Final Four: Florida, Kansas, USC, Ohio State
Winner: Kansas

Today my shoulder really hurt. Which was not fun. So I decided not to do any sort of skiing craziness. Chris and I instead stayed in and did some laundry and made a snowman in the back yard. The back yard of this chateau is the first hole of the Nicholaus North Golf Course in Whistler so there was a large expanse of nice fresh snow. Of course, rolling up snowman parts like the body and stuff are really hard when you can only use one arm. Our goal to make him as tall as a normal person was a bit too ambitious. We ended up naming him Jif because I thought the snowman needed a name.

Tuesday, 6th March 2007

Soooo I guess I had to try skiing today to make my lift tickets and week long rentals worth it. I decided to switch boots and skis with my sister, because my boots made my feet fall asleep (note to self — go complain to the guy who sold me the boots @ the Ski Chalet).

Today Aaron, his Aunt Kathy, Chris, and I went up to the midstation of the Whistler Gondola to the Olympic run. This run was a lot more my style — aka where all the beginners hang out. The ski/snowboard school was here as well as the slowest chair life in the world. The run was also really really really wide. There was another run next to it called It Happens which I think was supposed to be Shit Happens. Which it does. But anyway, I subjected Aaron to going down the bunny hill a million times. I was feeling a lot more accomplished today. My goal was ‘don’t fall and slam your shoulder again’, because that would have been painful. I was very suspicious of the green run on the left side which turns into a blue run towards the bottom of the mountain. Yech. Maybe greens are like blues in the States. Or maybe I just suck at skiing. :)

Wednesday, 7th March 2007

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Thursday, 8th March 2007

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Friday, 9th March 2007

Last day of so called ’ski vacation.’ Well, Aaron kept saying that he wanted to go on a vacation, but since I’m such a crappy skier I can’t place the two words next to each other. It’s more like ’ski torture.’ Anyway today I decided to rent boots because Chris was having problems with mine being too tight. Go figure! Today I tried size 25 Technica boots (mine are 24.5). They were ok. I also got a different pair of skis. Well, upon getting back up to Olympic Run I decided that different skis and different boots means Kathy Sucks At Skiing Again. Aaron made two runs with Chris and I but then went up to Blackcomb. It was very very foggy today, which was a little disappointing. The top of the chair was clear, but most of the hill was shrouded in fog. There was also a lot of powder. I’m still at the point where I’m still not sure what is so great about powder. I was stuck in it and it was somewhat hard to turn in it. Maybe one day I’ll get ‘it’ when it comes to powder.

Chris and I got off the slopes around noon and had some coffee at Second Cup — we’re supporting the local business. Aaron and Chris really wanted sushi for lunch so we went to Sushi Village. It was pretty quaint. They had a wall of fame full of signatures of famous people who had sushi there — for instance, William Shatner. They also had a blanks sheet of paper that said “Matt LeBlanc refused to sign this when he was here in 1999.” I thought that was pretty funny. What is he doing now? NOTHING. The fish selection was not up to Aaron’s par (he kept pining for Hama Sushi, which is back in Herndon) but it was ok. They made a really good Spider Roll — fried crab, avocado, and some other yumminess in roll form. Sadly, their toro and unagi were not that good.

After lunch Chris and I headed over to Blackcomb Snowmobile, who also does Dog Sled Tours, which we had signed up for. We took a 15 minute bus ride to Brandywine Valley to mush some sled dogs! They were really adorable. It was about a 2 mile trip up to the top of a hill and back. Chris and I took turns riding on the back of the sled with the driver (musher) which was really bumpy. You had to have good balance. I re-hurt my shoulder staying on the sled because going downhill involved bumping over a lot of snow drifts and I needed the strength of both of my arms. Our driver, Woody, told us he was moving to Aberdeen, MD, after I told him I was from the DC area. How random! He was very nice. He invited us to a party on Tuesday, but we are leaving tomorrow.

After the sled ride we went up to the Puppy Pen, where two really really adorable puppies jumped all over us. One of them even budged against my feet. Really really really cute. Then we went back to Whistler Village and poked around some gift shops. Then Sean, his Dad, Aaron, and Tim played a ton of Wii Golf. Mr. Crickenberger played with my Dad’s mii, which is named Tender. Haha. Then we had a discussion of where his name came from. There was much curiosity surrounding it.

Saturday, 3rd March 2007

Aaron and I’s journey started at 6:30 AM on Saturday morning. The first bad sign was the taxi driver that was supposed to take us to Dulles Airport called us because he got lost on the way to our house. The next bad sign was a gigantic group of people waiting near United-International with ski bags that said they had been waiting since 6 in the morning because their flight to Vancouver was canceled. Wait a minute. Aren’t I going to Vancouver?

The friendly United Airlines e-ticket machine cheerfully informed me that yes, a leg of my flight was cancelled (Denver to Vancouver). So Aaron and I had to rebook and go through Los Angeles, putting us in Vancouver at 6:35 PM, 6 hours later than our other flight. Whoopie. To cheer myself up, I waited in a line longer than the security line to get a Dunkin’ Donuts bagel, coffee, and donut.

Two hours later we were on the flight to LAX. Upon arriving, the friendly Air Canada agent said, oh, we might be putting you on standby on this Vancouver flight because we also canceled our flight today and we need to ‘take care of our customers first.’ So I guess when the United attendant told us we had confirmed seats from LA to Vancouver she was lying. Luckily, we did manage to get seats on that flight. But Aaron and I decided if we were going to get screwed and have to stay in LA for the night, we would buy some expensive alcohol from the Duty Free shop and go get loaded.

After arriving at Vancouver, the final straw would have been our luggage getting lost. Luckily, that didn’t happen but one piece of luggage (brand new) did arrive with one of the wheels missing, which made it exponentially harder to move. Two hours later, Aaron and I finally made it to the condo. I was yelling with jubiliation, but apparently a Quiet Zone is in effect after 10 PM. Go figure.

Sunday, 4th March 2007

It was a pretty typical morning. I was actually enthusiastic to go get my skis fitted and at least spend a half day on the slopes. I got some skis and some lunch, and Aaron, Chris, and I took the Whistler Village Gondola up to the top. I guess I should have gotten off at the midstation where the map had a big green box that said Easiest. Oh, no. We went right to the top. That’s when I learned the ‘easiest’ path down the mountain is not necessary the easiest run ON the mountain. Green slopes here are not like the green slopes at the other ski areas I’ve been to.

Some random assholes decided to pull their pants down and moon my sister when she was getting up after a fall. That really upset me. Other people we whizzing past and didn’t really have patience for slower skiers. Towards the end of the trail at the Creekside gondola I fell forward and slammed my left shoulder into the ground. I was right under a ski lift and people were heckling me from above. That really made me feel bad. I’ve decided I won’t be coming back to Whistler/Blackcomb for a while. It’s not very beginner friendly.

Also, I can’t really move my left arm. It was bad enough that I tried stopping by the health center. That’s when the fact I was in Canada really hit me. Universal health care meant all out of country residents were charged at least $400 (according to the sign) and any doctor/medical fees on top of that. I decided my shoulder didn’t hurt that bad. I did slam on the ground a few feet away from where someone was getting strapped into a body board to be taken off the mountain. At least I wasn’t that person :(.

The only fun thing was after getting back to the condo my sister managed to get everyone to play Karaoke Revolution. No one was into it at first, but eventually Aaron, Sean, Mrs. & Mrs. Crickenberger and Aaron’s aunt Kathy. The only people we chickened out and didn’t sing were Tim, Robin, and Aaron’s uncle Ray. Boo. Maybe more alcohol should be involved?

I am feeling pretty depressed right now because I can’t go out skiing with everyone else. I guess the really depressing thing is even if I wanted to I still would have to ski by myself because I can’t do the upper green and blue runs that everyone else is going to today. I’m really glad my sister is here, otherwise I think I’d be pretty lonely.

Maybe I’d rather be at work? :)

I just assumed that there was only one show, and Aaron just assumed that the tickets I got for free were for the same night he was planning on getting them. Well, you know what they say about assumptions.

Here are a few other things that added insult to injury:

1. It was raining.
2. There was traffic all the way to DC because it was raining.
3. It was cold.
4. It was in Constitution Hall, which meant parking was nonexistant. We drove around for ~30 min looking for parking, and finally found a metered spot 8 blocks away. While we were examining the parking rules, a ‘homeless’ man asked Aaron for change. Aaron gave him 75 cents.

Aaron and I didn’t notice the date until after we had walked ALL the way to Constitution Hall (in the rain). I actually managed to show my ticket, get the barcode scanned, and walk inside the lobby before Aaron called me back because he was stopped at the door. Let’s just say I was shocked. Then depressed. Then whiny.

To not make the night a total bust I then decided to go to the grocery store to get some milk so I would at least have something to eat for breakfast today. Well, my Safeway didn’t have the milk I always get (Silk Light Plain!!). It just wasn’t my night. :P

I haven’t been doing much here except hanging out with my sisters. I ran out of the touristy San Diego things to do a while ago, but that is ok with me. What really surprises me is that it’s rather hot here, which is a direct contradiction to that mild climate those San Diegans always talk about. Frankly, it’s not much of a change from Virginia, except that you can get away with leaving your windows open at night. Lack of humidity makes all the difference.

I’ll be back in good ol’ muggy DC tomorrow afternoon. Then it’s back to the daily grind. :) I wonder if anything has changed while I’ve been gone? Probably not.

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Well the adventure started on Sunday, March 5th. I had paid for a “Learn to Ski” lesson at the lovely The Canyons resort in Park City, Utah. Unfortunately, since I flew in on Saturday night I missed being able to see the Great Salt Lake from the plane, which was a bit disappointing. Anyway, I quickly remembered how painful and torturous ski boots are, how bulky and heavy skis are, and how handy boyfriends become when it comes to lugging this stuff around. I was the first one there for the lesson, but it was with a mother and two sons from Marietta, GA. Randomly, Mary (the mom) had gone to U.Va.

The lesson started out easy enough. I won’t bore you with the details, but I will mention that I rode a J-bar, which was … interesting. Aaron had come to visit me around lunchtime and he took his turn at the J-bar as well, then he decided to screw it and he just skated uphill. I guess some people just don’t like it.

On Monday, Aaron graciously “volunteered” (was guilt tripped?) into being my instructor for things like turning and stopping. I stuck to the one green slope (The Meadows/Meadows Way). The day started with me losing my chap stick and narrowly avoiding losing my cell phone, and the day ended with me losing my ski (twice). Still, I have to say that progress was made.

On Tuesday, I would have to say “the spirit was willing, but the flesh was weak.” I didn’t have steel to make it strong, so I had to slug through another day of clunky boots. I was thinking MAYBE I’d go try one of the blue slopes, but that decision was made for me after lunch. I found out abruptly that there was no nice green slope from the lodge we ate at, which I think was a conspiracy by Aaron to get me to go down a blue slope. Hell, there were like 10 black ones to choose from as well. The so called “easiest” route to the base camp freaked me the hell out (right around the intersection of Zap and Eclipse). Let’s just say I had to do a shit ton of turning for about an hour before I finally made it off the mountain. Oh, and I had to scream a bit too. I mean a lot. Poor Aaron.

But I’m alive! Yay!