Holidays 2008: Snow, Injuries, Penthouse, and More (8)

2:16 PM by Ren , under


I spent a very enjoyable holiday season in Truckee with my sisters, a couple of their husbands, my mom, and Miho. As you may have read, the trip to Truckee began with me having to put chains on a car for the first time, which was a major headache. The snow kept falling for a few days which made winter activities much more enjoyable.

The varying snow levels


Day one, two, and three

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Of course, we dedicated a day to go snowboarding! In case you didn't know already, it now costs eighty dollars to ski at Northstar! Northstar can be seen in two of the above pictures. It has constantly transformed into a luxurious retreat, but I simply can't justify spending that kind of money to go snowboarding one day. However, I figured that since the conditions were so nice, and I had a great crew to go with, that I would shell out the money.


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It must have been a holiday miracle, because when we arrived to the resort we found out that one of Bret's buddies was able to get all of us complimentary tickets! From then on the day just kept getting better. I got to snowboard for the first time in two years, and for the first time with Miho (who hadn't boarded since she broke her wrist in Japan, so I let her use my family's wrist guards). The snow was perfect, and so was the weather, which is why I was really confused with this middle-aged couple that sat by us on one of the lifts. They just couldn't stop complaining about petty things about Northstar, and about people in their lives. Miho and I were talking about them in Japanese how they need to just enjoy this wonderful day, and stop whining, when suddenly the lift's safety bar came down without any warning. This was odd because we were already half way up the mountain. I didn't think much of it, but it made me like these people even less. Then, near the top, I was suddenly smacked in the nose with the bar as these people abruptly lifted it without saying anything. The impact made my nose make a crunching sound, and instantly my eyes welled up. One of them asked, "Did we catch your nose?" I painfully groaned and said, "Yeah." Before leaving us they said, "At least its not bleeding," then took off. They couldn't tell that I was bleeding, a lot, it just hadn't started coming out of my nostrils yet. This incident convinced me to make this my last run, but on the way down Miho crashed really hard, cracking her goggles in many places due to smashing her face into the ground.

Bloody jacket, and smashed goggles


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Enjoying the winter weather

We kept active, and burned off all of the over-eating we had been doing by goofing off outside, and going on lots of walks.


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We also went sledding in town, which was a whole lot of fun! It is probably the most we all have laughed in a while! Check out the video:



Christmas


Christmas was different this year, as it was my first time to spend Christmas Eve in Truckee, and the fact that my family made an agreement to only buy gifts for one person each. The snow was falling hard Christmas morning, so I also got one of my first "white Christmases." It was beautiful, but quite stormy at times, as this video shows:



Snow bunnies


We also celebrated my brother-in-law's birthday


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New Years at a San Francisco penthouse


The rest of the party



Miho and I really didn't have much of a plan for New Years, but we figured that we would have more fun in San Francisco than we would have in the Tahoe area. In fact, blaming the current economic times, Reno canceled their downtown fireworks show. Our only real plan was to go to the San Francisco Embarcadero and see the fireworks, but then we heard about a party my friend was throwing in a nice Financial District hotel. So before we knew it, we were forty stories up in the sky sipping champagne with incredible night views of the city like I had never seen before. Again, there is a video to paint the picture better for you:



And just like that, 2009 begun. I am done with school, and am not sure what I will be doing during throughout this year, but I do have a couple interesting things on my plate that I will cover in a future blog. Thanks for reading!



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8 Reply to "Holidays 2008: Snow, Injuries, Penthouse, and More"

Elly on January 21, 2009 at 4:41 PM

I had such a fabulous time with you and Miho over the holidays. Snowboarding and sledding have to be at the top of the list of fun! I'm glad you two had an exciting New Years... we broke down in Marin County :(
Love you!

 

Ren on January 21, 2009 at 4:44 PM

Elly> I had no idea you broke down, that really sucks! I hope I can go boarding once more this season!

 

Unknown on January 21, 2009 at 7:50 PM

Well I can see you have come a long way from those iddy biddy snow blades you broke your legs with keep up the good work
Don Puzin

 

Ren on January 21, 2009 at 8:26 PM

Don> Snowboarding is the only way to go! See ya next time!

 

Kym on January 21, 2009 at 8:40 PM

Snow is apparently hazardous to your health, Ren, but it is so fun, I can see why you can't wait to go again.

 

Anonymous on January 24, 2009 at 3:53 PM

My first skis were made of wood, in 1962 my Grandfather took me up the old pass to Jackson Hole Wyoming, THE TETON PASS. Put the skis on me, and sad good luck son! I skied all the way down the crooked little road. for miles, and miles it seemed, but it was one of the most fun i ever had. snow and ice on the teton pass. I finally broke those old skis, and saved my money and bought some HEAD SKIS. THE KIND! Hand on to your dreams

 

Anonymous on January 24, 2009 at 3:55 PM

P.S. GREAT PICTURES

 

Ren on January 26, 2009 at 7:56 AM

Thanks Dad, I hope to go skiing with you again soon! It has been so long!

 

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