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September 06, 2006 ( Wednesday, September 06, 2006 ) Okay, this past month has been insanely busy so I'm going to write in big chunks starting with my trip to Toronto TORONTO So, the toronto trip wasn't as much fun as I had planned. Mostly because the reason I was going was to see a Sarah Slean show (since she moved to Paris, they've been few and far between!). I was really excited up until the day before when I found out that the concert was cancelled. Pooey. I actually tried to cancel my flight but it was too late. In the end I was glad that I went because I did have fun, it was just a bummer to not get to go to the show. The flight to Toronto was good, although it was right after the terrorist bust so the security was a bit in depth. People pulling peanut butter and salsa out of their bags...it was funny! I managed to navigate the subway without getting (too) lost. The day after I got there I spent at the mall just shopping. I bought a lot of new clothes and some gifts for family. Then I went to Queen St. and walked around which was a lot of fun, even if I was by myself. I like exploring that city, there are so many little shops and places to go. I went to Mountain Equipment Co-op which is like Ikea for outside people (www.mec.ca) I bought...well...a lot. I couldn't help it. That night Nicole, Miguel, and I just sort of hung out until it was time for bed. On Thursday we were supposed to be going to London to see the sarah show but we decided to go to the Toronto Zoo instead. It was really really fun! Lot's of funny animals (and cute ones!). We made lots of fun of the camels and llamas. It was a long day since it took like an hour and a half just to get there. That night Miguel made really really good thai food. On friday Andrea and I went to Kensington Market which was really cool. It's like Nelson in the art/hippy/funky way. Lots of fun stores (Annalise, you'd be in heaven there!) That night a bunch of us went for dinner at a really good (REALLY GOOD!) vegetarian restaraunt. Then we went to an Aids releif benefit concert. Really good Toronto talent (http://www.myspace.com/lindimusic , http://www.myspace.com/emmalee , http://www.myspace.com/alexandraslate were my favourites). By the time the concert was over it was nearly 2am so we just went home. Saturday Nicole, Miguel, and I went for a picnic on Toronto Islands. It was kinda blah weather but it was still fun. That night we went to see a concert (cd release party) by an awesome band called The Bicycles (www.thebicycles.ca). It was so much fun! Every song they had a new guest singer/player come up and play with them. It was a nice way to end the week. The next morning I had to make my way back to the airport and then Calgary (I almost missed my flight). Scott met me in Calgary so we could go to Ikea to shop for our new place (more on that later). All in all it was a good trip. Bike Trip 2006 So the bike trip came and went really quickly! The first day was simple just a 2 hour ride from Cranbrook to Kimberley. It was a nice way to start out the trip. The campsite was really nice. Scott and Erin met us for dinner at Kelsey' s before went to bed early. The next day was...an adventure. We started off really well which was really deceiving. We made about 40km in 2 hours which is really good. Then the hills started. And they didn't stop. Around 4:00pm we had already bike about 75km and we had hit the wall. We didn't know what to do. We were tired, hungry, and it was getting to be stressful always thinking you're near the top and never reaching it. A guy named Mike pulled up (we were on a deserted logging road so this was truly a once in a lifetime chance!) and asked if we were alright. Megan looked very distressed and he ended up giving us a a lift down to Nelson. We'd still be up there to this day if he hadn't come along. We were still like 60km from Nelson. oops, I overshot that day. Along the way Mike told us that his friend in Nelson (he's from Canmore) sold his buisness for literally millions of dollars (around 20) and they were going to fly his plane to the coast to go surfing. We offered to pay for gas but he wouldn't let us so we agreed to go for a drink later that night. Megan and I checked into the hostel which was really really nice (i'm constantly impressed by Canadian Hostels, I really recommend them to anyone). We showered and then ate at the Outer Clove which was awesome. We ended up going for margaritas with Mike and his friend, Mike. They were really really nice guys and they even told us to call them next time we're in Canmore. Friday was a short ride but a long day. We started out a bit late since we only had to go 47km. We met the Neslon Society for Community Living who invited us for breakfast. When we got there we had to pose for 2 different newspapers. I was just starting to get a cold so I tried to answer their questions with what voice I had left. After staying for a bit we walked around Nelson and window shopped (we both want to go back and SHOP). When it was time to leave we discovered that Megan's lock was stuck and she couldn't get it undone. We ended up getting a bolt cutter and cutting it off. We left it as a memento. The ride was pretty short that day but really really hot. Highway riding is fast but it's a lot hillier and a lot hotter. We were an hour later than we pegged but we made it by 4:00. We stopped into a group home in Castlegar who had invited us for coffee. They made amazing cinnamon buns for us. Then it was off to the campground. Early bedtime again. Saturday was the most fun day for me. It was also the most physically draining day. It started off good, we were on the trail by 9. After about 2 minutes we saw our first animal. A baby black bear. Megan was scared (so was I, but I pretended I wasn't). We didn't see the mom but we pedaled away pretty fast. Along this trail (an old railbed called the Columbia and Western Railway) there are really neat things to see. There were about 9 trestle bridges that were like 60 ft high. There were also about 8 tunnels to go through which were really really cool. One was about 1km long and it took us probably 10 minutes to walk through. You couldn't see the other end. All you could see were tiny little headlamps bobbing along. We suffered that day because we didn't stop for a break to eat. I ended up hitting the wall and made us stop. The last 40km were all downhill and we kicked it up and just raced our way to Christina Lake. Christina Lake itself was an adventure. We ended up staying at a motel because I was too tired to pedal around to find a campground. The motel owner was drunk when we got there (it was 4:30). She was really really bossy, she made us drink gatorade that she made, pretty much forced us to shower, and we couldn't pay until we had eaten. She was just nuts. She yelled at Megan for wearing her sunglasses when she talked and then interrogated us about what we ate at the restaraunt. Then she screamed at me for using the air conditioner. Yikes. The next day was pretty average. We decided that our outlook needed to change since we were halfway. The first half had been really stressful and really exhausting. We agreed to take on a more relaxed outlook and it really helped. The last half we spent joking and taking silly photos and just being cousins. We passed through grand forks and I almost made us go the wrong way before I caught myself and we went the right way. The trail was fairly easy with a few more tunnels. Before we knew it we were in Midway. Midway is like Corner Gas B.C. The restaraunt was full when we got there and everyone knew each other. People were just walking from table to table talking to their neighbor/friend/brother/boss. It was strange, people just stared at us. Even the police officer was on a date! We giggled about how Midway is a swingers town and the husbands move to the next house every other week. It was another early night. We took the advice of the campground owner for the next day and stuck to the highway. Making to Rock Creek in an hour. We stopped at their "everything store" as we called them. Post Office/liquor store/gas station/movie store/grocery store etc... We bought cheese bread and joked around about how the towns were getting smaller...if we only knew what lay ahead. We cycled onward to Beaverdell. The highway was pretty uneventful as we had to ride single file most of the way. Beaverdell is dumpy. I honestly don't know how it's even a place. As we biked in we saw a mannequin head nailed to a tree above a sign saying "Beaverdell, Just A Head." Sick. Beaverdell is really just a few buildings on the side of the highway. Dumpy buildings on the side of a dumpy secondary highway. We sat in front of the general store for a while before finding our campsite which was actually just someone's backyard. News travelled fast because the waitress at the "restaraunt" knew who we were before we even told her. I guess the general store lady must have called. Now, when we pulled into our "campsite" the owner was sitting there with a friend listening to Classic Rock. It was loud. It was so loud it echoed off the mountains. We figured they were just relaxing. By midnight that night we figured they weren't just relaxing they were partying. How annoying!! We finally managed to sleep sometime in the a.m. The next day we were insanely tired and we just wanted to get the hell out of that place. It didn't even have cell service. We took the highway out and rode until we could find a place to join the Trans Canada Trail. It was there that we saw a mom and baby moose (just like last year!) they just ran away after staring us down for a while. We pedaled and pedaled and agreed to push on to Penticton that day, shortening our trip by a day. The rest of the day was just pedaling and pedaling stopped to avoid snakes and to eat energy bars. We were in Penticton around 9. We made it!!! My grandma in Oliver had catered a nice little meal for us on our arrival. She made lemon meringue pie and had so many little treats to eat. It was like heaven. It felt really weird to sit there and realize that we didn't have to bike the next day. We couldn't really believe that we were done. The next day we went back to Penticton for pictures and breakfast before driving home. The drive home was long but it was amazing to realize that we made it home in as many hours in a car as it took in days by bike. I'll write about our new house later...i'm too tired to type now.... |
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