I've been procrastinating on this blog for so long now you'd think it was a high school assignment.
At the time I began this entry it had been raining in Vancouver for 4 days straight. The weekend was so dark and depressing that I reluctantly left the house for an hour or so on Saturday morning and spent the rest of my time indoors, in our dingy basement apartment. The icing on the cake was when we were walking back from our new favourite local deli - Cardero Bottega (check it out -
http://www.carderobottega.com/). Steven pepped up when he thought he spotted a patch of blue sky heading our way, only to deflate three seconds later when he realised what he thought was blue sky was actually a blue-tinged building in the distance. Fail.
It's funny, excuse my French, but when we first moved here it was like we thought the sun shone out of Vancouver's ass. The city could do no wrong and we had no trouble telling everyone who would listen about how wonderful it was. A month and half into our first winter I now realize that the sun doesn't seem to shine out of anything here very often, for very long. Even the "summer" was pretty tough. I actually think it might be worthwhile playing hard-to-get with the sun here. It thinks it's
soooo special - everyone raves about it when it comes to the party - but if we pretend as though we couldn't care less, maybe it'd decide to play nice more regularly. Nevertheless the good still seems to outweigh the bad in a lot of respects and we can't complain about our proximity to one of the world's best ski resorts ... which is where we were lucky enough to spend Christmas 2011.
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| Steve tastes treats send all the way from him mum - the beginning of the end for our healthy eating |
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| View at the Canucks game - we all went on Matt's first night in Vancouver |
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| Jenna bakes tasty Christmas treats for the team |
Our Christmas celebrations started early - December 16th to be precise - when my friend Carly arrived in Vancouver. Her arrival marked the start of a barrage of visitors joining us for Christmas festivities - and we couldn't have asked for better company. We were eventually joined by Nathan and Jenna (our honeymooning friends), Matt (Steve's former housemate and our good friend) and Bronwyn and Matt (Steve's cousin and her husband - also honeymooning). Combine the eight of us with another five of our Australian-Vancouver friends - and it's safe to say our first Christmas in Canada was a memorable one. The 13 of us rented two, three bedroom self-contained units at Creekside in Whistler and spent five days skiing, drinking, eating, rapping (thanks to Teddy's Rapstar), zip-trekking and arguing over boardgames. Fun times indeed. I'd give you a more in-depth overview if I could, but unfortunately for me and my inability to withstand more than two alcoholic beverages in one evening, I can't remember a whole lot. Once I hit the two-drink threshold I usually find that in addition to not remembering anything from said night of drinking, I also forget everything from the day preceding and the day following. So, Christmas eve went something like this:
- Attempted to attend church with Jenna, Carly and Matt -
- Walked around Whistler Village and watched ice skaters for 20 minutes -
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| I do remember taking this photo - view of Whistler Village all lit up at night |
- 1 x red wine at the Brewhouse, Whistler Village, while we wait for everyone else to join us -
- 1 x double mojito -
- BLANK -
- Poutine -
- BLANK -
- 1 x single mojito -
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| The mojito photo I do not remember ... |
- Slice of pizza -
- BLANK -
- Fireball shot -
- BLANK BLANK BLANK -
- Left restaurant, followed by snow fight -
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| I wouldn't have remembered if it wasn't for this picture ... EVIDENCE! |
- BLANK -
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| I believe this is how we made it home ... |
- Somehow got home -
- May have Skyped with Family ... BLANKITY BLANK BLANK -
- Rapstar (Kanye and I are not friends - I was terrible) -
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| Nat vs. Rapstar - Rapstar won, I also don't remember this photo. The rule: When rapping, one must ALWAYS sport Wigga hat |
- Woke up from nap at table ... BLANK (Consumed Fireball shot - I cannot confirm this) -
- BLANKITY BLANKITY BLANK (Nat - 0; Alcohol - 20 million)
- Put self to bed after drinking five glasses of water (Nat - 1; Alcohol - 20 million) -
- Christmas Day Ziptrek - feeling pretty ordinary -
My great Christmas regret was not attending a church service. I found Christmas really didn't feel like Christmas without my traditional midnight mass. The funny thing was that we were all there, ready to go, but when we arrived at the hall in Whistler Village we found out we had the wrong time and the service was finishing. I felt like God would forgive me and appreciate my efforts nonetheless, especially when we turned to leave and a woman (who had just attended the service) came outside yelling out to her children who were playing in the nearby garden bed. As she called out to them - "Truth ... Truth! Come here!" (and I won't quote her but I'm sure her other child's name was 'Fern') I took that as a sign from God it probably wasn't the kind of church service for me anyway.
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| Carly and I dog sledding on our first day in Whistler |
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| There were puppies! This is Bear. |
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| The local pub - right next door! |
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| The view of Creekside from our units |
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| Team Room 201. |
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| Steve takes his turn at Rapstar - note Wigga hat. |
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| The group - Wigging out with Rapstar. |
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| Christmas Day - Matt dressed up as Santa and distributed presents! |
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| When he started "Ho Ho Ho-ing" outside, people started looking ... |
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| Christmas Day feast |
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| Steve and I having a drink at Dusty's (the local pub) after a hard day on the slopes - as you do! |
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| Dinner on our last night in Whistler - at Sushi Village - awesome sashimi! |
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| Box sushi (on the right) - most amazing sushi ever. |
Whistler was beautiful as per usual - we were lucky enough to enjoy plenty of snowfall - but the weather wasn't awesome. Despite great powder, visibility was fairly horrendous. Listen to me, I sound like a skiing snob. I shouldn't be really. I mean, I love my skiing get-up but skiing and I aren't quite friends just yet. Although I think I have the basic technique down-pat, I haven't yet been able to completely embrace the terror of skiing. I need to work out how to turn my brain off when I'm going down the mountain as it often tends to wander, effectively concocting these elaborate and utterly terrifying visions of me plummeting off a cliff to my death. Who invented this crazy sport anyway? Over my three days of skiing I could safely and confidently say my favourite moment on the mountain was when I had finally completed a run and was standing in the space between the gondola and the lift line. This meant that I had successfully completed a run without dying and, as a bonus, I wasn't being harassed by anyone in a lineup. As it stands at this moment in time, I liken my relationship with skiing to my relationship with animated movies. At first, the thought of it makes me feel ill. When I finally give in though, I actually do enjoy it but I've
really got to be in the right mood. Nevertheless I anticipate a few more Whistler skiing trips on the horizon and I know if I keep on risking my life by partaking in this undeniably dangerous sport it will only become less daunting.
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| Skiing Steve |
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| Me kitted up on the lift |
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| Steve kitted up |
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| Patiently waiting in the lift line |
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| A rare action shot of me! |
Three days after Christmas Nathan & Jenna and Bronwyn & Matt left. I also had to go back to work for the three days before New Years. Thankfully Matt and Carly were still around and Steven had the three days off so together, so on the 28th they moved us from Apartment #4 in our building to Apartment #8.
[Just before Christmas we received word from our building manager that #8 was available. Better kitchen? Check. Better bathroom? Check. A move away from our noisy neighbours? Priceless. Well, a $30 rent increase to be exact, but well worth it. Believe me.]
By the time I arrived home from work on December 28th, we had moved into our new apartment. Missy and Dave weren't far behind and together, the six of us sat in our new lounge room to discuss options for our upcoming New Year's celebrations. Our first idea was Victoria. Potentially Seattle. Both viable possibilities. And then ... Dave had an epiphany. Banff. A completely insane idea. We were sold. Unfortunately I had to work on the 29th and 30th. Fortunately, less than 24 hours and a sneeky bout of gastroenteritis (for me) later, we were off on our 12 hour road trip to Banff. Although eight hours in and several five-hour energy shots down for both Dave and Steve, I was seriously questioning our sanity. At times it was as though we were on an episode of Ice Road Truckers. It got pretty hairy driving through the night, semi-trailers hurtling towards us in the snow and all in dodgy, icy road conditions. Fortunately their driving skills were superb and we all survived, pulling into Banff, Alberta, at approximately 5am.
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| Road trip roll call - we're ready to go! |
Our New Year's is certainly one we'll never forget. Four days in beautiful Banff with gorgeous blue skies and temperatures well into the negatives. I don't think I've ever been colder in my entire life. It's hard to be cranky at Banff though, you can't help but fall in love with the picturesque scenery and the small-town feel. Our Banff trip included a gondola ride, trip to Lake Louise for ice skating and hockey, chilling out at the hot springs and of course hot chocolates at the Fairmont (well, the girls did hot chocolates while the boys amused themselves for about an hour throwing chunks of ice into Bow Falls ... my mum always said small things amuse small minds ...). We spent New Year's eve dining at a local Swiss/Fondu restaurant (my first fondu ever - so much cheese .... SO MUCH CHEESE) and finishing up with drinks at a local bar (with main street fireworks interlude). Sadly for me I managed to catch a strain of my beloved KCFC (Killer Canadian Flu-Cold) and I retired fairly early, suffering a really bad fever and body aches. I rolled with the punches though. I knew the Universe was punishing me for my fake gastro bout. But you know, you only live once.
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| In the Banff Gondola. |
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| View from the top - spectacular! |
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| Steve and I at the top |
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| Banff Hot Springs |
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| Arriving at Lake Louise for our day of skating and hockey |
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| Steve and I in front of Lake Louise |
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| Lake Louise - yay! |
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| The Team with the ice castle sculpture on Lake Louise |
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| Nat plays hockey |
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| The beautiful town of Banff |
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| New Year's dinner - fondu |
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| Plate of cheese dish. |
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| The girls post-midnight on the main street in Banff. |
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| Banff esky. |
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| Dave wonders what ice really tastes like ... (frozen water, actually!) |
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| Cool ice bar at the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel |
I'm not sure what Carly and Dave did to make the Universe mad, but at 4.30 am on New Year's Day Missy burst into our room (still half drunk), turning on the lights and ordering us to check ourselves for staph rashes. Carly and Dave were unlucky enough to contract what they originally thought may have been a staph infection (presumably from the hot springs). As a side note, it didn't end up being staph, but, for your own benefit, please don't Google it. I just did. It's disgusting.
(I bet you just Googled it!). Thankfully no one else was affected, but this, combined with the fact we all had a pretty late night and I was fairly sick, meant that our plans for New Year's Day skiing at Sunshine Village were foiled.
My most interesting observation from our time in Banff? In Banff no one walks very often, they just slip. There is so much black ice everywhere, it's like the hilarity of people slipping over is completely lost - it's just a given. It actually made me kind of disappointed. I like to see a good slip every now and then. Provided no-one gets hurt, you can't deny it's pretty funny. The fun wore off for me about 30 minutes into us making our way into the main part of town, slipping all over the place like complete idiots, along with everyone else!
And ... some views ...
We've been back now for ten days and I'm already keen to look at our travel plans for the remainder of 2012. Although perhaps we should work on the funds first. This weekend we're off on our first leg of "Missy's Farewell Tour". Sadly, Missy is heading back home on February 5th because of uni commitments. In her honour (and in a feeble attempt to suppress thoughts of the inevitable), we're embarking on four consecutive weeks of (fairly) local tripping. First stop? Seattle!
P.S - Some video footage (if you're interested) - I'll put up more in the near future but for now, I'm over fighting with Blogspot.
