Brad and Greggies questions...

dill (dĭl) n.
An aromatic herb (Anethum graveolens) native to Eurasia, having finely dissected leaves and small yellow flowers clustered in umbels.
The leaves or seeds of this plant, used as a seasoning.

Yes to less dill and more Whistler... (accompanied by big dry cracking lip smile)

Whistler is a ski resort township about 2 hours drive from Vancouver along the Sea to Sky highway. The scenery is spectacular with passages of water surrounded by huge snow capped mountains. Photos taken from my window while driving will be added to this blog at a future date.

This last week I worked 5 nights in a row from 9:30pm -4am, and despite the cruisiness of the work, felt a little sore and sick for the start of Fridays shift. Finished at 4 and came home and instead of going straight to bed like normal, I started reading one of my new library books on skin on frame boat building. Read that till 5 and thought I should try and sleep. At 5:30 I noticed the sun was up, it was a beautiful day, recalled Whistler was open and decided to go.

I got to Whistler Blackcomb ski mountain at 9, bought my ticket and then slept for an hour in my van, and then enjoyed 7 hours of ski lift assisted gravity magic. Not sure how many runs I did all up, but from 2pm thru to 5:30 we would have ridden at least 8, 10-15 minute runs. Phenomenal. There's a green trail- which I did once for a warm up and its like a garden path covered in rocks, blue which is slightly technical, black diamond and double black which involves steep rock faces, foot wide narrow wooden bridges over 6 foot high, drop offs, etc. Being a bit older and wiser (maybe not wise, but I've hurt myself enough to know I don't like pain and don't have any need to try and prove myself) I rode/walked around the stuff that posed potential helicopter rides out. I did still ride steep, root and drop off infested lines though, and had fun.

I also saw my first bears, and they are so cute. A mother black bear with two cubs (it could've been a house dad actually, or being the weekend taking them out in the woods for a play). Either way they are cute. I've heard you are not meant to get between a bear and her cubs. And most people say if you see a bear, get away as quick as you can.

On one of the crazier trails we did (Schleyer I think) there was a section with a foot wide log that went down pretty steep for 20 feet, dropped two feet to another foot wide log for another 30 feet before a 5 foot drop. The logs were at least five feet off the ground. We stopped at the top of this obstacle to see a bear cub climbing a tree on either side of the log. They were cute and cuddly looking, but where you see a cub, there should be a mother, so we were looking every where. Dan, a young Kiwi fella I met up with starts saying to me in a hushed tone, the bears behind me, the bears behind me. My brain is trying to process what he's saying and look behind me and then figure, when someone's talking about 'me' they are usually referring to themselves. The bear was behind him putting us fair smack in between mama and baby. Dan took off down the log, Jonathon the Frenchman had gone, Marcele the Brazilian didn't want to ride the log but did and I was left. By this time mama wandered around to our right. Normally theres' tracks down the side, but this was an area I had to climb down. So I awkwardly lowered my bike and climbed down this stretch all the while talking friendly like it was a dog. Anyway, it didn't eat me or make threatening noises. I still think they're cute but don't think I'll cuddle any in the near future.

The tracks.... my two favourites were actually blue ones. B-line was fast and flowy with fun berms and really nice double and table top jumps. Angry pirate was really twisty and technical single track with lots of holes. Even though you couldn't pedal, you could pump the back through the holes and get good speed up.

A-line was also fun with big berms and tonnes of jumps, but these were bigger thans B-line. I could do 50% and land short the other 50. Marcele had a few big crashes on them which made me cautious, but his skill levels not huge, he's still learning about pain I think.

All in all a fun day out that left me tired, stinky, sunburnt but with a big smile. Ski lifts are good. I'll be back again.

Regarding the dills, I just got a phone call that I can't work at Extra Foods again till I get my SIN number (social insurance). My heart is broken.... not sure if I'll ever drop it in.