This will help build muscle memory and hopefully mitigate the ensuing damage. Give yourself extra time, especially if you plan on renting equipment at the mountain. In order to find a place to go snowboarding, one can use traditional sources like the yellow pages to look up ski resorts in the area. You get links for travel services in order to help you plan your trip. You can read reviews and comments by skiers about various snow resorts should help to point people searching for specific criteria in the right direction.
Lessons are for wusses.
Unless you want to see your knee hanging casually around your neck, you'll NEED a snowboarding lesson. A lesson will help you build a solid repertoire of strong techniques initially. A lesson will allow you to share your frustration and successes with other starters. One of the largest benefits to taking a lesson is that you usually get to bypass all of the lift lines and get directly on the ski lift. If your friends snicker, then lie and say you got the lesson for free, so you might as well use it.