i returned to san diego in 1 piece. yeah, thanks for your
prayers. so......i went to Heavenly at South Lake Tahoe,
which is 8 hrs drive from San Diego via 395. here is website:
http://www.skiheavenly.com/

and...and....i have to thank Miss Carol since she invited
me to join her friends. and...and...i met another penang
guy who lives in philly. i got to practise more hockkien.
yeah yeah....

where shall i begin? hmm...i got a rental car and it's a
2007 Jeep Compass with 12miles on it. well, that means it's
a brand new SUV. it smells ..... new!! the down side, it's
a small SUV, a 2WD jeep and with 4 people and luggages. i
felt like all of us were in a sardine container. the mpg
was bad....pretty bad....

that was my first time using the 395 highway to get to tahoe.
the route is not a interstate freeway but the traffic
did not pose any traffic jam at all. it's a scenic drive and
it runs between death valley national park and yosemite
national park.

along the way esp next to the mountains, the scenary was
just awesome with those summits full of snow caps. we past
a few small "ulu" towns and the speed limit was 25mph.
it was ..... crawling.

along the way, we bought the snow chain that is non refundable.
we were hoping that we do not need them since installing it
is a pain. i mean...i had never install the snow chain before.

the hotel was good; it's best western station inn. though the
hotel was nice, i was glad i brought my own pillow. that made
a difference. i know....i know...i brought along 2 big pillows
and those guys took some room in the SUV.

break-fast was excellent and it was complementary. i am not
talking about the excellent FOC break-fast but the pancakes
were really good, esp the chocolate pancake. in addition,
the eggs were prepared to how i want; over easy. the yokes
were cooked but they did not break and it's hidden. what i did
was to carefully trim the egg whites, and then put it into
my mouth. when the yoke breaks in my mouth, that's when u feel
the uumph unlike other people who consume the yoke externally
although the eggs were over easy....ahem ahem...

1st day of snow-boarding was bad.... i knew it since the last
time i did was 1 yr ago. i fell and i rolled and u name it....
anyhow, i survived .... and i was glad that carol and mike were
safe since we did not meet at the place at 4pm. i was glad
things turned out fine....

2nd day was excellent. i went all the way to the top which is
around 10600ft and from there, i could see the entire lake tahoe.
i was impressed with the scenary and we headed down the blue dotted
line, which is ridge run, for intermediate folks. i did fell too
and made some other people fell. come on....everyone is a learner,
right.

overall, it was good and i am thinking about going for skiing next
trip. we'll see.... again, thank-u everyone....i had a great time.

i arrived pasadena safely just in time for dinner with jo and her
family. dinner was good and .... a thousand apologies if i have
offended anyone during this trip. minta maaf ya....

merry christmas from south lake tahoe and pasadena.