He's finally done it! He got his life together and entered a post the same day as it occurred!
Its actually a bummer, because although Ive been writing offline, and editing them before I upload, it takes away from the writing. Whenever I do it same day, or at most a day after, I remember the important details, the small ones like sights, smells and things I would normally forget. Instead, I'm trying to regurgitate them from months ago, and it just isn't the same...I still have 2 weeks from my Miami hitch that haven't been entered, from back in March!
And it probably also doesn't help that the first day I do so, could very well have been the most boring day Ive had all summer(I'm not even kidding)
Here goes!
I initially woke up at what my cloudy eyes determined to be 6:47am. Or maybe it was 8:47am. I don't know. All I do know is it was way earlier than I wanted. I rolled over and attempted a few more hours.
It was a successful attempt, however, I woke up with a sharp pain. I was going through some new gear last night and didn't clear off the bed when I went to sleep. Trekking pole rib shot works quite well to stir people in a heavy slumber. After rolling around, headlocking the pillow for a while, I flicked on the TV, got my daily dose of sports highlights and news. Of course I had to deal with my Viking appetite, so I decided it was time to whip up some breaky, and since I was feeling crazy last night, buying Banana Nut Cheerios(they're new, and they're better than you think) thought Id give them a whirl. Well after something like six bowls, I made the switch to toasted Nutella, nothing short of amazing. Think of a big knife spreading clouds and unicorns across a warm toasty bread. But instead, its Nutella.... Yeah, I know.
So breakfast was yummy, and I had a big day ahead. That big day consisted of nothing but hanging around my small hotel room, and blogging. Wooo. Well I threw some Cosby Show on, and got to it. I'm at a crossroads with my strategy to upload; unsure as to whether or not I go alllll the way back several months and begin from there, day-by-day posts, or if I just start uploading some recent stuff, that would be a little more contemporary for you folks to read. The downside would be that its not in order, and random-ness would occur, not something that would make for easy readying. Or maybe Im just thinking about it too hard..Regardless, Ive been writing boatloads, and today was the Ironman of blogging, despite my break to watch a bit of tennis, and the French football match. The fun bit is also going through the heaps of photos that have compiled themselves into a million folders.
I also took the time to reply to the plethora of emails that Ive been meaning to respond to.
Every now and then I get an email from an old friend, or a stranger, and sometimes even someone I didn't particularly care for telling me their support, which is beyond encouraging. Just the other day I got an email from a girl in New Zealand that had stumbled across my blog and became 'addicted to the hitchhiking stories', a girl who sold me pants over a year ago in Ontario emailed me a while back, and Ive only finally been able to reply, (Kelly!!! I never forgot!) and then I got an email from one of my buddies' dads who expressed his support. (Greg, it was so good to hear from you! Hi Karen!!!) I often wonder if anyone even bothers with it, because I don't keep it up to date, and as well, the topics seldom interest people, it seems as though they would rather read something better than some kid hitchhiking around. But then I get the email from someone who does read it, and when one person contacts me in support, its worth while, and I get the feeling to just keep it going, and then some.
So today I didn't do much. The sun was shining, and it was about 25C outside, but I vowed to stay in. Well, it didn't help my tan(less) situation, but it did for blogging reasons. In Blog I must. I spent my afternoon organizing and uploading photos, writing and watching re-runs of Friends.
Its now coming up on 830pm and I have to be at the airport for noon tomorrow, to greet the new group. Were then scooting off to Vancouver Island, where we begin with the Juan de Fuca trail, followed by 3 days on the island, then ferrying back to mainland for some tours in the Squamish area. A world class climbing face is there, the Stawamus Chief and we'll be going up it! Its a mecca for local climbers, tons of videos have been shot there, and yours truly has climbed 3 routes! That's followed by a hike to Lake Garibaldi, one of the most beautiful scenes Ive seen in Canada. Its simply amazing, but getting there is no picnic, I think the last route we did was something like 6km with a 2000m rise in elevation, which if you know, is quite an incline in altitude. Anyways, I'm excited to get back, it was a good break, but I'm anxious to get into some fun again!
The hotel I'm staying at, the Beach Grove in south Vancouver, was actually the location for the new Owen Wilson and Jack Black film, so there's a copy of a few of their movies in the rooms, and after seeing most of them, am resorting to watching Marley and Me tonight. Its not emasculating, I'm eating steak and working out during it. Not actually, more like cuddling up with some cereal so don't hate.
Anyways, its an early morning, my bags are packed, I did some laundry, washed my rope, and showered!
I figured I had to post a photo to accompany the post, otherwise it would just be a bunch of boring words.
In a bored spell I decided to jump on the bed.... I does what I wants!
The Chief! Its got tons of routes, even more pitches, and provides a pretty awesome view! More or less western Canadian El Capitano
And me on top of it!!
