Whistler and Seattle Recap
Oh what a trip. It smelled of Sunshine and Farts most of the time. I found Seattle to be a very agreeable place and I think if I was forced to live there I might actually enjoy myself. They have lots of good beer. The city is not too big, yet not too small, and there's a fun vibe that I fell like I could mesh with. And they say it doesn't rain too much there, so we'll see.
I think my 2 favorite beers from Seattle were Mack & Jack's Amber and the Pike Place Oatmeal Stout. Frosty has the list of beers we drank while in Whistler, so I'd have to consult that to give you a more accurate picture of what I drank this trip. I'm glad my liver still works.
Our first 2 days of skiing was pretty poor. The snow was roughly comparable to what I've skiied in Iowa during the winter - an icy snow-cone. We actually had to go way way up the mountain to find any snow. I suppose that's the beauty of having a ski resort with a glacier, you never actually run out of 'snow'. We managed to not damage our bodies too badly on the hard ice and slush. Some of us fared better than others.
We woke up on Wednesday morning and gasped when we saw the big white flakes falling from the sky. Three of us left Frosty at the internet cafe to do business and headed up the gondola. What a relief to ski on fluffy snow after 2 days of icy death. We finally met up with frosty at the top of the Roundhouse Gondola at the appointed time. Those of you who know Frosty know why this was virtually miraculous. Also, there were whiteout conditions everywhere so it was hard to see the piste. We did find one nice powder stash that was truly awesome to ski. We had absolutely no idea where we were, nor could we see more than 10 feet ahead. Our skis would suddenly drop a foot, or we'd hit a big mound, causing us to flail about wildly. Time for those other senses to kick in, thank you inner ear. We had to hike out a little bit from the area that we ended up, but it was worth it.
Thursday was St. Patrick's day and Lisa and Matt had joined us for the festivities. We spent most of the day in the haze that is the NCAA tournament. So much basketball. When we finally stumbled to the bar, a waitress in knee-high green socks and a green/white striped skirt greets us with, "So, Irish Car Bombs?" It was that kind of evening. We had lots of Guinness later, and Pizza, and RedBull. Unfortunately, green beer was running dry in Whistler. Le Sigh.
Friday more skiing, although we couldn't tear Frosty from the Tourney. The three remaining skiiers among us were greeted on the mountain by a couple of fresh inches on snow. Also I got a suprise call about a recent birth, so that made the day that much happier. We skiied from 9 until 3, and I definitely felt it. It would have been great to return skis and then go soak for a while in the hot tub, but it was a bit funky in there. Why so funky? We tried to race beer bottles in teh tub and ended up using a bottle with a lot of active yeast in the bottom and things didnt' filter properly, and... well let's say we all showered a lot after hot tubbing. MMmmmmm....Yeasty.
Saturday morning we checked out of the condo. Frosty decided to ski with his friend from Seattle who drove up the night before so 5 of us squeezed into Lisa's Honda Civic and headed back to Seattle. Actually, we hit Vancouver to watch UW play in the tourney, and to buy Lisa some shoes. Then we had a tiny snafu getting through the border because of BC's fire-hydrant fetish and my desire to take every photo I possibly could. I managed to not get arrested by the border patrol, and the customs agent basically thought we were a bunch of morons for all riding in such a tiny car. Cubans snuck thru succesfully. Sweet.
Vancouver was really nice once we were downtown, but the buildings there look pretty ugly since they're just repeated ad nauseum. They just need to build a highway so you don't have to drive downtown every time you want to go through the area. Some cities never learn. Good luck if you attend the Olympics there in 2010. Traffic, icky!
Upon our return to Seattle we were greeted with torrential downpour. I'm told that's not usual either, except they really need the rain, being in a drought and all. Look for lots of northwest fires this summer.
Also, I bought myself a very interesting souvineer while there. Those of you who know what it is, shhhh! Those who don't, feel free to guess. But I'll be wearing it at homecoming. Hopefully with some giant Hawkeye colored socks. Ah fuck it, I can't resist. I got one of these in black. Bring on the snide comments. It's not like I didn't hear them for a whole week already.
Oh, and if you didn't already figure it out, Pictures are up.