stubsadventures

I’ve done it again. I’ve been a terrible blogger. I have been up to all kinds of fun adventures and not sharing them. I had a long period of stress after the loss of a coworker and I couldn’t wait the few weeks until Iceland so, I planned a road trip designed to melt away stress and refocus. This did however mean a safety conference on my days off but I would be crazy to complain about a free week in Banff and I’m pretty lucky to work with awesome people, with the backdrop of the Rocky Mountains, dare I say, it was fun. The week was spent hearing speakers, talking to sales people and a hike through a mountain valley where we encountered some pretty fresh cougar tracks and yes, I went snowboarding again.

Considering the fact that I had never gone in my life, to have already gone down three mountains is awesome. So far I’ve done Kicking Horse, Lake Louise and then Sunshine in Banff. Every time I have taken a few crazy tumbles where I often wonder if I’m too old to be learning something that extreme at this stage of my life. I have started to use my front edge a bit but it scares the crap out of me, so I end up going down most of the mountain in a seated position and you can only imagine how long your quads can stand that for. There is nothing like spending time sitting on the side of the mountain looking at mountain peeks all around you and knowing there is no way but down.

After Banff, we travelled across the Trans Canada Hwy toward the coast. This has to be one of the most beautiful drives in the world and this was the first time I had driven it when I didn’t encounter a blizzard. After a long day of driving, we were looking for somewhere to stay. Just past Kamloops, we took a turn off on a dirt road, drove 12km and ended up on Roche Lake Provincial Park. There, we found a place called Roche Lake Resort ( http://www.rochelake.com/ ). Nothing like walking into your cottage and seeing dead animal heads on the wall. Caper would just sit in the chair and look up at them with these sad dog eyes, it was classic. The second day there, we took the canoe out for just its second voyage. The lake was awesome but it is spring after all and when the wind picked up it was chilly. Caper of course was completely unimpressed with being out on the water, as always. Two nights were spent there and it was another Candian gem, the one gripe was the camper who left his generator running all weekend. So inconsiderate. People, turn off your generators when you’re not using them, we will all appreciate it.

After after visiting with family and friends in Victoria, I have finally made my way to Tofino for the first time. The drive to the coast is long and very windy. We stopped to walk around Macmillian Provincial Park, also known as Cathedral Grove. Here, you will find some of the tallest and widest trees in our country. Standing next to the giants gives you a sense of how little you are in this world. Walking around the loops in the park gives you the opportunity to feed off the energy from these incredible trees. In my quest to lay eyes on as much of Canada as possible, this was a must see and didn’t let me down. Tofino is a storm watchers paradise and the big waves never disapoint. Anytime you’re by the ocean, in my book, is a good time. Now, I can hear the waves crashing as the wood fire place is keeping me warm. I’ll be hitting a few trails today and then another epic canoe adventure tomorrow. Life is good, more blogging to come.