So it's taken me a little while to get around to it, but I'm sure you guys want to hear about Whistler (Okay, I know because you've been asking) so here's a little summary of my trip.
I also took pictures. However, gone are the days where I was camera happy - always taking great pictures at every moment. Now I just take a few pictures here and there b/c personally I'd rather be living the experience than stuck behind the camera. Excuses, excuses. When I become really rich and famous, I'll get someone to follow me around. That's right - I'll have people. In Hollywood everyone has "people" - even "the people" have people. So I'll have people who take pictures. And clearly I'll need it if I continue to take pictures like this bleached out one of me and Seton - damn that would have been a good picture.
I've also decided, to the probable dismay of my readers, that I only like to hold on to pictures of friends, family, etc. Pictures of places, random trees and buildings, or a beautiful statue that I saw on the street just don't have longevity in my book. You just have to experience them first hand. On that note, the below picture is a picture of the Schroeder's beautifully decorated dining room. Seton's mother painted all the artwork in the house.
So unfortunately you won't get to see any awesome pictures of the Whistler mountains, or me skiing down Blackcomb or going for a long rainy run in Seattle. That part you'll just have to imagine, but I promise it happened!
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Arriving in Seattle
Seton and I flew in to Seattle on Christmas Eve Eve. We were greeted by his mother, who, up until this point I had not met. She was so artsy-adorable dressed in a beautiful colorful skirt and sweater. She looked like she came right out of Santa Fe (which she did) and she was very excited about our arrival. She's German and her accent is strong, "So nice to finally meet you," she said. Seton and I later made a trip to the airport ourselves to pick up Belden who came in on a later flight. First, though, we stopped at a quick store near his house. We were hungry from the long day of foodless flights. "That guy at the the check out was there when I was a kid," Seton said when we got back in the car. You can never go home again? I think you can, but boy does it feel weird.
Seton was really excited to be in Seattle and I was just as excited to see a place that he is so nostalgic about.
On Christmas Eve, Seton, Belden and I got up early to go for a run in the misty Seattle weather.
Rica, Mr. Schroeder's girlfriend joined us. Later we loaded up the car with the whole family - Seton and Belden, their mother and father, their two sisters Racila and Cyrena, Racila's husband Rodney, Raciala and Cyrena's mother Pasho, Rica, me, one dog, and a bird. The picture below is of what I like to call "The Wives". From left to right - Seton's mother, Rica, and Pacho (their sisters' mother).
. The drive to Vancouver was beautiful. Seton's father, very much like my own mother and grandfather, managed to point out every landmark and notable spot along the way. "Be sure to look to your left", he'd say "That's where they often rock climb". On many occasions though, he was a bit off, and the boys would roll their eyes in an "oh geeze dad" fashion. "Be sure to look to your left," Schroeder said again 10 miles down the road. "This is where they often rock climb". "Didn't you say that a while back?," Seton would say cornering his father's comment. Belden would laugh and roll his eyes and Schroeder would always have some decently reasonable explanation for his goof. Ah, family trips...so fun.
The condos we stayed in at Whistler were beautiful complete with amazing views of the snowy Christmas city below. I was very thankful to have been invited on such a fun trip. Our first task was to move the table from one of the two condos into the other condo as Schroeder insisted we all eat together each evening. I'm sure he was checking my "intelligence" and "problem solving skills" as he said, "Heather, I have an interesting task for you" and then he sent me to figure out how the two tables would fit. Each meal started with a speech from daddy Schroeder. He'd ask a question and see who knew the answer or tell an anecdotal story usually containing information from his life. The meals were excellent as prepared by the Chefs - "The three wives"
We skied every day. Of course most mornings Seton, Belden and I were privy to various "You three need to get your MBA's" lectures.
One day Mr. Schroeder told me he had an early gift for me. It was a giant book of MBA schools. Whooppppiieeee!
Skiing was wonderful! We skied every day from 10am until around 3. The slopes close around 3 because the ski patrol needs a lot of time to make sure everyone is off the mountain. These Schroeders are freakin amazing skiers! I just spent my days trying to keep up with the big boys.
The visibility at times was tough, but none of the courses were too difficult. I just wish I had a bit more time to actually work on my form. That needs work, but hey, I got down the mountain.
Christmas morning we got up and.... went skiing .... and then came home and did dinner and presents. Not much to tell here. It was like a normal family Christmas morning... only it was at night.... and there were just as many Moms as kids... ha ha...
The 27th was Mr. Schroeders birthday.
We went to this great place called the Mongolian Grill. You fill your bowl with "stuff" and then they cook it for you. I've been to places like this before and the "stuff" always cooks down so Seton and I fill our bowls to the brim only to find out that they weigh your meal to price it. Seton and I weighed in at like 1300 grams while everyone else had nice little 800 gram meals.
Needless to say, we didn't finish it all. It did become a big joke of the evening though. We gave our gifts to Mr. Schroeder who was turning 65 and becoming a real "Senior Citizen" Seton gave him a book that I found entitled "After dinner speeches" so now, every evening, we got a speech not only before dinner, but also after!!
Then we went to a Brazilian show that Belden had organized. It was an exciting mixture of dance and music as the women danced around in fancy costumes and then shirtless men beat on their drums. At one point they asked audience members to go down and participate. Belden ran down from our balcony seats to the stage and without a thought, ripped his shirt off and joined the dancers. It was hilarious and totally fun!! Later, Seton and Cyrena joined them. They kept their shirts on.
On the way home from Whistler we, of course, had to cross the boarder into America. Now remember the bird. Cyrena has a little parrot much like my dear friend RINGO (only he doesn't talk as much...or bite...as much).
Well Cyrena is in between cities and so she has EVERYTHING with her including her bird. She knew it would be tough to deal with the boarders so she called ahead of time and took care of ALL the paperwork, including an expensive document that said the bird was certified healthy.
Well the boarder was quickly approaching and so was dinner time. We decided to hit the Denny's after we'd passed into America to grab some grub.... welcome home...ha ha. We were in two cars. Our car, complete with ski-filled U-haul, was first. We passed up our passports to Belden who was driving. He reported that some of them were Germans, showed the proper documentation, and pointed out that the other half of our party was behind us and we'd be pulling over to wait. 10 minutes later a guard approached our car. "Are you the ones with ... The Bird..." he said... "Yes," Belden responded calmly. "Sir I think you should park the car and come into the building. It isn't safe out here." We all crowded into the customs/boarder building. We all had to pee. No bathrooms. Apparently the "bird" was a bigger issue than expect. Of course, the dog wasn't even questioned. He could have been foaming at the mouth and no one would have noticed because of "The Bird". Oh noooooo - God save us all from the Bird!!!
Cyrena, naturally, was a bit upset. After all she'd spent a few weeks taking care of all she thought (and was told) was necessary. She would have to drive two -three hours back into Canada to a VET who she would then have to pay $350 to come out of his house at that hour of the night to inspect the bird. We all loaded snuggly into the Van. Cyrena and Mr. Schroeder and THE BIRD got into the other car. We drove to Denny's and they were off to Canada. We were at Denny's for about 5 minutes before we got a call from Cyrena. "Save us a spot" she said. We're on our way. To protect the innocent I'm not going to explain exactly what happened, but I'll let you use your imagination. About a half an hour after the boarder incident we were all at Denny's - bird and all....
Seattle on New Year's Eve was quite fun. We got up early again to go for a run.
Seton and Belden were determined to show me as much of Seattle as possible before our flight home so we loaded up in the car, waved goodbye to the family, and hit the road. We went to Red Robbins, a favorite restaurant of theirs. We walked along the rivers. We saw the rowing club. We walked in the Aboretum - a huge garden, etc. We walked through this swamp like path in one of the lakes near Washington University. It was all wet - and all beautiful. Seton slipped on a hill and got really muddy. That was fun. Belden and I laughed, Seton didn't. That night we went downtown - Me, Belden, Cyrena, and Seton to a few clubs. I really enjoyed the ease that we had parking, getting in, etc.
It was much easier than it is in LA. We had a wonderful time ringing in the New Year. New Year's day we spent doing more "Seattle".
We went to a park where we could see the sky line and the famous needle. It was really beautiful and really chilly. We also went shopping at this place called GAP - I'm sure you've never heard of it but I got some great skirts and pants and shirts. Maybe things fit better in Seattle - or maybe I lost five pounds from all the skiing and running.
It was a wonderful and very memorable trip. I can't wait to go back to both Whistler and Seattle!
