Nova Scotia Summer 2012 Trip #1

Alright, only like a month late, but here we go. Rather than going chronological like I did the Vancouver trip, I'll just focus on certain topics and try not to rant for too long. So, after a long red eye flight to Halifax, plus a delay due to fog, I finally met up with C Mac and CM in Hali. Took a much needed power nap in the early afternoon, and then hit the city for a meal and some casino action. What a way to start my vacation too; I sat down at the texas hold'em bonus table game with $100 and walked away with $170! It was a sign of things to come! A great first night in the city with some great people.

Next morning, C Mac and I headed up to Antigonish, my hometown. Back when I lived in Nova Scotia, driving to Halifax seemed to take forever, what a long two to two and a half hour drive it was. But after living in northern Alberta, I believe my perspective has changed. Driving the six to eight hours to Grande Prairie or Edmonton on a regular basis makes that Halifax drive look puny. Time flew by and before we knew it, we were in the Nish! The first day was pretty epic. We got into town around noon. I got to see family for a bit and then went to kick around the soccer ball with some old buddies; work out the rust before the big game that night.

That first night back, I was lucky enough to play a season game with my old soccer club. I was looking forward to this moment for months. I didn't realize how much I love competitive soccer until I moved up to northern Alberta where recreational soccer was a struggle. The game that night was great too because we were playing another Antigonish team, so I could catch up with some other individuals that I knew well from back home. I had to play the first half playing goalie (my old position from my youth. I didn't do too bad, no goals allowed!) but I finally got to play out during the second half. Thinking about it now is making me miss it yet again. I look forward to the day when I get to play on a competitive team again. A bonus, we ended up winning the game 2-1! Here's some pics from the game:

Little brother goes in on goal

Stuck in nets, taking a goal kick. Getting under that ball!

Second half, taking a corner kick, placing it in the box.

Trying to get a touch on a bouncing ball

Challenging for the ball

I know it's been a while since I've posted. I do have quite a few posts to write to update everything from the summer. Just hard to do when you're such a busy guy. Enjoy folks!

The Busy Life

Hello all,
Yes, it has been a while. There is still lots I want to fill people in on. Life has been extremely busy though. As mentioned before, I went home for a couple weeks to Nova Scotia, E had joined me later on there. We then both went to Ontario to visit her family. I will fill everyone in on the details with each trip in time, I'm just getting everything on my laptop now. I got back to Fort Vermilion the day before work started; then a week later I was back in the classroom with the students! During the first week of prep, plan and train, E and I also  moved to a new apartment. A little smaller, but much nicer! Right beside the school too, bonus! I'm now getting back into the swing of things with school, seeing old faces and new, coaching cross country, doing other school athletics responsible things. I'm excited to share a bunch of tales, videos and pictures, but like a doctor, you'll need 'patients'.

The Trip Continues...

Two weeks in Nova Scotia down. E is now with me, and we're off to see her family in Ontario for a week. A hectic two weeks of adventure here in NS, time for a lil RnR at Lake Simcoe for a bit! I'll fill everyone in on everything once I make it back to the wild wild west. So long for now!

On The Road Again. Nova Scotia bound!

Once again, I'm travelling. I'm starting to like this whole summers off thing....y'know, not having to work a part time job forty hours a week. Complete freedom. I'm heading home to Antigonish, Nova Scotia. I'm hoping to travel home twice a year, once at Christmas, once during the summer. I'm not sure how often I'll be able to keep doing that, but I'll try.

I have lots of things planned for this trip and have lots of spare time to do other unexpected things. On the agenda is:

Family (obvi).

Play lots of soccer. Play on my old competitive team, go to their practices, play with the summer pickup soccer society through STFX university.

Watch lots of soccer. Can't wait to watch my younger sister play, as well as a couple other teams that have players I coached in the past.

Eat Wheel pizza....anyone familiar with Antigonish knows this spot.

Go to the Halifax casino with C Mac.

Eat Boyd's seafood.....mmm....fish and chips, best spot to get it!

Spend lots of time at 'The Rocks'. A spot cemented in my childhood. Located at Cribbons beach, I would spend my summer there with family and friends snorkeling, swimming and jumping off huge rock formations into the ocean (video below).
Have a beach party/bonfire with some quality individuals in my life.

Play ultimate frisbee...can't wait to play some pickup ultimate frisbee with the STFX summer society

Do geocaching....and lots of it!

Make geocaches...in particular an underwater one at The Rocks.

Go to wing night at the Pub.

Watch lots of Olympics, go Canada go!

Stay in shape.

Do some canoeing/kayaking in the area. In particular, would love to do some out by The Rocks, as well as in Gasperaux Lake, which is my home out in the county.

Test out my brother's new four-wheeler.

Watch UFC 150, Ben Henderson vs. Frankie Edgar II, preferably at a BP.

See some old staff at SuperStore.

Play some Settlers of Catan with folks.

Go for a round of golf with some family...would love to play one of the beautiful courses on Cape Breton Island.

Catch up with people I haven't seen in a while.

Have fun, enjoy myself, and live the two weeks to the fullest!

As mentioned before, here is a video of me and my cousins when we were younger fooling around on 'The Rocks'. Now you have an idea of why we spent our whole summers here and the kind of joy it brought us. This was back in early teens, hence the bad video quality. Enjoy!

Kayaking on the Boyer River

I mentioned before that I randomly came across a situation where I was able to try kayaking up here in Fort Vermilion. GT also offered his kayaks to me any time in the future, which was great. So I took him up on his offer. I took SK, a first year teacher from High Level out with me. The first thing I noticed was how much the water level dropped in the past couple of weeks. This made the current much faster, whereas the previous time I was out, it felt more like kayaking on a lake. What a workout it was! Kayaking fifteen minutes upstream, we could still look back and see where we launched from.

We got to our first set of rapids. The last time was a cinch going through here. This time, there was no way we could get through. So we landed on the island and walked our kayaks through the rapids. We were on our way again! After a total of two hours of kayaking, we reached another set of rapids. Knowing better this time around, we went straight for the island. This was a nice little peaceful spot for us to turn around.

The kayak downstream was calm and very relaxing. It was great to lay back, have a drink and just enjoy being in the middle of nowhere surrounded by water, trees and wildlife. Going through the second set of rapids was fun, especially knowing how hard it was trying to get through them. As soon as we got through them, I was drawn to a certain side of the river, and I wasn't quite sure why. I just kept staring at the treeline, almost expecting something to happen. Then I saw it, a black bear! It was a young one, probably three years old give or take a year. I got SK's attention and we waited. The black bear then stood on its hind legs above the bush line, spotted us and then hightailed it. We could hear it crashing through the forest. What an experience coming close to a bear while kayaking.

It was a great kayak. I can't wait to get back on the water somewhere. Buying my own kayaks is now on my agenda. We'll see whether or not I'll get it by September or if I'll have to wait til next summer.

Here's The Video!

Vancouver Trip Part III

Thursday was the day we started our trip to Whistler. AD has family on his other side who have a condo in Whistler. We were fortunate enough to use it for the night. JB had always to climb Stawamus Mountain, also known as ‘The Chief’ which is right on the edge of Squamish BC. JB heard it was a decent climb, a couple hours. So, we packed up a bottle of water, gato and the camera, then JB, AD and I were on our way. The first five minutes were nice, like walking through some of the flat tree filled trails back home…and then the stairs came. After those first five minutes, it was nothing but uphill, and very steep! We had to take many breaks on the way up to make sure we didn’t get too dehydrated; only two drinks for three people, how silly! Our first break was along a small bridge overlooking a tiny waterfall. While we were resting up, we decided to search for a geocache in the area, to which JB found, her first one.

After that break, we continued up…..and up…..and up. There were lots of stairs, rocks, trees and steep inclines. This is the kind of hiking I LOVE to do. It was a workout the whole time. About 15-20 minutes from the top is when the terrain changed from trails through a forest to climbing mountainous rock face. We had to use the guidance of chains and ladders to help us continue to ascend. The view from the top was everything I expected and more. The drive from Vancouver to Whistler (Sea to Sky Highway) is gorgeous, but nothing compared to the view from the second peak of The Chief.  While we were at the top, we had a little picnic, found another geocache (props to AD for finding) and then started our descent down the mountain. Unbelievable hike; can’t wait to do something similar next summer. Here are some videos and pics from the hike!

Used the helmet cam for this one. I think the YouTube editing made this a little wonky though. I was wanting to use the camera from this point until we got to the top (about ten minutes more), but I misread the camera's battery life and it was actually dead.  :(  I will be more prepared I'm doing more hiking in the area!

Here is the view from the top!

It started off nice and easy......

...but then the stairs came.

JB and AD taking a break by the waterfall

The terrain we hiked.

Found a nice lookout halfway up.

Nearing the top, time for some chains!

Me and AD at the top of second peak. What a view!

JB found a comfy spot.

After leaving Squamish, we continued to Whistler where we got settled in the condo for the night. Went for a dip in the pool, watched a little Jeopardy and Big Brother, and then headed out for supper. We ate at a nice little restaurant in Whistler village, checked out some Olympic monuments, picked up some ice cream from Cows, and hit up a pub for some drinks and darts before our big event for the evening…the midnight showing of The Dark Knight Rises! What a movie. It contends with The Dark Knight for best Batman. I don’t want to really say too much on it and spoil the movie for anyone. I can’t wait to see it again.

Friday morning we had planned on going kayaking on Lake Alta in Whistler, but the rain put a damper on those plans L So, we headed back to Burnaby a little earlier. AD, JB and I hit up the driving range for a while. I got a few tips from AD to help get rid of my nasty slice I have, especially off the tee with my driver. We quickly rushed back to the house after for me and my aunt BD to head downtown for supper with another one of my cousins, ED. It was actual nice and relaxing to be walking downtown (I know, hypocritical/oxymoron, right?) and catching up with ED. After a nice supper of chicken fajitas at a sports pub, we headed back to the house for a nice relaxing evening. We had the whole family there along with JB, MD’s gf G and AD’s bud N (again, sorry for the abbreviations).  We played Pictionary, Taboo and Scattergories. It was a fun night with lots of laughs and good times. It is what I would consider quality time spent together; doesn’t always have to be elaborate or expensive. When you’re around the right kind of people, it doesn’t matter what you do, it’ll be well worth it. After board games, AD, MD and I headed downstairs and wrapped up the night with some Tiger Woods, MarioKart and Goldeneye. A great finish to a great trip.

So, in a nutshell, that was my very short trip to Vancouver. I am already looking forward to my next trip out west next summer. That is one good thing about moving to Alberta, I am able to connect more with these quality individuals in my life who I love and adore.

Vancouver Trip Part II

We continue with Wednesday, July 18th. I do believe this was the day we went out to eat at Whitespot for lunch. According to AD, it's the most British Columbian restaurant you can eat at. Great food.

That afternoon, AD, JB, MB and I went to a local park to play some tennis. Me and AD played one game, not a set, but a game (to four points or whatever, y'know, after the whole 40-30 mark) for about twenty minutes. We must've had fifteen deuces. After that, we played a couple doubles matches with AD and myself taking on the B siblings. Very even play, very matched. After finishing up, JB, MB and myself played around with the soccer ball for a bit before we decided to go back to B's place to rest/watch the TFC game. That afternoon was wonderful and reminded me of home; getting together with a couple good folks and doing something active and fun. One of the things I miss most...

Thanks to one of AD's buddies, I was very fortunate to go to the Vancouver Whitecaps/LA Galaxy game that night. I was wanting to see if it matched up with the atmosphere of the TFC game I went to a couple years back. 21,000 fans were in that building that night (I had originally heard 35,000, but I guess those were teh tickets available?). It didn't feel as 'homey' as BMO field does, but that was one of the downfalls AD mentioned about moving the team to BC Place. The fans definitely seemed to be a bit rowdier at BMO as well, but maybe that was because I was near the supporter section.

Play wise, I was amazed at the level of these guys; in particular watching David Beckham play. I always knew the guy was good, but he was so fluid, so sure with his feet. He may not have the cardio like he used to, especially being around a bunch of young guys, but with his talent you don't have to work hard, just smart. It puts things in perspective too. If he isn't a star in the EPL (English Premier League)/not good enough to play on the top teams there, how good does that make those players? Imagine watching Lionel Messi or Christiano Ronaldo in person. How scary good are they?

The game was great, Vancouver came out and dominated the first half. I don't know the team that well, but one player that jumped out at me was midfielder Barry Robson. He had one hell of a game, both his level of play and the quality of his chances he was getting. Even scored a goal too. Galaxy took control in the second half though, dominating possession, chances and then finally capitalizing on two goals in the final ten minutes. We were lucky, all four goals were scored on the same net that we were right behind.

Here's some pics and vids from the game. It was a great night out, and the one thing I had requested to AD we do on my trip.

David Beckham free kick:

Vancouver Whitecaps vs. LA Galaxy:

Great pressure and scoring opportunities by the Galaxy; David Beckham corners:

Team Entrances:

Dodging a tackle:

David Beckham Free Kick:

Barry Robson with a crack on net:

Beckham and Robbie Keane:

Me and AD:

Vancouver Trip Part III, the Finale coming soon! Check your local movie theater for listings!