Foggy morning on Shane's balcony

We went to Vancouver Friday night - the freeway was like the X Files. There was really thick fog, so the oncoming traffic headlights caused a strobe-light effect, and cars ahead of us were dodging and weaving like crazy. It was pandemonium. Just as I was already grabbing my seat in fear, a car a few cars ahead of us hit another car, then kept driving. We saw the sparks when they hit, and a small piece of car flew past my window. I said "Did they just hit?" And Sean said "Yeah" and we watched in confusion as no cars pulled over. It was mind-boggling. We were both watching wide-eyed for a couple miles waiting for something to happen, but nothing. Sean said "The car is still there - in front of that truck" and I said "The truck with his turn signal on?"

Shortly after that a highway patrol car zoomed up and pulled over the car in front of the truck with his turn-signal on. We concluded that some person was driving along and got hit by this car, but the car didn't pull over, so they didn't either (like a high speed hit and run). The guy in his truck probably called 911 and then put on his turn signal so the highway patrol could locate him, and he stayed behind the driver of the car that hit the other. But that's just a guess. We got to Shane's late, and we were very tired. Shane and Shawn never came home so we had the whole house to ourselves. We slept.

Alpenglow

We were the third floor, right corner

The next morning we woke at 7 and left by 8. Whistler is about 2.5 hours from Vancouver. It was still a bit foggy but not nearly as bad as the night before. On our way out we went to Starbucks and saw Sean's cousin Debra drive by. She didn't see us. The drive up was scenic and lovely. We got rooms at the Alpenglow right in the village - the whole village is great. It's one big circle with resorts above the village stores and around the outside of the village. Every building is chock-full of cute stores and cafés, and the whole area is surrounded with gorgeous mountain views. We had a corner two-bedroom suite with Brian and Josh and Emily. Next to us was Matt and Fernanda, then Sam and Cathy. The room rates were a great deal, and the service there was wonderful. Our suite had two bathrooms, a kitchen, and two balconies, and it was just right for the five of us. When Sean and I got there we had about 20 minutes to change for the wedding, then all of us would walk through the village to get to the gondola. It was a mad rush but it was a beautiful day and I was excited to take the gondola up and see the views.

A view from our balcony

Another view (a grocery store is in this building)

Bike tracks for the summer

The village from the gondola

Fall foliage below

Higher Up

Josh & Emily in the gondola	Us on the other side
The wedding took place at Steep's Grill, at 6,000 feet. We had about 15 minutes to take it all in before the ceremony started. The ceremony was at the edge, with a view down the village.

Scott with Shin's family

Scott's family

Shin

Our view to the right of the ceremony

Exchanging vows

My favorite picture from the wedding

Signing the license (required during the ceremony in Canada)

Inside the reception area

Scott, Shin, cake

Time for 6rmsers to take pictures

Josh & Emily are rarely normal

Matt & Fernanda

Josh & Emily (normal)

Sam & Cathy (I made this close up so you could see how happy Sam is)

Ann's speech was the closest I came to crying that day

Newlyweds

I love their rings. Clean and simple and beautiful.

After the ceremony we took the gondola down and had some time to rest for a couple hours. We walked back to the room slowly, as the women had on high heels, and we were also window shopping. Once we got back, Sean did some reading and I threw on some comfy jeans and went to a bookstore to buy that book I was talking about (the third installment in my saga).

Christine, Arnie, Josh, Sean, Emily, Fernanda, Matt, Brian, Cathy, Sam, Me

TV Time

We all met at an Irish Pub in the village that night (the wedding was at one, because the gondola only runs until 5:30, so it was a full day and night outing). By the time we got back to our room we were too conked out to even play euchre, so we watched Teen Wolf instead (yes, the movie about Michael J. Fox being a basketball playing teen werewolf - man, was that movie ever bad). The next morning everyone went out for breakfast and I stayed behind to clean up our suite (we did quite a job on our kitchen) and relax in the village with a soy chai. We made it home in amazing time - just over four hours. It flew by for me because I was rapturously reading my book while Sean drove at high speeds and I didn't even notice. It was a beautiful wedding and a great experience and I want to thank the 6rmsers for this trip and Scott and Shin for the whole thing. (Thank you!) home