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Published: July 12th 2009
To begin where we left off:
After adding the guest writers log in the cute little cafe, we were pretty much exhausted and spent the rest of the arvo lying around reading on the beach. The next day we met some of the guys from our lesson and all hired surfboards, wetsuits and little booties. The water was pretty cold and i wondered if they just wear wetsuits all year round (our instructor said she goes out in the middle of winter in -2 degrees..crazy). So we spent pretty much the whole day surfing and were managing to improve and catch some of the bigger waves. By the end of the day we were pretty exhausted and my arms felt like they were at least growing some muscles (yeah right). We returned the boards (thank goodness we had Stan as we managed to fit all 5 boards in no problem) and headed back to town for dinner.
The next day we decided to head to Ucleulet for the night but after quickly visiting the visitor centre (in the rain) decided there wasn’t really much worth sticking around for and after looking at there one half decent shop - a
Lower falls
crazy people swimming in subzero temperaturescute little book café - drove the 3 or so hours back to Nanaimo on the winding, steep, narrow drive back. We had a pit stop at Englishman River Falls which was pretty nice, and I went for a little walk around to the “mini falls” and tested out the water which was absolutely freezing. We then read for a bit before taking up residence in our beloved Walmart. One of the vans (Old Brown as we liked to call him) was STILL there after about 2 weeks, but we then decided we couldn’t exactly judge as how else would we have known that.
On Monday that fateful time had come, for us to leave the island. After being there for about 3 and a half weeks we had finally been voted off and caught the ferry back to the mainland. Another $100 later and we were on our way to Whistler to try our skills at downhill mountain bike riding. After getting there in the late arvo we walked around the village and just looked at prices of rentals and things. There was a crazy bike park set up which looked insane and a few guys hitting some
pretty big jumps. We tried to find a campground but the only close one was full so drove to Pemberton (about a half hour drive) looking for a campground that we later found out no longer exists. Joy. So instead cooked our dinner in a little park and pulled up in a random street (strategically placed at the end of a cul-de-sac so no one would find us).
The next day it was raining and so plans for mountain biking were put on hold, so instead we went and saw the much anticipated Transformers 2 (I owed Zach a movie as he saw My sisters Keeper with me). I have to say I have never quite been so bored in a movie that I had paid to go and see (at least it was a Tuesday so it was a bit cheaper than usual). But before seeing the movie we had a $5 breaky, and it was actually 5 bucks and included sausage and bacon and 2 eggs and a piece of toast as well as unlimited coffee. A bargain that simply could not be passed on our budget as it meant we didn’t have to have lunch. That
afternoon we went to the sliding centre and walked around where the bobsledding will happen for the winter Olympics which was pretty cool. We then watched some BMX bikers do some tricks at an indoor park where they had a foam pit and were doing backflips and other simple things that i would try the next day (haha). We had our dinner and parked in one of the parking lots overnight (even though it said you couldn’t - rebels).
Finally the weather had cleared and it was time for our mountain biking extravaganza, we rented our gear and purchased our lift tickets and got in line for one of the lifts. Normally being experts at loading and unloading a chair lift we were faced with quite a problem. How do we do this with bikes? We asked the friendly lifty and struggled to put the bikes on (every 2nd chair is removed and replaced with a bike rack looking thing, where you just roll the bike on and it stand upright) and went up the hill. Our first run down was a green run and not long after it started I had already fallen off and into a ditch
of rocks. Not to be deterred we kept on going for the 4 hours (we were exhausted at the end of it) and even managed to do a few blue runs (even if by accident) and improved our skills on some of the wooden obstacles around including a teeter totter (see-saw). All in all it was a pretty exhilarating experience and one I would definitely try again, some people would just fly right by you and have no fear as a tight S bend came up with trees on either side. Crazy. By the end of it we were exhausted, mud splattered and hungry so found our new favourite greek place opa (a small greek chain with the best food ever). Afterwards we decided we may as take advantage of our lift tickets and go up the gondola to see the mountain. It was definitely weird seeing a ski resort in the summer especially even being able to identify some of the runs I had done before. Once we got to the top it was quite chilly (about minus 2) and there was snow still around (you can still snowboard on blackcomb from 12 - 3 by catching 2 chairlifts,
a bus and ride a T-bar - not quite worth it). The peak-to- peak gondola was running and we decided just to look inside the station, as no one was scanning tickets we just let ourselves on and were even lucky enough to get a glass bottom cabin on the way over. It was a little bit scary knowing that you’re hundreds of metres above the ground attached to a cable that has only 4 towers spanning 4.4km but was a pretty good view. We had a quick look around at Blackcomb mountain and went back across and caught the gondola back down. We decided we had seen enough of the overpriced town and hit the road at about 7pm. After another windy drive (it didn’t look that far on the map but when Stan can only go 60 up hills it takes a little longer) we arrived at Cache Creek a little tired and grumpy got a quick meal and went to bed.
We left pretty early the next day and arrived in Kamloops (The city of tournaments apparently) at about midday, we walked around town and relaxed at a beachside park before heading to a campground for
a much awaited shower. The campground was nicely placed right next to a train track and a highway which made for a restful nice sleep but did have the added benefit of being cheap. We also discovered that if we plug the van in our fridge works, but will not stay cold for more than a few hours without the electricity which was a great disappointment. With our wonderful nights stay we got a 2 for 1 voucher for the BC Wildlife park and decided to check it out. They had a whole bunch of Canadian animals which was cool for me to see, including black bears, grizzlies, elk, moose and other things like owls and wolves - which we got to see feed along with the black bear cubs. Afterwards we headed into town and relaxed on the beach reading for a bit which was nice considering it was such a hot day. Later on we found a park where zach had a little skate and I could read and we had a delicious dinner of hamburgers and homemade fries. There was also a baseball tournament going on which was exciting as I had never seen a proper game
of baseball in real life.
The next day we headed back to the beach and floated down the river in tubes. There was a bus that drops as off up the river and then the current drifts you back to the beach which was quite nice. There was also a guy on a jet ski who would help keep you out of the way by pushing you which was kinda fun. Once we got back to the park there were all the people in nice clothes which we just assumed was a wedding, but there were quite a few hundred and found out that it was a convention for Jehovah’s Witnesses. We wondered how many doors were going unknocked on if they were all at a convention but I guess they had something figured out. After having a bit of lunch we drove the hour or so to Vernon and chilled at a park reading (surprise) and then found a lovely beach where we had dinner (steak sandwiches) and even managed to go for a swim. The first one where you could actually stay in the water for more than a few minutes, as it seems the further we
head east the warmer its getting which makes for sleeping in the van with no fan not quite enjoyable.
Today we spent the first half of the morning reading on the beach and swimming before driving to Kelowna, where hopefully we will be fruit picking for about a month before finally heading back to Ontario.
So that’s pretty much everything, thanks for keeping on reading and we love reading your comments!
Love Zach and KJ
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jazz
non-member comment
oh yay i love the cute bears!! so glad they are behind glass though- i guess they dont look too vicious frolicking in the water but you never knowww. thats so awsome that you did whistler in the summer kj. you look like a biker extroidanaire going over that "teeter tot" haha.. is that right? crazy canadians.. good to hear what you guys have been up to! enjoy fruit picking im sure there will be many funny stories to come xoxoxo lots of love