Fun at Fernie

I spent my second weekend in Canada in a small city called Fernie which can be found in British Columbia, just beyond the bordering reach of Alberta. Fun facts about Fernie: hitchhiking is prevalent and encouraged by the townsfolk. The population is around 4,000. There do not appear to be any Asians in that population.

The lodge/cabin we were told about turned out to be more like a mansion atop a mountain. Amenities included an outdoor jacuzzi, a fully-stocked kitchen, and two pugs to play with, one of which was blind and would walk into walls and chairs, thereby inducing rounds of simultaneous cringes and "awwws".

I've decided that if and when I ever decide to own a home, the kitchen is going to be by far the most important room. Cooking in this place was, in a word, delightful. I was seriously channeling Rachel Ray as I made myself and a colleague omelets for breakfast on Saturday morning.

The players: green pepper, onion, tomato, Gruyere, bacon, S&P. Yummmm.

We passed the time watching movies (the extended Lord of the Rings films were on the screen in the living room the entire weekend. We'd zone in and out and groan when Legolas said obvious things), stuffing our faces, and playing board games. The first two I'd been expecting...the third, not so much. But as it turns out, one of my colleagues is a complete board game fanatic and had brought a subset of his collection of unique board games. We first played Last Night on Earth, which was a fun struggle between zombie and human players. The second game, pictured above, was called Defenders of the Realm and went along perfectly with LotR in the background - both that and Last Night on Earth were strategy games, similar to Risk but with way more intricacies. The third, Chicago Express, was my favorite. It was an investment game that involved a lot of math (go figure) and sneaky plotting.

We also bought and decorated a Christmas tree for the cabin. You know, to be festive and wasteful with our money, just like the holidays are designed to enable us to be!

I had a superb time in Fernie - it made coming back to work Monday morning all the more painful. I can't picture myself ever living full time in such a small town, but for a weekend getaway it sure hit the spot!