I’ve finished another action-pack week at work. My weekend morning shows were quite exciting with all the breaking news. On Saturday, our chopper got all that amazing flooding video. My boss kept calling back to our editors to make sure they were taping everything. Later, CNN and NBC picked up the video and used it for their weather coverage. On Sunday, our LA affiliate hooked me up with their satellite coordinates. So I ended up taking live chopper video of another flooding accident in Pasadena plus a bus hitting a donut shop near USC.
After work, we tried going to church. Then I saw a PT Cruiser run a red light and smash head-on with another car. I got out of the car to make sure the driver of the smashed car was OK. We missed church because I had to give a statement to police. Afterwards, I pondered the whole accident business. A few hours before, my crew was aggressively pursuing those crashes in Southern California. Now, I was more intimately involved in another one. It felt jarring to switch hats from being a journalist to a civilian witness.
OK — enough about work.
Here’s an example of playing hard, Mark riding the slopes. We went snowboarding at Soda Springs for the MLK Holiday. It’s just off I-80, on the way to Truckee. We needed to use chains by Gold Run. I helped Mark attach them to the tires.
My Medill buddy Sara came along for the ride. She said this was her first time playing in the snow. Sadly, she got a little banged up after snowboarding. However, I think she wants to try again. I think.
I found out I don’t like riding Goofy and on the flip side, Mark likes riding with his right foot facing forward. I finally got the hang of staying up right by my third trip down the slopes. I got addicted to the adrenaline rush. It piles up in my head as I picked up speed down the bunny run. It’s nice that I’m nearly 30 and I’m still learning crazy new stuff to do with my body. Snowboarding doesn’t feel like exercise. However, a few hours later, I felt soreness in my legs, arms and back — just like a real workout.
It doesn’t hurt to fall. Once our bodies got used to that idea, I think we ended up taking bolder shots down the bunny run. By the end of the day, we rode down the slopes without any falls. This marks our second trip snowboarding and I’m surprised how much I remember from our first and only class. We took another lesson on this trip, but our instructor wasn’t able to keep tabs on everybody. I ended up hitting the lift and doing my own thing for most of the class.
We can’t wait to go snowboarding again. I think we’ll explore other runs beyond the bunny slopes. Maybe I’ll try out the half-pipe! Anything’s possible!
After snowboarding, we stopped by Auburn for dinner. This hot buttered rum was a hot drink that warmed me up after a day on the slopes. This tasty cocktail from the Club Car has a pat of butter, mulling spices and rum. Oh so tasty!
I hit up Kirkwood this weekend and discovered that boarding works in reverse to skiing – flat spots *suck* in boarding, especially if you fall right before one. Good luck getting out of those patches w/o the benefit of poles like skiers have. OTOH, the steeper the run, the better for boarding, especially if you have no fear of eating powder. Always easy to get back up and let gravity do its thing. 🙂