Easter Weekend

I got some quality goat time on the Easter weekend! We went to Vancouver Island and spent a day in Victoria, then went to Parksville and Nanaimo visiting friends and family. We walked along the waterfront in Victoria and looked at the BC Legislature:

                                      


We visited Roger, the yellow-belly marmot that lives at the Empress Hotel. This is a very swanky hotel and Roger hitched a ride here about 5 years ago from his native land in the Rockies, presumably to enjoy a warm-weathered retirement.

Roger and some bee boxes outside the Empress Hotel

Then we went to a park where there was a (children's) petting zoo! You could go right into the goat pen and the only rule was that you couldn't pick them up - it is tempting with the little kids (kid goats, that is, not random kid humans). I chased away some young children and got some quality goat time!

 

There were other animals too, including peacocks and mice. The mice were alive and moving around and some were brown and black, all things I'm not used to.

The mouse enclosure

Mice safe in their kleenex box

We did visit people too, but we didn't get any photos of them...

We were lucky enough to stay at the Paradise Seashell Motel in Parksville where you get free mini-golf on their world-famous pirate-themed course with your stay!

Last ski day of the season

I had my last ski day of the season last Sunday. I did well to squeeze in a couple more days recently because I thought my last day had been at the end of January. I've been having problems with pain in my lower legs that's getting worse every year and the last day I skied (at Whistler) I had to stop and take my boot off every run because my leg hurt so much and my foot was asleep!

I went to a sports medicine doctor and was diagnosed with compartment syndrome, which means the fascia surrounding the muscle groups in my lower legs is too tight so when I exercise the muscles cramp and the nerves pinch and tingle. Our bodies are weird and wonderful things. I had been managing but with extra weight and blood volume even walking at any pace faster than a saunter was painful so I guess it's not a surprise that skiing was out! Plus, my doctor did say I probably shouldn't be skiing anymore anyway.

And then in February I got a cold that took forever to go away so I had very little activity for a month and my legs had a good rest. Then the sun came out and Randy was going to Cypress (our local mountain) so I thought I'd take my skis along just in case. I also took snowshoes in case skiing didn't work and a magazine in case nothing worked! But I lasted for 6 runs! The funny part was that it was my lower legs holding me back, not my general energy level or belly!

I was so happy to get in a few final turns but now I'm looking forward to spring. The snow on the local mountains won't last much longer anyway.