'Boarding skillz revived, though not soon enough

I learned to snowboard five years ago and hadn't gone since, until Saturday. I was getting rather decent during my last trip in 2000 but it was hard to guess how I'd do this weekend. It definitely took a few runs to get myself on track. But by midmorning we were already hitting the black diamond trails (though, to use Carlos' phrase, they were probably only black diamonds due to "trail inflation" and were really closer to blues). And by midday I was taking a cautious ride over some of the small jumps.

So I got back up to speed pretty quickly, though not soon enough - a novice snowboarder decided to take a sudden cut across the trail without taking a look uphill to see if anyone was heading towards him. I tried to swerve but ended up having to throw my ass to the ground and skid to a stop. Technically he had the right of way - just as a car is surely to blame for hitting a pedestrian - but one might strongly consider looking both ways before crossing either a street or a snow-covered hill...

The small resort - Mountain High - turned out to be surprisingly decent. Especially considering its convenient, easy access from LA (hour and a half of fast expressway driving). Definitely worth the $38 we paid for the lift tickets. Snow was okay but not great. But on the upside it was warm enough to ski in just a sweater and jeans if you wanted to.

On the way back we ran into traffic and stopped off in West Covina - Filippino central apparently - for dinner. Carlos guided us to a very authentic Filippino dive (no menu at all and I doubt the workers even spoke English). The food was good but it's a wonder that any of them lives past forty with all the fried foods in their cuisine's repertoire.