Canada

A belated Merry Christmas to all of those who are reading this!  Last week, I flew to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada so I could meet up with my family and go skiing in Whistler/Blackcomb.  I hadn't seen my family in about 6 months, so it was great to see them.  I spent six days skiing from morning until the mountain closed for the day.  As much as I ate, Jennifer still said that I came back skinnier than when I had left.

I flew EVA Air, there and back on a 747-400 and I was on the upper deck baby!  It was still economy, but it was better than economy, because I didn't feel as squished as I normally feel.  On the lower deck in economy, it usually 10 across, but on the upper deck it is 6.  There is also some extra elbow room if you're sitting by the window because they have a storage bin on the side for your carry on luggage.  And if you're lucky enough to get a exit seat, you have about 3-5 feet of leg room!  I wasn't lucky enough for that, but its okay.  Normally, I don't sleep on airplanes, because it is hard for me.  But, on the flight back, I took two ambiens and I slept for half the flight.

For the things that matter.  Whistler/Blackcomb was awesome.  It was icy and rocky, and not all of the slopes were open.  It was especially icy on all of the popular runs, but if you're like me and you look for runs that are out of the way or aren't open yet.  Then, you're bound to find something amazing.  I found a lot of runs that were closed, but still had a lot of snow on them.  My family and I had a blast on these runs, well you'll have to ask my Dad for his opinion.  But, I think he had a good time.

Never before have I scratched my skis up this bad.  It is unbelievable how bad my skis are scratched up.

A couple things worth mentioning: I almost lost my wallet.  It fell out of my pocket at a sports bar.  I realized this once I returned home, but some girls found it.  One was from Jersey (the island) and one was from Seattle.  I ended up buying them and my Dad a shot of Jagermeister.  I tried to get a shot of Yukon Jack, but they didn't have it!!!!  It's made in Canada!  One thing that I did find was Brahama!!!  Brahama is amazing, it is a Brazilian beer and I could buy .5L for a dollar in Russia.  I bought a 6 pack and took that back to Taiwan with me.  Second thing.  My brother John and I decided to go out one night, unfortunately for us it was a Tuesday night.  Not many people are out on a Tuesday night.  But, we fonud one that looked like there was a party going on.  There was, but we found out a little bit later that it was for a mutual friend of everyone's in the bar that had died a year earlier.  That was awkward.

On Christmas Day, my mom and I did first tracks, this also included breakfast, too.  It was great to be one of the first people to carve up the mountain, especially on Christmas Day.

All in all it was a great vacation.  It was great to see my family and it was great to go skiing.