Thursday, March 7th, 2002

So, the whole reason we decide to stay in San Bernardino is to avoid waking up at the same time that Andy has to leave for work (aka, ridiculous morning hours) and also skip on the long drive since we're going to be pretty active and eventually make the drive out toward Venice Beach. Well, the whole not-waking-up-early-plan is foiled as Laurel's alarm goes off at 3:30am since her palm was still on eastern time. Anyways, after making fun of her for a bit, we go back to sleep. We're back up at around 6:30 and grab breakfast at Jack in the Box (since everyone says you have to try it while you're out there) and headed up the mountain.

Parking at the base of the mountain

Snow Summit located at around 7000 ft. above sea level. You actually get up to 7112 ft. on the drive up but then come down around the lake area. The other big ski resort is Big Bear which is a bit further and offers a similar set of runs but is only open until 4pm (Snow Summit closes 30 minutes later). The day's weather is a bit snowy and there is a lot of fog so we're (we = Laurel) a bit nervous on the drive up. When we first get there we're expecting to see this monster mountain but we can't even see most of it.

Lift tickets sell for $41, or $56 if you choose to get lessons (which I was going to do since it was my first time). Rentals are $22 for standard equipment but I got mine for $14 since I was doing the lessons. So, I basically pay $7 more for a full day of skiing including 4 hours of lessons. You really can't beat that deal if it's your first time.

I go to the meeting point for the people taking lessons as Laurel heads to the beginner's run to practice a couple of times since she hasn't skied in about six years. There are three other people taking lessons: a couple from San Diego and a fellow from South Africa who now lives in the LA area. Lessons are split into two 2-hour blocks the first one starting at 9:45 am. Our first instructor, Patrick, starts with the basics including the wedge (or snow plow) and proper posture. I manage to fall only once the entire session, which isn't necessarily good because you need to learn how to get up.

Laurel meets me at the end of the lesson and we grab a quick bite before heading up to Summit Run, the easiest green run which starts near the top at around 8000 ft. I, of course, show how green I am by completely overshooting the loading ramp and ending up in the mud. Yes, I try to stop but it's hard to do that when you're in full klutz mode. As if it isn't embarrassing enough already, the lift has to be completely stopped while I get out of the way and get cleaned up. sigh.

Laurel in front of some snow boarders

The mile ride to the top takes a good 10 minutes even on the express lift which definitely adds to the excitement. Once up, I join Laurel (who had gone up the lift ahead of me and managed to stop laughing by the time I got there) and we head to the starting point. The run is intimidating because of the foggy weather so, as a true newbie, I now proceed to fall a good 15 times on the way down. We stop a few times to take some pictures including one time where we can see the lake below). About two-third's of the way down we realize I have about 10 minutes before my next lesson starts so we speed things up a bit (no, I don't just fall and roll the rest of the way down). It ends up taking us a good 30 minutes to complete the run which is pretty damn slow.

The view of the lake on the way down

The next lesson consists of just myself and the couple from San Diego. Our new instructor, Adam, emphasizes making turns and control. Because we lost one of the people from earlier, I get paired up with Adam for the majority of the lesson. He talks a bit about how he lives in a cabin nearby and does work on houses during the off season and how he did some speed runs in Colorado where he reached speeds around 90 mph (pretty much feeling like a jet breaking the sound barrier).

Again, I fall maybe twice but I definitely start feeling more comfortable doing faster turns and preventing my skis from crossing, etc. We finish the lesson with three fast runs where we catch as much speed as possible and make one big wide turn followed by a fast controlled stop. For the last one, Adam uses his GPS and clocks our top speed at 23.9 mph. It was pretty freaking sweet.

While I'm taking lessons, Laurel ventures out on the rest of the mountain. When we meet up again after my lessons, she tells me that she was able to go down almost all of the green and blue runs and how, while on a run on the far side of the mountain, she couldn't figure out how to get all the way down and had to follow one of the lift ticket guys the rest of the way. By now, many of the runs are closed because there aren't many people out which also means there are less people for me to avoid on the runs.

Skiing down Summit Run

Feeling more confident about tackling Summit Run once more, Laurel and I head back up (no lift incidents this time). I do much better on this try falling maybe twice. It takes us between 10-15 minutes to get down to the bottom even with us stopping for pictures. By now we have enough time for one more run before the lifts are shut down. This time we go up to the peak (8200 ft.) for a slightly longer version of Summit Run. Now, it is snowing (or sleeting?) a bit so it is even more exciting.

After returning the gear, we head out for west LA to visit my friend Denah and her family. We arrive at the address with Denah's excellent directions, but we're not sure we're at the right place. It looks like the house is under major construction with tons of old metal beams stacked neatly in the driveway. It turns out that Denah's husband, Brian, is an architect / artist who's used the old metal to make some really cool art and structural renovations to their house. We'd made plans to head out to dinner but she surprises us by cooking some curry while we are entertained by their 20-month old daughter Kendra who is a big fan of play-doh.

We catch up on old times and head to spend the rest of our time in California at Christian and Thor's place in Venice Beach. We have a hard time trying to find the street so we stop to give them a call but can't reach them (they had plans to see their neighbor -- Todd -- participate in one of those celebrity boxing matches for Fox and they wouldn't be done until after 10pm). Laurel is completely out so I decide to drive around a bit and reach Santa Monica where I get a sneak at their famous pier (of Lost Boys fame).

We finally reach Christian & Thor's and spend a few hours chatting and trying out Thor's wonderful cayenne cookies before crashing for some well-deserved rest.

Friday, March 8th, 2002

I'm up real early not feeling so well. I seem to have caught some sort of stomach flu and it is totally cramping my style. Everyone is still asleep so I drink some water and try to get some more rest.

We're up for a bit and decide to grab some breakfast. Thor & Christian's neighbor, Todd, recommends a place named Maxwell's Cafe so we head there. I need food in me but my stomach is not cooperating and won't accept any deposits. I am so concerned with my stomach that I don't notice when Christian sneakily pays for our breakfast. We go back to their place and Thor plans on giving us a tour of Venice Beach. I, however, am not feeling well at all so tell them to go on while I sleep some more...

...Okay, this is Laurel here; I've taken over narration as Ed seems to be totally incapacitated. I'm not sure what's wrong with him, but he just wants to sleep all day. This kind of sucks because he was really excited about getting to go out in LA. I think he's having problems because of the altitude change and all the energy he expended dragging himself up out of the snow. Anyway, he needs major rest, so we'll just leave him alone for now.

'Tidge is entertained by us (or is it the other way around?)

So I've never met Christian or Thor before, and now they're in charge of entertaining me for the next 24 hours (poor guys). We sit around the house trying to figure out what to do; actually Thor and I try to figure out what to do while Christian plays poker on his computer. I love Thor's cat, 'Tidge (short for Armitage) and this sadistic little toy they have that I can tease the cat with endlessly. It consists of a long black, plastic stick with remnants of feathers sticking out the top. All you have to do is hop it around and the cat goes bonkers trying to catch it. Thor and I have great fun making the cat literally do flips for the camera.

I'm actually still tired from skiing and don't mind having a low-key day. I do want to go out for a cappuccino, so Thor and I walk out for coffee while Christian goes to play real tennis (see below for the description of not so real tennis). We stop by a local shop named Firefly and check out their assortment of cards and assorted cool knick-knacks. Then we move on to get some joe at Abbott's Habit, a coffee shop that, as Thor puts it, is responsible for bringing the hip back to Venice's Abbott Kinney area. Abbott Kinney, by the way, was the man who built Venice Beach in the early 1900's as the Pacific-southwest version of Venice, Italy. He had shared a large portion of land with three other partners which they divided on a coin toss.

Anyways, here we pick up a copy of the LA Weekly, a local scene magazine, and I flip through about two pages when my eye catches an add for a plastic surgery clinic. Sandwiched between comments about rhinoplasty and penile enlargement is something I'd never seen before: vaginaplasty!!! And of course, you can't have a vaginaplasty without the ever popular labial reduction!!! Ah, California, where everything is big, except for women's genitalia.

We start to worry about how Ed is doing and start to walk back to the house...

...(Back at the house, Ed starts to come out of his deep hibernation.) Ed: The rest of the day is a blur. I'm up briefly sometime in the afternoon and everyone is gone. Thor and Laurel come back and try to get me to eat something. I want to watch the basketball game and Thor suggests that we go to a bar to see it. Christian goes to scout the bar and I start to feel sick again. I think I'll go lay back down for a while...

...Laurel here again. Sorry for Ed's inane ramblings; he must be a little delirious from whatever plague he's contracted. So, we end up missing the game which is just as well because it sucked anyway. We're starting to get hungry, though, so Thor and I set off to forage the streets for grub. We go to this little Italian restaurant named Alejo's Presto Trattoria for take out. Let me tell you, this place smells amazing!! We order way too much food, and as Thor is distracted on his cell phone, I sneak in and pay for all the food (two can play the sneaky I'll Pay the Tab game). Thor also introduces me to Listerine Pocket Packs, which are strips of gummy Listerine that melt on your tongue. Freaky, but cool, and very important after eating Italian. We hurry back to check on poor Ed...

...mmm, I smell garlic; either Laurel is cooking something or we're having some sort of vampire crisis. Or it could also be that Laurel and Thor are home and they have brought some Italian grub for everyone. We spend the rest of our night eating, playing around with 'Tidge who, apparently, likes to be stretched, and then watching some videos and chatting some more. I guess I really just needed lots of garlic, because I'm starting to feel like a human being again. I'm not up for too much, though, so I crash early, especially since we're flying out tomorrow (ugh, visualizing personal vomit bag).

Saturday, March 9th, 2002

Our flight back to Florida departs at 1pm so we're up early to go for a walk around the beach. To save time, we actually drive a little closer and then start walking.

Laurel & Thor on Venice Beach

Venice Beach has been seen in many modern popular movies because of the wonderful climate, interesting architecture, and entertaining personalities (or freaks as Thor refers to them). So, screw the other two: we're officially on a freak hunt.

First, however, we have to get some chow. We stop at Cafe Venice for some scrumptious pastries, coffee, and smoothies. Now that we're properly nourished, we can start our hunt. Unfortunately, we end up only seeing a couple of freaks - one being this unidentified person playing this unidentified sport which is kind of like tennis but on a smaller court and with paddles kind of like ping-pong paddles. Anyways, what makes this person interesting is that he / she has long, blonde hair extensions, and is playing wearing a full-body glittery stocking with not much other than a thong underneath.

Other items of interest are Muscle Beach, the vast array of flea market-like shops complete with watch dog on the roof, and a famous huge sculpture (which still remains nameless as of today as there does not seem to be any information about it on the net what-so-ever).

Back at their place, I get a shot of the three of them and then we head to the airport to return the car and board our flight back home.