Lake Tahoe - a slightly more sober blog entry!

---

Hey guys,

So a slightly more sober entry than the last...! Well it's dumped 4-6 inches of snow last night and the boys are pumped...and on their way to the mountain. I, on th other hand am not. The reason? The first three days we skiied crazy and non stop and after a hefty bar session after the third day a rest day was called yesterday...noice! but it seems, much like work, I need two days to recover! The main issue is that during the last few days on the slopes, skis and poles 'gliding' in completely opposite directions I have been trying to stop myself, entire body weight plus the G force of the downhill slope on one toe...my big one on the right foot. Needless to say my toe has that slightly broken feeling to it and I'm note sure how long the nail plans to hang around. Wal has given me and extra day off but tells me no excuses tomorrow. Sweeeeet, so it's just me, my book (great book called 'My friend Leonard' a sequel to a book called ' A million little pieces' by James Frey about a guy recovering from drug addition - based on a true story - a truly good read.) the heater, the Tv and the whole day off!

Now if I take you back to the night in a Tahoe Bar I've discovered a new game which is a blast from memory it's called shuffle table. it's a game that involves a slim wooden table coverd in a thin layer of sand. There are two teams of two people and four pucks each team (4 red, 4 blue). There are three different sections on each end of the table which allocates different pints - the aim of the game is to get your team's puck closest to the end of the table. Well, i might say that while the boys were carving it up on the pool table, I was taking down shuffle table champions and allegedly they were shocked it was my first time playing...I rocked! It's "super fun" and I reckon we should see more of it in Oz. We 'osssies' have managed to get quite a reputation with Wal and Wolfie carving up the pool table as well, we'll have to hustling soon...

Lake Tahoe City is where we're staying at the mountain and so far we've skiied two resorts close by, Alpine and Squaw Valley. The city itself is a gorgeous little town, not really a city (!) and sits right on Lake Tahoe. The Lake looks amazing surrounded completely by mountains and it's span is something in the vaccinity of 18 miles by 20 miles...it's huge. But it's not just the snow season that makes it a huge attraction, it has just as much appeal in the summer. One of the big things to do when the weather is warmer is to 'float down the river' this involves a mothership raft that holds all of the booze and each person in their own inflatable raft ties up to the raft. the rest is pretty simple, the guys just float and drink their way down the river. They start at the top of the river (name of which escapes me but is beautiful) and then head down to the last stop which just happens to be a pub, Everyone hops off and continues the party...noice! Mental note, must come back in summer. But the good thing is skiing has the same kinda thang going on, you start at the top of the hill, float, roll, slide, cry and swear your way down and at the bottom is a pub and the hot tub...!!

I've even managed a spot of shopping in Tahoe coutesy of US postal service sending back some of my unecessary clothes from Hawaii and other bits and bobs (note to self, one does not need the entire contents of make up case, cosmetics and hair and skin products from bathroom with them on holiday) which is great because we need to be prepared...because we're going to Vegas baby Vegas!...next weekend for two nights whch I'm so exited about. Until then it's ski ski ski and maybe a few more cheeky days off for me in between.

A big shout out to Billie - happy birthday honey for the weekend!!!Let me know how it goes, wish I could be there.

So hope all is well with all and feel free to write with the goss...

much love

G

---