two east coast kids on the west coast

last post...coming soon!

2009-04-09T08:28:00.000-07:00

well we're back, and after any long holiday, there is lots of life organization to do which makes things like blogs a low priority. check back in a few weeks (hopefully!), or at least after aimee's D-day as we'll both have time to fill you in on our adventures in NZ's wonderful south island, and of course, we'll include a post-trip wrap-up...

"Where's Aimee?"

2009-03-25T02:22:00.000-07:00

because we all love them so much...

warning, some of these are VERY hard...

North Island, New Zealand

2009-03-25T02:10:00.000-07:00

Hello from New Zealand! Home of Kiwis (aka New Zealanders), the kiwi bird (NZ’s national symbol), kiwifruit, Lord of the Rings, bungy jumping and other adrenalin sports, and Flight of the Conchords, where flip-flops are called jangles and hiking is called tramping, where people greet you with “Hiya!” and use the expression “sweet as” or “choice” instead of “great” or “cool”. And just like Canadians hate being compared to Americans, don’t liken a Kiwi to an Aussie…

We began our adventure on the north island (NZ consists of north and south islands, in case you didn’t know) about one week ago when we flew into Auckland. We decided to skip the hustle and bustle of the big city (for now) and drove to the coastal town of Raglan. Raglan, rugged and wildly beautiful, is NZ’s premier surf haven for beginners and experts alike and also where the movie The Endless Summer was filmed. Coming off of three consecutive days of great surfing in Australia, Chris was keen to test out NZ’s west coast surf.

From Raglan we headed south to Waitamo, known for its stunning limestone creations, underground streams, and glowworm grottos. We had lots of fun exploring the glowworm-lit caverns of the Waitomo caves by inner tube. The glowworm is actually not a worm at all, but the larva of a fly and what glows is the worm’s waste product – bet you didn’t know that!

From Waitomo we headed further south to Tongariro National Park in order to complete what is known as one of the top 10 day hikes in the world - the Tongariro Alpine Crossing, an 18km, 6-8 hour day hike (or tramp) including a cold mountain spring, lava flows, an active volcanic crater, steam vents, emerald-coloured lakes, and magnificent views. Because of both its powerful beauty and enormous cultural significance to the Maori, NZ’s indigenous peoples, Tongariro National Park is one of only a handful of sites in the world to be given dual World Heritage Status.

Did you know that Tongariro doubled as Mount Doom in the Lord of the Rings trilogy? But we didn't see any eyes...

Despite the weather calling for rain and intermittent periods of “fine” weather (that means sunny here), we awoke early the morning of the hike to a bright sun and blue skies. Thank God! But, had it rained, we would have been (sort of?) prepared. The night before Chris fashioned some plastic ponchos out of garbage bags...again, thank God it was sunny so that we didn’t have to wear them…

see what we mean…

Here’s a helpful hiking tidbit - if you’re planning a long hike, coat your feet with antiperspirant for a few days before the big day and then the day of – it reduces sweating, and therefore, blisters.

Sore and tired the next day, we drove to Tokannu and indulged in some hot thermal pool soaking and did more of the same in Rotorua, a hotbed of geothermal activity, where geyers spray, ponds glow, and thermal spas and gurgling mud pools relax and reinvigorate. And it stinks like sulphur.

Apparently Rotorua is also the mountain bike capital of NZ, so Chris indulged in a downhill escapade on a $10,000 rental bike (Intense 6.6, in case you’re curious, Greg).

Today we find ourselves in Tauranga, the east coast of the north island and in the beautiful Bay of Plenty. We had what is likely our last beach day of this trip as the south island (where we head to tomorrow after the day in Auckland) is a lot colder - highs of 15-20 degrees.

OK, don’t hate us right now, we’ll be right there with you in the snow and rain in a week and a half…)…

We fly out to Christchurch tomorrow night…more from the south island next week.

Cheers!
a&c

the last hurrah...in oz

2009-03-18T04:05:00.001-07:00

this is our last post from beautiful australia where we've enjoyed 6.5 amazing weeks!
tomorrow we depart for new zealand and we'll be sure to share what we find through this blog...

here are some images from the beautiful blue mountains where, after much waiting, the fog cleared and we enjoyed views of the 3 sisters...

enjoying the beaches of northern new south wales...

don't worry, it's not the s-word...just some friendly dolphins

where's chris? level of difficulty: easy to moderate

Happy Birthday Shout-outS!

2009-03-18T03:45:00.000-07:00

we're sending 2 happy birthday shout-outs to our nephew, Austin, who turns 10 today - double digits - whoohoo and our niece, Emma, who turns 9 tomorrow!!!

happy birthday you two!

love you lots & see you soon!

a&c

sailing the whitsundays and GREAT BARRIER REEF!

2009-03-18T02:42:00.000-07:00

on a whim while in melbourne, we booked a once-of-a-lifetime trip to the great barrier reef, and we are so glad that we did!

we left sydney last tuesday and flew to airlie beach, queensland where our boat, the Anaconda III, was waiting to take us on a 3 day/3 night sailing trip of the whitsunday islands including diving/snorkeling on the outer reef of the great barrier reef!

on tuesday evening we were greeted by our friendly crew with champagne and set out for a nighttime cruise to our first destination. some little known facts about life on a sailboat:
1. No bananas allowed; they are bad luck on boats.
2. Showers are to be one minute per person per day or we have to go back to shore.
3. Seasickness gets scored on a) colour b) distance c) taking others down with you.

while there were some definite rough patches, and in aimee's case, some definite rough patches, both of us managed to keep our stomach contents in our stomachs in spite of some rough (well maybe not that rough) seas.

over the 3 days, our itinerary included:

a visit to beautiful whitehaven beach though our visit came with rain, we still enjoyed the delicate, white sand, in fact, the whitest in the world as it is composed of 99% silica.

since the weather was crappy near shore, we left the rainy islands behind and sailed into the coral sea, where it was sunny, for our first dive/snorkel at the great barrier reef. the first dive was at sunset and the marine life was astounding. while aimee stuck to snorkeling, chris did his first scuba dive and enjoyed it.

chris riding the tender back to the boat after his first dive.

where's aimee? (level of difficulty = extremely easy)

who knew sailing a 101 ft boat would be so easy?

the great barrier reef in the background...

i was told there would be no work...

A little bit of everything...

2009-03-09T03:59:00.000-07:00

Here are some images from our final day in Western Australia where we ventured to the spooky Pinnacles, a spread of limestone columns up to 3m high which were originally formed underground and have since been exhumed from the sands. See if you can spot Aimee among some of the Pinnacles...

Later that evening, we continued on to Kangaroo Point where we experienced the most beautiful sunset and were joined by a kangaroo mum and her baby (in pouch!), while a dolphin swam in the distance! The only things missing were a unicorn, rainbow, and fairy dust - it was that magical!

We left the remoteness of WA and returned to the east coast to enjoy 4 days in beautiful Melbourne. Despite the cool and rainy conditions, we walked and walked and walked and explored and shopped and drank lots of wonderful coffee and shopped some more and bought some art.

Apparently you have to work for your art in Melbourne...

On a rainy Sunday back in Sydney and reunited with Jason and Ziggy, we headed to Luna Park to get in touch with our inner children and enjoy the carnival...

More general silliness...

Where's Aimee?

2009-02-27T18:59:00.000-08:00

Level of difficulty: easy

Southwestern Oz

2009-02-27T18:26:00.000-08:00

First, here's a photo from Rottnest Island that a nice, fellow Canadian took of us...

After seeing the desert area above Perth, we decided to travel south to the more forested southwest, known for wineries, wildlife, and of course nice beaches. It was quite a change in landscape with much cooler nights and mornings. Highs of 24 seemed “brisk” – how messed up is that?? It was nice to be out of the desert though with beautiful parrots everywhere and lots of kangaroos too. We stopped for a swim in Bunbury and had visitors – three dolphins swam right by us! Too cool!

Margaret River is famous in surfing/windsurfing for its big wave spot that always seems to get the biggest, cleanest waves on the west coast. It’s quite an intimidating spot though since the wave breaks onto such a shallow reef, affectionately known as the surgeon’s table. In fact to launch windsurfers, a keyhole had to be made using dynamite. The lack of wind close to shore adds to the difficulty. Chris had no intentions of windsurfing here because of its reputation but today was “not too big” in Margies terms so after about two hours of convincing himself he thought he should give it a try.

Chris making sure his gear is ‘just right’ – don’t want any mishaps here. The only other time Chris looked so nervous was before Aimee walked down the aisle.

Chris launches through the keyhole.

Lots of waves were over mast high but Aimee points out that none of the ones that Chris caught were that big. Chris’s quote: “Did you notice that my hair is still dry? I was too scared to fall!”

Margies is also known for its cruiseship/tour bus clientele, there to indulge in the 105 wineries that mark the region and local artisans.

While looking for one of these artisans, we stumbled upon Yallingup Beach, just north of Margies where we found crystal clear water, perfect for an afternoon snorkel.

We left Margies and headed south to Denmark, home of Steve and known for its out-of-this- world beaches and surf. Along the way, we found the coolest camping at Hamelin Bay in which we parked our camper on a sand dune. Hamelin Bay also had spectacular sunset swimming.

We were greeted in Denmark by very cold and rainy conditions. It was our first rain in Oz and we didn’t like it. After taking a look at Ocean Beach which was so beautiful even in the rain, we felt even more depressed about the lack of sun. After a day in Denmark and with four more days of the same forecasted, Chris on a moments’ notice, literally, informed Aimee of the change in plans and within an hour, the two were on the road back north to Gero, 8 hours away where the wind was still blowing and the temps were in the 30’s…

The drive back saw the rainy skies turn into sunnier ones which allowed for this beautiful sunset picture over a farming landscape.

Chris got 2 more solid days of windsurfing in at Gero. Our extra time in Gero saw us exploring more of the city and that’s where we came across this gem of a swimming spot.

As always, Aimee working hard to find an internet connection in the middle of nowhere, this time, the woods.

We're off to Perth tomorrow and flying to Melbourne on Monday...

More updates soon!

Cheers,
a&c

Drop us a line!

2009-02-24T20:54:00.000-08:00

As much fun as it is to chronicle our adventures, we love even more when we get comments from you, our readers! (even if there are only 5 of you!)

It's not hard and you don't need a gmail account to drop us a line, so give it a try!

a&c

Happy Birthday Shout-out!

2009-02-21T15:46:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday to our now 11-year-old nephew, Aidan!
Love & miss you!
Aunt Aimee and Uncle Chris

Where's Aimee?

2009-02-21T15:08:00.000-08:00

By request...

Degree of difficulty: moderate to hard

It's a Trailer Park Life

2009-02-21T15:02:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday we returned to Perth to pick up our new home for the next 2 weeks – a ginormous campervan. WE LOVE OUR NEW HOME! In fact, it’s a little scary how much we love it. It’s so much fun, roomy, but also quaint. Aimee especially likes the organizational aspect, particularly, how everything in the van has its own designated space. Our new house on wheels is equipped with a kitchen, bathroom (toilet/shower), living area, which converts to a huge bed at night, and plenty of storage. It’s like camping, but without the bugs (Lynn, think “cottaging” on wheels – you’d love it!).

We took our big blue van on a road trip to northwestern Australia in pursuit of wind. We found ourselves back in Lancelin where we met a really swell couple from Israel. We’ve been following each other up the northern coast and settled in a small city called Geraldton, four hours north of Perth where we’ve spent the last bunch of days. Geraldton, with a population of 26 000 is the second largest city (after Perth) in Western Australia! Along the way, we’ve found ourselves in some tiny towns (i.e., ones that don’t register on the GPS). Nevertheless, each town had its own, special beauty…

Jurien Bay

The sand on the beaches of WA is some of the finest and whitest sand in the world

Chris had a few great days of windsurfing on the northwest coast in the beautiful, turquoise swells of the Indian Ocean…

Stoked to finally be in WA!

Sunset session at Sunset Beach

Consistently windy conditions on the west coast

After some great wind, we left the northwest and headed south to begin our journey along the southwest coast of WA. We plan to visit beautiful Margaret River, known for its famed wineries and spectacular surf and hopefully make it as far south as Esperance, which is said to have some of the most beautiful beaches in Australia.

Cheers!
a&c

happy valentine's day

2009-02-14T03:28:00.001-08:00

kisses,
a&c

Week 2: Perth & Lancelin

2009-02-14T03:17:00.000-08:00

On February 9th, we took a 5-hour flight into Perth. On the western coast, Perth has a reputation for sunshine and an easy-going lifestyle and is Australia’s most isolated yet most modern state capital.

The West Coast has the most beautiful sunsets

Minus one piece of luggage (Aimee’s, of course), we left Perth and drove 2 hours north to Lancelin, known for its consistently windy conditions. When we arrived on Monday afternoon, the wind was dead. This was, in fact, good news for Chris as he couldn’t even go into the water for 72 hours on account of his toe, and Aimee made sure to remind him often of how the lack of wind was really in his favour. With no wind in sight until Thursday, and a high of 40 degrees forecasted, we decided to ditch Lancelin and travel back into Perth to take the ferry to idyllic Rottnest Island for snorkeling. The diving and snorkeling off Rottnest’s beautiful coves are unlike anywhere on the adjacent mainland. The easiest way to travel about the 11 km island is by bicycle, and so for kicks, Chris and I rented a tandem. Pictures from our adventures on Rottnest will come later – we took them on our more compact camera and the camera cable failed to make its way into our luggage…

Later that day, we met up with Steve and ended up staying the night in Fremantle, the eclectic port of Perth with a very European feel. Fremantle is one of Western Australia’s most historic sites and has many wonderful cafes, shops, and historic buildings. We loved it so much, we decided to return a few days later for the famed weekend market.

Thursday saw Chris finally get his sea legs wet in Lancelin for his first ever sail in Australia! Woot!.

Friday was even better. There was big wind (4.7), logo high waves (10 ft), bath-like water, dolphins swimming about, and general smiles all around. Aahh.

The next 2 weeks of our trip see us traveling up and down the west coast, where will be, in Chris’ words “chasing wind”. In case you’re wondering, Aimee is being an exceptionally good wife and traveler by “going with the flow” and will be happy “chasing wind”. No sarcasm, seriously. She’s just happy to be here 

Catching Aimee in a "Bond Girl" moment...hehe

We’re traveling via campervan the next few weeks, so internet access may be iffy. We’ll do our best to update.

Cheers!
a&c

Australia 101, tutorial 1

2009-02-12T14:01:00.000-08:00

Australia 101

I’m not going to pretend to be an expert on Australia and Australian culture (I’ve only been here 2 weeks), but here are some important distinctions:

1. Look up, way up and you’ll find yourself marveling at different constellations, ones you don’t see in the Northern Hemisphere. For example, the Southern Cross, which adorns Australia and New Zealand flags is only visible in the Southern Hemisphere. Ok, I did know this prior to coming, but seeing it for yourself is something else.

2. Australians love their roundabouts. In fact, I’ve only seen one 4-way stop so far. The roundabout system seems to work extremely well here.

3. Keep left. We’re driving on the “wrong” side of the road, people! This is easier said than done (many, many close calls…).

4. Kangaroos as road kill (and dinner).

5. Some new and interesting vocabulary words:

• Daggy – unattractive
• Budgie smuggler or Lollisac – men’s speedos
• Bottle shop – liquor store
• Esky – camping cooler
• Thongs – flip-flops
• Singlet – tank top
• Oldies - parents

6. Most words here are abbreviated with either an “o” or “y” (e.g., “Bottle-o” for “Bottle Shop”; “Rashy” for “Rashguard”, that lycra top you see surfers wear).

7. Lots of tasty frozen treats (e.g., Weiss bars; Calippo ice lollies) that we don’t have back home.

8. EVERYTHING is more expensive (but people make more $ here to compensate)

Week 1: Sydney and surrounding areas

2009-02-09T16:58:00.000-08:00

After 48 hours of traveling which took us to Toronto (thanks Ang and the Kelley boys for the fun visit!), LA, and Auckland, we arrived in Sydney, Australia on January 31^st.

It was bloody hot, but we weren’t complaining. In fact, Sydney had been experiencing a heat wave prior to our arrival and during our time there the heat never let up.

We had 9 wonderful days in Sydney staying with Chris’ brother Jason and his girlfriend, Ziggy, who live in North Bondi, as in the infamous Bondi Beach, which has many parallels with Venice Beach, California – lots of hot, tanned people, for most of whom, the beach and beach culture is a major part of their lives.

We spent much of the week beaching at various places along the east coast in and around Sydney. Some highlights were visiting Manly Beach, snorkeling at Cabbage Tree Beach where we saw some interesting marine life (don’t want to scare you with the details, but don’t worry, they were harmless, so long as you left them alone), and visiting Taronga Zoo where Aimee saw her first kangaroos (‘roos) and koalas.

Sydney Harbour Bridge

Koala says Relax

During our time in Sydney, Steve, Chris’ other brother came all the way from Denmark, Western Australia (WA) for the week to take in the sights and visit. This was the first time the Ruddick boys were all together since our wedding 4.5 years ago, so this was quite special.

This past weekend saw the 5 of us road trip to Jervis Bay, about 3 hours south of Sydney. We camped at the most beautiful site full of kangaroos, parrots, and angry, but harmless possums. At Jervis Bay, we swam and snorkeled at what was likely the most beautiful beach we have ever seen, perhaps even better than some we encountered in Hawaii. The water was so warm and crystal clear and the sand so white – it felt like paradise.

Cricket anyone?

Don't ask..something about "tanning thighs..."

On day 2, we decided to venture further south and visit Termiel. This place has special meaning for Chris and his brothers as they had camped on this beach for 6 weeks 20 years ago when they lived in Australia. While on his very first surf (very first wave even), Chris had the misfortune of being stabbed by Jason’s board between his toes. This required a trip to the emergency in Ulladulla, about 30 km away for a (not so) quick repair of a few stitches. Fortunately (for Chris and Aimee both), he’ll be back on the water within 72 hours.

Before...

After...

What a great sport :)

The timing on this one wasn’t great as we were scheduled to leave Sydney the next day for WA, and what would be the “windsurfing portion” of this trip. If you know Chris well, you know that windy conditions + no windsurfing = CRANKY!

We had a great time in Sydney, but left again this morning for Perth, WA. We’re on the plane as we write this entry and Chris got to board early because of his booboo (hehe). While in WA, Chris plans to do plenty of windsurfing and Aimee lots of snorkeling. We’re staying in a windsurfing hostel for the next few days and then will rent a campervan for 2 weeks which will serve as our home and transport. Hopefully we won’t kill each other by the end of it. Steve will join us tomorrow in WA.

Special thanks to J and Zig for their hospitality, and for Steve to make the journey across Australia to see us.

Cheers!

a&c

We made it!

2009-01-31T11:02:00.000-08:00

From this crap....

to this!

we were then going to end this post with,

"see you in april...suckas!"

but thought that might have been too harsh. instead, let's write:

"miss you all and wish you were here!"

lots of love,

a&c

on the road again...days 4 & 5

2008-10-04T18:38:00.000-07:00

day 4 took us through big sky country - montana. miles and miles of rolling grass hills and farmland, including cows, bison, antelope, emus, llamas, and sheep. we felt very much out of place in our shorts and flip flops, garnering stares every time we stepped into a local establishment. we crossed over the northeast tip of wyoming and then into south dakota for the night. we visited mount rushmore to get a photo of the infamous presidental faces and then settled back into rapid city, south dakota.

day 5 was a long one, but both of us were keen to drive so we just gave 'er. an hour into our drive we arrived at the Bad Lands in south dakota and took some amazing photos below. imagine crossing these rock formations on horse, because that's what the native american sioux did hundreds of years ago. the bad lands reminded us a lot of Moab, Utah, which we visited on our trip west over a year ago.

this is a prairie dog. they are tiny and hilarious. we spotted hundreds of them from the car and when aimee got out to get a picture, she scared all of them away. we managed to get this picture with our telephoto lense (which exaggerates their true and tiny size).

another installment of "where's aimee?"

after the badlands, the photos ended, but the driving continued...and continued...and continued. today, on day 5, we crossed south dakota, minnesota, and crossed into wisconsin after 11 hours on the road. and in south dakota, we finally entered the central time zone! woot! we decided to settle in at la crosse, wisconsin; however, when we got there, we found out that every hotel within a 50 km radius was booked because of oktoberfest festivities. so, we drove some more, and find ourselves in the last room of a family-owned inn in tomah, wisconsin. where you ask? ...good question! it's east and that's all that matters! day 6's destination: somewhereville, michigan!

on the road again...days 1-3

2008-10-02T20:48:00.000-07:00

we left vancouver on september 30 wide-eyed and ready to take in all the beauty around us that is BC. we did a quick trek to kelowna, bc and were again lucky to spend it with chris' aunt sandy and her family. we left early the next morning and began our drive to calgary. this, of course, took us through the canadian rockies. so beautiful. so majestic. especially with the fall colours in full force. on our way to calgary, we had to stop and spend some time in banff where we visited the hot springs for a quick dip as a reward for all of the driving that day. in calgary, we were so lucky to catch up with friends (greg & rachelle, andrew mac, johnny mac and angela). and thanks to greg and rachelle (& adelle) for putting us up for the night.

we left calgary at 6:30 this morning and made our way south to montana. montana - so beautiful, so serene. cowboys. cowboy boots. cowboy hats. big belt buckles. funny drawls. but friendly. we drove as long as we could and 10 hours later ended up in billings, montana where we've settled for the night. as for tomorrow, we decided to take it easy and do a half-day drive to mount rushmore in south dakota to take in the presidential sights. so timely. speaking of which, we made sure to rush back to our hotel room this evening to see the VP debate. our favourite buzz words this evening were: heckava, maverick, round'em up, reerin' its head, ramp up...good grief!

good signage in montana...

so long. farewell...BC

2008-09-30T07:32:00.000-07:00

so, just like that, 13 months of living in vancouver is over. kaput. done. and what a time it has been. the van is packed, the apartment emptied. we leave in a few hours. next adventure: the drive home! kelowna, bc today, calgary tomorrow. then, montana, south dakota, etc. until we reach ontario, which will include some familiar pit stops and visits with family and friends. final destination: halifax. ETA: thanksgiving weekend. and like the 1st time around, this blog will chronicle the journey back...so stay tuned...we may be hitting a city near you!

some images from this summer...

kayaking & camping - north vancouver, bc

jason & ziggy visit from australia

brotherly love

view from grouse mountain

grizzly habitat (grouse mtn)

mountain biking in whistler

looks like we got out of here in the nick of time...chris was really pushing the limits (and my buttons) with these jumps...

our favourite beach - spanish banks, vancouver

our friends' dave & neil threw a bond-themed going away bash for us...

dave, chris, & neil doing what they do best

snowboarding in august...seriously!

2008-08-09T13:17:00.000-07:00

when you're in oregon in august, what else is there to do but windsurf or bike, right? how about snowboarding?! that's precisely what we did on 08/02/08 - snowboard on mt. hood. totally spontaneous. totally outrageous. totally wet. totally fun.

yes, those are jeans. JEANS! we had nothing else, but it was perfect.

chris looking 80's retro with his red biking gloves

above the clouds. 11,000 ft elevation.

photo credits: lisa currer

long time, no blog

2008-07-26T18:29:00.000-07:00

we've been a-buzz these last few months...multiple visits from family and friends and trips of our own (oregon, victoria) and of course work...work...thesis...work etc etc etc etc.

we had a great visit with mom and dad. then came a fun-filled week with lynn, who as expected, did the most wonderful job of tour-guiding herself around the city while we worked. we highly recommend you having her to your home if the opportunity arises. and how fun was it to have my big sister, monique, here to catch a glimpse of our lives here in the big city of vancuever (that's how the locals pronounce it; our vancoover is a dead give away that we're misplaced, from another city. i've decided to conform, chris refuses). then came tanya, chris' classmate from TUNS/Dal-Tech (whatever) who was about to embark on a bike race across BC (and who subsequently did amazingly well - yah tanya!). chris' folks will be here in a few weeks, after we spend the long august weekend with them, back on the oregon coast.

it's hard to imagine that i have 4.5 weeks of work left and chris is not far behind. vancouver did not disappoint. we've had the best year.

some highlights from the last few months...

kayaking at deep cove. north shore, bc:

view from granville bridge:

hiking on the north shore:

fireworks viewed from chris' work:

trip to victoria. we decided to ride in style and take a helicopter:

oregon coast:

yes, this is chris:

(show-off) :)

hood river, oregon (view from our house):

good times sailing with ian:

vancouver aquarium:

who doesn't love otters?

spanish banks beach with lynn:

whistler in the summer (bear-crushing):

halifax does vancouver

2008-05-14T21:00:00.000-07:00

earlier this month, mom and dad made the 6000 km trek from halifax to spend a week with us in van city...and there was no rain for 7 days...a miracle!

posy posy, but i love this one...squamish, bc

dad doing his standard hand gesturing during photo-ops...

stanley park

dad obeying the ban on hand gestures...granville island

lookin' good for under 5' and 5'4" respectively

east goes west...to maui!

2008-05-04T19:18:00.000-07:00

so everyone's been asking, "how was hawaii?". my answer: "it was just as beautiful, as exotic, as relaxing, and as hot as you would imagine it to be. and it was so much fun". some highlights from our 10-day escapade...

snorkel trip to molikini island
swimming in waterfalls
swimming with sea turtles
seeing our first penguins...ever
seeing our first volcano...ever
seeing a naked man engage in some compromising yoga positions on a nude beach (no image available, sorry)
windsurfing
reading trashy magazines on the beach
watching local and professional surfers and windsurfers at ho'okipa
and yes, that is chris jumping off the cliff. . .

hooray for snow! (when it's not in your driveway)

2008-03-12T19:33:00.000-07:00

it's a snowboarders' paradise around these parts. here are some recent pix and videos from whistler-blackcomb and big white, in kelowna.

blackcomb....

big white...visiting aunt sandy, uncle george, and cousin dave (and muffy)

saturday morning sunrise view from the fam's place in westbank, bc...

powderday

2008-01-07T20:17:00.000-08:00

lots o' rain in van city = lots o' snow in the mountains...

a very west coast christmas

2008-01-01T10:07:00.000-08:00

it’s a lazy boxing day today. i’m feeling a bit too timid to venture out into the vancouver boxing day shopping crowds. more like lazy actually. chris is definitely too polite to push around others for a sake of a good deal. i on the other hand will do just about anything to get a discounted sweater from the gap.

this has been a year of many firsts for chris and i, one being, our first christmas away from home and the east coast. knowing that I might be hard to be so far away from everyone, we’ve tried to keep ourselves busy with a lot of the same things we’d do at home and some other fun things which we’d never get the chance to experience. last week we trekked again to whistler-blackcomb and had an awesome day boarding in the mountains. the skies cleared just long enough for us to finally get a picture of the mamouth peaks around us.

christmas cookies. the idea of them sounds so good. so fun. until you start making them. and then you realize how much of a pain in the ass the process is and wonder how each year you dupe yourself into doing it all over again. we made snowflakes. a martha stewart sugar cookie recipe. i am obsessed with her and her domestic godliness. i think they turned out wonderfully and we only lost about 6 months of lives achieving cookie perfection.

martha would be proud

christmas eve. yazbek tradition calls for a big seafood spread and a flurry of nieces and nephews working hard to contain themselves before the big present opening, which usually lasts a mere 10 minutes. it’s chaos. but a good chaos that we sadly missed this year. chris and i did something very different this year – dinner and a show – it’s a wonderful life. change is always good.

some shots of christmas eve day in van city...

christmas eve before all of the events

just because i love my new dress here is this picture

here’s a christmas first for us – dumpster diving. chris gave me a starbucks gift card. i noticed it missing this morning and went into sheer panic realizing how many hours of chai latte enjoyment were suddenly lost. i scoured the apartment. nothing. it was gone. this brought back a frenzy of horrible memories. it was christmas eve 1989. i was 12 years old. i got a NKOTB poster which sadly made its way into the fireplace during cleanup. i feared the same thing happened, but this time, the dumpster might have been the culprit. i woke up chris. he understood the importance of this mission. we went downstairs to the room where the trash and recycling are kept. not one of our shining moments, agreed. but, just below the surface of the recycling pile was…my starbucks card! in our own little pathetic way, we had saved christmas.

a re-creation...

christmas day brunch

west coast livin'

2007-11-04T19:29:00.000-08:00

2 months in and life is dang good here on the west coast. some highlights...

work: things got busy for chris quick, but early reports suggest that he's well-liked and a hard worker. he has a spectacular view of the mountains from his 5-star office building, which includes a "kitchen attendant", state of the art technical "stuff", and treats-day friday. things started off slow for me, but have picked up considerably. i'm working in 4 areas of the hospital, seeing a wide range of kids and teens with varying problems. although i have my own office, i have to step outside to take in the view, which is never disappointing, even on the rainiest of days.

play: chris has nearly lost his mind mountain biking on the famed north shore. i can't even begin to explain the tricks he and the others are doing on these trails.

we both have apres work ski passes for cypress mountain, 1 of the 3 local mountains 30 minutes away and my new snowboard is rearin' to go!

view of vancouver from the base of cypress mountain

windsurfing has been weak to say the least, but this was apparently expected. not to worry, though. chris is making up for it with a trip to maui next week....we both bike to work everyday and i've found a tacky gym in the neigbourhood with lululemon-clad ladies and their personal trainers. does shopping count as play? i think so. the shopping is nothing short of amazing.

my former mountain bike, "citified" with fenders and bike lights...

it rains ALMOST EVERYDAY, but that doesn't mean that one's style has to suffer...here is my solution for all of the rain

although we've had lots of fun exploring the city, we've had the chance to make some day trips as well...

pictures from squamish, bc...

pictures from the sunshine coast (gibson, bc), home of the beachcombers!!

the ferry ride home from the sunshine coast....

day 21 - george, washington to vancouver, bc!!! (453 km)

2007-09-02T09:52:00.000-07:00

The homestretch. I was so anxious to get to Van but Chris seemed more leisurely about it, wanting to stop into outlet malls in Seattle etc. I know what you’re thinking – Aimée didn’t want to shop?! But this is the truth. I just wanted to Git ‘R Done after 3 weeks on the road.

The first sight of a “Vancouver, BC” sign warranted a high 5 to each other. We were so close. We arrived in Van late afternoon and we were met at the apartment by our landlord. It’s just like the pictures :)

We feel so fortunate to have made this trip with no major pitfalls along the way. We had 21 days of sunshine and it was a once in a lifetime adventure, well worth all the driving, which, if you’re interested, added a mere 8279 km to the odometer!

We hope to update this blog periodically about our life here in Van, but don’t expect daily posts like we’ve been providing ;)

Hope to see you out west for a visit!

A&C

ps: it’s raining in Van today…go figure

day 20 - hood river, oregon to george, washington (310 km)

2007-09-02T09:38:00.000-07:00

We left Hood River and a great 6 days of relaxation behind to seek out our last adventure on this whirlwind tour. We had heard from a friend about a place called the Gorge Amphitheatre in George, Washington (yes, the town is called George in the state of Washington – how clever).

The Gorge Amphitheatre is a 20,000 seat concert venue located above the Columbia River Gorge and is considered one of the premier and most scenic concert locations in North America and the world. When we looked up the venue on the internet a few weeks before the start of our trip, we were blown away by the images AND the fact that the Dave Matthews Band would be performing the labour day long weekend, just around the time when we’d be ending our trip and heading north to Vancouver. We were sold.

The drive to George saw us heading inland into the Washington desert. It was very reminiscent of the landscape in Nevada and Colorado with the white, mountainous landscape, followed by corn fields, reminiscent of Nebraska and Iowa. It felt twilight zonish, as if we were retracing our original steps and heading backwards!

The concert. What can we say about Dave? Dave rocks! The concert was like an out-of-body experience. I kept saying to Chris, “I can’t believe I’m here!” Surrounded by the breathtaking scenery coupled with listening to the songs of such a rockin’ band was the most perfect way imaginable to celebrate the near-end of our journey.

One last day of sailing in Hood River

A pro windsurfer doing tricks, making all the amateurs look bad

Oregon wine - check out the brand AND name of the wine - so fitting for Chris!

The Gorge Amphitheater (above & below)

We were 44 rows from the stage! but these pix don't show that.

The parking lot at the Gorge Amphitheatre (look way into the distance!)

The Gorge in Washington

days 15 - 19 – hood river, oregon

2007-08-30T18:15:00.000-07:00

Hood River or “The Gorge” as it is affectionately known by windsurfers, was our first real stop where we get to relax and spend multiple nights in one place. It’s nice to get back to regular day stuff like getting groceries, doing laundry, and poking around a few nice shops each day instead of trying to cram it all into one or two days. We’ll spend a total of six nights here in the Gorge before heading to Washington to see Dave Matthews.

The Gorge is an outdoors person’s dream. It’s got hiking, mountain biking, snowboarding and of course windsurfing on the Columbia River Gorge, where it’s consistently windy almost every day of the summer. The town of Hood River is also a really funky spot with shops galore, microbrews, tons of local wineries and 300 or so days a year of sunshine. AND did we mention that there is no sales tax whatsoever in Oregon!?

Chris has been windsurfing a few times here and we went on a bike ride at the local mountain biking hotspot, which is said to be amongst the best. From what we saw, it was really fun – a hard packed dirt/clay track through the woods with lots of jumps and stunts thrown in. Chris had the misfortune of bending his front wheel on one of the jumps and that was the end of the mountain biking in Hood River. We also had the opportunity to do a hike up one on the local mountains, which provided stunning views of Mount Hood (and also apparently Mount Adams and Mount St. Helens if we hadn’t quit before getting to the top) and the Hood River Valley.

Where's Chris? A stunning view of Mount Hood on our hike

Another spectacular view (of Mt Hood silly :)

Oooh! Looky looky at all the pretty kites!

Chris doing a body drag

Hello from The Gorge!

Oregon wine - mmm mmm good!

The infamous jump where Chris busted his bike

days 13, 14 & 15 – coastal drive: san francisco to hood river, oregon (1115 km)

2007-08-26T16:16:00.000-07:00

We left San Fran and entered Marin county, thus starting the famous #1 Hwy up the west coast. We had been forewarned that despite the beauty of the scenery, we likely would decide to veer off Hwy 1 in favour of the interstate. We couldn’t understand why someone would suggest driving on a freeway over the Pacific Coast Highway, but when we started the drive, we began to understand why someone would make this decision. This is a rollercoaster ride of a road, complete with cliffs and 15 mile/hr turns. To say that it is VERY turny would be a gross understatement.

That being said, we stayed on Hwy 1 for an entire day and the spectacular views were well worth the motion sickness.

Chris was stoked to windsurf for the first time this trip and his first time ever in California (cold water!!!) in a little town called Bodega Bay. Nothing spectacular, but a chance to get his sea legs wet.

Camping in California was great – perfect temperature and no bugs. And it was great being on the coast again. While Nova Scotia is a far cry from California, it was nice to experience something familiar.

The next day brought us through the Redwood Forest and the Avenue of Giants – home to the majestic Redwood trees. Very very cool to see. We camped in the Redwood State Park for a night before venturing into Oregon.

Where's Aimée?

The Oregon coast was arguably more spectacular than the California coast with steeper cliffs, bluer water and forests right to the water’s edge; the colours were incredible. Plus, there was hardly a sole around – it’s quite deserted along the whole coast until Portland.

Chris got to windsurf at a place called Pistol River, a famous wavesailing beach and had what he described as “although terrifying, the funnest day of windsurfing ever”. In windsurfing terms it was 4.7, down-the-line, and logo high but don’t feel bad if you don’t know what that means. We met a cool couple from Portland there and camped with them (and 200 other windsurfers) that night.

Chris before venturing out at Pistol River

Chris tearin' it up at Pistol River

An Oregon winery (which we plan to take advantage of while here)

days 10, 11, & 12 – san francisco

2007-08-26T15:59:00.001-07:00

San Francisco was all that we thought it would be. Such an eclectic mix of people, shops, restaurants, sites….we did our best to take it all in the few days we were there.

Our room and the view from our room. How lucky were we?!

Chinatown

We ate A LOT of sushi. This place was pretty novel – the sushi floats on a plate in a boat and you just take the pieces you want to eat.

Beautiful homes in the posh end of San Fran - Lombard Street

Chris demonstrating the steepness of the streets

Lombard Street – the crooked street. Where’s Aimée?

Holding on to the trolley for dear life

Cityscape

Us and the Golden Gate Bridge in the distance

days 8 & 9 - moab, utah to san francisco, california (1600 km!!)

2007-08-24T10:54:00.000-07:00

When we developed the itinerary for the trip, we were under the impression that the drive from Moab to San Francisco was doable in a day. According to Google maps, the trip should take about 14 hours. However, after talking to a lot of people in Moab, we were left with the impression that the trip would take more like 18 to 20 hours…so, plans changed.

We left Moab on August 18, not the 19^th as we had originally planned. We left immediately after Chris rode the Slickrock rail and planned to drive as far into Nevada as we could in the one day. The highlight of this drive was seeing the Great Salt Lake and Bonneville Salt Flats.

After 8 hours of driving, we stopped for the night in a place called Elko. Not very monumental, but it was just after we crossed into Nevada that we entered the Pacific Time Zone. And that’s when we felt very far from home.

Up early at 4:30am the next day, we left Elko, only to experience a 2-hour delay 20-minutes into our drive due to a desert fire.

The drive ended up being quite scenic, taking us through Reno and Lake Tahoe. The two hour, 5000 foot, narrow, twisty decent into Sacramento was quite nerve racking for Chris. Aimee somehow slept through lots of it. After some slooowwww traffic jams in San Francisco, we finally made it to the Hotel and what a room it was. Overlooking Union Square from the 11^th floor of the Westin St Francis is pretty posh for us but after the last week of driving, we deserved it. We were in bed by 9:30.

Utah was more beautiful than we had anticipated

Utah

The Great Salt Lake

Ankle deep for miles at the Bonneville Salt Flats

Photography buffs would love it here

The traffic jam leaving Elko, NV

Signs of the desert fire in the distance

Notice the firetruck making its way to the fire

The mountains in Nevada were spectacular

The worst gas station...ever

Reno...ugh!

Entering Californ-I-AY!

The San Francisco Bay Bridge

birthday shout- out!

2007-08-21T16:07:00.000-07:00

we'd like to send out a BIG happy birthday shout-out to our nephew, Declan, who turned 5 yesterday. happy birthday, buddy! love you & miss you!

days 7& 8 - moab, utah

2007-08-21T10:30:00.000-07:00

Moab was as amazing as we had expected. we decided to camp since the desert supposedly cools off down to the 20’s at night. plus, you are provided with shade for your tent. Shouldn’t be that bad, right? Wrong. The temperature did cool off, but just not until 3am…

Moab is known as a mountain biking mecca and when Chris found out that Moab was a short 4-hour detour from our original route, we decided to revamp the plans to include it. Moab is a quaint little western town with a creative mix of locals and thrill seekers. Lots of great little shops and even a brewery. The town is dedicated to outdoor adventure sports like mountain biking, rock climbing, white water rafting on the Colorado river, jeep tours, hiking etc.

Our first day saw us completing a bike ride called Klondike Bluffs, which is known as a perfect introduction to Moab mountain biking as it has all of the elements: sand, spectacular views, and of course, Moab’s famous slick rock (sandstone that has been washed smooth by wind and rain which creates a skateboard park type biking experience). We were advised to start any ride very early (i.e., 7am) given the afternoon heat of over 37 degrees. Given some equipment technicalities, we started this ride at 9am, at which point it was already 27 degrees.

By the time we had finished the ride at noon, it was much too hot to be out in the desert. Chris was fighting a mean cold (which, unfortunately, I caught at the tail end of Moab) and wasn’t feeling his best after the ride. But it was well worth it, right Chris!? That night, we gave up on the idea of camping, wimped out, and got a tiny cabin with AC.

Chris was feeling a little bit better on day 2, enough so to complete Moab’s famous Slickrock trail (experts only, so I didn’t tag along). Based on yesterday’s experience, he started at 7am. This trail is 100% on smooth rock with jumps and half-pipes strewn throughout. It also runs along cliff edges overlooking the desert, the town or the Colorado river so the views were pretty incredible.

Chris on Slickrock trail doing a wheelie over Colorado River, 1000 ft drop

Jeep and Hummer tours on Slickrock trail

Feeling superhuman on Klondike Bluffs

I AM the man

The view looking into Arches National Park

The traveling pharmacy

At least someone in Utah has a sense of humour (double click on the image to get a better read of the bottle labels...)

Desert animal of some sort, a rabbit? a hare?

Dinosaur tracks along the biking trail. Moab is rich in dinosaur tracks and fossils.

Aimee hand over dinosaur hand

Aimee biking up the white slickrock...this was tough in the heat!

Chris wasn't ready for the heat and elevation (Moab is at about 4500 ft above sea level)
Can't....breathe....

The campsite we abandoned for the AC cabin

Kevin, a Moab local whom Chris biked with on the Slickrock trail, drops into the half-pipe. Kevin's been riding the Slickrock trail since the '70's and brought Chris to some less traveled terrain. Notice the jeans, water bottles in back pocket, and you may even see a cigarette in one hand if you look closely.

day 6: lincoln, nebraska to moab, utah (1334 km!!)

2007-08-18T21:28:00.000-07:00

Thanks to our sleep aides the night previous, we were able to wake up at 4am and leave the campground by 5 for what would be a 13-hour drive. This is the 4^th of 6 long drives as the latter part of our trip will see us cruisin’ up the west coast at a more leisurely pace.

You knew at some point that we would run into car (‘er van) trouble. And today was that day. At a place called Ogallala, NE, the ‘check engine’ light turned on. I had seen on TV that as long as the check engine light isn’t flashing, that theoretically you can continue driving. That always seemed odd to me and the sight of that light made Chris’ face turn white, but only temporarily.

Ogallala, NE is in the heart of the Midwest. Picture cowboy boots, cowboy hats, saloons, and Yosemite Sam style moustaches. We found a Chevy dealership in town and they ran a diagnostic on the car. Fortunately, the problem was nothing serious and nothing that needs immediate attention.

This sign was hanging on one of the office doors at the dealership – priceless.

We hit the road again and as we crossed into Colorado, we kept our eyes peeled for any signs of the Rockies. Instead, we passed through fields upon fields upon fields of Brown-eyed Susans. They were such a delight to see after days of boring tan landscape that was so difficult to photograph from a moving car.

Remember those mountains? Well about 5o km outside of Denver, they appeared in the distance. And from then on in, our drive became so much more interesting...

After leaving Aspen, Colorado, the landscape turned into a 'star wars' esque desert and we seemed to be the only highway inhabitants for hundreds of miles. Gas stations were averaging approx. 100 miles apart...

The heat and desolation of the desert was very surreal for 2 east coast kids used to water and lush green landscape. There was a deafening silence in the car - we were both spooked. Fortunately, signs for Moab slowly began to appear, and we felt closer to civilization...

Neither of us were ready for the heat. It was 40 degrees which meant that if the sun was shining on you, it felt like you were standing too close to the stove and if you stick your hand out of the window on the highway, it felt like a hairdryer. Again, not confidence inspiring with the check engine light on in the middle of the desert.

The next set of photos were taken as we entered Moab Valley. They speak for themselves...

day 5: chicago to lincoln, nebraska (835 km)

2007-08-17T17:53:00.000-07:00

It was particularly hard to leave Chicago having only scratched the surface of such a fantastic city. But we were (and continue to be!) on a very tight driving schedule. Our next destination was Lincoln, Nebraska.

Why Lincoln? Good question. Chris read somewhere that it is exactly half way between Chicago and Moab, Utah, our next major destination. Turns out, this is not really the case. So, day 5 was a shorter drive which spanned Illinois, Iowa, and Nebraska. It was completely reminiscent of the Canadian prairies (in fact, Lincoln is directly below Regina). It was an easy drive but long and boring.

We did a lot of stupid things to make the drive seem more interesting...

Other highlights included:

700 miles of corn fields (we did see some other signs of life, mostly cows)

A burning car in a corn field with the driver doing a “stop, drop, and roll” beside it.

Extremely loud crickets and locusts at our campground. The sound was so deafening that we had to yell at each other when speaking. Thank God for gravol and ear plugs. And that’s all we’ll say about Lincoln.

I’m always intrigued by the fact that you can sometimes get wireless internet at a campground…does anybody else see the irony in this?

Next stop: Moab, Utah for some world class moutainbiking!

days 3 & 4: kingston to chicago (1087 km) and CHICAGO!

2007-08-15T18:53:00.000-07:00

day 3's drive was a long and stressful one. we navigated some major cities (montreal, toronto, chicago) and much too much summer time construction. for us, the trip really began as we crossed the bridge into the US (no passport required, in case you were wondering) at Sarnia. Entering at Michigan (below), we made our way through Indiana and finally Illinois.

if we could sum up chicago in one phrase it would be “look up, way up!”. we were blown away by the architectural beauty of the chicago skyline. art deco, gothic, modern – all types were spectacular. in order to truly enjoy both the history and beauty of these buildings, we took an architectural boat tour on the chicago river. While it sounds corny and very touristy, it really is the best way to experience so much of the city in a short time. We’d do it again in a heartbeat.

Some other highlights included:

Supper at Gino’s East Pizzeria famous for their deep dish delights

Dinner and drinks on the 96^th floor of the Hancock tower, the 2^nd tallest skyscraper in Chicago

Great shopping on the magnificent mile

Really wonderful, friendly Chicagoans! We were expecting New York types, but this wasn’t the case at all.

And of course, we would be remiss to not mention a few words about our stay at the historic Drake Hotel in downtown Chicago – our best sleeps, EVER!

Can't wait to go back!!

day 2: fredericton to kingston (1107 km)

2007-08-13T20:37:00.000-07:00

we bid adieu to freddy beach 1 last time very early on Sunday morning and began our trek to our 2^nd stop, kingston. we were greeted with some very thick and eerie fog about an hour into the drive that lasted for what felt like an eternity. the remainder of the drive was uneventful and we drove into k-town around 5pm.

thanks to our lovely hostess, jenn, for the great supper and company. we would have loved to have stayed longer, but our future was forecasting a 13-hour drive the following day - destination: chicago!

day 1: back to the beach (438 km)

2007-08-13T20:31:00.000-07:00

with our van filled to the brim and our "vancouver rocks" sign from our adorable nephew isaac in hand, we began our journey west on august 11.

our first leg of the trip was an easy one – and familiar. having had a great night at our friends marcy & revi’s wedding (wicked time, u 2, thanks!!), we decided that it would be a good idea to keep the first leg easy: a quick and dirty 4 hours was all it took to land us back in our old stomping ground, freddy beach.

we knew we were back in town when 3 of the first 10 people we ran into on the street were friends of ours. and like so many times before, we ended up at our favourite pizza joint for supper with our hosts, danielle and jason.

x-continential adventure

2007-07-13T04:39:00.000-07:00

here's a preview of our journey to vancouver. as you can see, we're taking the very long way to our new home. we've both always wanted to do the pacific coast highway drive and this seemed like the perfect opportunity.

we begin on august 11 and anticipate arriving in van on september 1. most of our time will be spent in along the west coastline. of course, we are taking a major and necessary pit stop at 'the gorge' in oregon, a lifelong windsurfing dream of chris'. during that time, i plan to work dilligently on my tan and immerse myself in trashy tabloid mags.

new van digs

2007-07-12T05:06:00.000-07:00

15th & oak street, shaugnessy

we decided on a central location in the west end, situated between kitsilano and the main street area. my hospital is conveniently located on oak, about 10 blocks away, so i can easily walk or bike to work. chris' new office is downtown, so he can bike to work as well. we decided on a furnished apartment to save ourselves the hassle of getting new furniture only to sell it a year later. our decision to get a furnished place was solidified upon seeing pictures of this apartment...oh, and there is apparently a bedroom, separate from the den; we just haven't seen it yet!