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Tuesday, March 15, 2005

canada, eh?

I am back from Vancouver and Whistler/Blackcomb in one piece with no broken bones. Hurrah!

We arrived in Vancouver late Wednesday night, and Becca, Jen M and Becca's aunt Diane immediately headed up to Whistler while the rest of us spent the night at Cari's ISU friend Ruey's house. Ruey was really cool, fixed us a huge breakfast the next day, and showed us all around the city. Vancouver is a really lovely city; I could totally live there. We went to a city overlook (pretty), the Capilano suspension bridge (touristy but fun), and finally ended up in Stanley Park where we rented bike and rode along the 5-mile seawall around the park and under Lions Gate Bridge. We couldn't have asked for better weather -- sunny skies and cool temperatures. That night Becca's aunt Nancy arrived from Portland and took Gavin and Cari with her on up to Whistler while Rich and I stayed in a hotel. The next morning we walked all over downtown to Gastown, where we saw the steam clock, then to Chinatown, and then back past the many high-priced shops of Robson Street.

That afternoon we made the beautiful two-hour drive up to Whistler, and finally everyone was in one place: six of us from Houston, one from Portland, one from DC (Diane), and two from Seattle (Jen O and Irwin). Cari's other ISU friends Beth and Tyler came over from Victoria on Saturday as well. It was great to see/meet all the non-Houston people, especially Jen (who I hadn't seen since Daniel's wedding more than a year ago) and Nancy (who I hadn't seen since Peru).

Saturday arrived and it was finally time to try skiing. Whistler has had a very bad winter, apparently; there was no snow in the village, and not much on the bottom half of the mountain. As luck would have it, there were no half-day lessons offered in the morning and the bunny slopes were all on the bottom (i.e. snowless) half. Cari was kind enough to take me up to the top where she taught me to snowplow and stop (sort of) on two very small, very short inclines around the lifts and the mountain host headquarters. Skiing was, in chronological order:

• scary, as I realized how high the gondola was taking me,
• fun, as I learned to snowplow on a miniscule hardly sloped molehill,
• boring, as I grew tired of the molehill,
• terrifying, as I looked down the beginning of a green run that was decidedly steeper than my friendly molehill,
• extremely frustrating, as I cried my way down the beginning of a green run that had some borderline blue parts, fell repeatedly and couldn't get back up without starting to move again, and couldn't turn, and everyone was standing down at the sign waiting for me and watching me fall the entire way down,
• slightly less frustrating, as everyone except Cari and Becca thankfully left and stopped watching me look like an idiot,
• nonexistant, as I went down a steep icy hill on my butt with no skis, which to that point was the most fun part of the run, Cari carrying my skis,
• fun again, as I reached a happy medium on a long, nicely sloped second half of the green run and finally learned to turn and somewhat control myself.

So I learned how to ski, sort of. And how to turn, sort of. And not die. Hooray! It was a frustrating experience, both from the difficultly of doing it and from the feeling that it should be easier. Everyone else skis without any problems, and I know it's because they've all been doing it for years, but it was disheartening to be the only one who couldn't even stay upright. But I'd go again. And hopefully get better. And the views from the mountain were spectacular.

Sunday morning we went to Ziptrek and got to fly down four ziplines as long as 1,100 feet back and forth across the creek that runs between Whistler and Blackcomb mountains. It was so much fun. The last line was a "freestyle" line so I got to tip over and go down the line upside down, feet wrapped around the rope and hands dangling free to the creek below. SO MUCH FUN. I took a video as I went down the longest zipline that you can watch to get an idea of the experience. FUN.

Sunday afternoon we drove to the next town north of Whistler to hike a little more than a mile to a waterfall. While there, we decided to go a little off the "official" trail and climb to the top of the rock next to the point where the water went over the falls. Our little, slightly not allowed sidetrek was definitely worth it for the view.

We got back late last night and I haven't downloaded my pictures yet, but Becca has:

• Here's me starting to finally feel slightly comfortable with skiing after crying (in frustration) my way down the huge hill on the first half of the green run. Notice my uneasy smile, very snow-plowed feet and death grip on the ski poles.
• Here I am getting ready to Ziptrek, launching, and here's me and Jen. Ziptrek was SO FUN. Stay tuned for a shot of me ziptrekking upside down. :)
• Pretty mountains. Pretty, pretty mountains everywhere.
• Jen breakin' the law, but all for a good reason. Scooting around the fence and up the rocks gave us a great view of the top of a waterfall!
• Gavin relaxing in a tree at Shannon Falls on the way back to Vancouver.
• Cari is gross. She seems to think that because she once kissed a slug on a dare, it's ok to do it again.
• Here I am maneuvering to a good photo spot and trying not to drop my camera in a creek. The mission was successful.

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