tahoe, not galbi

definitely not a warm, toasty grill. rather, a snowy hill + freezing lake.

oh yeah, happy new year! but now i must wind back the clock a bit.

wednesday, december 24, 2008

wake up. finish packing. drive to mom's. load her car with all our gear + luggage. drive to airport. sit in airport for.ev.er. playing word warp on my iphone. flight is delayed.

fly into vegas. connecting flight is a bit late. had a 2-hour layover anyway. play some more games on the iphone. finally board plane.

fly into reno. get rental SUV. except...it's a midget SUV. barely fit gear into it. barely fit humans into it. drive in snow (yay for snow tires and AWD on the midget) at around 25 mph. get into south lake tahoe quite late. check in. unpack. call grocery stores to see if open. nope. call restaurants to see if open. not much is open.

walk with the bear to KFC. watch incompetent workers get confused while manager fills our order. walk back in pretty but super cold snow. eat kfc for christmas eve dinner. hey, others were eating AT KFC. at least we had a cozy kitchenette table in front of our gas fireplace.

went to bed.

thursday, december 25, 2008

wake up to boys' alarm at some crazy hour like 7 AM. listen to them debate whether they are going to attempt to snowboard or not in the windy, snowy, blustery weather. all go back to sleep.

[photos bear took that morning from our room]

wake up late morning to go grocery shopping. grocery store is closed. eat subway for christmas brunch. messages at grocery stores from the previous night saying they'd be open have changed to saying they'd be closed on christmas day. maybe it was the weather.

go to liquor store, which is the only place open for all of its normal hours, to stock up. go back to hotel. mom books spa appointment at another hotel. we decide to go hang out at casinos during her appointment and watch lakers/celtics game, then meet up later for a casino buffet christmas dinner. don't judge. our options were limited.

watch lakers/celtics game at harrah's sportsbook bar. listen to boys trash talk with boston fans. fall asleep at bar while game continues. boys bet on wizards/someone else game because of huge point spread. go to manchu wok as i have the munchies. disappointed they are out of seafood rangoon and settle for egg rolls and chow mein. slather chow mein in sriracha. hits the spot. mom meets up with us.

we head up to the buffet line. everyone and their mom and many kids are in line with us. the bear coos at the cutest baby in front of us in line. such a good, happy, fat, cute asian baby. the bear makes the baby smile and laugh by making faces. he's going to be a lot better parent than i am. the bear and potatobro then turn around and mess with me. hmph.

they think they're badass or something.

friday, december 26, 2008

yay! perfect weather for snowboarding. ok, a little cold, but otherwise perfect. see?

you can see potatobro on the left and me on the right,
if you look closely.


yay! i remember how to ride.


deep powder is good.


crazy trees.










walking the flats from california to nevada.
meh.


so. much. snow.

got kinda lost. bear and me were two hours late meeting my mom at the lodge. oops. boys go back out while i inhale chili, water, gatorade, a cookie, hot chocolate, and i forget what else.

we drop by the grocery store (finally). then we retire to our room and frozen pizza.

the boys laugh when i reveal what i had on under my cute brown + soft aqua paisley jacket.

hey. you're supposed to keep the sweat-wicking base layer closest to the skin, so i put on all my other layers over it. oh and no, i didn't have the flannel PJ pants on under my snowboarding pants.

hot tub. shower. food. sleep. ahh.

saturday, december 27, 2008

wake up. listen to boys debate whether they want to go out on the slopes for a full day, half day, not at all. boys decide not at all. take mom + her SO to the slopes. do a lot of window shopping at the village. where we see this lady.

that's one way to recycle grocery bags.

pick up mom + SO from the lodge. drink free hot chocolate. change and pick place for dinner.

end up at timber house at lakeside inn. best meal (obvs) of the trip. casino is old school vegas. HVAC system makes it smell and unbreathable like old vegas, too. no cover for the UFC fight that night, so lotsa locals and interesting characters. everyone is friendly and nice. decide against the 9.99 prime rib special. scarf fried mac 'n' cheese balls (er, triangles) and lettuce wraps for appetizers. yep, eclectic menu. fried mac is DEEEElish. lettuce wraps are suprisingly good, too. better than PF chang's. the bear and me share a seafood linguine in a rich, creamy sauce with cheese garlic bread and a prime rib sandwich with swiss, horseradish, peppers, mushrooms, etc., etc. both are solid. try part of potatobro's goat cheese twice baked potato. rich and good. oh, and drinks are cheap, yo.

if you want a solid, artery-clogging meal, this is the place to go. we've tried supposedly gourmet and supposedly authentic ethnic cuisine in south lake tahoe and environs. it's either bleh and overpriced, or just aiite and overpriced. this was a much better value and much more enjoyable. sorry no pics. it was too dark in there.

sunday, december 28, 2008

ugh. this is getting too long. wrap it up already!

flew back. delayed a bit but got back in decent time. dropped by the in-laws' on the way home and picked up some guava and homemade thai food. mmMM.

the end. finally.