For Spring Break we booked a hotel in Reno, Nevada, for two days of Snowboarding! We left on Monday, and after 2 hours of driving we were in the snowy Sierra Nevada mountains driving through beautiful scenery. When we arrived in Reno, named 'the biggest little city' I understood why it's commonly compared to Vegas. It's a lot like Vegas with its pretty lights and hotel casinos, but much smaller. Our hotel had 2 floors of casinos, one with beer pong, and the 17th floor (our room) had a great view of the surrounding mountains! Also our room had a King bed so wide I could lie across it - it was as wide as I am tall!
The first day of snowboarding, was my first day of snowboarding ever. Never touched a board. So it will be unsurprising that I spent most of the day on my bum. In fact getting up was probably the hardest part. Then add trying to get off a ski lift with one foot in your board and the other out! Getting off the lift without falling was probably my best achievement on day 1!
That night we went to a true American steakhouse, Ruby River. The whole restaurant was decorated with cowboy stuff, boots, hats, holsters, and then 30 minutes in cowboy looking guys actually showed up for a meal. It was awesome, and I don't think I've ever tasted steak so good.
We had every intention that night of playing beer pong in the casino, but we were both so tired from snowboarding we played cards instead. I had to ice all my sore muscles!
It got interesting the next day. I finally was able to snowboard down the mountain without falling and so we were up and down the mountain pretty fast. We decided to move up higher after lunch for longer runs and I was doing pretty well considering it was only day 2. As soon as we decided we might go a third day, disaster struck. My board caught the snow throwing me back. Stupidly I put my arms out to catch my fall, and in doing so felt the worst pain in my wrist. I wont lie, I cried for about 5 seconds in the snow before I checked for swelling and movement. My hand and fingers were fine, fully functional, but the swelling on my wrist was growing and I couldn't turn my hand over. I iced it with some snow and convinced myself it was fine. We boarded down the mountain with me full of fear in case I fell again. At the bottom Megan convinced me to seek First Aid, and the first aid guy would send me to hospital. I was so gutted. I didn't want to go to hospital. It didn't hurt if I didn't move, I was fine.
Yeah so that didn't happen. Megan made me go to the 'Emergency Room'. This was about to be a crazy American experience for me. Firstly, I had to work out how my insurance worked. I knew I had insurance, but that was about it, so for 20 minutes Megan is talking to phone robots trying to figure out how much an xray's gonna cost me. Then I checked in to ER and waited in a relatively empty waiting room for 5 minutes. I was seen by a nurse who asked a hundred medical history questions and checked my blood pressure, and then taken into a private room in the ER ward. I was told to get on the bed and was so confused I asked if I should take my shoes off. She put a blanket on me, got a pillow for my arm, and propped the bed up. As she left she pointed out the TV. No joke, I was in bed in a private room with a TV within 15 minutes of arriving. In a bed - it was my arm that was hurting - why was I in a bed? Over the next 2 hours I would have nurses, doctors, and xrays. Also it turns out they do the xrays with you still in the bed - I didn't have to move. I thought you had to put your arm in a machine or a hole in the wall over something. Anyway it turned out I'd broken my left wrist. They sent me away with a temporary splint after I handed over $150. I wont lie, I feel like I got what I paid for. I was treated like a little princess. Although I won't hear one person complain about the NHS because that's free and I can't afford to break any more bones in this country.
That night we went to a really posh restaurant (kind of by accident) and there's me with a bandage up to my elbow in the only tshirt baggy enough to fit over the splint. We looked so out of place. The portions were so tiny! Although, the food was awesome and there's something to be said for sympathy. It didn't matter how dressed down we were because I looked so pathetic. I kept getting looks from people like "aww bless little baby broke her arm". In fact since then I've had so much sympathy from people working in restaurants and shops, in fact one store worker helped us to the car with all our shopping. Completely unnecessary but I'll take it.
So anyway yesterday I had to get a cast. First broken bone I've ever had, so first ever cast. While the insurance makes the paperwork and phone calls very complicated, it does mean I got to choose Blue for my cast! So now I'm walking around looking really cool with a blue cast on my arm. I'm yet to know how much that's going to cost me though.So in all, a relatively successful Spring break. I learnt to Snowboard and gained 4 weeks in a cast with a broken wrist!
