Falling behind on posts again! I still want to keep this chronological so you'll get to read about last weekend and then this weekend.
Shane, Leslie and I finally all managed to get cross country ski rentals! We met at Mont St Bruno at 9 ready for some fun! Shane is from Barbados so this was to be his first time which we were all excited for.
It started off really well, the trails were much flatter than when Cheryl and I went to Mont Tremblant. Shane really didn't like the up hills and quickly resorted to taking his skis off and walking up them. Because it was a super sunny day and it hadn't snowed recently the snow was really granular and the tracks quite slippery.
He also wasn't a huge fan of the downhills, he felt a little unsteady on the skis which is totally understandable. We got to a really nice long downhill that was super straight so Leslie and I just flew down it. When we got to the bottom we turned back to watch Shane. Unfortunately he took his skis off and we weren't close enough to yell that it was an easy hill and to just try it. We noticed that he started walking off the track carrying his skis. We thought at first he might be going to the little boys room since he wasn't coming down towards us. However, we were really confused as to why he was taking his skis with him, and then he didn't go into the woods. The snow was soft since it was sunny and he started to sink up to his knees.
We stood at the bottom of this hill and watched in utter confusion until he reached down and picked up his ski from where it had slid to. When he was taking them off to walk down the hill, one of them slid down the hill to the side so he had to chase after it. At this point, Leslie and I just died laughing. Carrying both skis back to the trail was harder so he ended up crawling back to it. I actually fell down because I was laughing so hard I slipped in the icy tracks.
Thankfully he also saw the humour in what happened.
We continued on and even got Shane to try a few of the hills, but I don't think we were winning him over to cross country. The day was so absolutely beautiful and warm, there weren't even all that many people out. We decided to take advantage of this and snap some photos and vidoes (gotta do it for the 'gram). It was ever so slightly down hill but the tracks were super icy from the sun.
Shane stayed back a bit so I could film him approaching us, except he hadn't really learned to stop. To be honest, I can't properly stop, I just hope I slow down or I sit on my bum and stop. My memories of stopping as a child mostly involve ramming into one of my siblings.
Leslie and I are waiting for Shane and I'm filming him skiing except he doesn't know how to stop and Leslie is in the same track. Here is the after photo but you can also so the video here if you'd like a laugh.
We did 4km or so loop and then we were back at the main centre. We decided to picnic there since they had some tables in the sun. Shane decided he had got his money worth and returned his skis to go for a little hike. Leslie and I figured we'd get another lap in before we called it a day. We did the same lap since we knew what to expect for the hills and could try not to fall this time.
All my good stories this day are about Shane falling but trust me, he was not alone.
On Sunday I met Cheryl at the botanical gardens. We were trying to find something indoors to do as it was supposed to be very chilly, and it was. I don't really have a lot to write as most botanical gardens are all the same. It was really nice to be inside with some humid air and all that colour.
We celebrated the garden by buying ourselves some new plants! Here's my new cactus :)
