chris (![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} _fool) wrote,@ 2008-02-20 10:55:00 |
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my kingdom for a decent title
am enjoying northern california.
the skiing in tahoe (not taos, as i may have told you because i am geographically challenged) was decent if not great. the snow was all...melty, since the temperature ranged from a little above freezing to "if i'm gonna keep skiing i'll need to remove most of my clothing" which you'll be happy to hear we did on several occasions. i went shirtless-but-unzipped jacket for several hours at the end of the second day, which was initially a joke but actually turned out to be remarkably comfortable and besides which generated catcalls and at least once got us to the front of a long queue more quickly at a traffic-jammed lift near the end of the day. it made for some interesting injuries as i fell a couple times though--got a nice raspberry on my side (already healed) and managed to scrape my arm through my jacket somehow. nothing life threatening. the better story was the last run of the last day, during which i convinced![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/syndicated.gif)
ariberman_blog to join me in stripping down to our boxers on top of the mountain. we had our customary mountaintop toast and then sedately glided down, tummies and calves exposed, taking some moguls, some snowballs, and a photo op with an incredulous lady. it's pretty invigorating to be flapping in the cool breeze, and then turn it into a performance in front of a crowd of hundreds (a few kids even followed us in hopes that they could laugh when we fell...and the most vocal fell himself, instead)--and let's just say our cheeks were warm and smiles were had all around. catcalls, witty comments, puzzled looks, and good times. ari and i were in fact feeling so warm and happy that we hoofed it back to the car in our boots-and-boxers finery and laughed it up as we had some celebratory post-skiing tailgate beers.
i've never skied in warm weather before and it was kind of nice not to have cold feet and to be able to ski in minimal clothing and sunglasses instead of bundled and goggled, but the snow just doesn't compare to what we work with in portland, or what i learned on in colorado. our skiing was a different style, as the groomed-ice in the morning is fast, but scary, since there's a big penalty for falling--you'll slide forever and your gear may keep going without you--we saw some skis and poles yardsaled over at least a hundred feet more than once (including by the guy who accidentally went backwards off a doubleblack mogul run and rolled down the entire thing--only to stand up at the bottom and pump his fist--he beat his crew down by a large time gap =)(
the slush in the afternoon was, askdaisy721 says, "forgiving", but otherwise not a lot of fun, since it made you pick up your feet to turn and felt like skiing on carpet--slow and soft. we picked our runs to minimize the hassle and the company and beautiful blue skies far more than made up for any suboptimal snowness.
got back into the city after a nearly interminable foray through cali mystery traffic and had some pizza and beer withcowquat which was a real treat, since i haven't seen him in forever. he promises he won't sprain both ankles just before our trip next year. i plan to hold him to it. we'll probably head back to tahoe since it's convenient for me and ari (the only 6-time attendees of the festivities, and so we get to make the rules) and the place we stayed was wonderful and *free*! it's been my cheapest ski trip ever despite having to leave my skis at home due to A Situation with wet paint between me and my skitravelbox.
yesterday i borrowed a mountain bike (yeah, with the shocks and the 2" knobby tires) and biked across the golden gate bridge into town to check out the museum of modern art and then went for drinks at google's first hit for "bicycle bar san francisco" which was kind of a wash except for the time i got to spend chatting by phone withmeredith_mccraw and chicafantasma, always a pleasure. after the time was done killed, i met up with breakupgrrl and we had dinner, drinks, more drinks, dessert, and great chats about past, present, and the happy changes we've made in our lives--we both left a lot of comfort behind in austin and are rising to the challenge of making our new towns fit the new us and it's good. i miss all my austin people a LOT but i'm not sure i miss austin all that much--it was the people that did it for me. the network was nice, the mood was good...but the people are what can't be replaced by another place.
biking home through town (on the fortunately well-marked bike routes) and over the golden gate, i saw 0 other bikers. there are a lot of bikes around town and i saw people riding during the day, even though it was kind of portland-style wet and gloomy, but at night, the streets and bike lanes were empty. this in contrast to p-ville where without fail, i see other bikers, be it at 4am, 6am, or rush hour. the golden gate in particular is weird--the bike lane changes sides based on time of day and at night you have to get buzzed across--pedestrians not allowed, bikers yes, after a delay which i was told (by the gentleman who was thankfully hanging out at a nearby bus stop preparing to sleep for the night, and demonstrated the buzzer system which i hadn't noticed when i stopped short at the LOCKED bike route at 11:40pm) was so that they could "see me" and my bike to buzz me in. i couldn't spot any hidden cameras but the delay seemed organic on both ends of the bridge. weird scene. i guess there are a lot of jumpers and discouraging them is key.
i had my camera along and the view from the bridge is usually spectacular, sometimes because of and sometimes in spite of the weather. it was no different last night--i love the look of a city from afar, all blinking lights and none of the sound and fury that you feel being in the middle of an urban zone. it looks like an impressionist painting through strong sunglasses to me, and i love just sitting and feeling the wind and watching the city blink--headlights, police flashers, stoplights, and those tall blinky red ones that keep the planes out of penthouses. those are my favorites...maybe because they remind me of one of my favorite austin landmarks (ok, so i still like austin even if i'm falling out of love) which is the radio towers in the west hills. my 19th summer on this planet, i spent nearly every evening watching them come alive as the sun set between them and the night came out, blitzed in a lawn chair on the roof of my apartment building, bullshitting and just sitting with friends new and old. funny how a nature lover (favorite scene: majestic view from a mountaintop. got TONS of that at tahoe! even a nightscape including trans-lake 20 mile view, the moon was so bright!) like me can get so much out of a manscape like blinkenlights. but hey, life is good.
100 yards down the bridge, the fog set in and swirled around the streetlights and kept me company back into sausalito. no cars hounded me as i zoomed down the hills and into the warm bed of home and slept until after my gracious hosts abandoned ship, and now i write this and consider what to do with another two days in SF. it will probably not be epic, but it'll probably be great. suggestions welcome!
*mwah*!
am enjoying northern california.
the skiing in tahoe (not taos, as i may have told you because i am geographically challenged) was decent if not great. the snow was all...melty, since the temperature ranged from a little above freezing to "if i'm gonna keep skiing i'll need to remove most of my clothing" which you'll be happy to hear we did on several occasions. i went shirtless-but-unzipped jacket for several hours at the end of the second day, which was initially a joke but actually turned out to be remarkably comfortable and besides which generated catcalls and at least once got us to the front of a long queue more quickly at a traffic-jammed lift near the end of the day. it made for some interesting injuries as i fell a couple times though--got a nice raspberry on my side (already healed) and managed to scrape my arm through my jacket somehow. nothing life threatening. the better story was the last run of the last day, during which i convinced
ariberman_blog to join me in stripping down to our boxers on top of the mountain. we had our customary mountaintop toast and then sedately glided down, tummies and calves exposed, taking some moguls, some snowballs, and a photo op with an incredulous lady. it's pretty invigorating to be flapping in the cool breeze, and then turn it into a performance in front of a crowd of hundreds (a few kids even followed us in hopes that they could laugh when we fell...and the most vocal fell himself, instead)--and let's just say our cheeks were warm and smiles were had all around. catcalls, witty comments, puzzled looks, and good times. ari and i were in fact feeling so warm and happy that we hoofed it back to the car in our boots-and-boxers finery and laughed it up as we had some celebratory post-skiing tailgate beers.i've never skied in warm weather before and it was kind of nice not to have cold feet and to be able to ski in minimal clothing and sunglasses instead of bundled and goggled, but the snow just doesn't compare to what we work with in portland, or what i learned on in colorado. our skiing was a different style, as the groomed-ice in the morning is fast, but scary, since there's a big penalty for falling--you'll slide forever and your gear may keep going without you--we saw some skis and poles yardsaled over at least a hundred feet more than once (including by the guy who accidentally went backwards off a doubleblack mogul run and rolled down the entire thing--only to stand up at the bottom and pump his fist--he beat his crew down by a large time gap =)(
the slush in the afternoon was, as
kdaisy721 says, "forgiving", but otherwise not a lot of fun, since it made you pick up your feet to turn and felt like skiing on carpet--slow and soft. we picked our runs to minimize the hassle and the company and beautiful blue skies far more than made up for any suboptimal snowness.got back into the city after a nearly interminable foray through cali mystery traffic and had some pizza and beer with
cowquat which was a real treat, since i haven't seen him in forever. he promises he won't sprain both ankles just before our trip next year. i plan to hold him to it. we'll probably head back to tahoe since it's convenient for me and ari (the only 6-time attendees of the festivities, and so we get to make the rules) and the place we stayed was wonderful and *free*! it's been my cheapest ski trip ever despite having to leave my skis at home due to A Situation with wet paint between me and my skitravelbox.yesterday i borrowed a mountain bike (yeah, with the shocks and the 2" knobby tires) and biked across the golden gate bridge into town to check out the museum of modern art and then went for drinks at google's first hit for "bicycle bar san francisco" which was kind of a wash except for the time i got to spend chatting by phone with
meredith_mccraw and chicafantasma, always a pleasure. after the time was done killed, i met up with breakupgrrl and we had dinner, drinks, more drinks, dessert, and great chats about past, present, and the happy changes we've made in our lives--we both left a lot of comfort behind in austin and are rising to the challenge of making our new towns fit the new us and it's good. i miss all my austin people a LOT but i'm not sure i miss austin all that much--it was the people that did it for me. the network was nice, the mood was good...but the people are what can't be replaced by another place.biking home through town (on the fortunately well-marked bike routes) and over the golden gate, i saw 0 other bikers. there are a lot of bikes around town and i saw people riding during the day, even though it was kind of portland-style wet and gloomy, but at night, the streets and bike lanes were empty. this in contrast to p-ville where without fail, i see other bikers, be it at 4am, 6am, or rush hour. the golden gate in particular is weird--the bike lane changes sides based on time of day and at night you have to get buzzed across--pedestrians not allowed, bikers yes, after a delay which i was told (by the gentleman who was thankfully hanging out at a nearby bus stop preparing to sleep for the night, and demonstrated the buzzer system which i hadn't noticed when i stopped short at the LOCKED bike route at 11:40pm) was so that they could "see me" and my bike to buzz me in. i couldn't spot any hidden cameras but the delay seemed organic on both ends of the bridge. weird scene. i guess there are a lot of jumpers and discouraging them is key.
i had my camera along and the view from the bridge is usually spectacular, sometimes because of and sometimes in spite of the weather. it was no different last night--i love the look of a city from afar, all blinking lights and none of the sound and fury that you feel being in the middle of an urban zone. it looks like an impressionist painting through strong sunglasses to me, and i love just sitting and feeling the wind and watching the city blink--headlights, police flashers, stoplights, and those tall blinky red ones that keep the planes out of penthouses. those are my favorites...maybe because they remind me of one of my favorite austin landmarks (ok, so i still like austin even if i'm falling out of love) which is the radio towers in the west hills. my 19th summer on this planet, i spent nearly every evening watching them come alive as the sun set between them and the night came out, blitzed in a lawn chair on the roof of my apartment building, bullshitting and just sitting with friends new and old. funny how a nature lover (favorite scene: majestic view from a mountaintop. got TONS of that at tahoe! even a nightscape including trans-lake 20 mile view, the moon was so bright!) like me can get so much out of a manscape like blinkenlights. but hey, life is good.
100 yards down the bridge, the fog set in and swirled around the streetlights and kept me company back into sausalito. no cars hounded me as i zoomed down the hills and into the warm bed of home and slept until after my gracious hosts abandoned ship, and now i write this and consider what to do with another two days in SF. it will probably not be epic, but it'll probably be great. suggestions welcome!
*mwah*!
