Goodbye Canada

This is a quick blog post as we're at an internet cafe in Vancouver, killing time before we catch our flight to New York. We just wanted to say that we had a great last week in Canada and we're very sad to say goodbye. Our New Year's was really nice as we spent it with our family at a house party. One of the highlights was bubble blowing in the snow to figure out whether the bubbles freeze in the air or not... and they do! When we arrived home late that night James and Stuart decided an appropriate way to kick off 2009 was by doing nude snow angels in the minus 30 degree snow (Pauline encouraged this). They screamed like hairy little girls, disturbing all the neighbours, but made it back inside everything intact and only slightly hypothermic.Bubbles Frozen in 2008
We did some more shovelling at the house and uncovered a relic from the past,

Ted's evil twin brother.

And we had enough time to get down to Pauline and Ted's cabin at Lake Tagish again, despite temperatures around minus 35. Most of the time was spent indoors, but we did manage to nip out and create snow chairs on the lake.
Other last week adventures have included more sledding, in which Stuart came close to paralysing. He decided it was a good idea to sled headfirst on his back on a thin slip mat down a steep descent. He went plummeting past us and we could only watch as he met a snow jump at the bottom and made air before landing a couple of meters away on his neck. We all heard the 'thwup' as he hit the hill and were pretty sure he would never walk again. But he did.

We also managed to hit the town with friends we've met along the way. After a great gig at 'Flippers Bar' we continued the evening at a friends basement apartment downtown. Unfortunately someone left a tin of brown paint at the top of white stairs and of course this was soon kicked over, only to go cascading down the stairs. The group soon decided it was easier to paint the stairs brown than clean up the mess... disaster, but a great night.

Hoarfrost tree by the river in Whitehorse

So, goodbye Canada, it's been fun. Thanks Pauline and Ted for everything you've done for us. We'll see you again sometime soon.