Starry nights

OK, first of all, don't be misled by that title. Ziggy and I are not getting cozy together. It's just that the stars out here are AMAZING! There's so many of them once you lift the blanket of Chicago's smut and smog. We barbecued some chicken last night and it was hard to pay attention to not burning anything when you looked up into the sky.

Terry is making big progress on finding a place for the season. We checked out South Lake Tahoe the other day and that's his target area. It's about an hour south of us, an awesome drive with the lake on one side below some scary cliffs. At one point at the peak of a mountain we were driving with cliffs on both sides. "How about some guard rails here, guys?" Zig said as he white-knuckled it through into a series of switchbacks.

South Lake Tahoe is pretty cool. Only city I've ever seen where the state line crosses right through the middle of it. Right on the Nevada side are a series of casinos, of course. Most of what we're finding as far as lodging has been cabins with 2-3 bedrooms and a rustic look. We're gonna need some cowboy hats. Please, no Brokeback Mountain jokes!

The local towns are Truckee and Tahoe City. We still haven't checked out Truckee but have become fast friends with a bartender named "Jumbo" at a place called Lakeside Pizza. Don't be fooled by his name. Jumbo is a regularly sized guy who's our age, but won't reveal the nature of his nickname. What he will do is pour a free shorty and a free pint of Guinness for every three we order! And give us some tips on where to live, things to do, etc. Last night they had "Beerfest" there but we were lame and didn't make it. We were there on Tuesday, though, for trivia night. Lots of young folks came rolling in for that, including a group of nine kids just out of college from Maine. (It took them four days to get here; I thought we had a long drive.) The girl sitting next to me, Whitney who was too cute for her own good, said she and her driving partner each got a ticket and then had the sunroof on their car shattered the day they got here--presumably by a pine cone, she said. (You should see how big those suckers are out here!) Anyway, all of them are staying for the season as long as jobs at a soon-to-open restaurant called Cafe 22 comes through with jobs promised.

As for me, I'm eyeing applying for work as a ski school instructor at Heavenly. They apparently still have jobs open and since the ski hills aren't open (Chicago has more snow, methinks), I expect they'll be expanding their staff soon. Heh, heh, I said "staff." So that is my plan, but it all hinges on if we can find lodging there since I don't have wheels and will need to find my own way to work.