Heading to London tomorrow! I decided to go because it’s been too long since I’ve seen the crew and it’s about time for a break from sufu. It might be sad that it’s time for a break after being here only a few months, but it’s been a rough time what with surgery and all. Time for a picker-upper. And let me tell you, London is gonna do it!

The first night we’re going to be heading to Tom’s house and heading out for the night… should be a barn burner! Friday it’s off to Nonstock for the festival. There’s a couple of bands, but i’ve never heard of them, though that’s not really the point, now is it?!?! Should be a blast! After nonstock, it’s back to London to go to a Chelsea soccer game on Tuesday… then the rest of the week, I really have no idea. Have to go do a few of the touristy stuff, though. Going to get to Abbey Road and Buckingham Palace, and then a snooker hall… there’s a couple of other things, but I really just can’t wait to get there!

I’ll be back on the 20th or something like that. I’m really trying not to think about heading back, so I’ll cross that bridge when I get there. In any case, I’ll try to update this a few times while I’m there and get some pictures up.

Next stop, London!!

Alright, not literally, but it has been awhile.

Heading to London is less than a week, though, if you read all of the rest of the posts here, you’d know why. Or at least would be able to get a close guess. Can’t wait!

I’ll get to explaining the details later. Not now. Now it’s time for a sweet link.

Enjoy!

I have been able to look into getting a Canadian work visa for the summer, but it looks like it’s going to be much harder than I originally thought it was going to be. Apparently Canadians don’t want Americans to get their jobs very badly. Bottom line is that I’m just not sure I’m going to be able to pull it off, but I will be going back to Fernie for awhile no matter what.  I do need to get some certifications and then who knows. We’ll figure it out after that, I suppose, but until then, I’m on the lookout for any ways to get myself a work visa.

I did finally finish the Two Towers and am actually almost done with the Return of the King. In the middle somewhere in there I read a book called ‘The Book Thief’ that I really recommend. My aunt Kim suggested that the family read it for when we get to our vacation every year, and I have to say it was a good call. The vacation went really well also, despite the fact that I couldn’t do much more than just drive the boat, which did get old after awhile, but next year, I’ve got first dibbs on tubing, wakeboarding, skiing and anything else that I missed out on this year.

I threw together a video of some of the skiing and shenanigans that went on in Fernie.

Fernie 2009

That might be all I’ve got for now. The Wizard of Oz is on right now and you know, I haven’t seen that movie in a very long time.

Work tomorrow, and hopefully a little more excitement later on.

I am (well rather, was) employed at Prairie Green golf course at the pro shop there. Great job, nobody’s going to get rich doing it, but the guys there are cool and I get all the free golf I can handle, or I could have had this not happened. 

So the last time I saw the doc in Cranbrook he told me to go see someone in a month when I got back to Sioux Falls, after the road trip and such. Fast forward one month and I went to go see Doctor Smith at Orthopedic Institute. After one look at me and some moving around of the knee and such, he said that he thought my ACL was gone and that I need to have an MRI and probably surgery asap. The MRI confirmed that I haven’t had an ACL since my accident. The doctor in Cranbrook completely missed it and I was more than a little upset to find that out. I also had a fairly large meniscus tear, and a chunk of it floating around in my knee. 

The next day I saw Dr. Zollner, an orthopedic surgeon, to see what my options were. He told me surgery was necessary and should happen as soon as possible as well. Originally we weren’t planning on doing the surgery until the end of June since we always go on a family vacation the third week in June and it would only be putting it back a couple of weeks to wait until then. That way I wouldn’t be hobbling around while on vacation. However, a few days after that, we got a call from the doc saying that he couldn’t do surgery that day and that we’d have to push it back a week or so. Now, we were getting close to a month from when I could do surgery to when I was actually doing it, and so I decided to go ahead and get it done with so I can be well recovered by the time ski season rolls around. 

Surgery yesterday took about an Hour and 45 minutes and unfortunately had some unseen problems. Nothing major, I mean, I didn’t flat line or anything like that, but it just didn’t go like we thought it would. I should say that I haven’t talked to the doc yet, so all of this information I got from nurses and staff. 

Originally Dr. Zollner was going to use a hamstring tendon as my ACL, but when he got in there, he found that it was damaged pretty badly in the accident and he was unable to use it. So, he ended up using my Patellar tendon, which is also a very common ACL reconstruction method. While he was in there as well, he got the chunk of meniscus floating around out, and repaired what he could. Unfortunately he had to cut some more out and so now I have arthritis to look forward to in 20 years or so. Plenty of time for the medical community to come up with a great meniscus substitute! He also notice that my PCL was damaged and so he repaired that as best as he could. PCL’s though are the most solid of all the tendons, and one of the trainers told me that there are lots of NFL players playing with partially torn PCL’s. I’m cool with that. 

So all in all I tore my ACL, MCL, PCL and got a good hunk of meniscus out of there. The good news is that there’s no reason why I can’t be skiing next season, so Fernie here I come!

As for now, I’m hooked up to a machine that keeps my leg moving all the time and I’m supposed to be in that for 16 to 18 hours a day. I have plenty of exercises to keep things moving and I’m confident that I’ll be back on my feet before too long. 5 to 7 days on my pimped out crutches again, but I can deal with that. 

The Kasstle won’t exactly be the best I’ve ever had, but it’s kind of like any good thing. A bad day at the Kasstle is still better than a good day stuck at home! It won’t be too bad though, I won’t be skiing or anything like that, but I wouldn’t have been anyways. 

All in all I fell pretty good considering I had surgery yesterday morning. I’ve got some happy pills to get me by the next few days and a nerve block in my leg that unfortunately has to come out tomorrow. 

Thanks to everyone for all the well-wishes… here’s hoping to be back on my feet before long!

After Whistler, we headed to Vancouver for a few days and we had a blast! We ended up meeting back up with Jack after we had dropped him off in Kamloops (which he said was a town to avoid the next time you’re around, haha!). We had a good dinner out for some burgers and then called it an early night. Vancouver was really cool. I can definitely see where people want to live here. It’s got a really neat mix of big-city stuff as well as outdoorsy nature stuff. We did get to the aquarium where there was a Beluga whale! and not just one, but three. There was a dolphin show as well… it was a little corny, but it was kind of fun to see. We ended up renting bikes and biking for a few hours. That kind of pushed the knee to it’s limits, but it was good to get it some real exercise.

After a couple days in Vancouver, it was time to move on to Vancouver Island. I was hoping to get up into the north of the Island, but the bottom line is that we just ran out of time. We spent 3 days in Victoria, and I have to say that I was really amazed at how big the place was. I wasn’t expecting much of a big city on an island, but it’s definitely a CITY. Very cool though. 

We spent the last afternoon hanging out on the ocean for lunch and ended up staying for quite awhile… not a bad place to chill out.

That night we had a really nice dinner out as it was our last as a group. The next morning it was time to say goodbye and drop Malin and Dan off at the airport. Lots of hugs and goodbye’s later, it was time to take off. I took Jack back to the Samesun Hostel in Vancouver and we said our goodbyes. Leaving Vancouver was hard, but it was harder to leave the 3 of them. It was an amazing road trip and one that every other road trip will be compared to. Cheers, you three, it was GREAT. 

After I crossed the border into the US, I headed down to see Kara for a couple of days in Tacoma. Her new place is really nice, and I have to say a step up from Wheeler street! The first night we just caught up on what we’d been up to and I got to meet Lance, which was good, because I’d been hearing a LOT about him! It was good to finally put a face to the stories! We had every intention of cooking a dinner that night, but it kind of got to the point where we just snacked a bunch and weren’t hungry anymore! The next day we woke up and got going, decided to take a hike somewhere and took off. It wasn’t until we actually got to Twin Falls that we realized that we had already hiked this trail the last time I was out here. Oh well, worse things have happened! Afterwards we went back into town and saw a park that had been recently cleaned up. It’s a very pretty time of year over there, and I had forgotten how many different kinds of green there are around there! 

The next morning we said farewell and I took off. I had a LONG road ahead of me. 23 hours of straight driving. That first day I did get as far as Billings and decided to sleep just outside of there. I had decided to sleep in the car to save some $$$. The night was long and cold, but it was alright. The next morning I was on the road by 6 and off to Sioux Falls. I got in about 4 in the afternoon or so. 

Since I left Sioux Falls, I have put on 6824 miles on the Subaru, or Bert as it’s been affectionately named. To put that in perspective, I could have driven from Anchorage, Alaska to Cape Canaveral, Florida, back to Sioux Falls and I STILL would have had 300 miles to play with. Granted, I drove around a bit in Fernie, but still, you get the idea. And you know, I wouldn’t trade anything for any one of those miles. It’s been great, and I can’t wait to go back to Fernie next season. 

For now though, it’s back to the real world and getting a job and all sorts of real life things. 

Crap.

Caped crusaders might be an overstatement, but whatever. The hotel in Jasper was nice, it had a kitchenette and enough beds for all of us. After a quick dip in the pool and the outdoor hot tub, we were all ready for a good nights sleep. The next morning, we headed to Whistler. Whistler was quite the drive away, around 10 hours. Knowing we had such a huge drive ahead of us, we got up super early and hit the road. The whole drive was actually pretty cool. We went through a lot of different terrain and things. 

There was one part of the drive that was pretty hairy. This was a mountain pass, and I mean a MOUNTAIN PASS. The entire thing was bumpy and narrow and, well mountainie. It was absolutely gorgeous, but Burt took a beating and kept on going. We were all very proud of him, and stopped after the road was over at a nice lake, took in the view and let Burt take a rest. 

When we arrive in Whistler we called up one of Malin’s friends who has been spending the season here. He’s a really cool guy and let us crash at his place for the night. That night we went out to the village where they were having a big air competition.

This thing was pretty official, and there were some really big names there. The big trick of the night was a switch 1440… that’s 4 complete rotations. That won the competition. The other really cool trick was a switch double backflip. Very cool stuff indeed. In any case, that night we got some drinks and headed to bed. It had been a really long day for everyone so we called it a night early-ish. 

This morning we woke up and unfortunately it was raining, so Malin and Dan decided not to go up today. They did buy a two day pass starting tomorrow, so they’ll go up in the morning. We found out that Emils (the guy we were staying with) room mates are all coming back today, so we’ve gotten out of his hair and checked into a hotel. We were all shocked by how nice this place is compared to how much it cost. Again, we’ve been lucky to stay around the $35 / night plan, and we have a sauna, 2 bathrooms, a kitchen, and a jacuzzi-tub, all in the room and a pretty decent view. Thank you Priceline and end of season deals!

We’ve been bumming around the village looking for good deals on things, being the end of season and everything. We did score some free stuff including some Shick razors, cologne samples, and Monster drinks. Apparently there were some free shirts running around somewhere, but we didn’t find them. Gotta love the festival atmosphere! The whole Telus Ski and Snowboard festival is going on for another 2 or 3 days, so it should be pretty cool around here. 

Tonight we’ve got some pasta to munch on… trying to keep it cheap. 

Thus far, Whistler has been great!

After we got tired of looking at all of the things that none of us can afford, we decided to head over to the Banff Fairmont, which was pretty cool to say the least. HUGE. Didn’t even look at prices, because it didn’t matter. We very clearly didn’t belong there and none of us cared at all. 

After we’d gotten our fill of ooh’s and aaah’s at the hotel, we headed down to Bow Falls for a bit. 

Bow Falls itself is actually to the left of the photo, but that’s a better photo anyways. That night we headed to HooDoo’s for free beer. Yep, free. When we walked in, the bouncer lady asked Jack if he was ‘With the Party’ and Jack immediately answered ‘Yes, yes we are.’ SO, we drank free until 11 or so and then it was cheap pitchers after that. Not a bad night, and one of the cheapest we’ve had in awhile. 

The next morning was a bit rough, but we woke up and headed to Lake Louise. We were there by 11 or so and the others who were skiing and boarding got a nice surprise when they got to the ticket counter. Because Fernie was closed for the days we were there, their lift passes were free. I found the hotel and headed to the lake to take in the view. Around 4 I went to pick the guys up from the hill and we went back to the lake for some photo ops.

It was absolutely gorgeous. We ended up having dinner there, and I have to say that the view was amazing, and it was only 3 or 4 bucks more than we were planning on spending anyways. It was kind of nice to crash such a posh hotel! That night we actually were all in bed by 9 or so and we watched a movie. It was kind of nice to be in a real hotel after the hostel experience. It probably won’t be the last on our trip, but we figured with having 4 people we can split a $120/ night room and pay the same as a hostel. 

The next day they went skiing again, and I headed to the Fairmont at Lake Louise for the afternoon. I finished ‘The Two Towers’ and took a little nap, all with a view of the lake. Not a bad day at all. When I went to pick them up from the hill, they had actually found some other Nonstoppers that were staying in Lake Louise as well, so that night we hooked up with them for some drinks and a horrible open mic night. Good fun all around. 

This morning we woke up and headed for Jasper, where we are now. The trip up was really cool and we stopped at a few places to check out the view and take a couple small hikes. 

Above is Peyto Lake, and it was a pretty good hike, even though we went about 10 minutes in the wrong direction first. We stopped in to some waterfalls and explored around there for awhile as well. 

Above is Athabasca Falls. Pretty cool even though it had a bit of ice on it. Down the river a ways there was an amazing lake that we stopped at for awhile.

Pretty sweet if you ask me. 

We got into a pretty cool hotel in Jasper, and for $15 more, we got a place with a kitchen so we can save some money on dining out. So tonight we’ll eat in, and tomorrow we’ll have a big breakfast before heading off to Whistler tomorrow. It’s going to be a long drive, but we’ll be stopping to take a look at Mount Robson, the tallest mountain in the Canadian Rockies. We’ll drop off Jack in Kamloops and then he’s going to meet back up with us in Vancouver. 

In any case, it’s going great. I’m absolutely loving it, and it’s going to be really crappy when this ends. But there’s lots of time before that happens. 

Time to try and hook up some dinner!

Around 1 or so, Malin, Dan, Jack and myself finally got the car packed and we headed out for Banff National Park. After a quick stop in Cranbrook to get the oil changed and the car looked over, we headed out. The car was (is) absolutely jam packed with stuff, but there’s no getting around it now. We even had to strap a board bag and a ski bag on the roof rack next to the grey top carrier on the other side. The drive up was very scenic and the weather was constantly changing. We went from windows down hot to plain old blizzard within a couple of hours. We didn’t really think things through and so it was kind of a shock at how much it is for a 4 day pass to Kootenay and Banff National parks. The mountains though were absolutely breathtaking. The first impressions of the town of Banff are that it’s much bigger and much more touristy than Fernie. MUCH more. But it’s a bigger resort and Fernie is known for being ‘small town’. We arrived here about a half hour ago and quickly moved into a hostel for the night. I’ve learned very quickly that the lighter you can pack, the better off you are Hostel-style, so I’ve moved some stuff around to get lighter. 

We’re headed out to see the town tonight and maybe make a bite to eat. 

The road trip is officially underway.