CANADAAAA

3/19/11

Welcome to blog entry #2! I have held off on writing this until now because I just went to Canada for the first time and thought the car ride home would be perfect to recap. Spring break was last week at UP, so I, along with 8 of my friends, ventured to Canada for a week of fun and relaxation (although I am still looking for some relaxation). We started off in Bellingham, WA, where one of my friends lives and stayed there for two nights before crossing the border. Bellingham was really nice and is right by the ocean, which I absolutely loved. The water was so pretty, all I wanted to do was get on a boat but that was a little out of the question. From Bellingham, we took a 20 minute drive and were in Canada. This is where the real adventure begins. We drove up to Whistler, BC on Sunday the 13^th and were there until Wednesday the 16^th. Whistler was SO BEAUTIFUL. I definitely need to go back there again. It was still ski season so there were boarders and skiers everywhere. I was incredibly jealous that I wasn’t able to ski (no money, no ski stuff), but we went tubing and played in the snow. The Whistler Village was really cool, it reminded me a little bit of the Northstar Village at Tahoe, but a lot cooler. There was a lululemon front and center! Additionally there were tons of shops, restaurants, and activities for people to do when they were not on the mountain. Heaven right? Well it turns out that Canada has a 12% tax on everything, so spending money was a little bit out of the question L. We brought a lot of food with us and had a kitchen in our condo, so dinners were always at home, but we went out to lunch everyday. The legal drinking age in Canada is 19, so we ordered drinks at lunch which I think set me up perfectly for an afternoon nap. We went out to a club the first night, which was very fun, and ended up seeing some people from UP who were vacationing in Whistler also. Unfortunately, the second day in Whistler I got really sick and was not able to go out at night with the rest of the girls. From what I heard, they went to bars, clubs, karaoke nights, and much more (so jealous I missed it). But Whistler was so pretty I didn’t really mind staying in at night THAT much.  Another fun fact about Whistler is that everyone, and I mean everyone, is Australian. Weird? Yes. But SO cool. The story here is that they were in Whistler from the Olympics, but their visas don’t expire so they can work in Whistler for as long as they want. So, Whistler was essentially a little Australian vacation mixed with some snow. Perfect if you ask me.

Next up on our trip was Vancouver, BC. It took about an hour and a half to drive down from Whistler to Vancouver. My friend Bianca (who had the house in Bellingham) also has a house in Vancouver, so we stayed there overnight. I was finally feeling a little better by Wednesday, so I got to go out with everyone! We decided to take the Skytrain (similar to BART) into downtown Vancouver. On our way to the Skytrain however, we had a couple of mishaps. First, we got pulled over by the Vancouver Police because we had two girls in the back of our car (we didn’t have enough seats), but we didn’t get a ticket! Woo hoo! We had to get a cab though for the other two girls, but we all made it to the skytrain safely and were on our way! In Vancouver, we went to a bar and a club. The bar was fun because we got in for free and we got free drinks,  and there was a live band performing. Not sure who the band was, but it sounded like something Nick would like. After the bar we went to a club called Caprice. This place played really good music but it was filled with some creepers. We didn’t stay very long because we were getting tired and the vibe just wasn’t very good. So we took a taxi home and went to sleep. We slept SOOOO late on Thursday, rolling out of bed at 1pm. I’ve never slept that late in my entire life, so I was shocked to see the clock when I finally opened my eyes. Thursday was good though, because I ran for the first time all week. It felt so good to put on my running shoes and hit the pavement again, I really really missed it. The neighborhood in Vancouver reminded me a lot of Michigan, so I took my time on the run and really enjoyed it. When I got back we drove down to wear the torch was lit from the Olympics in downtown Vancouver. It was really cool to see that, and I got to see where they shot a lululemon video! The waterfront in Vancouver was really beautiful too. 

We decided to cross the border on Thursday night because of the traffic that would be on Friday, but not before we celebrated St. Patrick’s Day! We went to a restaurant in White Rock, a little town right by the border. In the Irish spirit, we all ordered Guinness beer. Not my favorite, but it felt cool to be participating in St. Patty’s Day a little bit. After dinner we crossed the border and drove back to Bellingham. We pretty much passed out the second we got home. The week had been pretty tolling on our bodies and we were exhausted.

Yesterday we spent just hanging out at Bianca’s house, looking at the hundreds of pictures we took and remembering all of the funny memories from the trip. It was nice to have a recovery day and to just chill for a little bit.

Whistler Village with the Olympic rings

Bellingham, WA

Rei and I enjoying the snow

lululemon in Whistler Village

At the base of Whistler Blackcomb

Half of the group on the carpet up for tubing

The torch in Vancouver, BC

Lauren, Alli, Alli, Aubree, Rei, and Bianca after tubing

Alli, Lauren, Rei, Alli, Mia, Aubree, Bianca, Nina by the rings in Whistler, BC

Finally, today we are on our way back home to Portland. We just passed Seattle, so we have about 3 hours left to go. I am both happy and sad to be coming back. Happy because I’m working tomorrow and can get back into a routine. Also, because this means I’m one step closer to summer. Sad because I loved every second of spring break and I wish we could still be in Whistler. This entry sums up my break and past week pretty well. I can already tell that I’m going to be tired this next week and am dreading classes, but I know I will get back into the swing of things soon, and school will be over before I know it. That’s all for now!