Canada 07/08 – Silver Star – Day 4
Canada 07/08 – Silver Star – Day 4
Day 4 at Silver Star was our ‘relax’ day. The day was meant to start lazily, with no alarms being set – however, Pip and I were up before 8 as we normally had been the past few days. Nat and Tess were, however, up intentionally early as they had booked transport from here at Silver Star to the town of Vernon – a 15 minute drive (and a $50 taxi ride, so they chose to use a shuttle service). They were in search of a bag, mainly, but I’m sure there were other shopping motivations too!
Ed, Pip and I stayed at home and took things very easily. Pip had mentioned the day before that among other things she wanted to do today, one of those things was to build a snowman. Ed started this movement by shoveling snow away from the balcony around the side of the house – in order to allow us access to the balcony that was covered waist-deep in snow, and which Ed had used to venture into wearing nothing but his bathers two days ago.
The snowman took over 2 hours to construct, but the finished product is quite the sight – we hadn’t come up with a name when we built him, but later decided on Wally… so that Ed could ask, ‘Where’s Wally? Oh, he’s over there.’ After spending time constructing the snowman (which at one stage involved a bucket full of water used to mix snow and water to aid in sticking the snow together), finding accessories for him and adding the final touches, it was popcorn time according to Pip.
We watched some TV as we lazed about the apartment until about lunchtime, when we made soup (and had leftover soup from the night before) and had a rather healthy lunch. Nat and Tess were still in Vernon and were not expected back until after 2pm. After lunch, and an episode of Mythbusters, we decided on ice skating as the next activity of the day. We had the option to go tubing as well, but this didn’t start until 4pm – and we had prior commitments with snowmobiles – and so we decided to leave tubing until maybe Friday.
Ed and Pip took it relatively easy on the ice to begin with, taking a walking-frame-style support to aid in their balance. It didn’t take overly long for them to both regain their confidence and slip away from being 65+. It did, however, make for some very entertaining photos!
Tess and Nat returned and joined us at the pond just before 3pm. Tess was ready for a hit of hockey, and luckily for her, so were a few others who were already on the ice. At this point Ed, Pip and I made our way to the Snowmobile Safari hut to get organised for our safari starting at 4pm. We organised helmets, boots and other accessories, and then chose a snowmobile that we would ride. Ed and I drove, while Pip rode as a passenger.
The tour lasted 2 hours in total, venturing from one end of the resort to the other – places that we wouldn’t normally go while skiing. Half-way through the trek we stopped at Paradise Camp for hot chocolate, which was very much appreciated by everyone, but especially Pip who was suffering cold toes. Unfortunately, unlike the drivers, the passengers did not benefit from direct heat from the engine on your toes, or heated handles for the hands. Snowmobiles are great fun though – another purchase to add to the list with the Segway I guess…
We returned to the village at 6pm, and made our way back to the house where Nat had prepared dinner for everyone. Dinner was a buffet of lasagne, pizza, hot dogs, and soup. We all enjoyed this immensely, and soon after (once again) hit the couch for some quality TV time. Although we managed to watch two-thirds of an ice hockey match, a CSI marathon soon took over and this put most people to sleep relatively quickly. Luckily for us, however, these were episodes nobody had seen before – incredible considering the amount of CSI we had seen the past few weeks!
Tomorrow we return to normal, with a day full of (hopefully) exciting skiing for everyone. We will be finishing early, however, as Pip and I are going snowshoeing, and the rest of the crew are meeting us at the hut by sleigh ride. We’ll put up some photos as soon as we get back, which should be sometime in the afternoon (for you guys!).
Have fun, and make sure to check out the new photos!
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