Heaven on earth exists and it just so happens to be our family’s friends’ mansion of a cabin in Whistler! Not to brag or anything, but I feel the utmost sorrow for those who will never experience the utter luxury of staying in this blissfully incredible property. Why you may as well move right into that cardboard box down that alley, because you will NEVER live in anything even remotely as incredible as this house. And guess what, since our family friends like me so much (I mean, who wouldn’t?), I am welcome to come here virtually whenever I like!

The cabin being what it is (a.k.a. AMAZING), and our friends being originally from the best state ever (a.k.a. Cali-f*ckin-fornia) tons of tourists flock here every year, no joke, and take pictures thinking this is one of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s (our lovely Govenator’s) houses.

After we arrived at the estate, I hardly thought the day could get any better. And then it did. Sushi is and will always be the best food ever. Well, sushi and crack—but I guess I’m one of the few people who places it in its own food group…But anyway, this restaurant, Samurai Sushi was great and made the day even more unbelievably better than any day you probably have ever or will ever have.

Today was so awesome, there’s really no more for me to talk about. Everything was simply rainbows and butterflies. I apologize, because that means less for your little leech-like souls to absorb. Oh wait, there was just one despicable mention for the day that I can recall…

We went to this lake (I don’t even remember its name, I’ve ripped its loathsome memory from my brain), and I, now overly placated by all the blinding power of the happy-happy-joy-joy of the earlier bits in the day, shoved myself into some swim trunks and dove head first….into the most freezing body of freakin’ yeti bath that you could ever imagine. Can you say, “below zero?” I am still waiting for feeling and color to return to the majority of my extremities. The numbness in my leg has proved quite useful though. Directly after my brief and horrible, shriek-filled stint in the water, I used my left leg to repeatedly bludgeon a nearby tree in order to release my self-hatred.

Now that I’ve got that out of my system, I leave you to the hands of…do I really have to say who?

Toodles!

It is official. Sometime in the near future, perhaps after graduation, I will move to Canada. The scenery is incredible, practically everyone here is beautiful, healthy, kind, and genuinely interesting, and there are some of the best ski slopes here in the world.

The house to which our family friends have been generous enough to invite us is indeed large and extremely tasteful. If they stick with their promise of their open invitation from now on, then in a few semesters, I may actually be writing to you all yet again from this lovely place.

Like I said, the people here have proved to be some of the friendliest I have ever met. Do you recall my story of the family that so unabashedly shared their pizza with me? Today, I met even more of the sweetest individuals. These particular people didn’t do anything overtly generous, as the family from the other day did, yet they all had that same quality of approachability and sheer genuineness that was so endearing.

As we arrived at this lake, I observed that a group of people already busy in various states of play (swimming, boating, etc.) were all over the lake its dock. Desensitized by the cold way in which people in LA usually treat incoming strangers to a public place, I was a little wary of interacting with these people too directly. As is done back home, I kept my distance as much as I could in the small space available on the dock, and avoided acknowledging them. I quickly found that this was not at all how people treat others in Whistler.

Out of the blue, after a dog ran by and leapt into the water, his owner stuck up a conversation with my family and I. Soon after, another man joined in. All the while, strangers were helping other strangers attach their boats safely and carefully to cars, the son of the family with whom we are lodging was having a discussion with a group of men in a speedboat about how fast it could go, and soon the whole lake was filled with the din of happy conversation. Afterward, we exchanged brief introductions with the man with the dog, and after a couple hours of frolicking in the lake, eventually left for the cabin.

I cannot wait to meet even more kind and interesting people here in Canada. It’s such a shame I only have a few more days left.

Tonight, with the help of all seven of us (my sister, my parents, our two family friends, their son, and I), we made a delicious Mexican feast. Okay, it was only tacos, but I helped make the tortillas from scratch. And everything else as well, all the condiments and such, were prepared fresh by all of us. Every member of the two families found something of which to take charge and add to the table. By the time we were ready to eat, there was a long row of bowls containing a variety of meats, veggies and sauces to place in our tortillas. It was some of the most colorful and appetizing food I have ever had the honor of preparing, and the meal couldn’t have been more scrumptious.

Stay tuned for Day 10 of another delightful day of my family road trip to Canada, courtesy of me, and well, me!