Last weekend we went to
Harrison Hot Springs because Hubby's school diploma program has a "Spring Workshop" there where each group in each class presents their year-end project and there is an awards banquet and everything.
I didn't need to be there, but I took it as an opportunity to get some time to hang around the
hotel by myself without any kids around. Well, wouldn't you know it, it was Spring Break and there were tons of families with kids around, goddammit! Annoying kids all over the hotel, annoying screaming kids in the hot springs pool (thank god for the 'adults only' area). I know I sound like a bitter kid-hater, but guess what - I AM! Love my own kids of course, but I have come to realize I have no patience for kids in general.
Anyway...
So we arrived on the Thursday night and ran into Dennis, a guy in Hubby's group, and Dennis said that his girlfriend Renee was there for the weekend too. So I met up with her and she and I walked around all the shops for a while. She and I were going to book facials at the spa, but the facials were $115, and I wasn't quite up for splurging that much. I didn't feel like getting a pedicure or manicure, so we gave up and went up to her room, drank and talked for hours. So of course, Hubby and Dennis were downstairs at this wine & cheese thing telling everyone Hubby's wife and Dennis' girlfriend were upstairs in bed together, drinking. Okay, so that's true, but it really wasn't anything exciting. Really.
Our room had two beds. Hubby said, "Hey, after we cuddle we can each stretch out in our own bed!" I said, "After we what?"Friday morning I woke up and was almost afraid to look at the clock in fear that I'd slept away most of my big free day. Hubby had gotten up at 6am to go set up for his group's presentation. When I finally peeked at the clock, it was only 8am! I was so thrilled that I got up right away and got ready, threw some stuff in a bag and went downstairs for the buffet breakfast.
While I was waiting for a table, I struck up a conversation with a man sitting next to me. He told me he was from Portland, and that he and his wife came to Canada quite frequently on vacation. "Ever since 'nine-one-one,' we choose not to travel anywhere other than the Pacific Northwest. We went to Fiji once, but other than that, we avoid air travel." In my head, I'm thinking, "WTF? That was five years ago! Are you going to live your life in fear of airline travel because of that one event? Suppose terrorists strike on land without planes next time?" But before I could say anything else, I got called for my table, and of course food is more important than this guy's dissertation on the American paranoia of travel since 9/11, so off I went. But I kept an eye out for that guy during the rest of my stay because I wanted to find out more about why he would 'choose' that - and I was curious about what political leanings he had. (Oregon is a blue state, isn't it? Dex??)
It was truly one of the more glorious breakfasts I've ever had. I love breakfast - I'm just not usually up in time to enjoy it. Even the server I had was really jolly - you could hear him laughing all over the restaurant. I had the
best-hashbrowns-ever. I had scrambled eggs, some egg on an english muffin thingy, some fruit, a bran muffin, some other egg with spinach thing, toast, juice, and I even went back for seconds.
Not the breakfast buffet I was at. Mine was much better than this photo.
While I ate, I cracked open a book I was reading for an online book club I'm in, the book was called "When the Emperor Was Divine" by Julie Otsuka, about a Japanese-American family and how they were treated during WWII after Pearl Harbour. It was not as good as I'd hoped, but still an okay read. Except for one part I didn't see coming and it wasn't the kind of scene I wanted to be reading when I was eating. I almost lost my appetite. (But not quite.)
After that I went down to one part of the lobby where there are tons of couches and thought I'd find a cozy spot to read my book. I scored a sweet spot right in front of a fireplace and sat there until 1 in the afternoon, when I finished my book. Hubby came out of a boardroom nearby and said he'd just finished his presentation, and said he felt like they had a fair chance at winning the presentation competition, which was heated between his group and the North Shore group. Hubby's group had won the previous year, so the pressure was on to repeat the win, but they felt they had some real competition from North Shore and New West groups. (I know this sounds dumb and lame but it comes into the story later.)
It had clouded over by the time I went for a stroll around town. In fact, when I first left the hotel, there was hail coming down!
By this time, the sunshine earlier in the morning had gone and it was cloudy and rainy. I decided to get my jacket anyway and went checking out the shops. I thought about asking Renee if she wanted to go with me, but I knew she was hoping to spend the day catching up on homework, and I couldn't remember her room number. So I poked around in the stores, and found some little souveniers for the kids. Camryn's was so cool, it's a lipstick and compact, but the lipstick is a pen and the compact has a little pad of paper in it. For Devon I found a Harrison Hot Springs magnet that had his name on it, spelled the same way - which I've never been able to find before! I almost bought myself the coolest handbag ever - there was a store going out of business, and in one corner there were some purses marked down.
I fell in love with this Nicole Miller leather purse with the vintage style silver clasp closure. The leather had a 1940s/50s photograph printed on it, of two women boarding a plane, waving at the camera. I just loved this purse, but the price said it was regularly $399, marked down to $230. The store owner saw me checking it out, and said, "If you're really interested in that bag, I could offer it to you for $200." I seriously considered it, but realized I would get my ass kicked if I came back with a $200 bag that I would probably not use very often. So I left it behind. *sniff*
I came back to the hotel and still had a couple of hours to kill before the banquet, so I got changed into my gym clothes and went to check out the hotel gym. As I was working out on the elliptical machine at the end, a cute guy came in and got onto the treadmill next to me. I could see him out of the corner of my eye, and although I didn't really take a good look at him, I could tell he was cute. Then Hubby appeared, disrupting my flow, and after saying hi to me, he also said hi to the guy next to me. I thought it must be someone from his class. But Hubs and I started talking about going to the pool for an hour, and he told me to bring some towels when I went up to the room to change. I said I'd just order some robes, and he said, "Just get towels, okay?" I again said I wanted robes instead, and he said jokingly, motioning to the guy on the treadmill, "This is my instructor next year - don't disobey me and embarrass me in front of him!"
So he's Hubby's instructor next year. Sweet.
So we went to the pool for a while (with robes) and hung out with a guy in Hubby's class, and they discussed who they thought would win the competition. They both thought the three groups were the most likely.
There was this annoying couple in the pool that were the Public Displays of Affection Couple. And not only that, but he was wearing a cowboy hat! And she was wearing a Corona beer bikini! Gawd! They spent the whole time snuggling and kissing in the middle of the pool, making the rest of us slightly ill and (almost) not want to eat dinner later.
PDA couple, the next day, sans cowboy hat. I was on the balcony of my room, taking a few shots of the view. Couldn't help myself.
We went up and got ready for the banquet, Hubby was ready early so he went downstairs to mingle. I got showered and dressed, putting on my new bra from Jacob with the removeable straps, since I was wearing a sheer top with a camisole attached underneath. I removed the straps from my bra and stuffed them in a shopping bag so I wouldn't lose them. Went out to the banquet downstairs.
The awards were being given out after dinner, so we got to enjoy a fabulous buffet first. Then they announced the awards. Second place - Hubby's group. Hubby's face registered some surprise, but okay. First place - a group that no one expected to win. Hubby, who was sitting at the table with his back to the rest of us, slowly turned around and with a shocked expression, mouthed the words, "What the hell?!" Everyone applauded as the group accepted the trophy and the Dom Perignon that went to the first place winners, but Hubby only got more and more agitated.
Who's the big loser in Harrison tonight?
As we started to laugh about Hubby's obvious disillusionment, he started joking around and saying things like, "Hey, remember who the second place team was in the 1988 Stanley Cup finals? Me neither." or, "Do you remember who finished second in the NBA Finals in 1995? I didn't think so." He had a good sense of humour about it, but the rest of us thought it was so funny that he was obviously bothered by their loss.
Dennis and I got to talking about books, and it turns out he is in a book club. They have been going for about three years, just started again after a six month hiatus, and they are going to meet next month. I happily accepted his invitation to join.
After that Hubs and I went up to the room to get changed. As I walked off the elevator, I looked at the credenza that was against the opposite wall, and saw some black straps sitting there. I went closer, and they were my bra straps that I'd removed and put into the shopping bag in the room! How they got there in the middle of the hotel hallway I have no idea! I'm still creeped out by that. We got changed and went to some guy's room and they started a poker game. I lost interest pretty much immediately and went back to my room and read in bed until I fell asleep.
The view of the pool from our room
There was an evergreen-covered mountain right behind the pool area, which was pretty to look out at. I couldn't fit it all within the frame of the camera. Ah, whatever.
The next morning we had to clean up the mess in our room and check out. Hubby was going golfing with someone from his class, and I was going to get the kids from my parents'. As I stood in line in the lobby to check out, I remembered I had something exciting to do - release a Bookcrossing book into the wild!
So after checking out, I put my stuff in my car that Hubby had brought to the front doors, and I went back inside to get a bagel at the Cafe to eat on my way out of town. I was sort of nervous! I planned it out so that I could make a quick escape without anyone chasing me down outside saying, "You forgot your book!" I put the book down on one of the tables while I waited for my bagel, and as soon as I paid for it, I booted out of there, got in my car and drove away! Hopefully someone finds it and passes it on!
And off I drove into the sunset. Okay, it wasn't really sunset, but that's how it felt after having such a nice relaxing time. And now, back to reality. (And this blog.)
I was the photographer for the night, and unfortunately didn't get many good shots. Pretty hard to get good photography when you're rocking out, I guess.
