On Wednesday Rich and I passed on skiing and checked out Tahoe City - a small burg covered with snow. We picked up Lenora after her cross country ski lesson and the three of us went out to lunch.
Thursday we started to drive back to Emeryville. Unfortunately we spent 45 minutes going from one exit to the next and putting on chains only to be told that the road was closed for an indefinite period of time due to whiteout conditions. We stopped for lunch and then tried again. This time it took us only 30 minutes to go from the same first exit to the same second exit to find out that the road was still closed - proper signage would have been sooo helpful. So instead of going west we drove east to Reno and then south to Carson City, Nevada. As Highway 50 was our next planned road and it was closed partially for avalanche clearing we decided to stay the night and get an early start on Friday morning. The Best Western hotel included a casino so I told Rich that I wanted to play the slot machines after dinner. Of course he thought I was a little silly but he played along. I tried to put in my $10 to start playing the machine but it would not take it so I went to the cashier and got 10 - $1 tokens. I put in my token, pulled the handle and watched the things (tumblers?) spin around. After a few coins and no joy, I was resigned to just losing my $10 and going back to the room when, wait, wait, jackpot!!! $50 in tokens started to pour into the tray. WooHoo! I counted my tokens and put them in the tray I got from the cashier. I still had a few of my original 10 tokens left, so I continued and wait, wait, jackpot again!!! Another $50 in tokens poured out. I carefully counted them. Now I had $100 in tokens on my lap. I had 2 tokens left of my original 10 plus a few credits on the machine, in they went. No more pay outs. So I took my tokens and cashed them in. I had won enough to pay for our night at the hotel, dinner and breakfast the next morning. I was so proud of myself. I didn't do a happy dance (but I felt like it). Rich thinks I was channelling my father, getting something for nothing.
Friday we drove back to the boat, with little fanfare. It was a fun few days.