Say Cheese... Now Smile!

Mammoth... YAY SNOW!

"Drink something, or else we're putting you on the family bus..."
We left West Covina Thursday morning at 8:30am. At 8:35am, the first bloody mary was poured. My mom had told us that she had booked us onto the "party bus," but I seriously didn't have an idea of how much "party" it was until we got on. 2 rows of seats became the "bar" with a chest and many boxes filled with cans and bottles of alcohol. Mike, our trip organizer, became the official bartender... and our shotglass necklaces was our newest accessory. Oh my goodness, it was insane. Everyone was out of their seat, mingling, and drinking away during that 7 hour bus ride.




After several pit stops and a quick shopping excursion at VONS, we were finally in Mammoth, where there was PLENTY OF SNOW. :) Our home for the following 4 days was a sweet condo with all the amenities.



This is a true story of seven strangers...
Mike had paired us up with 4 other roomies: Debbie, the vegetarian with a fistfull of bootlegged DVDs who had a slight resemblance to Michael Jackson's baby's mama, Keith, a 60+ psychoanalyst who sported a ponytail and apparently rides a motorcycle, Pat, the oldest woman on the trip who had the snarkiest comments and indulged herself with massages from the girl next door to ours, and Genie, the quiet one but who always had a smile on her face... maybe it was because of the alcohol. Talk about one weird episode of "THE REAL WORLD." Although Carlene, Sonny, and I were the "youngest" ones in our condo, we all got along quite nicely and celebrated the fact that none of us were hardcore partiers, thus allowing everyone to be able to get some nice R&R during the weekend. That night, we all bonded over Debbie's Bootleg DVDs...

Friday morning, it was decided that it would be better for me to get lessons, so I enrolled in the "Beginner Boarders" class at the Main Lodge. There I encountered my buddy for the day, Penny, a fellow "first timer" who was also dumped at the class while her companions boarded away expertly, a bunch of guys who were with me on the "party bus" and J.D., my instructor (Yes Jean, he was cute.). There I learned how to let gravity do its magic, clamp one foot on the board and slide down the mini hill. Sure, I didn't really master turning or stopping... but at least I got on the board. :)

*holding my hands, teaching me how to stop*
J.D: I won't let you fall. Just lean back on your hips and lift your toes.
*Nicole does... and falls. Again.*
Nicole: You said you wouldn't let me fall!
J.D: *helps me up* I'm a guy. I break my promises.

Sounds like something from a romantic comedy. Comedy... yes. But its not really romantic when you've fallen over a dozen times, your top is wet and cold, you have horrible hat hair, your rented boots are squeezing your toes and smell like holy hell and your jacket is so puffy that it was "in" 6 years ago and could get you in a Puffy/Mase video *bad bad bad bad boys, you make me feel so good*... but at least when you fall, the snow is soft and therefore not AS painful. :) (note: I'm still sore nonetheless...)

Ok.. so where was I? Yeah. I got on my board. But I didn't feel confident to go up to a "real slope", so I decided to practice a bit more before going on the lift...

"I can tell you're freaky... I can tell it in your eyes..."
Anyways, after Carlene and Sonny did their runs (and helped me a bit on my little baby slopes), we met up with Eddie and Peter and had lunch, were we met Jamie. *shudder* Jamie was another guy on our bus, but really had a "sleazy" feel about him. Sonny said something about him having some rancid breath as well, but luckily I didn't have to deal with it. But yeah, he made everyone feel a bit uncomfortable and held my hand in a handshake a bit too long. :( Ew.

I was going to make my run on a "real slope" after lunch, but since I was already beat from the class, it was decided that we do it Saturday morning after some proper rest. So I spent the remainder of the afternoon at the lodge bonding with the musician on the deck while I waited for Carlene and Sonny to finish up.

Overhearing the roomies:
Debbie: We must be good, someone took out the trash.
Keith: No it was the Manic Kids,
Debbie: Oh, I should take give them some chocolate covered gummy bears. Oh wait, no, they won't eat it. They're eating salads... they're so good. I want to meet their mother.

Later on when my dad had called the condo for us, she had answered and gushed to him about what great daughters he had. How cute is she... if only she knew about our hardcore drug addictions. :) Anyways, that night, after discovering a grill on our balcony, Sonny BBQed steak and we all sat around and watched Debbie's bootleg DVDs.

"Um... I don't think I can do this..."
Saturday, woke up bright and early with a bit of the jitters. Shook it off and it was off to the lodge were we got our lift tickets and lockers. So, it was time. Right at the line for the lift, I clamped in one foot into my board and proceeded to "slide" towards the lift. But I kept on slipping... and the whole idea of clamping BOTH feet onto the board and going down a hill really hit me, so I panicked (see freaked out/cry) and decided to spend the day wearing my sneakers in the lodge with my notebook like a silly little wuss, wallowing in my sorrow with a cup of cocoa... which I was completely fine with. :) Sure there were kids just gliding by on their snowboards, but I'm sure they don't have "height" or "balance" issues. ;P

Anyways, after lunch, I went back to the condo for a nap (cause when you cry, your eyes get tired), and later went over to the Village for some shopping and dinner. We also rode the gondolas and got to see the GORGEOUS view from the sky. :)



That night, we just sat around with our roomies talking about the creepiness of Jamie (everyone had a story) and watched Debbie's bootlegged DVDs. I stayed up for as long as I could to see Darling Colin Firth on SNL, but I fell asleep once Norah Jones came on.

Sunday, after cooking and eating whatever leftover food we could and cleaning up the Condo, we packed up and hit up the outlet shops with Debbie, Pat, and Genie. They had a Coach store, but everything was still expensive and after hitting up the one over in Barstow, there really wasn't a need to buy anything there. Actually the outlet stores there weren't that great and I think the altitude was really getting to everyone, so we just hung out at Schats, had lunch, gelato and cheese bread. Back to the lodge and onto the bus, where there wasn't AS much partying (thankfully) and therefore a few extra seats, so I got to have my own row in the front to strech out my legs while watching SCARFACE.

Anyways, so now I'm back, incredibly tired, and very eager to crawl into my own bed. Carlene and I discovered that we are spoiled with our beds because the entire weekend, the beds at the condo were so gosh darn uncomfortable and we were aching more from that rather than the snowboarding itself... sorta.

Although I never really did conquer the slopes OR the chairlift, I had a lot of fun on the trip. Got to meet a whole bunch of new people and PLAY IN THE SNOW! :) You really can't do that everyday, well unless you live in a place that has it everyday, but its a treat if you rarely see it. :) Mammoth was just gorgeous and I really wouldn't mind going again just to soak in all the scenery. Anyways, maybe next time I'll try skiing? It can't be as bad as boarding right? Theres 2 skis and they have poles...

Anyways, now I'm super super SUPER excited for the rafting trip in July. Anyone interested? It's going to be A LOT of fun... If you want more info, just ask. ;)