Two Hundred and Seventeen Days Later...

Well in case you haven't heard, I am home! I arrived in Smithers late Sunday night after 5 days of being back in Canada. The trip from the Vancouver airport to the parents house is a blur of highway, high fives, and home cooked meals. After traveling 27 hours from Geneva Switzerland, through New Jersey and Houston to Vancouver I finally set foot on Canadian soil. I could have kissed the ground I was so excited except I had a hour delay at the baggage pick up because "there is a belt problem with one of the belts." So after racing all my baggage out the door I was greeted by the most beautiful express of man love possible.

Yeeaaahhhhh Booooyyyyzzzzzzieeesss

After reuniting with my Brother and two best friends Clayton and Josh (pictured above) I trying to get some sleep at my Aunty and Uncles in Surrey. (Aunty if you are reading this, I am still thinking about those cinnamon buns you made! So good, thank you!) The next day we where off to Whistler for the day. I saw the last of the Olympic Spirit being taken down and packed away which reminded me I still haven't seen the gold metal game! After Whistler it was back to Surrey for a good nights rest then on to Kamloops the next morning. After spending another very busy day with relatives - some old cousins and a very familiar room at my grandparents - we were off to Banff.

Sea to Sky

If you are getting confused just reading this imagine how I felt doing all this after 7 plus months overseas and jet lagged. So after spending a night in Canmore with Conor and Bianca it was on to the last and probably most busy town on the list - Edmonton. First and foremost I want to apologies to all the people I told I was coming to visit and never ended up seeing - you know who you are. Being back at the old roomies place I realized nothing has changed, Danks still playing Call of Duty, Brad still needs me to drive him home from Whyte, Tim still making sweet things out of wood and Trev still hasn't got an Edmonton number! But I wouldn't change those guys for the world. As much as I knock the city of Edmonton there is something about that place that makes me happy, I know its not the landscape, or the busyness, or even the lifted Fords that keeps bringing me back but the awesome friends I have there. It was 1400 km out of the way but it was totally worth visiting even just for 24hrs. So to all my friends in Oil County sometime this summer get on the Yellowhead and follow it west until Yellich Rd. Its only one right turn to my house alright so what is your excuse?!?!?!

The Big Easy

On wednesday everyone got out on the ocean to do some surfing and spend some quality time with the salt water. We spent a few hours in Tofino before we heading off planning to go back to Gabriola Island, but a phone call from Dan changed things. We headed upwards towards Campbell River to see the man. Got in late and spent some bonding time and hung out for a while, had a good time before we all parted ways for a while. In the morning we headed back down to Naniamo to pick up one of Bianca's roommates/bff's from the airport. So the 5 of us were down in Naniamo and had to hit up The Big Easy, a music festival just outside Naniamo. We showed up and met up with Clayton and his bud's and saw some good sets. Classified, Protest the Hero, and Thrice were all headlining. Those shows were sick, it was a small crowd so you could get so close and get some good moshing going on. Then had to ditch the Thrice concert early to make the 1115 ferry back to the Island. And the only way we were going to do that was to hope the fence and get over the bank to the car, it seemed like a good plan until we realized that the other side of the ditch was covered in thorns and barbwire. So we bailed/rolled down through it all, all of the guys were screaming in pain. The girls were all fine and dandy, cause apparently 5 feet over was this nice thorn-free dirt slide. Haha, our bad!

Tourist's in Tofino

Got up bright and early to peace out of Gabriola to hit up Tofino. The drive was pretty slow and boring, lots of road construction and crazy windy turns. We rolled around just before noon and Josh and Kev rented some surf boards and wetsuits from a surf shop. Then it was time to hit up some waves, well at least for Kevin and Josh. Bionca and I hung out on the beach in the sunny 25+ weather, working on our handstands or something super legit like that. After the surf sesh was over it we drove and around and saw some sites around the coast, really cool and beautiful. But we had a small problem, we needed a place to crash. But we noticed this ol' loggin road outside Tofino and decided some good ol' fashioned camping was in order. Had a really solid night, acoustic beats outside the campfire, a great supper and stuff. Haha and then... in the morning we woke up and found an unpleasant "chocolate treat" under our tent, haha, yea it was what you are thinking. But enough of that, it was a really awesome day in Tofino to say the least.

Photo credits for this one belong to the Romanian Gypsie.

Gabriola Island Excursion

Leaving Whistler is alway such a bitter/sweet feeling, and this time was no different. It sucks to leave such an epic place full of good memories but know what lies ahead helps alot. After picking up Josh and tying up a few loose ends up we headed south down the freshly paved Sea to Sky highway. Missing the 1250 ferry by only a few minutes we caught the next one and did the frequent trip across to Vancouver Island. Once in Naniamo we took another quick ferry to gabriola to meet or gypsi driver, Bianca Boconcea. Organic and Eco freindly are two words that sum up the just of that place. We got there and our "driver" took us to this super legit lil place by the ocean, we watched the sunset and hungout. Then later we detoured over to this restaurant called The Surf, and coinsidently it was acoustic Wednesday. Josh was stoked to say the lest. We hung out and met some cool locals and heard some great songs. Then packed 'er in at Bianca's parents place. It was a solid night with morning, the exception of Josh and his night terrors/sleep-yelling "YEAAAAA BOOOYYYZZZZ" at 230 in the morning, turns out he just meet these cool people in a hotel, in his dream. Haha, it was a good day.

The Whistler Experience

Well, the Whistler Experience was in full effect today. After having a pretty decent welcoming into the resort town yesterday were finally in for some good times. Had breakfast at this small French Crepe shop witch was super delish (This is getting me stoked for European food and cuisine). Josh and Marli came along so it was just like last summer for those kiddies. After a filing Nutella Crepe, we were off to do some gnar shredding on the famous Whistler mountain. I was super pumped, although I have lived in Smithers my entire life I have never been full on mountain biking. So this was defiently a interesting start to that. I had to rent some gear and stuff, (F.Y.I. Whistler is NOT CHEAP!) but we were up and shredding in no time. Josh and Kev gave me the rundown on whats what in mountain biking and I figured I got 'er down. Haha, I had no idea what I was in for. Second turn on the very first run of the day I ate it hard, slammed my toe into something not very soft and almost cried infront of the cool kids, not fun. But later I started to get the hang of things and was able to keep up for the most part. And then we had some lunch and met one of the guys' women friends who loved to shred, which was dope. I thought I would have to be in competiton with her but I soon gave up and let her just blow by me. She could shred hardcore! After the day was nearing the end, I was doneski's. The hill "kicked my butt" to quote Kevin. But it was super awesome and something new, going to have to giv'er again sometime soon. Then the fam spent some bonding time together you could say, we did the new Peak2Peak Gondola trip, it was pretty sweet, nothing to crazy special, but at least we can say that we've been there and done that. Basically that was that, day one of the holiday is in the bag. I have a feeling this is going to be a good trip in BC, if I can make it threw in one piece.

Hello Whistler

Technically the euro-trip doesn't begin until next tuesday, but the family is down in Whistler for a few days and then Kevin and I are off to the Island and Van-city for a few more days. We left Smithers bright and early this morning, the drove was sprinkled with some sunshine which was a pleasant surprise. Arrived in Whistler past supper and checked into our hotel, Nita Lake Lodge. Its a super legit, super-duper, fancy smanshy hotel. We had Marli hook us up with a discount rate on the rooms, so that was sweet. We toured around the Village and had a solid meal at The Keg and then packed it in for the night. Oh and Kevin went out on a bro-date with Josh this evening, I think Marli is chaperoning it, so they should be on their best behavior.