The weekend was bizzare, unexpected and incredible. First the mountain, views and weather were so beautiful and it couldn'r have been more different to the hill I'd skiied at Boler, which is the local place in London we can ski. The cold was like nothing I've ever experienced - down to -50 at the top of the mountain! Even walking to the bar at night, the insides of your nostrils froze which was suitably distressing when you can barely walk/see straight. But thanks to Goodwill I was actually perfectly warm all weekend, as the length of the runs soon warmed me up! Being an absolute beginner and only having experienced runs lasting less than a minute, 45 minute long runs pushed my fitness and my legs killlllllllled. Snow plowing most of the way oops. So embarrassing seeing little 5 year olds ski right past me effortlessly, but practice makes perfect and I'm determined to improve my skiing to a much higher standard! My girlfriend and fellow beginner Dalek Jessie and I did have a couple of horrific moments, still drunk and spending 25 minutes trying to get skis on, until we realised that sometimes skis like to pretend they still have a boot inside them. First time we gave up and went to eat burgers with the girls. Second time we were halfway down the mountain and had no option but to cling to each other and wail. The first day also came complete with a dislocated shoulder, lost phone and wandering so far out of the village we were practically in Narnia, but I am proud to say our shit lives did not ruin our spirits once!
Western had occupied two floors of the gorgeous little lodge we were staying, with an open-door policy and a hot tub, which meant when we weren't skiing, everybody was running into random rooms or soaking in the hot tubs. Mainly whilst drunk, occasionally sober, but the atmosphere all weekend was so so great, I must have spoken to over half the people on the trip, people were so laid back and friendly and basically just wanted to get pissed and make new friends.
Post-Tremblant blues hit harder than I thought, it's been a while since I've been somewhere and not wanted to leave as badly as I didn't want to leave there, and it's gutting I won't get to go again next year.. Snowriders will have to make up for it I guess. I hope Leeds can compete!
Spontaneous booking during our Christmas travels led to this past weekend being spent in Washington, DC. Smack bang in the middle of midterms, perfect timing as always, but it's pass fail, so who really gives a shit? After writing a 2 hour exam in just 45 minutes (interested to see how that one turns out) we were on our 17 hour journey to Obama's hometown. Since I've started travelling, we've gradually started getting used to longer and longer coaches, and I have to say even 17 hours wasn't that bad! When it's costing you $17 to casually nip to DC for the weekend, you can put up with anything.
The weekend meant we got to meet Steph's friends from Boston, which meant we had a solid group of 12 Brits! We braved the freezing weather whilst the sun was still shining and wandered round the famous memorial walk. Washington is absolutely beautiful, the architecture is stunning and everywhere is pristine. The weirdest thing was how few people were there - despite the cold, I did expect to see a lot more people, but I'm not complaining - it was a stark contrast to NYC and Chicago, but a welcome one. Despite our best efforts we didn't run into Obama, we hung around his front garden hoping he'd come play out, but he never did :(. The Whitehouse is so much smaller than I expected! Obama needs to up his game.
The Washington Monument, WW2, Vietnam War, Martin Luther King and Babe-raham Lincoln memorials completed our trek for the afternoon - I liked Martin Luther King because he had an excellent pose and Abe because he is a babe. Also the word 'gaylord' was inscribed on the Vietnam statues - after a few minutes of going 'Omgggg that's so bad someone must have scratched it in really quickly before it dried' we realised the sculptor is called Gaylord (lol). All the places were so so cool to see in real life, the countless pictures and films that feature them makes them seem surreal until you get to see them with your own eyes, photos just don't capture a place.
A cutie park ranger told us about the Old Post Office tower which gave us free 360 degree views of Washington, where I finally got to be shown where Beyonce sang at the Inauguration.. completely chose the wrong weekend to go to Washington but whatever. After popping by a few Smithsonian museums, we got to see Beyonce's stage up close at the Capitol! After exhausting our cameras of photographs we got a bus over to Georgetown to a cool little restaurant, where I ordered badly but everyone else did excellently! The Americans had started drinking already with wine, but us Canadians decided to wait to go to a liquor store, and got the shock of our lives. Vodka in Canada is $25 minimum for a 750ml bottle, no matter the brand, Smirnoff, Absolut, Vodkva, whatever. Vodka in the US? Two litres cost TWELVE DOLLARS. And that wasn't even the cheapest! But it was the nastiest - a big night out in the city to Madams Organ ended up extremely messy but hilarious.. with half the group vomming and feeling like ass the next day.
Our final day came with yet another free attraction, a ZOOOOO!! We saw pandas and zebras and leopards and lions and loads of monkeys and other things, it definitely cured my hangover. Washington was so good for students on a budget - all the attractions are totally free leaving more money for alcohol and food! On the first night we stumbled across a Nando's and had to satisfy British cravings, but on the second night I made my second visit to the Cheesecake Factory.. and ordered my very first steak! Apparently it was a fake steak but whatever. Us being so clever hadn't taken advantage of the fact it was Superbowl Sunday and had booked an 8pm coach home, meaning we missed the game and more importantly, the Half-time show! I have caught up though and have become even more obsessed with Beyonce, if that's even possible. However the 'Mrs Carter' world tour typically has dates for the UK when I'm in Canada, dates for Europe whilst I'm travelling and dates for North America when I will most likely be home. I will find a way!
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