Lazy days

So yeah. Typing this from my iPod. My iPad stopped working on the Internet. All it does is act stupid when I try to log in to anything. Nothin I have done will fix it. Stupid hotel and it's system upgrade. Makes no sense. But anyway... I got my snowboard boots today. Tomorrow is my first lesson. Day after I will win the X games. No sweat. I had an interesting drink at lunch today: smoked coke. Like the soda. They took the coke syrup and literally smoked it, like you would a piece of meat. It was odd. Reminded me of smokey bacon or an islay scotch. It is meant as a mixer with bourbon. Could be tasty... Had a fantastic BBQ pulled pork sandwich today too. Smokey flavor went well with BBQ. So good! Had sushi for dinner. Noodles and dumplings. Awesome. Black sesame seed ice cream for dessert. Not unpleasant. Very unusual though. Had a wooden sort of taste. Very seedy. Also sweet. Gonna sleep well tonight. Tomorrow I get my butt kicked.

Fatigue

There are three distinct parts to my ski lessons. First part: warm up. I suck at this point. My legs are stiff and I really haven't hit my mental groove yet. There is a lot of grumbling at this point. Second part: the groove. I'm ready to roll. I'm awake, my legs don't hurt so much and I have more confidence. All I want to do is ski. Third part: fatigue. My legs are giving out at this point. I'm tired. I ache. I actually stop being able to turn. Not a good thing when you are on the side of a mountain that has a ton of people on it. Anyway. I love it. Today was my last day of ski boots. My abs are gonna hurt on Friday though. Boarding will be fun! Rest of today was good I watched tv and slept. Not very high energy around here. I actually took a nap today. I was whipped. Don't have plans for tomorrow, maybe horses? All I know right now is that I'm tired.

Face plant

Pro tip: do not try to stop with your face. It hurts.

That's your tip for today. Now here is how I learned it:

Before I begin story time you need to know about a fall I took in Egypt. I was at a bazaar in Cairo, stepped in a pot hole. I twisted my ankle, not so bad but bad enough that I was limping for a few days. It hasn't bothered me in awhile...

We skied Whistler today. Whistler has some fantastic runs, the green Run is amazing. Well my ankle starts acting up about 10 min in. Problem. I can't sit still for long, if I do I cramp up and I can't rest on my other leg because it's hurting now. Problem. So, I get the green light to go on ahead. I am cruising down the run at a good clip, I'm feeling good. I come up on a junction, my run merges with the blue run, not a problem. I notice a class of kids and an instructor so I give them a wide berth. This takes me sort of up an embankment towards where the runs meet. Ok I can deal...

I almost made it. Im going smoothly by when I guess I turn my ankle a bit and my ski catches on a clump of snow. Suddenly, I'm on my face. I was fine. Only thing I fractured was my pride. I roll over and start laughing. It was funny. I knew it. The instructor knew it. And the kids sure knew it. The instructor did slide on over to make sure I was good. Pulled out my ski where I'd left it. So I lay there for a bit. To laugh and rest. My face still burns. Not from embarrassment but because I slid on it for about two feet. Must have looked spectacular though, wish I hadn't been face down in the snow...

I finished the run no problem. Even took the ski lift over to another run instead of taking a bus (if you remember my hotel is on Blackcomb, I was on Whistler. You have to either ski over, which we did, or take a bus.). I finished that run with no Casualties.

I now sit, waiting for the cleaning lady to finish so I can shower. I am beat. Don't know what we are doing later. I am certain though that sleep will be part of my immediate plans.

-K

Snowball fight

We had a snowball fight. Great fun. Tonight we stayed in and had room service and watched a movie. Narnia 3. Not bad, religious parables get on my nerves though. I feel like I'm being tricked, or possibly hoodwinked. It offends me on some level that someone appears to be conning me into believing in something. It's unfair and insulting. That having been said, when it's done well, in that you can bring out of it what you will, then I have no problem. I would go so far as to say I enjoy it. I'm getting off topic here. My camera is nearly dead, and I didnt bring my charger. I am borrowing my sister's for now. That's pretty much all for now. Tomorrow is back to ski lessons. I can't wait!

-K

The great irony and things happening

I suppose the great irony of choosing  not to pack something, of deciding that you absolutely do not need the extra pound or so in your bag, is that you will be wanting for it later. Perhaps not needing said nameless thing but really wanting it. My choice to not bring my Japanese textbook is currently being regretted. I, however, did manage to pack my multi-tool keychain, which I have never needed to use, and my other keychain which, according to the site from which it was purchased, can hold up to 300 lbs. No keys mind you. I left all those back at the house. Nope, just keychains without a key to chain. Sad really. Where as my textbook I could benefit from. I could learn something. Now all I can do is haul a dead animal into a tree possibly, or attach a sled to the back of a bus... Which might be kind of fun...

This is the very great problem with days off on an active vacation, the fact that it is time off. The idea that relaxation should happen during a vacation apparently confuses my parents. My mother in particular. God knows I love her but she manages to turn a time of unwinding and peace into a jungle of stress. Jungle. Like with monkeys. I will say this for her scheduling, we end up doing more in a day than some families get done in an entire vacation. And it is very fun. That having been said I disagree with the philosophy that things ought to get done on a vacation at all. The point, to me at least, is that there is no 'to do' list. It's a vacation, the reason I went is to not have to do anything. 

That is the balancing act. You need to have enough to do so as not to be bored yet not so much that you need a second vacation to recover from your first. Vacations like the latter are unfortunate. You often feel so tired that you forget it was fun. Ruins the experience. This happened in Egypt. Too much to see and do in too short an amount of time. It really took me awhile to realize all of the cool things I had seen. The only downside to lazy vacations is that you sometimes feel unfulfilled. Which is equally dissatisfying. 

The real chore, however, is the work prior to a vacation. Especially if you are making plans for activities. All of the calling, all of the planning. Budgets and rentals and this and that. Travel agents are the best. They do all that for you (and a little of this if you ask politely). You tell them what you want for how much you want it and they sell it to you. Sounds reasonable to me. The truly unfortunate part of going on vacation is that things don't just happen, not often anyway. Random people don't just invite you to go on dog sled rides for free. You don't just find a pair of skis and decide to do a couple of runs before breakfast (you could but the owners of the skis might have some unkind words for you). You have to make things happen. Often by paying for them to happen. You get the occasional good luck where something truly amazing happens where you happen to be standing. I remember when I was very young my mother and I went to a Pier of some sort while on vacation. We met a man who was crab fishing, he offered, without incentive, to show me how to crab fish. I got to pull up a crab. That is one of the very few instances where a wonderful experience happened to occur. Emphasis on few. I suppose this is a good life lesson for us all though: if you want something to happen you need to make it happen.

-K

The village

After having my sandwich for lunch I decided to mess around on my iPad for awhile. Personally fulfilling as this may enterprise may be,it is utterly boring, as the functions it's best at (slowly navigating the Internet and playing music)get super boring after the third or fourth hour... Nothing really happened in the afternoon, mainly watched tv with my sister. Went to dinner at the sushi place we favor here, nagomi sushi. Still tasty. Had a glass of the shochu I love so much. After dinner my sister and I went on a walk around the village looking for a camera charger. $60 for one by the way. And that was the cheap one! I'm stuck using my sisters camera. No big deal. We messed around the village for a bit, very little to do except shop. I did see a pub I will try though. That was pretty much it for today. Went back to the room and watched Man vs. Food. Gross. Tomorrow is my free day, not sure what I want to do. We were thinking about doing the tube park. Not sure when. I kinda want to do a sleigh ride or a horse thing for some reason. I haven't ridden since Chile a year ago. I felt so bad for the horse, I'm a big dude and those horses were kinda on the smallish side. Oh well the owner wasn't concerned so I guess it was cool. View was fantastic. Vineyard country. Very nice. Might start riding again when I get back to the states. Trail, that sort of thing. Maybe. See how it goes.

I think I might be addicted to skiing. It. Is. So much fun. If I were to get in proper shape it wouldn't be so draining. I do really want to learn to board, and the best place to learn would be here. It's just so exhilarating to go zooming down the side of a hill. I can't wait for our next lesson.

-K

Great White North

Today was day two of our ski lessons. I'm really getting the hang of it. I might forego the boarding this trip and just learn to board back home...somewhere... I'm getting super good at not falling down which, according to my instructor Sarah, is a good thing. I actually went down a mountain today. I would have had more fun if we didn't keep stopping to "rest".

I don't know how many of you ski but here is yet another side note for you: resting sucks. Unless you are on the lift, rest only cramps your feet. At least it does for me. So every time we stopped, and there were plenty of times, if it took more than five minutes I would just lay down right in the snow. Poof. Actually the snow right now isn't poofy. It's more like sand paper. cold sand paper. 

Totally unrelated observation I...well observed... Today was about accents. I did mention in one of my post yesterday how very few of the people you find in different countries working in the tourist industry are natives. It is therefore expected to see a wealth of different language and cultures. It has been documented by linguists (and in fact my circle of friends sees it most evident in our good friend Will when he returns from New York) that people who are immersed in another language or accent (i.e. an American living in France or England) will eventually and, sometimes, unconsciously adopt it as their own. The most interesting example of this that I have seen here has been my ski instructor, Sarah. She was evidently born and raised in England but moved to Canada a number of years ago. Her English accent has faded to such a degree that you can only detect it in a few of her words. What's even more interesting is that she lives with two Australians and a Canadian, so she has actually begun to adopt all three accents (English, Australian, and Canadian). It sounds more Scottish to me, a vague Amy Pond if you will (doctor who reference, look it up on you tube if you want an example of what I'm talking about.) 

So, lessons ended without incident or injury, almost fell down three times but caught myself. Yay me. And my turning has gotten way better. I can also control my speed better! So yeah Olympic team?

Not sure what else is going on today. Parents were seriously considering the spa. I do love massages and hot tubs but I may just pop down to the village and do some shopping. We shall see...

-K

End of day two

So here we are. The end of day two. I am super tired. And the drugs are kicking in. Fun. So you heard about skiing and how it was cool. The rest of my day went like so...

I took a shower and changed, something nice ;) went down to the bar. This may surprise you all but all I had was a diet coke and listened to music. Did some drawing. I will post those when I get back. I sat and drew for a bit, just hanging, chilling, being cool. The waitress tried making conversation with me. I just wanted to draw...oh well. Live music. Well, there was a guy on stage with a guitar and he was opening his mouth a lot. I had my headphones on, I was busy. When I did hear his music I wondered if he was being paid...

Dropped off my bag at the room then returned to the main hotel to have dinner. Sidecut, their steakhouse which is in the running for some Canadian food award, was good. In fact I ate everything including the spinach. I had a carribean jerk steak for dinner, soooo awesome! For dessert I had a mini maple apple pie, mainly because it had candied bacon. I had to try it. It wasn't bad but I really wouldn't go out of my way to consume it. It was a great dinner. I had a Jameson on the rocks with my salad, a watered down Canadian club with ginger ale after I finished that, and a glass of merlot cab franc. Good wine. During dinner I was tempted to acquaint myself with the really cute Korean waiteress (iPad thought I wanted 'waiter' last night...). Miiiiight follow that really brief intro tomorrow in a less official capacity. Wink wink. Or I might just bite it huge or totally wuss out.

Plans for tomorrow are basically, skiing, lunch, then hit on the various cute girls. Sounds like an epic plan to me.

Waffles tomorrow for breakfast! With eggs! Yay food! Can't wait been forever since I've had waffles!

That time again when I'm falling asleep at my iPad so night folks! See ya tomorrow!


-K

A side note on drawing

I draw when I'm out of town. I drew all the time in Egypt. I am drawing things here. I will draw things in the future. I will be getting a photo bucket account so I can share these with you. I have em all in a tiny little sketch pad. Anyways, yeah. Drawings. Woo.

-K

First ski lesson in one year!

Waking up achey...achy?...achey breaky? No... Breakfast of undercooked pancakes (uneaten), bran muffin with raspberries (They did get creative with the bran this morning), and traitorous eggs benedict (the delicious bastard). Oh and I lied last night I said 745. It was 845. Not bad at all. So we wander over to the ski concierge (a fancy ski rental place owned by the hotel)to get our equipment and onto the slopes! So a cultural side note for those of you hoping to travel to places outside of the US: teachers, instructors and guides are very rarely from the country they work in, in fact I'm not even sure I've met any born and raised Canadians in the four times I've been to Canada. It's not just Canada though. I think for someone to truly be interested and teach others about local attraction/history and make a good career out of it, they have to be foriegn. Almost a prerequisite really. Very few instances have shown me otherwise (my tour guide in Egypt was born there and remains there, but I think he might be my only example of the contrary). I am getting a lot of British or Australian accents though; this being BRITISH COLUMBIA I suppose that makes sense. Sooooo many white people... Really enough to make me go crazy. But I digress... Our first day, nay lesson! Went really well! I only fell down twice, needing help up only once. No one in my pod has been carted off with any broken limbs as of yet so I'd call it a good day. We did maybe two or three runs on the bunny slope then we tackled half of the blue slope! Go us! Not using poles yet... My legs are killing me. Did three or four runs on the larger bunny slope then called it a day and had sandwiches for lunch. For those who haven't seen the maps of the area, which I would guess includes all of you, Whistler is a mountain town spread over the bases of two mountains: Whistler and Blackcomb. I'm pretty sure I skied Blakcomb today. Any way we are in the midst of a resort "town" if you will. That is to say a town surviving almost entirely because of the resorts. This side, the Blackcomb side, is almost entirely resort town. The Whistler side, only a twenty minute walk from my hotel room, is where the action is. By this I mean the food and liquor stores, the large ones anyway. It's a really nice place, your typical resort-minded city (generous term in my opinion but hey whatevs)I suppose, though I haven't been to many (resort-minded places I mean, not one quite so obviously at least!). had lunch at a local resort-run (shocking!) deli/pizza/soup place... Is there a better name for that? Bistro? Eh. It's called Portobello, as in the mushroom. Good eats! Chicken salad sammich ftw. Last night at the sushi place I learned of a flea market aimed at raising money for the relief efforts in Japan. Of which I, of course, approve! Slap "Japanese" on anything and I'm all over it. So my plan is, after a brief siesta, to enjoy some flea market before, or possibly after, a wine tasting sponsored by my hotel.


-K

Canada day 1

The trip was off to a rocky start this morning. Had to stay up all night fighting my own stupidity. Not thinking about it and after two valium this morning I finally agree to...zzzzzz... Anyway, we landed fine only mildly harassed by customs. You see I wore my crowbar shirt (half-life players and penny-arcade lovers will know what I'm talking about.)I was security's very good buddy... Eeeeeeveryone stared at me. Two Valium makes this quite funny. Played slug bug on the two hour car ride from the airport to Whistler.I slept almost the whole way... My metal playlist lulled me to sleep. So we got to the hotel with out event. I did however spot a movie poster for "hobo with a shotgun". No seriously. It is my very personal qwest to find this movie and watch. I will procure said poster later. Anyway. Usual room, three bedroom affair with living room and kitchen. I have the back bedroom. After getting settled and connecting to the Internet we are off to try on ski boots... I will get fitted for board boots later I guess. New really swanky steakhouse at the hotel. Might win some best place in canada award. So I guess it's ok. I mean you know Canadians. So sushi it is for us. Of course. California with Alaskan king crab evidently, really good. Also, Futo Maki roll, fried egg, spinach, crab and sautéed mushrooms. So good. Came back to hotel, fixed ourselves up for lessons tomorrow. Fun, oh wait...745? ... ... Well, not so bad. I guess. Today has been one big ball of stress for me though... So glad it's over. Time to go to bed. I'll try and remember how many times I fall on my ass! Later all! My lunesta is kicking in! Wooooooooo...zzzzzzzzzzzzz...

-K

Next Trip

So. I leave for my next trip, a two week boarding trip to the Great White North, on Friday (3/25/2011).  I'm going to Whistler, BC (about two hours outside of Vancouver by car, hour by seaplane...no thanks) This is the third time I will be going to Whistler, the second during the winter.  Last time was about a year ago, we went skiing.  It was great fun.  We are staying in the same hotel (same room even) as last time, the Four Seasons.  I plan to spend my time boarding, skiing or enjoying the wonderful food in the town's epic outdoor shopping village.  This place is truly beautiful at any time of year but the winter scenery is gorgeous. Expect many pictures!

Until tomorrow!
Kevin out!

First issue!

Hey everyone! Kevin here! I figure I should start off my new travel blog with some background on myself.

I'm Kevin. I'm a 23 year old artist living in Arizona.  I love my home state but to be honest I can't stand it here for long. I love to travel. To date I have been all over the world, set foot on all seven continents, swam in the Antarctic Ocean (which was friggin cold), seen Middle-Earth, eaten kangaroo, and been to the depths of an Egytian tomb. I've done and seen a lot. My great regret when I go away on my travels is that I can't bring all my friends with me. Well, through the magic of the internets I intend to take you all with me from now on!

So from now on, when I'm out of the country on yet another adventure, I will post daily to let you in on what's hot and what's not (cliche) abroad. I'll talk about such things as accomodations, the day's activities, interesting tid-bits I pick up, and the food and drink I enjoy. 

That's pretty much all for right now folks! See you on the road!

Kevin-