Today we woke up at 8:30. Despite being less than 2 miles from Heavenly, we did not get to the slopes till 10:30 what with getting ready, breakfast, packing, and checking out.

It was raining and the webcam showed it snowing on the slopes at Heavenly. We packed warm clothes and our goggles to take up to the slopes with us. Randy went up the Waterfall lift with me so we could take a picture at the top. A couple was sitting on the bench at the top, so we asked them to take our picture. It turned out that the guy was from Korea. We told him that we were supposed to be there in June for Yongin's 50th Anniversary. He was impressed at Randy when he said thank-you in Korean :-). After that, Randy was off again to the intermediate/diamond runs. I decided to go down Maggie's first to check out the conditions, thinking that I would do Powderbowl most of the day. Unfortunately for me, the conditions were icy because of the slush getting packed in by the snowcats overnight and the temperature getting cold. Underneath the fresh layer of snow was ice. Much of boarding is psychological. Like Martial Arts, if you are relaxed on the board, then there is never a problem with S-turns; but if you tense up your body, then the chances are that you will fall. With the icy ground and my previous experience with falling multiple times on ice, ending up with a giant bruise on my leg, my body was tense going down the slopes. I even had trouble stopping coming off the lift. Part of it has to do with the giant patch of ice right where you get off the lift and the other part was with tenseness. I stayed on Maggie's all morning. I could tell that my board edge was slightly dull as it would not really grip the ice at spots. Towards the end of the morning, I was at least getting down the run without wiping out.

There was a lot more people on the slopes today because it was Saturday, but not as many as I had anticipated, probably because it was snowing and quite windy. Randy had thought that they might close the lifts if the wind gets too severe, but the lady at the lift said that the chances of that were slim. With the wind blowing, sometimes it was hard boarding against it. Once the wind blew right when I S-turned, literally sweeping me off my feet. At 1, I made my way back to the lodge to meet Randy for lunch. Lunch was cheese and seaweed-flavored rice crackers (yum!)! (I was never much of a rice crackers fan as it sort of tastes like sawdust, but seaweed-flavored rice crackers made them taste like Japanse rice crackers which I love!)

I felt bolder after lunch, partly because the newly-fallen snow had added a thicker cushion to the ground, so I went on Powderbowl. I had no problems going down the wide run near the top nor through the steep short run that I had some problems with yesterday. Getting through the flat area leading back to Maggie's was still a bother because of coming to a complete stop unless if I had gathered enough speed coming down the steep short run. I did not try Cat Track today. Just getting back on Powderbowl was an accomplishment.

At 3:15, I made my way back to the lodge, so I would have time to change. We had decided to meet 1/2 hour earlier today so we could make it back down the gondola to get Season Passes for next season. Heavenly was running a special until May 31st for $299 season passes. It's a bargain, considering that lift tickets normally cost $60.

We were on our way by 4:30. It was still snowing on the slopes and raining at the lower elevations. Sleet and freezing rain made the drive back hazardous, but it was still warm enough where the snow was not yet sticking to the ground. Even on Echo Summit, there was only a very thin blanket of snow on the ground. Even so, Randy and I both breathed a sigh of relief when we made it low enough to escape the snow, although it was till raining pretty hard. We stopped at Sudwerks Hubschbrau in Davis for dinner. We were both starving, so we started off with a fried calamari appetizer and salads. For the main course, Randy ordered the Jaeger schnitzel ("sauteed, breaded pork cutlet topped with wild mushroom gravy, served with red cabbage and warm German potato salad") and I had the Koenigsberger Klopse special, a German dish that consisted mainly of 3 large meat balls of ground beef, ground turkey, and ground pork topped with a cream sauce. The dish was a bit on the salty side so I did not finish the whole thing. It might be that the saltiness was concentrated because of the way it was served in meatballs. It would probably make a tasty spaghetti and meat dinner later.

I got to drive back because Randy claimed he used up all his concentration driving through the sleet and freezing rain. It poured most of the way home. Super-slow drivers clustering together made driving more hazardous. Standing water gathered in some parts of the road, causing the car to hydroplane a couple of times. One thing I love about the beemer though is that it self-corrects when the tires lose traction to prevent the car from going into a spin. It is worth the extra money for those kinds of safety features! It was nice to finally make it home! (There really is no place like home)!