Hi all:
As I told you, we spent Jan 2-4 away, so I could not have updated. Yesterday and the day before I was kind of busy, so please excuse the delay! But reading is worth it, we had a wonderful holiday.

We went to Lake Tahoe, a quite famous skeeing place at the border of California and Nevada. In order to get there we had to rent a larger car than the Beetle we were driving now. As we were trying to get the best offer, we went to the Oakland airport, but people were either very rude or did not have as good an offer as our favourite car rental enterprise. So Shadow, friend Cyrous and I finally left 1.5 hours after schedule. O heaven, those two made fun of me and my need for timing and punctuality. "It's the German in her, it's not her fault."

Near Sacramento we picked up Maryam, Cyrous' sister. She is really fun to be around, joyful, lively and always a joke waiting just on the tip of her tongue. Finally I was not the only one who mildly complained about the delay.

Driving to Tahoe was quite an adventure. First we were stuck in several trafic jams, and then we started worrying whether or not we needed snow chains. We managed without all the way, although the road was in parts quite snowy and icy. The car was strong and Cyrous a capable driver. Maryam and I had a great time laughing, watching the coolest men on earth trying to get our room key out of a box. Somebody gave them instructions via phone, but tell you, they had something in their ears or brains, they never understood a word correctly!

The room itself was okay. We did not stay there for long, but instead went out to a really good Italian restaurant - at least my food was good. Shadow did not like his, Maryam was pleased with just about anything, and Cyrous' apparently had too much cheese. That night it did not take much time for me to fall asleep.

Breakfast the next morning proved to be another adventure. We were given free breakfast, but for that had to go find a casino. Again, the poor baby boys found lots of things to complain about. Maryam enjoyed the gfact that the food was "free, come on guys", and I was reminded of the good old days when mom and I were all around Ireland, stuffing our tummies with English breakfast n the morning, to have enough energy till the evening. However, it was decided we never go to that casino again.

In the following hours the men made up their minds and decided to spend the money on cabin passes and skeeing equipment, so they could go skeeing. I have never been downhill skeeing, and Shadow was not too sure how well he would perform, so I decided not to attempt trying. Maryam suffers from height anxiety, so she remained in my company. We spent the time talking and gossipping, making fun of just about everybody we knew and laughing and laughing. Shadow must have been very proud of himself, he ad enjoyed skeeing a lot.

On the way back we stopped to go shopping for tomorrow's breakfast and joiurney back. Then Cyrous and Maryam spent their time with other friends, while Shadow and I had dinner at Kentucky fried Chicken, a fast food Shadow LOVES, and then we went to a casino his uncle had recommended.

That was a fun experience. We had set our rate to be $20 each to lose. Since I have no idea about black jack, we decided to play roulet. Our $40 were gone just like that, Shadow having won eight once, me nothing at all. Had I not been there, he would have played and played. He enjoys that game. We did not win anything at the slot machines either, although I gave it a try. Another fridge magnet, and then back home. There we sat and chatted with the rest of the gang. There I found my master in terms of tennis knowledge and economy, and we indeed had quite an interesting conversation.

Next morning came, and Maryam proved another skill, a perfect breakfast manager, although I had to show her how to set a table - Shadow is the main critic of that task at home! We checked out of the hotel on time and hit the road. We stopped by the lake to take pictures in the snow and of the landscape. We had not done so on the entire trip - shame on us! And Maryam for some reason did not feel the need of a snow fight anymore, she decided the snow was indeed too cold. This time the road conditions were perfect, dry, sunny, clear - so we made it to Sacramento in one go, Shadow driving all the way. It was the most important reason for a break, the bathroom break highly desired by Shadow any time the opportunity was given - that made us see Maryam's home. We ended up having a snack in a book store - o how highly unusual! Home finally, give Cyrous his car keys and then go to a store to find out a little more about my mini disk recorder. And then finally back to sleep! Shadow was so tired! The poor thing had to do all the driving! Well it's not that I didn't want to drive - they just did not let me!

Really nice trip we had - but next time we will go cross-country skeeing, that's Shadow's promise. Two more full days in San Francisco, then home to see my sister and my Godson - this is the time I will not be able to update my weblog. Bare with me for at least a week and a half, and I will be back, that's a promise!
Have a good time and don't forget to check, Chris:-)