Broken Group - Day 4

It's hard to complain with a 4th day with the same weather! It's been sunny every day, the complete opposite of our last trip 3 years ago. We did wake to thick fog that made visibility an issue, but by noon it had burned off.
We moved camp to Gibralter Island and secured the so called honeymoon spot, the one site isolated from the others. After setting up camp, we paddled out to Reek Island which was punctuated by jagged rocks and narrow surge channels.
Another great day! Thanks again to everyone who made this trip possible, you know who you are!
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Broken Group - Day 3

After an evening of socializing with the neighbors, enjoying their hospitality and wine, we awoke to news of a whale in coaster channel. We skipped breakfast and headed out for an early morning paddle. We were rewarded with a school of fish, herded towards us like cattle, while they fipped at the surface of the water. As I watched the whale surface and dive, I was startled when is spy hopped behind me and about 30ft from Willy. Man that boy was as excited as a school girl who just saw justin beiber!
We came back for breakfast and headed back out for the afternoon. We headed for the outermost islands, the ones exposed to the swells from the pacific. It was a bit rough and we listened to our inner voices, or our wives and avoided the worst crossings.
Heading back, the sea fog rolled in, a relief for my arms that at this point looked like neopolitan ice-cream. It was a great day out and I'm lucky to have friends that drag my butt out to do this stuff.
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Broken Group

With the sun peeking through the tall cedars that surrounded the tent we were excited for another day of fine weather. The new growth on the tips of the trees offered a warm glow to the morning. I was also excited for breakfast, SPAM and eggs! The meal also included some Cowboy coffee, with all the fixin's.
After breakfast, Willy was slowed by a stomach bug and sat the day out at camp. Merc and I decided to tour Effingham and Austin, two of the outer islands that are exposed to the Pacific, with the nearest land to the west being Japan. The paddle was highlighted with jagged cliffs, dark narrow sea caves and an arch that we passed under. We then beached on a sandy shore where we ate lunch and laid in the sun like flotsam. Speaking of flotsam, you should see what I came across while hiking the shoreline!
With another day coming to the end, I remain thankful of the opportunity to come out here. Thanks Dora! I'll be home soon to help pack!
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Broken Group

Well, day one and I have to say the weather and company has been awesome! We left from Port Alberni after a night at the Batstar B&B. Fresh fruit muffins, an egg dish (need to try it when I get home!) and fruit was a great start to the day.
We jumped on board the Lady Rose ferry and were off to Seachart, the launch point into the Broken Group. We packed up with room to spare and were off.
Weather was good, blue sky, with a few clouds. We felt awesome, but noticed some whitecaps right away. We were pleasantly surprized to find them enjoyable and relatively easy. The wind slowed progress and we were definitely tired by the end of the day, but it was worth the push. We ended up on Gilbert, one of the outer group islands. I think tomorrow we'll explore the islands out here and return to the same site. Fingers crossed for more of the same,
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A Beautiful Day Part II

Here is a link to the fancam.  Here you can see the 6 of us between acts.  Not much action yet...we were saving all our energy for the real thing.  The show was even better than the real thing.

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It's a Beautiful Day

A couple of years ago for Christmas or birthday - neither of us remember which - my littlest brother bought a family pack of U2 tickets for the show in Edmonton.  I was post-baby fat and breastfeeding and needing some cheer so the news was so very great.  When the concert was delayed due to Bono's back surgery I was so disappointed.  Although, it meant that there was no rush to wean my baby.  I could deal with it.

So a year after the original concert date, with a few different members of our crew we set out for U2.  I had never been to a big name concert before.  I've seen live music and always enjoy it, but a real live super star?  Only in my Hello magazines.  Mom, Jesse and I headed out from Lomah in the morning and stopped to grab Eric in Calgary.  I drove from Calgary to Edmonton and managed to find Kendra and Seth's place without much difficulty.  So awesome that they could join us.  Always nice to see them and have a chance to catch up in person, but they were also our Edmonton chaperons guiding us through Edmonton transit and allowing us to park for free at their place.  Seth even lent me a red shirt.

So after a long day on the road (or teaching - depending on who you were) we were off to see the magic that was U2.  Worried about rain and cold and so damn excited to be going, I skipped all the way UP to our seats.  We were about 10 rows from the top of the stadium.  Perfect birds eye view of everything.  Great seats Eric, thanks again.  The Fray opened and I don't really have much to say about that.  They were good, he was tall and bald.  You could tell how big his feet were from where we were sitting.  They didn't do much to get the crowd moving.  A U2 roadie in a black hoodie had more stage presence.  Oh well.

U2 were late getting to the stage.  Go figure, I always thought that rock stars were punctual.  But I think they were waiting for the sun to go down a bit so their massive light show would be visible and therefore more cool.  It was so surreal to watch them come out to the stage, take their respective positions and then DOMINATE those spaces.  For being so small, Bono could take up a lot of physical space.  He moved around, but was large in his movements.  We could see him and be taken in by him from way up in the cheap seats.  So awesome.  Truly a superstar.

I took a few photos and even video of the first song.  At some point without talking about it we all decided that that was enough sitting and we all stood up and danced for the rest of the concert.  We also sang back up for most of the songs. Why should Bono have all the fun?  It was such a great thing to be a part of with my family and friends.  I only wish that we had taken up more of you with us.  Then it would've been SO good.  Next time.

 The totally expensive, 150 trucks to move "stage".  Very Star Trek...I loved it!!

 Seth and Kendra just before things got started.  And just before Seth's purchase of a hot dog.  "How often do you get to eat a hot dog at U2?" Didn't need to convince me.

 My partners in transportation.  They were most effective at relaying proper merging techniques to a certain Sask driver.  Boy oh boy and I thought I had a runaway mouth in the car.

 So excited!!!  SO VERY EXCITED!!!  Note the red shirt - thanks again Seth.

 Our view, with an extreme zoom on the camera.  Not bad actually.  The ginormous TV screen helped.

The full on light show adventure.  This show kept building and building and building on itself.  I would definitely call that money well spent.  We should totally go together next time they're in town.

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And this is where we're at.

So currently, we are knee and elbow deep in helping my parents renovate their new rental property and our new home while we're building our new house.  It needs a bit of work, so I thought I would post a few pics.  I was waiting till we had our good camera at the house, but the blackberry pics will have to do.

It's been going fine, but there is still a lot of work to do.  Sanding, more sanding, painting and of course there is that whole kitchen thing.
My parents ordered the new kitchen out of Great Falls, MT and it should be ready in a few more weeks.  I think once we get the painting done and the new kitchen in it will look lots better.  Until then, I'll continue with school and everything else.

Oh... I'll have to post as well about my Vegas trip!  Just got back from a conference in Vegas and I must say, what happens in Vegas doesn't always stay in Vegas!

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So this outta be safe

As mentioned in the last post, we needed to sell our house.  This meant painting and cleaning.  The cleaning was apparently a lot easier than the painting.  This whole painting idea involves me pulling off risky 5.10a moves in precarious positions.

Luckily, I had the right protective gear at home.  It's nice to know I can put my climbing equipment to good use!

We spent bits of spare time over two weeks and gave the majority of the house a fresh coat of paint.  The house looked amazing!  Too bad we don't get to enjoy it for long!  We have an offer on the house and we should find out tomorrow if it closes!  Wish us luck!

This does of course mean we need a new place to stay if it closes.  Our new house hasn't even been started, so I guess we're hooped.  Or are we?  I'll elaborate on our plan next.

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More Excuses

As your aware of, we are in the process of moving to Raymond, into a house that we're having designed right now.

Well the work is done... at least we hope so!  There could be a few minor changes, but we think the walls, especially the exterior concrete ones are done.  It is not the easiest thing to build a house and keep it all in perspective.  Size, features, cost... too much for my little brain!  Thank goodness Dora was so competent.  I do have to say, I love the garage!

Here are the final plans, with a possible exterior finish too.

Now that we have settled on a house plan, we can focus on the next issue at hand.  Selling our house.  Oh wait, that's another excuse on it's own!

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What the May? And other Excuses

Well the month of May has been rather hectic and apparently I am in need of an excuse or two so here goes.

Earlier this month Dora and the sister-in-laws had a race in Canmore.  The lot of us packed up our families and headed North to either race or be supportive.  I was lucky to be in a support role as running just doesn't jive with me.  Sorry, it's true for all you die hard runners out there.

The families rented a nice 3 bedroom condo, just off the Safeway and IGA parking lots.  They built a storefront area below with the condos above.  Not the most scenic location, but man was it convenient!  Shopping and town access friendly!

Race day started with a cool chill in the air, not so good when standing still, but not so bad when running.  Dora felt it was necessary to steal as much heat as she could before starting the race.

With the girls running their hearts out, Kevin and I were left with quite the crew!  Six kids, all with the attention span of an ADD teenager on meth and high fructose corn syrup!  We managed OK, but developed an new appreciation for parents with more than two kids!

All the girls finished with times that they were happy with and you can check out the results here.

The next day as we headed home, we took the time for a quick stop at Heart Creek for a quick little hike with the kids.  It was such a different hike now that all the kids are walking.... slowly..... not to mention the need to throw rocks in every spot along the creek.

Turned out to be quite the awesome weekend!  But that's not all we had for distractions!  More to come tomorrow!

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Final Thoughts

I'm sitting in the Lobby of our hotel in San Jose typing out this post on my Blackberry because my computer died on me yesterday.
It's been a great trip with the students and they've been great. I'm a little overwhelmed at times of the extremes of this place.
For one, the beauty and diversity of the ecosystem. I've never seen so much in terms of the living organisms and the unique nature of each. I could have spent days in the jungle looking at the trees and plants, listening to our guides description. The problem was the populations usage of the road for garbage disposal. The last time I saw even close to this much garbage was in France on our Europe trip. I couldn't understand how they could litter so much, my only guess was their socioeconomic status.
This was the second part of the trip that was hard for me. I'm watching the kids fit the tourist description, dropping 15 bucks on pop and ice cream while today on the street I had to give a mother of two my spare change because the sight of her oldest child made me feel ill from the thought of his future prospects.
It's a mix of feelings as I get ready to leave this place and I wonder what the kids are taking back with them. I only hope it makes them more of a human, more of a global citizen.
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Mucho Gusto

As the trip progresses, I’m noticing more and more the difference between the people of Costa Rica and Mexico.  While both groups are nice, the feeling of their genuine nature is less evident in Mexico.  I don’t know if I can put a finger on why this is, but it is definitely there.  Makes the trip that much nicer.

We just finished visiting a biological station called LaSelva and it might be one of my highlights.  For 2hr we wandered through a tropical rainforest, exploring the sights both on the forest floor and above.  I love the diversity and variation in the flora and fauna.

These trees, the walking palm were amazing, the way they used roots rather than a central trunk for footings.  It has a narrow diameter, like 8”, but extends upwards some 50ft plus.  For some trees, the roots that touch the ground are only a centimetre or two.  Image a tree that height supported by such tiny stalks.

I should mention that I ticked off something from my bucket list.  I’ve always wanted to kayak somewhere with warm water.  A place were the idea of a drytop would be ludicrous!  I did it!  I did some talking with the rafting company owner and he let me use his old boat to kayak, a stubby!  For those that don’t know, that was the first boat I ever owned.  How fitting to use it to fulfill a dream.  Here are a few pictures, I even had a professional photographer taking some pictures.

Well, the trip is coming to a close and It’s been fun.  I miss my family and want to see them.  I can’t remember the last time I travelled without family of some sort.  You don’t seem so far away from home when your family is near.  Right now I’m so far way.

See you all soon!

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