This one is a little late but oh well. I recently had the opportunity to go to San Francisco for two days of developer training at Microsoft for work. Needless to say I jumped at the chance for a free trip to my favorite city. I decided to stay through the weekend and explore the city alone and on foot. I even skipped out on training a couple hours early in order to make it to Golden Gate Park for 4:20 on 4/20. I jumped out of my cab exactly at the right moment and bummed a light for my spleef from some lady trying to sell me a bag 5 feet from where I pulled up. I had some great adventures in scoring bags from homeless people, getting loaded at each bar I came across, and soaking up the great culture SF has to offer.
 

I could not sleep for some reason that Saturday night, which was odd considering I’d probably smoked 10 spleefs that day, and had been drinking since 4 in the afternoon. As I was lying bored in my hotel room at 3:30 am, I came across a weather report forecasting up to 2 feet at Tahoe starting at 2 am. I sprang up, packed my shi*t, and checked out at 4:20 am. It was a sign this was going to be an amazing day. I stopped at Sacramento air port to rent a car with all wheel drive, as they were the only place open at 5:30 in the morning. I wasn’t able to trade in my shi*t ball Ford Taurus, so I had to rent a second car, the worthy Subaru Outback. On the way up to the mountains I came across a sign saying chains were mandatory, in addition to the radio traffic advisory. In Washington chains are not required if you have all wheel drive, but I had never been to the mountains in California. The radio message said they were turning cars around if they did not have chains, and that point was 20 miles down the road from the nearest town. I pulled off to ask if I needed chains or not. The folks at the gas station said they did not know for sure, but offered to sell me some for $50 and would not take them back, even if I didn’t use them. What a racket! I grumbled and I pleaded but they would not budge, surely this is their gravy train. As I was about to relent, a highway patrolman pulled up to refuel. I went out and asked him and he told me that in his 30 years with the highway patrol they had never turned away anyone with all wheel drive *and snow tires, which I had. I sneered at those bitches in the gas station as I strutted off to my car. I wasn’t a mile down the road before I realized I had stolen a bottle of water that I had been sipping while I waited for them to figure out which chains I “needed.” Serves them right!

 

I arrived at Heavenly just an hour after it opened, but I had no gear other than my soft shell jacket that I usually wear around town.   I was lucky and they had a Burton Demo Center at the base.  Even though I am not a Burton fan, I got to ride pretty decent board and boots. None of the facilities at the base had any outerwear to rent, so I had to buy new pants, gloves, and goggles, none of which I needed of course. I got really good discounts on the gear.  I think I might even make the pants my main pair, but after the second car rental and gas, this was getting to be a very expensive last minute, spontaneous trip. This is the last time you’ll hear me bitch.  It was their last day of the season, and there was a foot and a half of fresh, light, fluffy goodness, and it snowed pretty hard all day. I hit a few 10-15 foot drops, discovered some great pow stashes that stayed nice all day, and met a lot of new friends for the day. The visibility was not great, so I didn’t get to take in all that makes Heavenly just that, but it gives me another reason to go back next year.