of us.

We made it up there pretty easily; we left a little after 6am and first stopped at a McDonald's, which forgot Tyler's hash browns. He was bitter about it for a while. Well we got up there and got our gear together (I had to rent snowboard boots) and then we hit the slopes. We rode the bunny slope once before my friends took me to a run with a sign saying "This Is NOT a Beginner Run." I protested, saying I was not ready, but they insisted I go. So, I tried my best to keep up.

According to all of them, I did an amazing job throughout the day considering it was my first time snowboarding. I was able to make it down the challenging runs in a reasonable amount of time, and they didn't have to wait for me too long. But I did fall pretty hard a number of times, and I didn't really carve down the mountain like you are supposed to. Instead, I weaved my way down, staying heel side most of the time. Occasionally when it wasn't so steep I would try to carve and go toe side, but most of the time I would fall, hard. I kept hitting the right side of my body and it was lucky I was wearing a helmet.

During one run I rode down the slope on my stomach with my legs in the air; that might've been the most fun part of the day because I knew I couldn't get hurt falling. Don't get me wrong, I did have fun, but since I already know how to ski (and I am pretty good at it) it was frustrating to be so slow on a snowboard. By the end of the day I was carving pretty well and getting the hang of it, but I was still terrified of falling again because it hurt worse and worse each time. I did pull my hip flexor pretty badly, and today I am so sore everywhere that I can hardly move. But it was a good time.

Afterwards we went into South Lake Tahoe, saw a beautiful sunset, ate at a sushi place (I didn't order), got a happy ending, and had a lot of delirious fun on the car ride back. Oh and we almost hit a coyote on the road. I nommed some In N Out then passed out watching Hitch. Exhausting day, but lots of fun.