A DAY TRIP---SKIING
During dinner, at home in Foster City, California,my wife and three of our friends were discussing taking a day trip to the Sierras to go skiing and to do a little gambling.
When I sat down, they asked me do I know of a place besides Lake Tahoe to go skiing and gambling? I said,"Why not Dodge Ridge Ski Resort, it is about 166 miles from here, and there's Indian Gambling close by."
The five of us drove into Sonora, CA, thirty miles from Dodge Ridge, looking for a place to eat breakfast. We found a place, "The Miners Shack."
After being seated, by the owner, a Mr. Harvey Veprin, we looked around at the many pictures on the wall: miners working a mine; a picture of an old timer, who was well known in Sonora; a buffalo head, to advertise buffalo hambergers--- everything we saw had something to do with Sonora.
After we ordered. Mr. Veprin, the owner, joined us at our table. During our discussion, we asked him, "How did he end up in Sonora?"
"I owned a restaurant in downtown San Francisco,"Mr. Veprin said, with a serious expression, "and when the earthquake of 1989 hit, I lost everything." he said.
"Several years later, I heard that this restaurant was for sale. I bought the business and been here ever since."
Everything that we had for breakfast---eggs, pancakes, bacon, and coffee---was very good. "Drop by, when your up this way again!" Mr. Veprin yelled with a smile.
We arrived at Dodge Ridge and parked our car: got our boots out and put them on, took our skis off the car, and headed for the ski slopes.
The cost of a ticket was not high, compared to the cost of tickets at Lake Tahoe resorts. We were early, we were told by the ski patrol, the slopes do not open for a half hour. So, up to the lodge we went.
Looking out the lodge window, we could see the snow groomers working to get the slopes just right for the skiers. The ski patrol, which has a great history, we were later told, was checking the slopes. Finally, the slopes opened and out from the lodge, the skiers poured.
We spent the whole day---9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.---skiing, eating, and just plain relaxing. Everything closed down at 4:30 p.m., so we started back to Foster City. We did stop at the Indian Casino on the way home and did some gambling---we lost.
We were back home, Foster City, around 8:00p.m. and had dinner.
It was an enjoyable full day. We traveled to the Mother Lode, we had breakfast in Sonora, we skied all day, we gambled, and we were back in Foster City at a very reasonable time.
