Whistler
Highlights
The consensus was we'd make our way outside for a walk today and head around #Green Lake for lunch at #Nicklaus North (I do like their chippies.)
A great plan and I am not sure how the locals organised it, but when we were finally ready for our 11 am exit from our cul de sac position, right there was a black bear, all furry and glistening. Just munching amongst the dandelions. Only two doors down. A black lump on the footpath.
I didn’t even see the thing. We were on the right hand side of the road - he was on the foot path on the left. Children were playing in neighbouring yards, a couple were loading their boot, no-one was concerned.
"Just keep on walking," the locals said, "Stop for a picture" @Mac said - notice I was closer than him and would have been easy pickings! To be fair, I was more concerned about the possibility of a protective mumma bear - didn’t spot anything though.
No more encounters with bears and probably at more risk of harm from the speeding bikes that share the valley trail than a bear.
Got ourselves a great outdoor spot for lunch - did need a heater and a blanket to make it all comfortable. I had been fooled by the blue skies as we were leaving home and it was only a last minute decision to take a jacket. The locals were in short sleeves, but any breeze or a walk in the shade equated with an immediate temperature plummet.
Plenty of golfers out, the sea plane flights were fully booked and were taking off and landing on the lake and the boardwalk and Valley Trail played host to dozens of bikers.
@Mindy had offered to put in the paddle boards in the #River of Golden Dreams and we could have taken the water route. Not bl00dy likely - sitting in a puddle of water with high risk of a river/lake plunge - not any dream of mine! Happy to walk and run the gauntlet of the bears and the bikes.
And besides, the good news as headlines in the paper this morning was that the grizzly had left our area and moved on about 10 kms to #Cheakamus.
Interestingly, this is the swap over weekend for the mountain - the downhill bike trails opened last week on the 17th and the ski lift access finishes today - a shared weekend for the mountain enthusiasts.
Completed the familiar #Green Lake circuit for the walk home and couldn’t resist a coffee stopover at the renovated #Alpine Cafe. They had been working on it last year during our visit and the improvements are impressive. Tripled the indoor space and expanded outdoors and added more cover.
We were home for the important 6 pm start time of game 7 of the ice hockey playoffs. Lots of interest because it is the #Canadian divisional play off for progression in the #Stanley Cup. Not good news - after nearly 3 hours of vocal encouragement here, and near pandemonium in the stadium in #Vancouver, the local #Canucks side went down 3-2.
Had to push that disappointment aside because we had to resume the intense "Five Crowns" competition right here in our own little stadium. It was a 9 pm start - and have to comment - it was still light outside! Daylight makes you feel fresh! We were good to go.
I am thinking that the locals had spent some time during the day discussing strategy. The scores tonight were tight and as those hands with 10, 11, 12 and 13 cards came around, there was a "concentration" silence around the room.
Do feel there is a little "ganging" up going on - felt like three against one - and there was a raucous cheer when @Mindy dethroned me in the first game as the ruling champion - and can I say it was by a mere single point! Final score was 78 to 77.
Immediately, a championship #Captain hat was introduced to the game. Along with the jersey cow cap for the loser! Brutal.
That totally changed the complexion of the next round of 11 hands. The hats were swapped at the end of each round based on the cumulative score. This was more intense than that Christmas when @Mac and his sister @Deb ripped my tablecloth playing #Spoons.
@Ian was smug in the #Captain’s hat - he was crushing it and of course with his charm, cheeky smile and with only 20 years of competition in the @MacNamara arena, he did get away with a couple of rule concessions.
The @Captain’s hat went like this:
Round 1 Ian
Round 2 Ian
Round 3 Ian
Round 4 Ian
Round 5 Ian
Round 6 Ian
Round 7 Ian
Round 8 Ian
Round 9 Mindy
Round 10 Wayne
Now I have to pause here. It was the last round of the game. You get 13 cards and @Mindy was the dealer. Everyone was sorting through their cards and making their runs and connections. @Ian had his turn and discarded. @Mac’s turn. Without even picking up a card on his turn, with the biggest smile on his face, @Mac declared .... "I’m out." He had been dealt the perfect hand. He went through the motions, picked up and discarded the yellow "Jack of Stars" (there are five suits in this game.)
Once the winner declares, in this game, every player gets one more play in turn to play their melds and discard. Whatever is unmatched is your negative score.
I'm up. The scoring had been close and the differential between @Mac and me was a mere 2 points. He only needed me to score negative 2 and he would retain the lead and the #Captain' Hat. So close he could feel the hat tightening and settling on his head. The lowest card in this game is a 3 ... he was a "sure thing" - as long as I had one unmatched card in my hand he would win!
Confessing - I too had been dealt a good hand. I had a suited queen and 10. To go out with a zero score I needed one particular card. It could have been a wild, in this case a king or joker, or it could have been a suited match to a single card to make my run of three complete. In this case, that itty-bitty single card that I needed to make the difference between zero points and 32 points was the..... drum roll...... "Jack of Stars."
Now the pandemonium was way more local - it was right here at this table. Sighs of disbelief. Moans of "luck." Accusations of cards up sleeves. Utter disbelief. @Mindy and @Ian completed their turns and without any hesitation I reclaimed the throne.
Round 11: Jan
And the cow bonnet went to ...... @Ian! It was so hard to believe, @Ian had worn that @Captain’s hat for 8 out of 11 rounds! Thought he was sitting pretty. @Mindy’s comment, because of the non-MacNamara concessions that he had been afforded chirped "Karma is a bitch." He moo-sied up to bed wearing you know what - and there was no way I was relinquishing my "Jack of stars" #Captain’s hat.
And at the time of writing, can I say that I think @Mac is still sitting stunned at the table, wondering how he could possibly have been rivered by a "Jack of stars" - it's not even a suit! Gut shot.
Until tomorrow - or should I say later today. Moo-ooooo-oooo.
Weather: 14 degrees and fine
Steps: 8 516
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