Flowers in my hair?

Hey hey, guess where i am. San Francisco. We have left the cold, clean city of Salt Lake and made our way west. Salt Lake City was awesome. It was such a small, neat little place. OK, so it was spread out over a huge valley but with a population of just 1 million, it seemed sometimes desolate. We went skiing a few more times to a resort called Brighton and then over to Park City to a resort called The Canyons. The Canyons is one of the biggest resorts in the US. It was almost too big for us though but i still managed to bump into a guy i worked with at Coronet! It was really bizarre seeing him again and i think we were both a bit shocked by it. He won the Coronet scholarship the season before last which meant he got a job at The Canyons last year, then worked again at Coronet before going back to The Canyons this season. I knew he'd be there but didn't expect to see him as it is a seriously huge resort. It was a nice place but the snow wasn't great. There was a really firm base under what little powder they had which made it a bit difficult at the top of the mountains. Brighton resort was insane though. By far the best resort i have been to. Loads of long, quiet tree runs and tons of snow. I don't know why but we both just fell in love with the place. Maybe it was just because it was truly beautiful. Even the little thin clifftop runs that Kate usually hates were pretty cool.

We left SLC in a blizzard. Typical as most of the ski resorts were in need of a fresh dump of powder, just as the day we leave. Oh well. We had a 8 and a half hour drive to Reno where we were staying the night just to break up the big drive to San Fran. Leaving SLC on highway 80 is similar to driving through a post apocalyptic war zone! Miles and miles of flat, smelly, boring salt flats. If it weren't for the mountains on the horizon i would have died of boredom and wrecked the car. The drive went surprisingly quick but i was so glad i had my ipod plugged into the car radio. American radio stations around Utah are not exactly atheist friendly. Every other station is about some dude called Jesus or his dad.

We made it to Reno by early afternoon. I don't think i was speeding much but managed to complete the 8 and a half hour trip in 6 and a half hours. First impressions of Reno were of a poor mans Vegas but with stunning snow capped mountains and hills overlooking what the locals call "The biggest little city in the world." We found our hotel, dumped our gear and headed down to the casino for some food. After the opulence and grandeur of Vegas, Reno is like a chav version. It is dripping in Elizabeth Duke compared to Vegas's Bulgari chic. The people in the casinos in Reno look like the holding pen of the Jeremy Kyle show! The waitresses in Reno looked like the fag smoking, heavy drinking mums of all the waitresses in Vegas. Not a fake titty in sight. The only thing about a poor mans version of Vegas was that it was cheaper to play poker but as it was a smaller low key place, they didn't have enough people to play a tournament. So we never got a poker fix. Shame as we were both really up for it, which usually means we do well. Poker can be a long, boring game and it is very easy to lose interest and concentration in it which means you get smashed pretty quickly. We have changed our plans a little so we might be able to get in a game before we get home. Instead of getting the bus up to Seattle we are gonna take a couple of days to drive it. We have planned to stop at a casino resort in Oregon which is on the way so hopefully will get in a game then.

We left Reno almost wishing we had planned a longer stay there. Certainly not for all the chavy casinos but because loads of ski resorts are just down the road at Lake Tahoe. The drive to San Fran was stunning. Almost as soon as you leave Reno you are in the mountains and the Tahoe national forest. The roads were quite sketchy and slick in places with snow and rain but the views across the mountains were pretty special. Lake Tahoe was gorgeous but by NZ standards it was almost ordinary. I guess living opposite Lake Wakatipu for 7 months has set the bar pretty high when it comes to lakes and mountain vistas.

So we arrived in San Fran yesterday and dropped off the car at the airport. Our hotel is in the heart of the city, in the hustle bustle of Union square. It is only a few doors away from the hotel i stayed at last time i was here. The weather is a lot warmer too. San Fran has a pretty steady climate all year long and it really varies between 50 and 70 degrees. We are here for nearly a week which gives us plenty of time to see the sights.

So we are here for Valentines day. I have out done myself on the romantic front for sure this year. The NBA all star game is on TV! Kate is a spoilt women eh? Bless her. She made me laugh this morning. Dirty dancing was on TV and Kate had never seen it. She booed her eyes out. I don't know why but i found that hilarious. I have never considered it a movie you would cry at. Maybe it was because Patrick Swayze is sadly no more.

Er, anyway we are off out to eat cheesecake at the Cheesecake factory overlooking Union Square in the sunshine.

Peace

D

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