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A long drop

Time to travel to the top of Whistler Mountain today, taking the 25 minute long gondola ride up to the summit.

The mountain tops in the area are still covered in snow, which is very unusual for this time of year. As usual wherever you go in the world these days the locals are saying the weather patterns have gone nuts. It’s been a very cold summer up until a couple of weeks ago and now the temperatures are reaching record highs.

Accordingly, we were able to dress in shorts and t-shirts to visit he top of the mountains even though they were still deep in snow. See the picture of me looking like I should be freezing to death just to prove it :0)

It was a little cooler up top and I doubt we could have managed more than an hour up there without getting chilly. Never the less we were still standing in the snow, above the clouds, dressed in our summer gear. Surreal.

From Whistler Mountain we took the Peak 2 Peak cable car ride over to Blackcomb Mountain, Whistlers slightly taller neighbour.

The most un-nerving statistic about the ride was that it has the worlds longest unsupported cable span. A total of 1.88 miles of cable with no towers!

The views were stunning though. On the way back from Blackcomb we managed to catch one of only two glass bottomed cable cars. The picture above is of Kel’s feet through to the ground a very, very long way below.

As always more pictures of the day are in our photo albums.

Confetti

About this time 3 years ago we were probably in a blind panic about something or other. It all turned out alright in the end though.

After a couple of nights with Shan and Dee, Christmas Eve was the day we travelled up to Murray bridge to stay with Pam and Dave for Christmas.

Our first stop was at Nanas house, so we could drop off her present and say hi. She was very pleased to see Kel and we spent a an hour chatting.

We arrived in Murray Bridge just after lunchtime and quickly settled in (everywhere we go it only seems like five minutes since we were last here.)

In the evening we had the family Christmas party. Shan, Dee, Ben, Kirsty and Dee’s sister Sue Ellen (a very quiet, shy girl) all piled in for sherry and mince pies.

Pam, REALLY liked her rolling dog. :o)

Following on from our visit by Sue a couple of weeks ago, Mum and Dad took a trip down to see us for a few days so we could have a pre-christmas Christmas.

They made surprisingly good time on the way, not taking much more than they would have done driving to London.

The first day I took them a quick orientation trip around the city to help them get there bearings. Mum spent her time clocking things she wanted to buy as we walked past a few of the shops. Then she made a new friend.

After a very sophisticated evening meal of Cornish Pasty and chips, we celebrated our own early Christmas (we’re off to Australia for Christmas this year so are essentially doing it twice).

On day two it was time to walk them off the end of the Pier. The weather was absolutely gorgeous, cold but crisp and very clear. Very different to when we took Sue.

Then we walked and walked and walked. Kel met us for lunch at The Black Lion, the The Lanes area, then we continued shopping. Later on we ate dinner at Zizzis. very nice.

Kel bought me a new dancing game for our Wii, so we (drunkenly) gave that a go. Mum and Dad seemed to get a second wind of energy and joined in!

On the last full day we took the bus over to Rottingdean, the village Kel and I visited just after we first arrived in Brighton.

Mum and Dad were suitably impressed.

Kel cooked us all a lovely Christmas dinner for the final night, then it was time to sit down and watch the X-Factor final while our bodies decided how overweight they were going to be after all the meals over the last few days.

After a week long celebration, Mum and Dad’s Ruby Wedding Day finally arrived.

Above: Mum and Dad with the cake.

While Kel travelled up by train after the day in London Sue and I joined Mum and Dad at Church for them to renew their Wedding vows.

Afterwards we ate lunch at the Boars Head.

Once we returned home we all pretty well collapsed after the busy holiday week!

Kel and I travelled up to Kings Bromley yesterday. We used the Midland Mainline service instead of Virgin as it stopped at Lichfield Trent Valley. A smaller train but still did the job and was probably a fair bit quicker in the long run.

Today, Ma & Pa finally had their 40th Wedding party for friends and family (after months and months of planning!).

We spent the morning getting the house ready, tidying and preparing the food for the guests arrival at 1.30pm.

Above: Dad, Mum, Roger and Penny

It all went off without a hitch with more than enough food (to say the least) and drink to go around. The weather stayed fine, very warm indeed, plus we were quite pleased the sun didn’t come out as we’d all have been toasted where we stood.

We celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary yesterday. It always gets a little bit confusing around this time of year as it’s also about the same time we first met.

Of course we also have our very first ‘wedding’ anniversary, which is in October, but that’s when things start getting a little too complicated.

Anyway, I decided to ‘treat’ Kel by cooking him dinner. It gave me the opportunity to shop in Waitrose :o) and I ended up burning a nice chicken dish.

I bought Kel a nice bunch of roses.

Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes today. We had a relatively quiet one, just chilling out and using the Spa etc.

We’re due several days of constant heavy snow now, so hopefully I’ll get a nice bit of video.

Rather shockingly, we didn’t go on the hotel wine tour this evening. My how things have changed. :o)