Whistler Mountain Biking Trip

Ok, here is the epic Whistler story. Lance, Wes and I leave early from work on Saturday so we could make it to Whistler at a decent time of night. We stop to get gas and then get on our way...to bad Lance left his phone on top of the car...it flew off driving across the 520 bridge. We exit off of 520 then walk back to the the phone and when we put it back together it doesn't work. Lance took it pretty well knowing that he had insurance on the phone. We get up there about 9pm but the guys we were supposed to be staying with were gone and because of Lance's broken phone we didn't have a number to any of the guys we were staying with. Good thing Wes and Lance know locals so we met up with some other people, hit up a bar or two then they let us crash at their place that night. The next morning we get up and go over to the condo we were supposed to meet up with last night. We go to breakfast at this place called Longhorns and watch the downhill world championships but Wes and I decided to leave early to go mountain biking.

I have to say, this was the most fun I have ever had on a bike. Hitting speeds of up to 35-40mph down a mountain and flying up to 25 feet off a jump was the coolest feeling in the world. We get back a little later to take a break and find Lance at the bottom of the mountain. He had broken his lower swing arm on both sides of the bike at the weld...on his first run down the mountain. He ended up getting his lift ticket refunded but he was done for the day. We all went back to the condo to eat some lunch then Wes and I headed back out. By this time I was really comfortable on the bike so I started getting more gutsy and hitting the jumps harder and flying higher...that was until I hit a jump so hard and so high that I landed flat and flew over my handle bars doing a sweet tuck and roll and landing on my feet! I hit my sides pretty hard on some rocks while rolling scraping me up pretty bad but other than that I was fine and kept on riding. We did a couple more runs then heading back to the condo to shower, eat dinner, and party with everyone. I was so tired from riding all day that I passed out by about 11pm.

We woke up the next morning to something we weren't expecting. We walked out to Lance's car to start packing it up to leave but when we got there...it wasn't there. His car was towed. We didn't end up getting a ride down to the towing company till later that afternoon and by that time we decided to just stay one more night because we didn't have work the next day anyways. Shannon ended up letting us crash at her place which was awesome...she totally helped us out. Walking into her place for the first time I found a really interesting hat that I ended up wearing for the rest of the time I was there...a bear hat! The last picture below is evidence of that. It was awesome! Even more awesome when you wear it out to a club that night and totally making a fool of yourself doing the worm with the hat on. Needless to say, I had a blast and we didn't get back to Shannon's place till 3...then decided to check out the hot tub. I was more interested in the stars when we got out there because it was so clear and ended up giving everybody an astronomy lesson ;) By the time we got back it was 5am and we all passed out and slept in till like 12pm.

I was still super tired and just ready to get back in my own bed that night. We got up slowly, Shannon made us an awesome breakfast then we all started packing and getting ready to go. To bad about 4pm we were sitting around talking about how much fun we had and Lance and Wes got the bright idea of staying on more night and driving back 4 in the morning to make it to work on time. I tried to convince them other wise but they weren't having it...here comes last night take 3. Out of all the nights there I had the most fun this night. We ended up going out to a club...no cover charge because we know all the right people...and dancing to Dubstep music. It was so much fun! We didn't end up getting back to Shannon's place till 3:30am and since we were planning on leaving at 4am we didn't really sleep...well I got like 30 minutes. We didn't leave till like 5am but we ended up getting to work 5 minutes before we opened...just in time! That day just happened to be our first 10 hour shift so that day was super long, especially with no sleep but I made it through...barely. Below are the few pictures I took that weekend.

In line to go up the mountain for the first time!

Entrance to the A-Line trail

Jump on A-Line

Last night take two

Last night take three

Seattle and Canada Trip

I have to say, this was a pretty awesome last spring break! I had so much fun with Sarah, her family, and Jessica...I don't even know where to start :)

Ok, so the first two days I was there I went to work with Sarah as a "volunteer" :) One of her jobs is the volunteer coordinator so I made her do some work...she retaliated by making me do work, so nice of her ;) The organization had just moved to a new building and their copy room was a mess so I used my amazing organizing skills to clean it up and wow what a difference when I was done. The people in her office were so nice, I hope I have co-workers like them when I start working.

We left Friday, bright and early, for Canada!

The boarder wasn't bad at all, it took us like 5 minutes to make it through. On the Canada side...it looked just like the US. The houses were the same, the cars were the same, the view was the same...we were basically still in the US besides the funny accents and the km/hr. Well, we made it to the ferry 30 minutes later but barely missed it so we had to wait around for the next one. 

Here is all of us on the ferry.

Jessica, Sarah, Me

We finally made it to the Bed and Breakfast we were staying at around 1pm...and wow, this place was awesome. When I booked it, the lady who owns it hooked us up with an awesome deal and put us in the best room there...the Olympic Grand Suite! This place was so awesome, the pictures below will show you why.

                

                                                    

I wish we could of stayed more than one night but it just would have been too expensive. After checking in to this place we went to this castle we found. This place was awesome! This nice little old lady gave us a tour of the first floor and sent us on our way. Sarah even set off the alarm when she stepped over the barricade to try to take a picture. I was hoping the mounties would show up but it was just this other old lady who gave us a dirty look the rest of the time we were there. Below are some pictures of this place.

After the castle we went to go watch the sunset on Mt Tolmie near the Univ. of Victoria. It is supposed to be the best view of the city and the surrounding mountains...it was amazing!

After the sun set went went back to the B&B and ate the baguette of bread, brie and mozzarella cheese, and grapes that we bought at the grocery store. We had a fire place so I had to get the fire going then we all relaxed and put in The Goonies! I missed like half the movie because I kept falling asleep. The next morning was the best part of the B&B! I had my devo's outside as the sun was coming up which was beautiful. Before breakfast we decided to make some Earl Grey tea which was awesome. Even more awesome is the fact that after I took a shower I found a robe in the closet...this all combined into an awesome picture!

We then went down to breakfast...a 4 course breakfast! It was amazing. It started off with some tea, then homemade granola, plain yogurt and an assortment of fruit, then came the lemon scones with homemade raspberry jam, and last but not least...eggs benedict but instead of ham there was smoked salmon and a slice of tomato! The rest of the day involved touring this amazing garden for a couple of hours, geocaching and walking around downtown Victoria. It was very sad when we left this place, we had such a good time! 

The next day after we got back, Sarah and I just relaxed because we were both worn out from Canada. We made apple cinnamon pecan pancakes which were super delicious then watch Newsies, an awesome movie by the way, then made the best cookie bars ever! They are called Nanaimo bars and are probably one of the best deserts I have ever had. Her mom made this awesome soup for dinner and we watched Mamma Mia. Snap, two musicals in one day :) 

My last day there, Sarah had to get here car emissions test done and get new tabs, then we walked around a park, went to lunch with her parents, geocached, went to my favorite place to eat in Seattle called Assimba which is this amazing Ethiopian restaurant, then went bowling. Now bowling, this is a crazy story. It was Sarah, Jessica, and me. Let me preface this with my average the last time I bowled, 106. With that said, I did much better this time ;) I started the game off with a turkey in the first 3 frames. by the end of the game I had two open frames with 9s and the rest strikes and spares. I ended up with a 199, my second highest score ever! 

This trip was incredible! It was in an amazing place, with amazing people! For my last spring break ever...I totally went out with a bang!