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RHIAN'S JOURNAL: 4th January 2007 I hope that everyone has had a very Merry Christmas and I wish you all a Happy New Year for 2007.
I had a wonderful time and I am only sad that the holidays are over. My father rented a chalet at a hotel called La Sapiniere in the Laurentian mountains, north of Montreal. We arrived on Christmas Eve and he and his partner Jill, my sister Sara and I spent a wonderful few Christmas days in our cozy living room with the log fire blazing. During the day on the 25th, there was only a few centimeters of icy snow, so
to get some exercise and justify the gourmet food we were eating, the four of us set off on a hike up
Condor mountain in Val David. How I am plagued by these Condor birds!! The trip was not meant to be a long one, but it
ended up taking over three hours, and involved some steep uphill and downhill pitches.
Fortunately, we brought a lunch with us, which which meant that when we started getting hungry, tired, and irritable we were able to pull off the path, find a seat on some rocks and have a little nosh. Usually, eating outside in the middle of winter would not have helped my mood, but even in northern Quebec it was mild out, and there was not much of a layer of snow on the ground. But, the hike was tough going, as under the little blanket of snow was ice, and the four of us spent quite a bit of time sliding around. During our lunch break I decided that for a littl
While we were busy playing games on the night of the 25th, the snow started and it continued throughout the entire
morning of Boxing Day. Of course, my father got excited and after a big breakfast in the hotel, marched us all outside
to gear up for a cross country ski trip.
Sarah Chan and Sara's boyfriend Chris had now arrived and we were a big group, eight in all. I mention the number as first,
the trails were not officially even open, so we were a big group to be trespassing, and secondly, I was at the rear of the wagon.
This meant essentially that once all these other hephalumps had gone before me, all that was left on the ground was grass and
rocks. I spent the first hour...maybe two, of this four hour cross-country ski marathon trying to glide over bare earth.
However, Jill and I had a great time chatting at the rear of the convoy as the super stars of the group tried to keep up with
my uber-competitive father, who was leading the pack. We did all make the 8 kilometer trek to the Far Hills Inn, where we had lunch. However, the last part of this ski outing that I feel compelled to mention is that the whole trail for the first three hours was all uphill and so on the way back, the trail was all downhill. Consequently, you might think the return journey would be a lot easier. You would be wrong. As this was the first day of snow falling, there were still numerous open streams running across the trail. We would
speed down a steep winding downhill on our cross country skis, then someone would yell out, "open water- jump!" Obviously,
I am not talking about the St-Lawrence here, and the streams were quite small. However, no matt The award for the best wipe out of the afternoon has to be a three way tie between my brother, Kristina and Jill. David, my brother, probably deserves the award the most, as he fell twice, blaming a rock for the first fall (no rock was ever found). We eventually decided that the cause of his falls was a miscalculation of the departure point of the jump. Kristina is a nominee for the award even though she never actually fell. She gets an award as
We had a wonderful time up North, and we will have good memories to carry into 2007. Again I hope that everyone had a happy and safe holiday, full of joy and mirth. Happy New Year. Rhian
RhianWilkinsonSoccer.com is the Official Website of Rhian Wilkinson.
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e light exercise I would find a way to climb
onto a huge boulder nearby. There was no real point in me doing this, but because I had stated my intentions of doing so
out loud, I was honor bound to get it done. This little challenge took A LOT longer than I had planned, and I was eventually
forced to use my sister as a ladder. I finally reached the summit by shoving my sister up in front of me, getting her to
anchor herself to the rock, then jumping off a nearby rock to get a grip on her feet. This accomplished, it was just a matter
of climbing up on top of her. The photographs tell the story. And, we did eventually come to the end of the hike.
That evening, my brother David, and his fiancée Kristina, showed up. We downed our
complimentary egg nogs in the hotel, and Sara and I played a little pool, before we ambled into the dining room for a fantastic
buffet dinner. The meal was followed by a return to our chalet and a night playing "Cranium." I am embarrassed to admit it,
but not only did Dad and Jill beat us soundly, but they beat us so badly that they managed to go round the board twice and
win again. I still can't believe it happened legally - someone must have cheated.
er what the size, open freezing water when you are barreling along and when you are forced to leave
the ground out of desperation, never turns
out well.
she decided that she wouldn't even bother trying to jump. She just skied
right through the water. Thank goodness for shallow water streams. Finally I must mention an award for Jill who looked
like she was in fine form on the descent, crouched into a nice tight tuck position before catching the tip of a ski.
She face planted the last few feet before the stream, causing a good sized snow wake to proceed before her into the
water - amazing.