Women are from cyber-Venus

I just half read an article on the front page of today’s paper that was entitled Women are from cyber-Venus. It basically said men use to the internet to find things to do, women use it to find people to talk to. So, that’s news to someone? I guess blogging fills both needs. If it didn’t, blogs would be predominantly authored by women, and when I blog-hop, that’s not what I see. Some of the best, most riveting, funniest, most entertaining blogs are written by guys.

Okay…time out… I just choked on my own saliva. How crazy is that? You know, when you somehow breathe in the saliva that you meant to swallow and you go into a coughing frenzy trying to clear your trachea of the unwelcome liquid making its way toward your lungs? Wow… thought I was going to die.

My cat, who was lounging on my lap as I awkwardly tried to type on my laptop as it sat on the arm of the sofa, instead of my lap where SHE was sitting, is now sitting next to me glaring at me, twitching her tail, as if I had this near-death episode just to get her off my lap. I admit, there have been times I’ve been tempted to have some sort of seizure or other seemingly uncontrollable fit as a way of removing her from my lap.

You see, we have this routine. Ali, the queen of the house, our 8 year-old calico, sits on the back of the sofa waiting for me to get home from work. I come in the door, do the usual coming-home-from-work stuff – dump my purse and keys, bring in the paper and mail, take off my Uggs and put on my slippers – and then usually make my way toward the other sofa (the reclining leather one) so I can start blogging. The minute I sit down, she runs to the foot of the sofa and sits, waiting. I open the laptop, sit down, and get the Mexican blanket I use to keep the chill off, pull out the recliner – and then she makes her move. She jumps up into my lap. I dare not try to remove her or she will bite the living heck out of me. Since her declawing (see post) she bites more than ever. I guess it’s her way of getting even with me.

Not only does she insist on sitting right in the middle of my lap, she sticks her face right in mine. I cringe, waiting. It’s only a matter of time before she takes a chunk out of my cheek or nose. I usually put my hand up between her face and mine, just in case. She’ll sit like this, in my lap, as I reach over her to type on my crazily located laptop, until she gets good and ready to leave. Sometimes that can be half an hour.

I know, I’m nuts. I should just give her a shove and send her flying off my lap. I’m too nice. I actually adore this little furball. When she’s not next to me at night in bed, curled into the small of my back, I find it difficult to fall asleep. When Jonathan is home from school, his bed is her preferred sleeping spot, so unless he shuts his door to keep her from bugging him all night, she sleeps with him. I hate it. I miss her little warm body. It’s amazing how heavy a 12-pound cat is when they’re sleeping. She’s a real bed hog too. But I love it.

Anyway, my coughing fit scared her, and made her mad. She’s flicking her tail back and forth like a bull whip. Maybe I should be very afraid.

So, back to the article. My first inclination is to disagree. I use the internet to find stuff I need to know – for work, personally, whatever. I don’t IM like all the kids do, I don’t play games (though I have been known to do a Sudoku puzzle now and then), and I don’t visit chat sites. But I do blog, love reading other blogs (well-written ones or those of family or friends), commenting on blogs I read, and “meeting” people via the blogs. So, I suppose that does fit the premise to a certain extent. But I spend most of my internet time researching things. That occupies far more of my time than does blogging or blog hopping.

So, here is the story:

Women are from cyber-Venus …
Gender differences translate to Internet
Victor GodinezDallas Morning NewsDecember 29, 2005

DALLAS – Men spend their time on the Internet looking for stuff to do. Women look for people to talk to.

These are among the main findings to emerge from a series of surveys released Wednesday by the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

Deborah Fallows, a senior research fellow with Pew, said that men and women have become equally adept at navigating the Internet. "Beyond that, there seems to be a little of a fork in the road," she said. "Men are more action-oriented, and women are more communication-oriented."

Men go online more often and spend more time on the Internet. For example, men are more likely to check sports news (59 vs. 27 percent of online women), get financial information (56 vs. 33 percent), download software (48 vs. 31 percent) or participate in an auction (30 vs. 18 percent). Men (42 percent) are also more likely to pay bills online than women (35 percent).

Women lead in other areas, such as sending e-mail (94 vs. 88 percent). And 74 percent of women look up health and medical information online, compared with 58 percent of men.

"Right now, online life mirrors off-line life very closely," said Fallows, the report's author. "I was surprised at that. I was looking really hard to find counter trends and just find things that either broke the stereotype or changed what you typically believe."

Online retailers and other vendors should pay attention to the findings, Fallows said. She said, for example, that when shopping in clothing stores, women often chat with one another in the dressing room, looking for tips and opinions. For an online retailer catering to women, building a message board or chat room into the site might allow similar interactions.

"If you were a savvy Web designer and had this stuff in mind, you might make some of the shopping experience more tailored," Fallows said.

One finding that Fallows said was somewhat counterintuitive was that a greater percentage of women ages 18 to 29 are online than men that age: 86 percent vs. 80 percent.

"Technology doesn't seem to be an impediment for the youngest women the way it is for older women," she said. "They've grown up with it."

The report included data from a variety of surveys conducted from 2000 to 2005, and the margin of error ranges between 2 and 3 percentage points.

Interesting…. I am very atypical. I’ve been paying bills online since my bank first offered it over 5 years ago. I get financial information online, download software (usually work related, though often not), and I participate in my fair share of auctions, especially when it comes to college textbooks. My husband also atypical. He hates computers, has zero interest in the internet unless he wants ME to look something up for him, and is freaked out about blogging, email, and “online friends” (his term). In fact, he’s so weird about my “internet friends” that he doesn’t even know I have a blog. He thinks it’s weird that I read my son’s college friends’ blogs. I guess it’s something he can’t control so he doesn’t like it. Anyway, interesting article.

Gotta go check the crock pot. Got something delicious brewing! :)

Holiday Pause

We're between holidays now, a good time to catch our collective breath. Christmas was really nice. We spent the day at our oldest son's house along with his family (wife, 2 girls), our daughter and her family (husband, 1 girl, 1 boy), younger son (not married), daughter-in-law's father, stepfather, mother, 2 sisters, brother, sister-in-law, AND..... my husband's ex-wife. Despite the fact that she had previously told the two oldest children that my husband and I were not be included in the holiday gathering, things went well. She and I spent most of the day talking to one another - a marvel in itself since, before Christmas, the longest we've ever spent talking to each other nicely was about two hours when our 2nd granddaughter was born. It went quite well, actually. I even fixed her computer for her. We had an incredible dinner of the most amazing prime rib, superb ham, mashed potatoes, vegetables, green salad, breads, and desserts, with some fine wine to accompany the foodstuffs. It was great! And the kids got way too many presents - so many I don't think they know yet everything they got - and spent the day playing with video games. It was a very nice day.

Now, let's pray the New Year is filled with the Lord's blessings and that we each remember exactly what Christmas is really all about.

The Da Vinci Code

I've been reading - errr, rather, listening to - that book. For the longest time, I had no interest whatsoever in reading it. I tend to be "that way" - not one to jump on the bandwagon of the latest, greatest, hot thing. I have yet read a single Harry Potter book, though I have seen the movies. Back to Dan Brown. The Da Vinci Code was such a phenomenon you would think I'd have plunked down my library card and added myself to the unending list of requestors, but I did not. Only by chance am I listening to it now. One of my co-workers has previously recommended spoken word books that I have really enjoyed. I was feeling the urge to listen again to some literary masterpiece, so I went to him for a recommendation. He mentioned a couple of titles, then said something about The Da Vinci Code and I decided "why not?" We had it on CD, which was perfect! I could listen to it on my way to and from work as well as in my office. Since my commute is a brief 15 minutes long, just listening to it in my car would require about a year to finish it. Well, one CD into the book, I was hooked. I can see why the book created such a stir among Christians and non-Christians alike. I found myself saying "wow, I didn't know that" or "is that true?" I had to find out more. I did what any good techno-geek would do; I went online for answers. If you've never done it, Google The Da Vinci Code sometime. It's mind boggling. Conspiracy theorists must be having a field day. There is a lot of stuff out there, most of it crap. Fortunately, I am pretty good at discerning good sources from bad ones.

I found some very interesting and informative sites. One notable site is lisashea.com. She does a great job on the topic. Click here for her Da Vinci Code info. From this site, and a few others, I gathered the information I was seeking. I just need to keep reminding myself, as I'd told people all along before ever reading the tome, it's fiction, people, fiction! There is enough fact interspersed with fiction to confuse you, and to make for a very convincing story about the Catholic church's role in hiding the truth about Jesus, but it is a work of fiction. The less-than-factual information does not lessen my enjoyment of the book one iota. It did get me to look up some stuff I probably would not have otherwise, which means I learned something, and that's always a good thing (gosh, I sound like Martha Stewart). It's an interesting concept, to say the least - that the Catholic church supressed (hid?) the role of Mary Magdalene, and women in general, and lied about Christ's divinity in order to further their cause - but I don't buy it. I guess I'm just one of those people who believes that Christ is the Son of God, that He died for us, and that the Bible is the Word of God, given to man to guide and teach us. Are there, perhaps, some interpretational issues in the various versions? Probably. Are we to take everything in the Bible literally? I can't imagine how we possibly could. That's why we have to understand to whom each book was written, or what the writer's purpose was in writing the book, so we can understand what was written in the context of the times, the audience, etc. Certainly, if God were to give man the Bible today, there would be references to MTV, iPods, and the internet - and what would those things mean to a generation 500 years from now? 2000 years from now?

Anyway, I'm on my soapbox. Back to the book. It's a great mystery, well written, captivating - and I have yet to finish it, so don't spoil the ending for me! If you haven't read it, do so. If you, like me, find yourself too often short of time to read, listen to it on tape or CD. The actor who reads it, Paul Michael, does an excellent job with accents, French, keeping the characters straight. It's quite entertaining.

Par-Tay

Today will be a fun day. My best friend and I are having our annual Christmas lunch/gift exchange today. I adore her. We work together - sort of. We work in the same place, but she works downstairs, while I work upstairs. If I don't visit her office or she mine, we could go all day without seeing one another. These little escapes, of which we partake on our birthdays and on Christmas, are nice escapes wherein we can gossip about everything and everyone, complain about our husbands and children, share our well-kept secrets, and celebrate our wonderfulness. We have a blast! The staff lounge is already filling with Christmas goodies. The air is celebratory. The holidays are upon us and I am embracing them enthusiastically!

Christmas came early

The weekend began on a positive note. Saturday morning we went to Spokane to pick Jonathan up - well, actually, to pick up some of his belongings that he wanted with him over Christmas break that would not fit into his car. His car held his computer (naturally, we couldn't expect him to come home for two weeks sans computer) and two monitors, his clothes, and sundry other things, while our car held his photography portfolio, his Photoshop projects, and some miscellaneous electronics. Turns out, he didn't really need our help after all.

Next stop was Burlington Coat Factory. Now, I had told Tom I didn't want anything for Christmas. He recently took me on a clothes shopping spree, during which I bought 4 pairs of jeans and about 6 or 7 new tops. I don't need anything! I finally said "well, the only thing I can imagine wanting is a new coat. I want a nice, feminine wool coat, about mid-thigh in length." Knowing the buying me jeans took two full days of shopping, he figured buying me a coat would entail a similar investment in time, and knew full well he could not even attempt to buy one without having me try it on. I have broad shoulders "for a girl" and very long arms (that sort of is a given when you're 5' 10"). Because I have spent a good number of years lifting weights, I larger than average upper arms, made worse by the layer of fat currently covering any muscle I might have left after this past year of relative inactivity. In other words, he was smart to take me along. As soon as I realized our destination, I knew our purpose. I found the women's "pant coat" racks and set about finding the coat of my dreams. I had it in my head, just wasn't sure it really existed. We waded through dozens of coats of varying styles, cuts, colors, and prices. I tried on one London Fog coat that I liked, but it had a hood, which I didn't like. It also had patch pockets, which I wasn't too keen on. I wanted a double-breasted coat with no belt and vertical pockets, black wool, and flattering. Many of the coats I tried on were way too tight in the arms and shoulder area. Even coats way too big for me fit that way. I was getting a bit frustrated. After about 30 minutes, Tom pulled a coat off the rack that looked like it might be a likely candidate. It was a Jones of New York coat. It was black. Was double-breasted. Had no belt. Now, would it fit my arms? I put it on and YES! It fit perfectly! It was better than I had hoped for! It is double-breasted, has a very flattering cut - it comes in at the waist slightly and is princess seamed, which makes for a very flattering and slimming fit. It has a nice detail on the sleeves that mimics the mock belt in the back. It was the coat of my dreams - and it was only $90! So, here's a photo of it. Guess they also have it at Overstock.com, so it must be an outdated model, but what the heck do I care?!?!? I love it! It's black.
So, I got my Christmas present on Saturday! Between the coat and having Jonathan home, I couldn't ask for much more. We drove to Coeur d'Alene and met Shana, Ryan and the grandkids for lunch at Chili's - another great time - and then headed back home to unpack Jonathan and sit around watching movies. Now I just have to wrap all the presents, buy Tom's present, and I'm all set!

Feeding Frenzy

I'm eating a Zone Meal. It is a perfectly created meal in the exact right propotions of proteins, carbs, and fats to put me squarely in The Zone (think reverberation chamber and deep James Earl Jones type voice when saying that). Why, you ask, am I downing this swill? Well, a couple of reasons come to mind. One, it was in my pantry. Has been there for probably 3 or 4 years. It's one of those indestructible type meals that requires no refrigeration or freezing, the kind you take into Y2K with you - just in case. And now that I mention Y2K, this meal probably pre-dates Y2K. I was on The Zone Diet for a while. Both of us were. We wanted to rid our bodies of all the horrible things and get in (reverb chamber) The Zone. It became quite cumbersome to balance every meal perfectly, so I resorted to buying Zone meals. Then we went off The Zone Diet and the uneaten meals languished in the pantry. They got pushed further and further back every time I went to the grocery store. I think I finally gave several away to the Boy Scouts for one of their food drives. Heck, they're not cheap, they are nutritious, they are a complete meal - the food bank should be delighted to have them! Anyway, I realized I still have three or four in the pantry. I'm trying to eat properly, and it turns out it's sort of a "zoneish"diet that I'm following, so when I went looking for lunch makings today, and this little Zone Meal was waving its hand, jumping up and down, and saying "pick me, pick me", I decided to take a chance. So, today it's Chicken Gumbo. It's not bad, just awfully fatty. That's what I do remember about the meals. They seem fatty, or more specifically, oily. The meat is good and the black beans and corn are tasty, but the layer of orange oil that is stuck to the sides of the serving container is a bit nauseating. I'm not sure what kind of oil it is. It reminds me of dirty Dexron II ATF fluid. I think I've just lost my appetite.

Disappointed

Alas, no moon tonight. The sky is overcast, the mountains are not visible. I was hoping for a photo-op, but there is none to be had tonight. A missed opportunity. Too many of those in life. We must learn to take advantage of them as they present themselves, not let them slip away.

Moonshadow

I was on the phone yesterday with Jeff, my rep from CDW-G (the government sales department of CDW) chatting about college basketball (go Duke! go Zags!), NFL playoffs (go Colts!), and other sports-related matters, when I looked out the window, and stopped in mid-sentence. It was about 4:00 PM. My window faces east. I look out over most of the town of Sandpoint (my office is on the second floor). To the east is a range of mountains that are right about where the borders of Montana and Idaho meet. This time of year, they are snow-capped, and on sunny days, they are glorious. At dusk, they are usually painted in pinks and oranges, set off by a deepening blue sky. This view serves to remind me just how lucky I am live here, despite how I might grouse about the snow or grey skies or unceasingly wet weather in the spring. Yesterday, what stopped me was not only the beauty of the mountains, but the shockingly low-hung full moon, sitting just above the treetops a bit to the northeast, brilliantly illuminated, like a street lamp just turned on. It was still so light out, and yet the moon shone so brightly, and sat so huge above the trees. It felt like you could reach out and touch it. I shared the scene with Jeff, exclaiming the beauty of the scene. He was in Chicago, where it was well past dark. He couldn't see the moon - something about a storm in his neck of the woods - so viewed it vicariously through my description. I meant to take a photo of it, but I got busy and forgot. I'll watch for the scene to repeat itself tonight, and hopefully take a shot of it to post herein.

This morning is awash with its own sort of beauty, as the eastern sky (my living room faces east too) welcomes the sun to paint it in delightful magentas and brilliant oranges. It will be sunny and cold today - 14 or 18 degrees for our high I think - a beautiful day indeed. Cheers!

Ugged

I loathe shoes. A native Californian, I wore them as infrequently as possible. I spent most of my childhood barefoot, despite my mother's well-intentioned warnings about rusty nails, tetanus shots, gangrenous infections that would result in the loss of toes, and worse. After actually stepping on a rusty nail that protruded from a discarded, weatherbeaten two-by-four, whilst wearing Keds, the sole of which offered no protection whatsoever from the nail that went right through it and into my foot, I decided shoes were definitely a waste of time. I usually removed them as quickly as possible as soon as I was out of my mother's sight.

When my feet grew to size 9 1/2 by the time I was 12, shoes were more bothersome than ever, especially finding them to fit. Women with size 9 1/2 feet were not that common then, whereas today, size 9 is the new size 7 - everyone wears a 9. Back in the day, shoes went from size 9 to size 10, unless you were ready to part with a week's pay, and even then, good luck finding a 9 1/2. I know this because my first job ever was selling shoes. Ironic, huh? A girl who hates wearing shoes spends two years selling them during her high school years. But we didn't carry 9 1/2's. 9's or 10's, no 9 1/2's. I will admit this - during my tenure as a shoe salesperson, I bought lots of shoes. I could wear 9's in those old square-toed styles that were popular in the early 70's, so when we got our shipments of new shoes, if there was a style I liked, I snatched one of the two pairs of 9's we would get in. I eventually had a shoe wardrobe consisting of 25 sinfully indulgent pairs of the latest, greatest shoes available. Since footwear was required in school, and flip-flops did not qualify as acceptable footwear in 1970, I made the most of my employee discount. I even had navy blue patent leather boots that laced up and had brass eyelets and hugged your leg and matched a navy blue belt with big brass belt holes like the eyelets on the boots. I was so hip! But I digress. I only wore shoes when I absolutely had to, like to work, to school, to funerals and weddings - that pretty much covers it. The moment I got home, off went the shoes. Feet were meant to be unbound, toes free to wriggle and spread as needed. California was the perfect place for a shoephobe like me.

Then I moved to Idaho. Summers here are warm, and going barefoot is perfectly normal. But when we moved here, most people had gravel driveways, not cement or asphalt. And most of the parking lots were gravel. Big, jagged, gnarly gravel. The kind that, when you walk on it barefoot, makes you wish you were shod. Not me. I have leather for soles on my feet. I have the toughest feet ever. I walked daily from my front door to my mailbox across a 100 foot long, very rugged, gravel driveway for nearly ten years. My husband would run to soak his feet after simply watching me do this, but then, his feet hurt walking on carpet. He always wears socks inside, shoes outside. He has baby feet. He thinks I'm insane.

And then it snowed. Did that stop my barefooting ways? No way, Jose! I walk to get the newspaper in my bare feet more often than not. It gets a bit cold at times, especially when we are in the midst of an Arctic blast, but my feet can take it. They've had 50 years experience!

Now, when it rains, and the (now paved) driveway is covered in nightcrawlers, and I'm walking to get the paper in the dark and step on a slimy worm, well... then I give my barefooting ways a second thought, but that's about the only time. Before you go getting all crazy on me about safety issues or some such nonsense (like my mother and her lockjaw stories), let me sayd, I do wear shoes when I mow the lawn. Well, sort of. I wear my Chaco sandals. Obviously, I have to wear shoes at work. In the summer, I wear my Chacos every single day. Wearing them is almost as good as going barefoot. My feet get a crazy zig-zagged tan line, I paint my toenails, and do what I can to make my clodhopper feet look at least a little feminine, which means I put lotion on them to try to soften my calluses. But Chacos aren't the most feminine sandals around. They're pretty much designed for mountain climbing, stream hopping, hiking, and whatnot. I love them. They are so comfortable, and comfort is the name of the game! In the winter, once the snow gets too deep for my Chacos, I don my Uggs.
Uggs barely count as shoes. They are soft, warm, and oh so comfortable. They are almost as good as going barefoot, especially since you don't wear socks with them. I love my Uggs. I have black ones, with black sheepskin inside, so my feet turn a greenish-gray from the dye rubbing off on them. It reminds me of how people are supposed to make sure they have on clean underwear in case they get hit by a car and have to go to the hospital - something about doctors and nurses seeing you in clean underwear so you don't embarrass your mother. What would they think of my gray-green feet? Would they think I had some horrible disorder and bring in Dr. House to determine the cause? I don't care. I love my Uggs. I loathe shoes, but I love Uggs.

Fact or fiction?

I stumbled across a really interesting blog yesterday.  Actually, interesting is too bland a word.  The blog is called Waiting for Bloggo – a play on Waiting for Godot.  The link is http://waitingforbloggo.blogspot.com.  It is purported to be a team blog, maintained by david and elizabeth – they use lower case letters when they speak of and to one another.  To really get a feel for this blog, one must read it from the beginning.  I initially believed it to be truly a team blog, with postings by two individuals.  As I’ve now read all of it through today’s posting, I have come to believe it is a carefully constructed piece of fiction posing as a team blog.  It is quite well written and the feeling that it is actually a team blog with postings by two different individuals is hard to shake, but too often the writing styles and cadences are too similar to be merely coincidence.  There are also too many coincidences in their lives to be simply serendipity.  Nonetheless, it is entertaining in the way a good piece of fiction is entertaining.  I find myself returning to it regularly, looking for the next chapter in their “love story” as it unfolds before me.  One thing it does is makes me want to write better.  Some of the descriptive passages by “elizabeth” are so very well written it almost breaks my heart.  I started off trying to write interesting, thought-provoking, well constructed posts on this blog.  I have missed the mark more often than not.  Too often I simply write the way I speak – quickly, voluminously, and without much content.  I need to do better.  Another thing this blog has done is point me to a few other interesting blogs, some of which I will link to.  It has also made me ponder the idea of creating a completely anonymous blog like david and elizabeth’s in which I can pour out my soul without fear of retribution or discovery.  Perhaps blogging should be more anonymous and hence, more honest.  It’s a thought.

Diet Killers

Wow, did I pick a bad time of year to decide to stick to a diet.  I officially started last Monday.  I stuck to it, more or less, until Friday.  Friday was our staff Christmas breakfast, which meant many delicious foodstuffs to be had.  One of my coworkers brought in three different cheesecakes.  THREE!  One was chocolate, one was something kind of chocolatey but with some wonderful carmelized crust, and one I didn’t try because it looked like it had blueberries in it and they are not my favorite fruit.  I never get cheesecake because my husband hates the stuff – can’t even stand the smell of it – and yet, it has to be my all time favorite dessert.  Naturally, I had a piece of both of the chocolate-based cheesecakes.  I made frittata as my contribution, and couldn’t pass up a serving for myself.  I think I had some other things to eat too, but mostly remember the cheesecake since it was the major diet-buster.  

After the party, I headed to Spokane to have the radio replaced in my Jetta under a recall.  Seems the radio has some problem in its firmware that makes the satellite receiver go bad, which happened to us, so it had to be replaced.  That project was projected to take “a couple of hours”, so I had Jonathan drive over to pick me up and take me along with him while he finished taking photos for his photography class.  That was fun, actually.  I helped him select some scenes to photograph, and he took the pix.  He said his biggest problem is deciding what to take pictures of – narrowing the choices – and he welcomed my suggestions.  He took shots of the Spokane River and Falls from a little walking bridge that crosses it near the Flour Mill.  Then he took photos of the view of the clock tower and Expo tower thingee from the steps at the Spokane Arena. I guess those turned out pretty well.  We about froze to death (it was in the teens), but it was fun.  Finally, at 5 PM, my car was done.  Jonathan I and drove to Coeur d’Alene and met Tom at Chili’s for dinner (another diet killer), after which we each headed to our respective homes (Jonathan back to Whitworth, Tom and me back to Sandpoint).  

Saturday was our granddaughter Olivia’s 7th birthday.  That meant pizza and cake – diet killer #3.  Sunday was a Christmas shopping day for Tom and me, which involved eating out at Applebee’s.  I don’t think Chicken Panini, as wonderfully delicious as it was, is on my diet.  And I doubt the chili and cornbread we had for dinner when the kids came over to watch Polar Express was either.  So… last week was pretty terrible diet-wise.  This one should be much better – I hope.  I just have to stay away from any goodies that show up in the staff lounge.  Better yet, I should avoid the staff lounge altogether.  Too bad that’s where I have to store my lunch and go for coffee or hot water for tea.  Pray for me.  I need all the help I can get!

Fairmont Hot Springs, BC, Canada Weekend

What a terrific long weekend we had! On Friday, we (Tom, me, Shana, Ryan, Olivia, and Tyler) loaded up the Suburban (our trusty steed) with food, clothing, and the necessary toiletries, and headed to the Great White North – Canada. Our destination – Fairmont Hot Springs, BC, Canada. Tom and I have a timeshare in Las Vegas at the Tahiti Resort. Ours is a two bedroom deluxe – sleeps 8 –model, which means we can exchange for two one-week stays in a one bedroom, sleeps 4 (or bigger), condo pretty much anywhere in the world for a nominal exchange fee. That’s how we’re going to the UK – we’re exchanging for two one-week stays in a 2 bedroom, 2 bath cottage in Great Britain for $150 each week. Anyway, since we have the timeshare, through our exchange company, Interval International, we can buy “getaways” – weeklong stays at various timeshares all over the world – at greatly reduced prices and without giving up any of our weeks. We knew we wanted to go to a hot springs, but were undecided whether to go Ainsworth Hot Springs or Fairmont.

Ainsworth is cool, but there is nothing else to do there but go in the hot springs pools, and the road to Ainsworth is narrow and winding and kind of scary in the winter. There’s no town of Ainsworth. There is one restaurant, and the room sleeps 5, so we’d be sneaking Tyler in, and we’d be on the crowded side. It was going to cost us $260 to stay for two nights at Ainsworth.

Fairmont, on the other hand, is a little town with a grocery store, restaurants, and a couple of little shops. A much larger town, Invermere, is only 20 minutes away. If we got bored and wanted to just walk through a quaint little tourist town, we could head to Invermere, or even to Radium, about 40 minutes north, which has a very cool hot springs and tons of mountain goats and Rocky Mountain Bighorn sheep on the craggy peaks above the hot springs. Fairmont just seemed like a much better idea. So, I checked Interval to see what was available in Fairmont, and learned we had our pick of 4 different resorts – Fairmont Villas at Riverside, Hillside, Riverview, or Mountainside. After checking out the info on the Interval website, we decided to go to Fairmont and stay at the villas at the Riverside resort. We would have a two-bedroom, two-bath, sleeps 8 condo with a full kitchen, a kitchenette, two living rooms, and 4 TV’s (no fighting among the kids over what to watch). The cost? $304 for a week! Too bad we could only stay for three days.

View from our condo patio.

Friday morning we loaded up and left Sandpoint at 9:30 AM. We had just had two days of snow and winds and the forecast was for even more, with travel advisories in place for northern Idaho and eastern Washington, but the forecast for the Fairmont area was partly cloudy and no snow. As we headed out, the roads were snow-packed, it was snowing, and it was slow going. By the time we hit Cranbrook, BC, about two hours north of Sandpoint, the road conditions had improved, but it was still cloudy and snowing lightly. We arrived at our resort in Fairmont at 1:30 PM, about half an hour longer than it usually takes to get there. Check-in time at the resort was 4PM but I figured we should see if we could get in early. If we couldn’t, we could always go up to the hot springs and hang out there until we could check in. Well, I completely forgot that Fairmont is on Mountain Standard Time, so instead of being 1:30, it was 2:30. They told us at the desk that we could check in at 3PM, so we only had half an hour to kill. We were welcome to use the recreation area of the resort while we waited, so we checked out the pool, hot tub, game room, children’s play area, and movie room. It is a super nice resort!

They show a movie every night at 7:30 in the upstairs movie room on a big screen TV. Friday and Saturday they were showing Because of Winn-Dixie, a movie I’ve heard of but have never seen. We thought maybe the kids would enjoy seeing that that night. Finally 3:00 arrived and we went downstairs to check in. The resort was pretty much empty. They are in the process of renovating several of the buildings and redecorating all of the villas with more contemporary furnishings, carpeting, etc. The current color scheme is teal, mauve, and cream. It looks like the new colors will be warm golds with black accents, and some other more dramatic colors.

Anyway, we headed to our villa – a two bedroom villa on the ground floor. We entered via the small side, which was nice, and then opened the door to the big side (remember, these can be rented as one unit or two separate units, so there is a locking door between the two sides). It was amazing! It was huge and beautifully decorated, even though, with the exception of the sofa, chair, and dining table it was the “old” style. The kitchen was as big as my kitchen at home with nice GE appliances, including a microwave over the range. The dining room set was gorgeous and enormous, easily accommodating all 6 of us. The living room was spacious, with a sofa bed, coffee table, side chair, TV, DVD/VCR player, stereo system, and gas fireplace. The large master bedroom had a queen-sized bed, and opened onto the master bath, which featured a 2 person jetted bathtub, a separate walk-in, 2 person shower on one side, and enclosed toilet on the other side. The “small side” featured a small living room with a sofa bed, TV with DVD/VCR player, and stereo, a kitchenette with a 2 burner stove, over the range microwave, small bar-sized refrigerator, and eating counter, bathroom with 2 person-jetted tub/shower, and a bedroom with a queen-sized bed and TV. Along the wall between the kitchen/dining room and the bedroom in the large side, there was a built-in buffet with drawers and cabinets, a countertop, and mirrors. Along the back of the large side was a huge patio with patio furniture, a gas barbecue grill that was plumbed into the natural gas, and a gorgeous view of the mountains, the golf course, and the huge homes that lined the fairways. Just outside our villa was a playground for the kids. It is an absolutely gorgeous resort and we had it practically to ourselves!

Shana & Ryan have never stayed in a timeshare, so they were blown away. The kitchen is, of course, fully stocked with pots, pans, dishes, glasses, silverware, cooking utensils, toaster, coffeemaker, and the like. I have to say, this was probably the nicest timeshare we have stayed in yet. Our condo in Vegas is new – only a couple of years old – but the rooms are not as big. Also, it’s Vegas – people are there to be somewhere other than their resort, and it shows. At Fairmont, they have scheduled activities all day long, every day; everything from craft activities for the kids, to walks along the meadows in the snow looking for wildlife, to movies every night. Golf is the focus in Fairmont, and a round of golf only takes so long so there have to be activities to occupy the rest of your time, whereas the Vegas Strip is the focus in Vegas and everything revolves around activities on the strip – free shows, dinners, etc. Very little time is actually spent at the condo in Vegas, with the exception of maybe hanging out at the pool in the morning before heading to the strip for dinner and a show or some gambling. Anyway, the resort in Fairmont was awesome.

We set about unpacking and eating a very light lunch, playing in the snow at the playground for a bit, and then decided to just take in the pool on-site that night, leaving the Hot Springs for the next day. We went to the pool about 5 PM. The kids just loved it. Olivia is like a little fish. She could spend all day in the water. Jonathan was like that when he was little. He just never wanted to get out of the pool. To our amazement, Tyler suddenly knew how to “swim”! Well, he dog paddles, and he does so so ferociously that he tires himself out in no time. We tried to teach him to stroke, which he would do for about 10 seconds before reverting to his dog paddle, but he could make it across the width of the pool, which is something he couldn’t do just a few months earlier. There was an outside hot tub, which we all soaked in while snow fell around us for about half an hour. Finally, about 7:00 we headed to the room to have dinner. We had planned to have frozen lasagna for dinner that night. Unfortunately, we didn’t realize it would take almost two hours to cook. By the time it was ready, the kids were almost falling asleep. It was all they could to keep their eyes open while they were eating. The time in the pool had helped tire them both out. They would sleep well that night. We all got a great night’s sleep. The condos are very quiet!
We got up the next morning, had breakfast, then headed to the Suburban for the 3 minute drive to the hot springs. Uh-oh. The Suburban would not start. The battery was dead. This came as quite a shock because the Suburban is so reliable. After not driving it for almost two months, it started right up the morning we headed to Fairmont. We figured something must have been left on. We found one of the resort workers and asked if he had jumper cables. Well, he did, but they were in his other truck. He checked with several people and all had the same story – their cables were in their other vehicle. Finally, one guy dragged out the crustiest, most decrepit set of jumper cables I have ever seen. As he was bringing them to us, one of the connectors fell off. He went to the maintenance closet and managed to reconnect them somehow. We hooked them up to our battery and the battery of one of the maintenance trucks, waited about 10 minutes, and the Suburban started right up! I have to say this – the guys there at the resort were awesome. They went out of their way to help get us started, spending over half an hour locating cables for us and then making sure we got started. We found out the temperature had dipped to -20 Celsius that night – which translates into -4 Fahrenheit. No wonder the Suburban wouldn’t start! There was hoarfrost on everything. It was a beautiful, sunny, cold day. Surprisingly, it didn’t feel THAT cold. It’s very dry there.

We made it to the hot springs and bought day passes so we could go home for lunch, and come back that evening for another round of soaking. The hot springs are the largest odorless hot springs in Canada. There are 3 pools. One is the hot pool with a temperature of about 100 Fahrenheit. It’s almost the size of an Olympic swimming pool, but only about 4 feet deep at its deepest. Then there is the cool pool – a bit warmer than a normal swimming pool. It is Olympic-sized with a maximum depth of 5 feet. Then there is a diving pool that is normal swimming pool warmth and 10 feet deep with high and low dives. It’s about 1/3 the size of an Olympic pool. A day pass cost us, with a discount for staying at the villas, $8.75 CDN, which is about $7 US, per adult. Olivia was about $5.00 and Tyler was free. The steam rising off the water made it impossible to see more than 4 or 5 feet away until a breeze would come along and blow it clear. The steam droplets would cling to your hair and freeze, making it look like we had white feathers in our hair like a feather boa. It was pretty funny to see these strands of hair sticking up coated with hoarfrost on everyone. When we went back that night, the effect was even more dramatic. I had my hair in a ponytail, and I got tons of comments from other people in the pool about how amazing my hair looked in back with all the frost I had on it. It probably coated my hair in a layer about half an inch thick. We had a blast in the hot springs. We went back and forth between the pools, which was exhilarating. After our morning session, we went back for lunch and a nap – the springs relax you so much you just can’t help but take a nap. We went back about 5:30 PM and stayed until 8:30, then came back for soup before bed. The guys were worried about the Suburban dying again, so at 2 AM Ryan got up and started it and let it run a bit, then at 5 Tom got up and did the same (though he had gotten up at 2 as well). It started every time with no problem, even though it had gotten down to -22C/-8F that night. The staff at the resort stopped by to make sure it had started, which was so thoughtful!

At 9:30 AM on Sunday, we took in the spectacular Sunday buffet at the Fairmont Hot Springs Resort restaurant. It was amazing, with made-to-order omelets, made-to-order pasta dishes, the usual array of eggs benedict, sausages, bacon, salads, fresh fruits, meats, fish, cheeses, breads, pastries, and a dizzying array of desserts, coffee, tea, and any kind of juice you wanted. This feast cost us about $14 US for adults, $8 for Olivia, and Tyler was free again. After breakfast, we packed up the Suburban, checked-out, and returned to Sandpoint, arriving back home in just under 4 hours.

It was a terrific weekend, a great time with the kids, super relaxing, and tough to see come to an end. We have decided that we want to spend next Thanksgiving week up there and rent one additional small side for Tommy and his family, take Jonathan along, of course, and just get away for an entire week together. It should be awesome!