To Ecuador!

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Hey everybody!

First of all thanks for taking a look, I know it’s been a long time (almost an eternity) since I’ve spoken to some of you.

A lot of you I e-mailed about this blog I've been less than consistent about keeping in touch with the last couple of years, so now’s your chance to take a look-see at what I’ve been up to!

Well, I’m still in Toronto, but spent my summer up in northern Ontario working for the Rangers program again. To the fellow Rangers reading this, being a supervisor kicks ass. I didn’t realize how much I missed being up there until I got back in June. It was a great summer with a some amazing canoe trips, Keegs and Ben (aka “dirty Konrath”, “the weasel”) were both back too which made for a good experience.

After about 9 weeks up there I was back in Toronto for a couple days before road-tripping out to Halifax with some buddies, although I spent the majority of my time there with Alexander Keith. As Chris (fellow busboy / honourary member of the Vernon Street Vandals) is well aware, the trip to Hali was a success in every possible way. I’m not just referring to the drunk tank, getting kicked off the tour of the brewery, or consistently drinking at 10 in the morning, but truly embracing the porch-monkey life was a rewarding experience all around. Special thanks to the boys for putting us up, especially the lay-z-boy on the front lawn; and special apologies to the neighbour who’s selling his house to get away from, well, us. Reflecting back, I suppose his request to “please wear a shirt” or “stop throwing beer cans in my driveway” weren’t really too much to ask, but at the time things simply seemed so out of our hands. The daily visits from the Halifax Police were a great reminder of how much it costs to be noisy at night too. Thanks guys. It was such a learning experience and fantastic time we felt pressured to stick around for the extra night, giving us less than a day to do the 1136 mile drive back to Toronto. Luckily, Chris is an exceptional driver and we were able to make it back in record time (less than 15 hours!), the only hold up coming in the form of a, uh, minor speeding ticket. (“Hey mom... could I borrow $330?”)

It’s hard to believe how much happened in one weekend, too much (and so inappropriate) to share anymore on a public travel blog, so I’ll skip to the point of starting this thing. Seems that recently a lot of people I know are heading in different directions, many of them traveling to a lot of far away and interesting places, and I thought it would be cool to be able to share my travel stories and pictures with any friends or family that might be interested. At the end of the month (2 days after I graduate from high school), I’ll be heading to Ecuador, South America, which is where I plan on starting the blog. It’s so tough to keep in touch with all the people I’d like to, so drop me a line when you get this! You can put up responses to my journal entries too, or make fun of the pictures I post. The trip isn’t too long, I’ll be gone less than 20 days, then it’s straight to college when I get back! For those of you I haven’t told I was finally accepted to Humber afer a six month application process, so I’ll be up at North Campus as of February 20th. Hope everyone is doing well, let me know what you’re up to and where you all are these days.

See you in Quito Morgan! Just remember what alcohol does to you at 4,000m, don’t drink like we do at work or anything.

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Photos

Wabikimi Provincial Park (Ontario)
What can I say? Keigan knows how to take pictures. Our island campsite while on trip.

Wabikimi Provincial Park (Ontario)
Unlike your Sunday school teacher's, these "god's fingers" , as they're known, were a welcome sight and experience

Vernon Street, Halifax, Nova Scotia
My rude awakening from a bannana eating, Keiths drinkin' hangover-induced slumber.

Comments

[Audrey]

I'm appalled!
love you dearly but too much information! mom

[Morgan]

I'm not promising anything dude. Write me an email when you know when your flight is arriving.

[Chris Simpson]

excellent
South America is the shit, alcohol is actually cheaper than water, and the women don't like clothes, enjoy

[Chris I]

Oh, Hali...
We're going back, man. Hopefully Andrew next door sold his house already, and we can just feel free to sit on the balcony with a 15 of Keith's and make egg sandwiches at 4 a.m., listening to Jason's ridiculous freshman dorm stories...and maybe Brent's out of jail by now, too! Man, I hope he kept the jumpsuit...

[Gooch]

Braden Fucking Fox, yeah right! Sandbar, Halifax, Ecuador... sounds like some wicked adventures!.... I spent a good chunk of my summer hitching through those northern ontario highways... I wanted to stop off at ignace and see the old camp, but shit didn't work out as planned... what's your email adress?? Take care, and have a kick ass time!