This is a story I must put down, or else I may forget it, and some day I'd like to come back to read of this night, of most amusing occurances.
Mark, Jesse and I decided tonight we would go see the new transformers movie, so we gathered at Jesse's place in Banff before driving to the theatre.
When we left for the movie we debated over who would drive - in a stark contrast from high school, it was an argument over who had to drive instead of who got to drive. Mark lost the battle.
As we pulled into the parking lot, Mark spotted a space by the back. As he was pulling into the space, the vehicle to our right was backing out.
Mark made the mistake of looking over at the driver, who happened to be an attractive young blonde - whom he knew from one of the restaurants in town. She smilled and waved. Of course, Mark being the eternal ladies man, waved back. Totally distracted from the task at hand.
As he waved, his car - recently repaired, drove right up onto the curb!
Way to go Mark! Teach you to wave at girls!
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Paget Peak
Mom says I need to blog more. I figured that the much more regular phone calls would be enough, but nay, I must get on my blogging horse!
This past weekend I challenged another peak in the area. One that I had been unable to summit in years past. (Due to time and members of the party I went with)
Saturday morning came early. I didn't enjoy hearing the alarm going off on a saturday at a time earlier than a regular week day. (I dare not say what time as you all would scoff at me! in my defense - I was out in banff bidding another friend farewell friday night which kept me out quite late!)
So, like I said, early to rise. It wasn't long before I was forcing my body to wake from its slumber as I trudged up a steep mountain trail. And not long after before I was really moving. In a short 50 min, Megan and I had caught up to a group of friends of ours at the old fire lookout, they had left 20 min prior to us!
We continued on from the lookout up an unmarked trail to the peak. This involved a little more work than just walking a steep trail. We had to find a route through the hill of loose rocks. It wasn't long before Megan and I had charged up the mountain. After a short section of true scambling we reached the peak.
We sat down on a ledge, let our feet dangle over the edge and enjoyed the view... All of 30 feet of visibility as a storm had rolled in and we were getting snowed on!
During this time our friend Kirby caught up to us. We took some pics, clebrating our triumph over the mountain and were planning to head back down when the clouds cleared for a second...
We weren't at the summit!
We had a few hundered more metres to go still! We pushed ourselves through the cold wind and snow and reached the true summit. Now we were freezing and made short work of the pictures before heading down the mountain as fast as possible.
Back at the fire lookout we were greeted with... You guessed it.
Sunny skies!
Not 20 min after we reached the summit, there wasn't a cloud in the sky! Gotta love the rockies!
On the way down, Megan and I decided to take a detour over to sherbrooke lake. It added a nice 3km to our trip, but it was great scenery and the weather was clear. If only it was a few degrees warmer and we may have decided to go swimming.
This past weekend I challenged another peak in the area. One that I had been unable to summit in years past. (Due to time and members of the party I went with)
Saturday morning came early. I didn't enjoy hearing the alarm going off on a saturday at a time earlier than a regular week day. (I dare not say what time as you all would scoff at me! in my defense - I was out in banff bidding another friend farewell friday night which kept me out quite late!)
So, like I said, early to rise. It wasn't long before I was forcing my body to wake from its slumber as I trudged up a steep mountain trail. And not long after before I was really moving. In a short 50 min, Megan and I had caught up to a group of friends of ours at the old fire lookout, they had left 20 min prior to us!
We continued on from the lookout up an unmarked trail to the peak. This involved a little more work than just walking a steep trail. We had to find a route through the hill of loose rocks. It wasn't long before Megan and I had charged up the mountain. After a short section of true scambling we reached the peak.
We sat down on a ledge, let our feet dangle over the edge and enjoyed the view... All of 30 feet of visibility as a storm had rolled in and we were getting snowed on!
During this time our friend Kirby caught up to us. We took some pics, clebrating our triumph over the mountain and were planning to head back down when the clouds cleared for a second...
We weren't at the summit!
We had a few hundered more metres to go still! We pushed ourselves through the cold wind and snow and reached the true summit. Now we were freezing and made short work of the pictures before heading down the mountain as fast as possible.
Back at the fire lookout we were greeted with... You guessed it.
Sunny skies!
Not 20 min after we reached the summit, there wasn't a cloud in the sky! Gotta love the rockies!
On the way down, Megan and I decided to take a detour over to sherbrooke lake. It added a nice 3km to our trip, but it was great scenery and the weather was clear. If only it was a few degrees warmer and we may have decided to go swimming.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
the swing
Remember the thrill? The excitement you got when you first got on a swing. When you felt the rushing wind blow past your face as you pumped your feet. Trying to get higher and higher - but yet you were never satisfied. You never reached a point high enoough to think "wow, this is a little too high"
What would you say if I found a swing that brought you to that place and beyond?
I first heard of this swing about a year ago. I heard it was built on the edge of a cliff! It was huge and thrilling! But, noone would tell me where it is.
Only two people I knew, knew where it was, and they decided they wouldn't tell anyone where it was... Well, only one person, and only when they were leaving. They said they wanted to keep it a secret!
Well, what they didn't realize is that my middle name is William, which is actually short for Sherlock Holmes! I paid close attention to what they said, kept an ear to the gound for any clues. But they were good - all I figured out was that it was on the old trans canada aka the 1A.
I used some deductive reasoning - people knew where it was, and had to drive to it = there must be a parking lot...
I knew that more than just the two of them knew about the swing = well trodden trail
I knew there were only so many trails, but it had to be close to a cliff, and parking lot, and there would be a trail.
I figured I'd start my search at Muleshoe.
Now I wasn't the only person who wanted to find this swing. My good friend Jesse (friend from high school) wanted to find it as well, and he has skills only the most experienced young adults have... He uses Facebook! These girls made a huge blunder, they posted pics. He first said you couldn't see anything - to which I told him there must be a mountain we can identify in a pic!
Well, there was. And he figured the trail must be at muleshoe.
So, logically, we were both thinking. Muleshoe - so we started at Muleshoe.
We located a trail, and started hiking. It took us up a steep, well trodden path. (But not a well built path)
Eventually we came to a split, Jesse took the high trail, me the low trail. This is where I looked up to the top of the ridge and saw a bear! Good time to realize I didn't have bear spray on me!
So we chose to walk the low trail. Not 50 metres later we found it!
A huge, massive, super fantstic swing!
I'm talking big, like 30'+ from seat to end of rope. The seat was 5' off the ground! But it wasn't built on the edge of a cliff, but on a really steep hill.
It is imossible to describe the fear that o was rooted in as I stepped up to the swing. Would it hold me? Will I fall? It would really hurt if I fell! That's a long way down! Will that old tree of a cross beam hold under my weight? Ok, so I'm only 165lbs, but still... What if it breaks? How long has it been there? Can I trust it?
Well, there was only one way to find out, a test run.
It took every nerve in my body to convince myself that it might hold, and every muscle in my body to actually let myself swing!
The feeling I went through defies anything I have ever done. At least sky diving I could trust that the guy knew what he was doing, but here, I didn't trust the swing to hold.
But it did, and it sen me way in the air! Probably 60'+ at the peak of the swing!
It was crazy! Nuts! But oh so much fun!
It took a lot of convincing to get cousin Mel to go, but she eventually released herself to it.
I have a few pics, maybe I'll get them up on facebook.
Now, I mentioned a fox and wolf.
So I brought maddy to the swing this past friday, it was our last time to spend together before she move home (actually, she left this morning). But on the way to the swing I saw a red fox not 20' from me, and a Wolf not 50 metres from me on the eay back to the parking lot... Both sightings were in the same spot I saw the bear on the first trip! How odd eh?
Anyway, it's well past me bedtime!
Goodnight!
What would you say if I found a swing that brought you to that place and beyond?
I first heard of this swing about a year ago. I heard it was built on the edge of a cliff! It was huge and thrilling! But, noone would tell me where it is.
Only two people I knew, knew where it was, and they decided they wouldn't tell anyone where it was... Well, only one person, and only when they were leaving. They said they wanted to keep it a secret!
Well, what they didn't realize is that my middle name is William, which is actually short for Sherlock Holmes! I paid close attention to what they said, kept an ear to the gound for any clues. But they were good - all I figured out was that it was on the old trans canada aka the 1A.
I used some deductive reasoning - people knew where it was, and had to drive to it = there must be a parking lot...
I knew that more than just the two of them knew about the swing = well trodden trail
I knew there were only so many trails, but it had to be close to a cliff, and parking lot, and there would be a trail.
I figured I'd start my search at Muleshoe.
Now I wasn't the only person who wanted to find this swing. My good friend Jesse (friend from high school) wanted to find it as well, and he has skills only the most experienced young adults have... He uses Facebook! These girls made a huge blunder, they posted pics. He first said you couldn't see anything - to which I told him there must be a mountain we can identify in a pic!
Well, there was. And he figured the trail must be at muleshoe.
So, logically, we were both thinking. Muleshoe - so we started at Muleshoe.
We located a trail, and started hiking. It took us up a steep, well trodden path. (But not a well built path)
Eventually we came to a split, Jesse took the high trail, me the low trail. This is where I looked up to the top of the ridge and saw a bear! Good time to realize I didn't have bear spray on me!
So we chose to walk the low trail. Not 50 metres later we found it!
A huge, massive, super fantstic swing!
I'm talking big, like 30'+ from seat to end of rope. The seat was 5' off the ground! But it wasn't built on the edge of a cliff, but on a really steep hill.
It is imossible to describe the fear that o was rooted in as I stepped up to the swing. Would it hold me? Will I fall? It would really hurt if I fell! That's a long way down! Will that old tree of a cross beam hold under my weight? Ok, so I'm only 165lbs, but still... What if it breaks? How long has it been there? Can I trust it?
Well, there was only one way to find out, a test run.
It took every nerve in my body to convince myself that it might hold, and every muscle in my body to actually let myself swing!
The feeling I went through defies anything I have ever done. At least sky diving I could trust that the guy knew what he was doing, but here, I didn't trust the swing to hold.
But it did, and it sen me way in the air! Probably 60'+ at the peak of the swing!
It was crazy! Nuts! But oh so much fun!
It took a lot of convincing to get cousin Mel to go, but she eventually released herself to it.
I have a few pics, maybe I'll get them up on facebook.
Now, I mentioned a fox and wolf.
So I brought maddy to the swing this past friday, it was our last time to spend together before she move home (actually, she left this morning). But on the way to the swing I saw a red fox not 20' from me, and a Wolf not 50 metres from me on the eay back to the parking lot... Both sightings were in the same spot I saw the bear on the first trip! How odd eh?
Anyway, it's well past me bedtime!
Goodnight!
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
a life of organized chaos
Wow! It's been over a month since my last posting! Where did the time go? Where do I start to tell you about the last month? What happened in the last month? Craziness!
I guess may started with the end of the ski season. What a fun time. Enjoying the sun, the soft snow, and skiing in a sweater! It was loads of fun, especially talking to friends about the exciting summer coming up.
I actually missed the last day of the ski season. Why would I do such a thing? Were 38 days on the hill in one year too much? Well, no. It was just that the person I was supposed to ski with bailed on me, and I was invited to go somewhere else... That place was Paintballing!
Oh ya!
What better way to kick off summer than by shooting all of the security department in some "friendly" war games! It was great!
I could talk about this much longer, but it's late and I'd like to get to bed soon, and typing on a blackberry doesn't go so fast!
So, on to the next big event!
May long weekend took me on a trip to sights unseen by me before. A small town known as Whistler! Apparently they plan to hold a large international sporting competition there next year?? Maybe it will be something like what brought me there. The annual fairmont western regional hockey tournament!
We totally rebuilt the hockey team for this event. We trimmed the fat, so to speak. We went with a sceleton team of 9 players (no goalie). We picked up a local goalie and took to the ice with what came to be known as "the dominators"
Well, not really.
We had a rough time with the first game - tied at half we pulled things together for the final stretch to win 6-1.
That night we cruised the downtown of whistler. It was interesting, I like the set-up, as it has a large pedestrian street where all the shops, restaraunts and bars are, but I like the feel of banff more. Less city folk. Anyway, we called it early (1am) as we had a game at 8am
That game was a total blow out. 11-1. We really took it to them! Then we wrapped up the final game of the round robin with a 3-3 tie. Actually, we almost lost as we were losing 3-1 with 10 min to go. I think we were just a little tired from the late night, early morning.
That night was supposed to be the party night... I went for the free food and then went to bed early.
The next day we were up early again, this time for golf! We got ourselves booked onto the #1 course in canada! We had enough time to play 10 holes before it was time to play hockey.
You might think how lucky I was to be there - but - I got sick that morning. I suspect it was food poisoning from that free food! I was in rough shape, but still played.
We changed the lines a little, and destroyed B pool 2nd place team 11-3 in this semi final game, setting us up for the finals against the winner of hotel van and banff springs ( we have a bit of a rivalry with banff as they play against us in the banff league )
We were hoping for banff, but they lost to hotel van (the team we tied 3-3 with in the round robin. The final was to be played the next morning at 9am.
So, I went back to the hotel hoping to finish my round of golf. That didn't happen. My stomach was not happy and I was in bed at 4pm, I got out at 8:30 to get some ginger ale, but got right back to bed and slept through the night. I was hurting!
But that didn't stop me from playing in the finals. Another line change and we were set to take hotel vancouver on! Oh, and one of our players dropped out so we were down to 8 skaters!
They took an early lead, but we tied it up and took a 3-1 lead, then they tied it up, so we took a 4-3 lead, just for them to tie it up again. So we took a 6-4 lead... Just for them to tie it up again... Finally we said enough was enough and we took a 9-6 lead. This time we held onto it and we won the game 9-7.
This marked the first year that lake louise won the tournament, the first year banff wasn't in the finals, and only the second time that banff hasn't won the tournament. (13 wins)
We were quite happy.
Some would even say exstatic!
We rejoiced in the streets... Ok, we didn't, but we held that trophy high!
Anyway, that is the end of that adventure, and it's time for bed, but soon I will update you with more stories. Tales from a youth camp retreat, softball, walking at the lake, meeting new friends, sneaking into abandoned mines, showering under waterfalls, swinging on a massive swing and spotting a bear, fox and wolf from the trail to said swing... But that all must wait until my fingers feel like typing again.
Miss you all back home!
I guess may started with the end of the ski season. What a fun time. Enjoying the sun, the soft snow, and skiing in a sweater! It was loads of fun, especially talking to friends about the exciting summer coming up.
I actually missed the last day of the ski season. Why would I do such a thing? Were 38 days on the hill in one year too much? Well, no. It was just that the person I was supposed to ski with bailed on me, and I was invited to go somewhere else... That place was Paintballing!
Oh ya!
What better way to kick off summer than by shooting all of the security department in some "friendly" war games! It was great!
I could talk about this much longer, but it's late and I'd like to get to bed soon, and typing on a blackberry doesn't go so fast!
So, on to the next big event!
May long weekend took me on a trip to sights unseen by me before. A small town known as Whistler! Apparently they plan to hold a large international sporting competition there next year?? Maybe it will be something like what brought me there. The annual fairmont western regional hockey tournament!
We totally rebuilt the hockey team for this event. We trimmed the fat, so to speak. We went with a sceleton team of 9 players (no goalie). We picked up a local goalie and took to the ice with what came to be known as "the dominators"
Well, not really.
We had a rough time with the first game - tied at half we pulled things together for the final stretch to win 6-1.
That night we cruised the downtown of whistler. It was interesting, I like the set-up, as it has a large pedestrian street where all the shops, restaraunts and bars are, but I like the feel of banff more. Less city folk. Anyway, we called it early (1am) as we had a game at 8am
That game was a total blow out. 11-1. We really took it to them! Then we wrapped up the final game of the round robin with a 3-3 tie. Actually, we almost lost as we were losing 3-1 with 10 min to go. I think we were just a little tired from the late night, early morning.
That night was supposed to be the party night... I went for the free food and then went to bed early.
The next day we were up early again, this time for golf! We got ourselves booked onto the #1 course in canada! We had enough time to play 10 holes before it was time to play hockey.
You might think how lucky I was to be there - but - I got sick that morning. I suspect it was food poisoning from that free food! I was in rough shape, but still played.
We changed the lines a little, and destroyed B pool 2nd place team 11-3 in this semi final game, setting us up for the finals against the winner of hotel van and banff springs ( we have a bit of a rivalry with banff as they play against us in the banff league )
We were hoping for banff, but they lost to hotel van (the team we tied 3-3 with in the round robin. The final was to be played the next morning at 9am.
So, I went back to the hotel hoping to finish my round of golf. That didn't happen. My stomach was not happy and I was in bed at 4pm, I got out at 8:30 to get some ginger ale, but got right back to bed and slept through the night. I was hurting!
But that didn't stop me from playing in the finals. Another line change and we were set to take hotel vancouver on! Oh, and one of our players dropped out so we were down to 8 skaters!
They took an early lead, but we tied it up and took a 3-1 lead, then they tied it up, so we took a 4-3 lead, just for them to tie it up again. So we took a 6-4 lead... Just for them to tie it up again... Finally we said enough was enough and we took a 9-6 lead. This time we held onto it and we won the game 9-7.
This marked the first year that lake louise won the tournament, the first year banff wasn't in the finals, and only the second time that banff hasn't won the tournament. (13 wins)
We were quite happy.
Some would even say exstatic!
We rejoiced in the streets... Ok, we didn't, but we held that trophy high!
Anyway, that is the end of that adventure, and it's time for bed, but soon I will update you with more stories. Tales from a youth camp retreat, softball, walking at the lake, meeting new friends, sneaking into abandoned mines, showering under waterfalls, swinging on a massive swing and spotting a bear, fox and wolf from the trail to said swing... But that all must wait until my fingers feel like typing again.
Miss you all back home!
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