Home from Whistler, it was absolutely fantastic, and I strongly recommend spending as much time there as possible. In fact, go rent this fabulous condo when you do.
Today was another day packed full of adventure, albeit with less unexpected dunkings (but quite a few expected ones.)
We got up bright & early (you know, like 11am), got some breakfast in the village, then headed up (sans dog — she slept all day in her crate, zonked from yesterdays adventures) to Pemberton to go horseback riding with Adventure Ranch. Absolutely gorgeous with the mountain vistas, narrow tree-lined trails, open meadows, gorgeous rivers, and a lovely break at a stunning beach (where several of the horses had fun splashing most splashily.) We even saw a bear swimming along the fast moving river — he looked like an oddly shaped log until he climbed out not that far from us. Luckily, he kept his distance. I’ve heard horses and bears aren’t the greatest combo.
We got back to the ranch, sore, dusty, reeking of horse, pleased as punch and ready for the next stop in our fun: Scandinave Spa.
It was amazing. They’ve got a really neat setup, it’s a series of hot tubs, cold pools, saunas, steam rooms & relaxation areas with hammocks, chairs, benches, etc. Their recommendation is that you spend 10-15 minutes in a hot tub, then as long as you can handle the cold pools, and then 10-15 minutes relaxing, repeat x3. It’s a “silent” spa, so they strongly dissuade any talking, and at first I was a little put off by that… but after 10 minutes in the eucalyptus sauna (they had eucalyptus scented water that you could pour over the rocks), I was totally relaxed, “in the zone”, and had no interest in talking… or listening. It was just awesome, if you’re ever looking for a “total relaxation” type afternoon, this is the place to get it. They do massages and other such spa-type activities as well, but the baths is really all we needed (although it was rather disconcerting to get back into our horsey-smelling clothes at the end of it.)
All in all? A stunningly fantastic weekend. Many thanks to my wonderful, wonderful Nick, and to the fabulous kdot who is the worst third wheel ever. As previously mentioned, her husband cas was supposed to come with us, but a bike injury left him home while we went out and had fun without him (awww… next time, cas!) So you know, you’d expect that having a random third person along would be terrible, and she wasn’t. Nick & I had plenty of cutesy sickening romantic moments without being disrupted, kdot was charming and fun and a fantastic travelling partner, she even cleaned up MY shit while I was getting food for the trip home so I wouldn’t die… really, how am I supposed to get good blog fodder out of that? Where are the tales of “And then she…”? How am I supposed to bitch and complain when she was such an excellent guest? Thanks a lot, kdot. I mean really.
Also, she is now the 4square mayor of my dads condo, which amuses me greatly.
Make some cheesecake, you’ll find her ;-)
Hilarious. I’m glad I was a good guest. You were both lovely for having me along. Picking up a few things in exchange for an excellent weekend is still heavily favoured to me.
k.