Yank Thanksgiving + My Friend Bob

Sitting here having a beer with my good friends in Beaver Creek. Snow is falling - my wife is asleep. I'm drinking another beer nonetheless. Taking in the evening's festivities and appreciating the friends and life we have to enjoy. Here's a great shot of Bob and Star at the Living Forest in Nanaimo, BC during the On a Roll 2006.

Alberta Road Trip

For 9 days, we were free from work and domestic duties and off on a whirlwind road trip in our new subee. We started with 3 days in Kelowna, visiting the Haywards and relaxing poolside. Then were we were off for a couple nights of camping in Lake Louise, which is an incredible place - "God's country" as a lady from California we met while hiking repeatedly said. Then it was off to the Calgary stampede. Never been to a rodeo before, but it was pretty darned exciting, even for a couple of vegetarians. Next it was off to Red Deer to visit Fran's brother and his feonce. Here we enjoyed fantastic hospitality, the opportunity to relax and kick our feet up while watching an impressive DVD collection on an impressively large flat screen TV - also, a great meal at Original Joes (photo). We began our journey home with a trip through Edmonton (picked up some fresh CDs at the huge mall: new Thom Yorke & a classic Stevie Wonder) and Jasper before spending a night in Clearwater. All said, we covered 2500kms and had some good times. More time next time...

TJ's Wedding

We had a fantastic time at Tricia and Sean's wedding in Kelowna. Tricia is Fran's best friend, and Fran was in the bridal party - pictured here with her two lovely cohorts Jaime and Jessica. The weather behaved though at times appeared ominous. The reception was a blast - it was an outdoor party at the Kelowna Land and Orchard and the food was amazing and the dancing even better. The petting zoo nearby was a great attraction for the youngsters, and there were reports that after much ingenuity and effort, some boys managed to catch a wild rabbit.

The entire day was super, and everyone was happy - including the bride and groom (photo).

Of course, Fran's participation wasn't limited to the wedding day itself, and as such I had quite of bit of time to spare. I took on the challenge of cleaning up my father-in-law's garage. Rocco is a very busy guy and is working constantly, both at his business and his garden. And he doesn't have time to fuss with his garage space, which explains how it became such an entangled mess. I love to organize, and was commissioned to take it on and had full license to make it better. It was really satisfying work. I'll post the before and after photos later - hang onto your seats!

Living Room

I just had to include this photograph. Not only is it a lovely scene, but there's so much anticipation as our good friends Marc and Deniece are only days from the birth of their first born.

Don't Talk to Lifeguards

During my recent work roadtrip to Creston, BC (home of Kokanee and Bountiful), I discovered this funny sign attached to the fence surrounding the local pool; I love the idea that the public must not speak to the caged lifeguards...I suspect you are not permitted to feed them either.

Easter Weekend in Port Townsend

Having had such a nice time exploring Whidbey Island in Washington State last fall, we decided to travel further into the pacific northwest for the Easter Weekend. We threw our bikes on the old Sentra's roof rack and took the little ferry from Fort Casey to Port Townsend. We stayed at 'The Palace', a charming Victorian hotel right in the heart of 'downtown' (as opposed to 'uptown' in Port Townsend). Like Steveston in Richmond, Port Townsend is a little town that's full of charm and history, and it really feels like it's out of time. There's a lot of independent shops run by owners who know everyone's name and what they like (or don't like) in their coffee.
It was incredibly windy there the first afternoon - crazy windy!! But fun to walk around and enjoy the many great sights within walking distance of the hotel. We had a good meal at the pub that evening - aptly called 'The Public House'.
The next day we discovered a little cafe that we would end up going to several times, as it had fantastic food and a great atmosphere: the Bread & Roses Bakery. Highly recommend it if it's still there when you visit and if the management has maintained its charm (we noticed it was listed for sale at the reality office).

All of the cycling built up our appetite, especially the ride around Fort Worden, which is a decommisioned military fort encompassing a good portion of Port Townsend. The great weather made up for the wind, which made the riding a little tougher. But the sights were great - the old bunkers and what not are fantastic. My brothers and I spent HOURS exploring them when we holidayed in PT in our early teen years. Though I must admint they are not quite as intertesting now, at least not in the same way.

That night we had a very nice dinner at a lovely restaurant called Fins, with a table overlooking the ocean. Fran and I, after a few glasses of wine, got into some very deep conversation, but it was nonetheless a very pleasant - if not at times heavy - dinner; and I'm not talking about the food. All heaviness lifted with a brisk walk after dinner along the waterfront and capped off with another great sleep at the Palace.

The next morning, after a good payload from our Easter chocolate hunt, we drove to Sequim (pronounced 'squim') on the recommendation of the concierge. About 20 miles away from PT, we parked our car in Sequim and rode our bikes along a dedicated bike path all the way to Port Angeles; about a 20 mile bike ride. The path wove through farmland, forest, and ocean front, and it was a very reasonable ride and quite beautiful - aside from the ride by the local gun club (photo - we didn't need to dismount). Once in Port Angeles (not much to say about PA - Victoria ferry terminal and a bit dull) , for $.75 each we hopped on a city bus equipped with bike racks and enjoyed american chips and soda while we returned to where we started in Sequim. A very nice, and well priced, 3-hour adventure indeed. I think the chips and soda were the most expensive feature of the journey.

All in all, a very pleasant Easter weekend.

Goodbye Diablo

Sold my Brodie Diablo this week. It was time to let go of the 'full squishy' and notch it down a little. We only have so much room to store bikes at our town house and the big heavy down hill bike wasn't well rounded enough for me. Besides, I wasn't really using the bike to its full capacity - I'm fast becoming much less of a risk taker, due to age, career, mortgage, wife, family plans, etc.. I decided to try and sell it and reinvest the money into a nice hard tail. Thanks to craigslist, I sold the bike within 48 hours to an Auzzie who was living here for a year and wanted a solid bike to enjoy the Whistler bike park this spring/summer.

BTW: I've sinced bought myself a sweet Kono Hoss Deluxe and I'm loving it!

Grandma Pellerin Visits

Fran and I were so happy to host my Grandma Pellerin for a weekend visit. It would be her first time to visit her thirtieth-something great grand child, Cohen, as well as our new town home. It was a beautiful weekend and I was conveniently able to pick her up after attending a conference in Victoria and bring her home with me on the ferry. We enjoyed some nice walks along the river (photo), brought her over to see Jay, Jess and Cohen (photo), and cooked her up a nice meal.

We were a little concerned about dropping her off on the ferry - Grandma is a very capable 92 year old woman, but nonetheless we were a little worried that someone could inadvertently knock her over with all the hustle and bustle of getting on/off the ferry; she's only 93 lbs afterall. The BC ferry staff were excellent, and let Fran and I park for free nearby and assist Grandma right onto the ferry. We found her a seat, said our goodbyes, and walked straight off the ferry again, having enjoyed another fantastic visit with my amazing matriarch.

Size 21

Silly photo of me at conference in Victoria on February 17th. There was a sport supplier in the tradeshow who had a range of crazy sized shoes for the overly developed adolescent athlete, such as these sized 21 high tops. A bit roomy, but stylish nonetheless!

St. Valentines

Fran and I have not generally fallen into the many available romantic traps that spring up every Valentines Day. However, this year, being our first as a married couple, I thought I'd try to do something different and fun. I heard a radio interview on the CBC about this Chocolate Fondue Snowshoe Walk up at Mt. Seymour and I thought it sounded fantastic. I knew that Fran had enjoyed snowshoeing from time to time in the past, and when I heard the details from the sales rep it sounded like exquisitely romantic idea. I could see us enjoying a brisk snow shoe hike and arriving to our own little romantic corner, lit by moonlight and flickering candles, eating fresh fruit dipped in melted chocolate. I was even told there would be little chairs and tables made from snow.

Well, it did turn out to be fun - and I surprised Fran. The night before I packed every piece of warm clothing I could find (I brought our largest suitcase) so I could pick her up from work and drive us up to the mountain. We enjoyed a deli dinner we picked up along the way in the 'old school' ski lodge (all to ourselves!) before getting ready for our 7:00pm snow shoe. Franny was so cute all bundled up - she doesn't really have a good selection of outdoor winter clothes so she was wearing my old military issue rain pants, plastic bags and socks in her old boots, and TONS of layers.

We soon realized that we were going to share our romantic snow shoe trip with 10 other people - strangers! And we ended up with a total surf-dude-pot-head guide. He was hilarious...and annoying. He continually stopped us along the way our very brief hike to tell us enlightening stories like "Does anyone know the history of Valentines? Well, it's, uh, from the Greek - or was it Roman? - period and this dude..." You get the point. He was Keannu Reaves like, without the looks.

I thought, okay, let's be positive and when we get to our private forested snow booth everything will be fantastic and the romance will begin. As it turns out, the snow booth never materialized. Instead, there was a snow bank equipped with ziplock bags of fruit, a thermos full of thick hot chocolate, and blown-out tea light candles that could not sustain the light breeze. All 10 of us laid on the ground around the snow bank and struggled to manage our chocolae dipped fruit from these little blue mats with our freezing hands and/or mittens....!

Oh well, we had fun; and it was certainly a memorable Valentines Day. If not Romantic.

Steveston Stroll

Another February weekend, and another nice day in the lower mainland. We decided to check out south Richmond, or the community of Steveston as it's known. A very historic area - especially with respect to fishing and the BC Packers heritage buildings. Nestled along the south arm of the Fraser River, history is butted up against some very modern medium-density residential developments, which have been tastefully designed in my opinion. Others may argue that it's developing too quickly and becoming too 'yuppy' perhaps. I don't mind some corporate coffee shops in the old village area, but I do appreciate the many small, independent businesses there.

The seawall along the dyke is also well crafted, with many intersting historical and art pieces sprinkled throughout. Check out this link for some great photographs of the area along with some other information.

Baden-Powell Trail

If you never been, you've got to go. It's a great little hike out of Deep Cove on the Baden-Powell trail. It provides an unique view of Burnaby and East Vancouver, and all of the stairs and climbing will give you your requisite dose of cardio. Some teenage girls hiked all the way up to this view point, only to pull out bags of lukewarm MacDonalds meals. Lovely. Nonetheless, Fran and I enjoyed the walk - I preferred the walk back.

Welcome Cohen

Cohen arrived on January 29th, 2006 - Chinese New Year and a New Moon. Cute little guy. Fran and I visited him within 24 hours of his delivery. Proud parents, Jay and Jessica, were obviously thrilled, as were we. My first time being an uncle. Uncle Glen.

Home Sweet Home

We made it home - after a mega journey we arrived back to good ole' grey Van City at 10:30am. After coughing up a load of loonies for our limit-exceeding Sang Som Thai Rum (not home 5 minutes and we're taxed!), we enjoyed the cab ride home on the 'right' side of the road. Our house was so inviting and seemed so luxurious. We wasted little time to strip out of the bohemian clothes we had grown so weary of and crawl into bed. Still buzzing from re-entry, we tried to doze off as we endured a slideshow of some 900 + photos; don't worry, we'll do some culling before we screen them for you.

As we lazily recalled the moments surrounding each flashing photograph, it became increasingly clear that this adventure had come to an end, and was rapidly becoming warm but elusive memories kept safe in a jar of digital imagery (insert Def Leppard song here). What an experience, what a trip!

Well, I guess all's well that ends well. Fran and I look forward to catching up with you all!

4 Days in Bangkok

Hello everyone! It's been awhile since we've last posted but life has been very good over the past week. After enjoying another 6 days of beach bumhood on Ko Payam (and moving to another new bungalow), we made the big journey to Bangkok - the trek involved a scooter, speed boat, tuk tuk, a VIP luxury bus, and a taxi; we started at noon and arrived at the Bangkok Palace at 5:00am. Needless to say, we were pretty tired on the 31st but we were happy to be in a very comfortable hotel room after 10 days of living in a beach bungalow. The fatigue did impact our new years eve celebrations - in fact, as midnight drew near, I nearly had to shake Fran out of a deep coma to wish her happy new year.

For the past couple of days, we've been trying to take in as much of Bangkok as we can. It's an incredible bustling city. The food is amazing. And we've capped off each long day with a very relaxing 1 hour traditional Thai foot massage (for $5 USD each!!). Today is our last day before we fly back to Singapore tomorrow, and then begin our journey home the next day. Though our month of travelling has been so fantastic, we both feel ready to come home - we miss it and look forward to sharing all of our stories with you. See you soon!