28/01/2008 - 31/01/2008 - For those at home that think we have got it just so easy - let me tell you it hasn't been all that easy this week. On Tuesday we drove up the mountain to do some boarding / skiing on 6cm of new powder, we knew it was going to be cold as the temperature in the car at the bottom of the mountain was reading -20 degrees, then when we hoped onto the quad chair and reached the top it was a very very very cold -32 degrees (with the wind chill), so we are living in some tough conditions...
When Lou was in Banff she fell on her tail bone again - so she hasn't been able to hit the slopes, she has been enjoying some quiet time at Canyon House and just relaxing.
When we initially arrived we did ask the locals if Skaha Lake ever froze over and they advised us "not too often, perhaps every 20 years" - yep you guessed it with the weather we have been having the lake is frozen - it really is an awesome sight, we've watched the transformation from water to ice.01/02/2008 - Today we all headed up the slopes we even got Louise up there and she even made it out onto the slopes for a little while. Peter, Lisa and all of us went to watch the Vees play another Hockey game and Matt's lucky program number was called out. Matt had to go onto the Ice with another two contestants and tie as many sheets together as possible within the allotted time. Matt came in third (okay last) but even we believe he was ripped off, the other two contestants just kept tying their sheets together after the whistle. (One was a very very old lady the other was a very old man...."Des and Troy were useless against these season veterans....")
02/02/2008 - Tonight we headed to another Vees game. They played Salmon Arm who are 2nd on the ladder the Vees are 1st - what a great game. The Vees won 4 - 2. Lou and Matt ended up leaving after the 2nd period to go and watch a Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fight on TV at one of the local Hotels. Unfortunately for Matt there was a bit of biffo in the 3rd period - which Matt did miss out on - he is yet to see a fight (gloves and helmets off).
03/02/2008 - 24/02/2008 - Yep I know it has been a while since an update, but as you can see I did have good intentions. Matt and Susan have arrived and left. Lou and Matt have left and the Jeffrey's have arrived. We all went to Revelstoke for a couple of nights, Revelstoke is apparently going to be the newest and best resort skiing resort in North America. The weather is warming up, the birds and the deer are starting to return, the snow is melting in downtown Kaleden and it is like spring skiing up at Apex. So that's the short story of what has been happening, and yet again I'm not going to try and recall everything that has happened in order, I'm, just going to do some quick dot points for those of you who are interested in reading more.
Apex - Susan has had her first taste of skiing, which we think she really enjoys - unless Dave is helping her. On her first few hours on the skis and only after one lesson and at the end of the Day, Dave gets Susan to go down a Blue run on the way home - Susan was totally exhausted (as you keen see by the photos of Susan trying to walk up the stairs, of course the rest of the house had a lot of sympathy for her). We decided to take Matt O over to the Wildside of Apex to experience some powder. Well all of us excluding Matt had finished
the run and were waiting down the bottom of the run for Matt to finish his. Well not only couldn't we hear him we couldn't see him either. So after a while and a lot of yelling to see if we could find him, I took my board off to try and look for him, after about 15 mins of searching, we had our first sighting - here comes Matt looking like a snowball - holding a pair of skis. So after that one run Matt decided he had had his taste of powder he had snow absolutely everyone and he was completely exhausted. Matt O and Dale both had their first lessons on the snowboard - lets just sat that Matt returned for a 2nd day whilst Dale went back to the skis. All I can say is that Matt O now probably wishes that he had kept to the skis, he had to miss out on the last day up the mountain due to a shoulder injury. Matt D (Lou's boyfriend) also decided to give the Boarding a go. Matt D and I had a bet that he wouldn't be able to make it down the Bunny slope with two turns on his first run. So after some instruction from the Big Fella - off he goes, 1st turn completed, 2nd turn completed, then he tries a 3rd and splat (he had to show off). After a couple of days he had really picked up the snowboarding and even managed to negotiate the Chute (a black run) ago. Dave finally got to drive a Zamboni (or as Dave calls it the Zambini) - the machine they use to groom the Ice Rinks. After a day of snowboarding and when we are all sitting around the fire - Dave mentions that he hurt his Sternum - he meant his tailbone.
On one of our trips (somewhere) the song Cheap Wine by Cold Chisel came on. Matt and Lou were singing away in the back, however Matt was singing the words, Cheap Wine and a Freelance Goat - well that had us all in stitches (he honestly thought they were the words, even I know the words to that song) - of course we never let him live that one down. Matt has also nicknamed his biceps one Des and one Troy - Destroy.- Before Lou and Matt and Matt and Susan left Bobbie invited us all over for yet another dinner (yep 8 of us). Brant cooked a delicious feast of Cedar Plank Salmon on the BBQ. The Salmon is placed on a Cedar Plank and placed in the BBQ oven to cook, the Salmon is basted with Sundried Tomatoes, garlic and herbs etc - mmmm it really was mouth watering.
Kaleden - With the snow melting and the wildlife returning including the woodpeckers, we all decided to get some shooting practice in. Also, as you can see by some of the photos I tried to hand feed the deer on the first day of their return to Canyon House and they haven't been back since - and no it was my home cooking it was bird seed.
Revelstoke will have the longest ski run in North America when it is completed - it is going to be huge. Matt, Lou, Matt, Susan, Dale, Kaye and Peter all headed up to Revelstoke for a couple of days skiing and boarding. It really was amazing to watch Peter snowboard - he is just fantastic and as Lisa says he is like a cat he always lands on his feet. Well lets just say Revelstoke was pretty awesome, not to many green runs (I think there was only one open), a couple of Blues and the rest Black. There was powder (Powder is what Revelstoke is known for) and this was to be found in the tree runs, which everyone seemed to enjoy. We had some lovely meals whilst staying at Revelstoke even though Susan had a bit of trouble ordering sometimes instead of a 8 oz steak Susan ordered a 8 inch steak. After one night out for dinner and a few drinks a few of us were walking home - commenting on how slippery the roads and footpaths were with all the ice on them and next minute down goes Dale - and he fell just like Dave does "like a bag of sh*t". Luckily enough he didn't have time to get his hands out to break the fall, so he fell flat on his back - of course we all raced over to help him up.
Ice Hockey - The Vees have finished in top stop. We seem to be pretty luck at the Rink both Lou and Kaye have now had to toss the dice for a chance to win $50.00 at the Casino - they only needed to roll a seven - so far no luck.- Another piece of great news is that Tony and Lisa got engaged on Christmas Day
So we are now starting to plan our next adventure, we need to be out of Canada by March 31, so at this stage we are going to pack up our toys and head off to Mexico for a couple of months and then drive back to Canada to sell our car and head home for a few of months - yes Karleigh in time for your 21st. We still have a fair amount of planning to go - but at least we have an idea now on what we are going to do and our first stop is Mexico is a place well know for Corona's @50 cents and Lobster, Lobster, Lobster - we may never leave. On our way back from Canada we plan to stop at Texas to catch up with Gantt family and watch the girls compete- something we're looking forward to already.
