Tahoe ‘08

Hello all. I’m back from the sublime nothingness of Spring Break, gearing up for the Spring Quarter (3 A’s & a B last Q), hanging out with Greg, Shantel, and Isaiah in Japantown, and celebrating my two-year

anniversary of my wonderful marriage to a wonderful man. As a child, Lake Tahoe was the center of good memories and innocent happiness for Andrew. His family and closest friends vacationed there quite frequently in a large house owned by his grandfather. Even though I’ve lived in California for over a decade, I’ve never actually been to Tahoe.

Thus, it was decided that we would venture on a road trip in the opposite direction of last year’s coastal excursion: up to the Sierra Nevada’s for a good time! It was great to see snow again, reminding me of my own childhood memories of both Alaska and Massachusetts where snow was second-nature. In the valley we don’t see much of it! We pulled the car over and went on a mini-hike, falling through the snow here and there and taking time for an occasional snow-ball fight.

The air was refreshingly cold as the winds licked our faces and freshly delicate snowflakes fell diligently in the sky. It was so fun to play in the snow–which was so deep that, when I fell through, it came up to my knees. I was covetous after seeing sled-tracks on the ground, wanting to recall that portion of my childhood in tangible form. Yet, as the sun began to recede and more and more strange sounds were calling from the abyss of the forest, my bear-phobia kicked in (yes, I know they’re hibernating right now but…stranger things have happened, right? Who’s to say one of them hasn’t woken up early…?)–found myself moving closer to the safety of my blue Corolla on the hillside.

After some scenic driving and chilly playfulness, as well as some alpaca-blanket shopping (I wish we could afford one!), we headed across the Nevada border to play some roulette at the locals’ top gambling spot (in lieu of Harvey’s). Okay, we really went for cheap-yet-tasty casino food, being that we’re not really big gamblers, but it’s always fun to try a little bit! The first time I had ever went into a casino was last Fall when we made our large trek across several states, stopping in New Mexico one night and taking in the local scene. I lost everything but he won a little that time. This time, he was sad to see that the roulette table had been removed, so we played computer Poker. After blowing like 2 whole dollars (!), we went to go eat, playing three games of Keno and losing each time (stupid 2, 5, 9, 23, 26, 40, and 69!).

I figured it was my heavy dose of bad luck bringing Drew’s down. When he went with Jacob last year, he won. With me, he wins nothing. Yet, we tried again after dinner. My glass of Riesling had enhanced my happiness level, so I became less protective over my dollar bills. I sat down at a one cent machine (they really should have the cent sign on keyboards), and began pressing buttons–I had no idea how to play the Egyptian hieroglyphics game. Anyway, short story: I pressed about four buttons and then I head a bunch of “ca-ching” noises, and saw that I had 675 tokens in the game. I thought that this meant I had 675 cents; I was confused. I decided to print a ticket because I didn’t know what I was doing. It printed out and I was overjoyed to see that my $1 gamble won me $6.75 in return! I’m easy to please. It’s the first time I’ve ever won money in a casino. Drew played four hands of Blackjack and ended up walking away with $20. He would have kept going, but he had an excited wife over his shoulder who kept exclaiming, “Okay, quit now, we have $20!!!” I’m a big believer in “quit while you’re ahead.” Not casino-material, that’s for sure. Anyway, it was a lot of fun and we ended up leaving there making all the money that we spent back. Not too shabby, I guess–especially for two starving college students!