Road Trip

On Thursday I left Big White once and for all and said goodbye to all the friends I had made there. The good news is that I'm meeting up with about a dozen of them down in Pourta Vallarta in Mexico in three weeks time.

I'm working my way down the west coast with Simon, an English guy I met at Big White. We're pretty much traveling together for the next month. On Thursday morning we caught the shopping shuttle from Big White down to Kelowna and got dropped off at the Greyhound bus station. The ticket woman at Greyhound was a real cunt. I won't go into details.

The bus trip to Seattle was 14 hours. I reckon long haul bus trips are worse then flights. You can't sleep very well on a bus and there's always that one lone drifter sitting at the back of the bus, clutching a bottle in a brown paper bag.

Simon and I finally got to Seattle at 11pm. We checked into the Green Tortoise Hostel, which seems to be a really good hostel. They have free internet access and free breakfast. It's also across the road from a Subway which does $5 footlongs.

The next day I went on a mission to get my ski bag sent back to Townsville by post. I had to fork out $300 in postage but it's a lot better then hauling around 50 pounds (that's right I broke out the empirical measurements) of skis, boots and winter clothes.

Once I got that sorted out I could relax and explore Seattle; home of Boeing, Microsoft, Starbucks, Jimi Hendrix and Nirvana. First we went down to the Space Needle tower and checked out the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame. I saw Captain Kirk's chair. I was disappointed that I couldn't sit in it and do William Shatner impersonations. It's behind a glass case. It really defeats the point. We then checked out the Experience Music Project which charts a history of American music and is full of hands on exhibits. It was pretty cool.

As nightfall came we brushed up on the Three B's; Basketball, Burlesque and Bitching good times. We went to nearby Key Arena and saw the Seattle Supersonics play the Charlotte Bobcats. We got seats in the nosebleed section but we moved closer after the first quarter when we realised that half the stadium was empty. It was a pretty scrappy game but it got close towards the end. The Bobcats won 98 - 94.

We then went to a little place across the road from the hostel where they were playing a live burlesque show. Form what I understand, the west coast has embraced ye olde burlesque as an art form and now it's considered classy. The place was a restaurant where you could have a sit down meal. The show was also pretty hot.

I thought Seattle was going to be a boring stop on my way down the coast but it seems this place really has quite a lot to do. It seems that off-beat and non-mainstream culture is the mainstream here. There is an anime convention going on at the moment and I've seen tons of people walking through the streets dressed as everything from Jedis to Vulcans.

A General Summation

I've been lazy with blogging lately because it doesn't feel like there's been anything much worth blogging about. But I figure I should probably give a general summation of the last few weeks.

Los Angeles: I think I pretty much hate it. I saw the good parts and the bad parts and it wasn't all that. I got a photo outside the Scientology centre. I was trying to do a self photo with my mobile phone and I kept on missing the sign so it took me a few goes. I wasn't being very conspicuous. Fairly soon a guy on a bicycle with "SECURITY" written on the back of his t-shirt shooed me away. To be fair he did it in a polite way and mentioned that all the good sights were at the next train station. That actually turned out to be a lie, it was really two train stations away. I got out at the next train station on Hollywood Boulevard on the walk of fame, but it was a good 2kms from the centre of Hollywood. I think it was a ploy to led me to a Scientology assessment centre. I walked past at least two on my way towards Mann's Chinese Theatre. Both times I had to turn down requests to measure my pheton levels.

I also checked out the Santa Monica area which was quite nice. They had all those little Baywatch towers on the beach but there was no Hoff in sight.

Ultimately I think I'm pissed off at L.A. because the public transport is so crap. It took me at least two hours to get anywhere, and it's not the traffic. I took a cab one night and it took me 20 minutes to travel what would take 3 hours by train or bus. It's for this reason that I believe the movie Speed is a fallacy. I don't think I ever saw a bus reach 50 miles an hour, let alone stay above it.

I was quite glad to be finally heading back to Big White. On the plane back I watched No Country For Old Men, which is absolutely awesome, however the plane landed with 4 minutes of the movie to play. I blame the fucking French for this because Air Canada kept interrupting the movie for each announcement and every time the captain said anything, the air hostess had to translate it into French. So I don't know if the crazy killer dude kills that guy's wife and I have no idea what the hell it's got to do with Tommy Lee Jones.

I was happy when I got back to Big White. It's a lot more relaxing here. When I got back they stuck me in a different room with a couple of guys who actually go to bed before midnight, which is good. The last week of skiing has been excellent and it's been snowing every night. The thing I can't believe is the resort is closing on April 6, no exceptions, but they have tonnes of snow. They have more snow then Perisher would have mid-season. It's nuts.

It's kind of funny because I've got to know a lot of the people here and feels quite homely, but it's all coming to an end as soon as the season ends and every one is making plans to move on. I've got exactly one more week left here before I begin my road trip with Simon down the west coast. We're going Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles and the Las Vegas. It should be a pretty epic 3 week journey.

Also, I went tubbing tonight and then I watched LOST, both of which were awesome.

Video Blog!

By popular demand.

First Blood (not quite)

I've been a bit slack with my blog updates lately but the last few days have had some interesting anecdotes.

I didn't do any skiing over the weekend because I was a bit tired and conditions weren't so good. Last night we had some new snow cover and today was awesome. I've been trying to get some photos up but that's proving to be difficult.

I've met an English guy named Simon who I am going to go down to Las Vegas with for 4 days after the ski season is over. We're thinking of staying in the Luxor which is that giant black pyramid you see in all the photos.

Saturday night was pretty interesting. We had a party at the hostel and then went out to Snowshoe Sam's. I'm not sure why we went there because it's usually pretty crap, but I think the guys were just following the Swedish girls.

The pub was packed and there was a bit of a line in the foyer. During this time a 5 foot 6 Canadian guy with a paper Burger King crown was trying to push through the line in front of me. He started to give me cheek when I wouldn't let him through (because he was a wanker). He did however end up pushing through and he got in front our group.

When I got into the bar I noticed the Burger King hanging out by the bar as I passed by. I figured he probably needed to be dethroned, so I tossed his hat off towards the bar and kept walking. A few seconds later my jacket was yanked and I was pulled around to find Burger King looking up at me with his fist charged. I haven't been in a fight since I was 10 so being unfamiliar with bar fighting I didn't think me act of defiance would result in any retaliation. Also the guy was 5 foot 6.

Luckily fisty cuffs were avoided when I raised my fist in his direction and said "Come on mate" in my best bogan accent. Wisely, the dwarf rethought his decision and backed down.

On the other hand, tonight I played pool against a guy from California who I'm pretty sure owned gun.

Spring Break comes to town

A group of 50 girls from Victoria University checked into the hostel last night. That's Victoria as in Victoria Island, but most people call it Vancouver Island. They're on the Canadian equivalent of Spring Break except they call it Reading Week. Apparently not a lot of reading is done in that time.

So the place is no longer dominated by Australian's but sometimes it's like I haven't left home. They stream TripleJ and play it over the stereo in the kitchen.

The weather is really good at the moment. It was 9C today which is pretty warm for a ski field. I don't know how long the ski season will last if this weather keeps up.

I'm finding it hard to get used to my new skis because they're a bit longer (and therefore faster) than I'm used to. I went to the ski repair store today and asked them if there is a way to make my skiers slower and they just laughed at me.

It's true what they say about Swedish backpackers...

My first night at the hostel in Big White I woke up to the piercing sound of a fire alarm at 1:30 in the morning. I stumbled in the dark and half fell off the top bunk of my bed. Not wanting to be another Childers style victim, I and several others hauled our arses into the freezing cold. Eventually the fire truck rolled up form the fire station 300 metres down the road. We were told that it was a false alarm set off by some guy smoking in his room in the lodges that adjoin the building. The alarm stopped and we all went back to bed.

I bought a season ski pass off a guy who's leaving today for $150 which is pretty good value since a day pass costs about $60. So for the next 3 weeks my name is Lauchlin McGonigal.

I did some skiing and realised that I'm unfit. My thighs are killing me.

Last night there was a big party for a group of Swedish guys and girls who are leaving here today. They had been here 3 months so it was kind of a big deal.

It's true what they say about Swedish backpackers. The Swedish girls are kind of hot. The Swedish guys are kind of crazy.

We started the night in the hostel's kitchen and then eventually the group moved out to Snowshoe Sam's, the local watering hole. Snowshoe Sam's is exactly like the Mad Cow except half the people are from Melbourne and there are no AJ's. The dance floor is also a little bigger. I had a few drinks of Canadian Club and Cola.

At about 1am the place closed. I went back to the hostel, drunk dialed a few people and then went to bed.

Big White

Today I moved into the hostel up at Big White. Pretty much everyone here is Australian.

I went skiing for the first time since I started my trip. I was a little rusty but I was going okay for a while. Then I got lost and caught the wrong chair lift. I ended up going down a black run area and when I realised this I tried to traverse over to the green run. This resulted in me getting in knee deep snow. I tried to ski it slowly a couple of times but after a few stacks I gave up and used my arse as a toboggan for about 2kms until I got to easier terrain.

I checked in after I finished skiing and met my roommates who had all decided to go down to Kelowna for 2 days so I've got the room to myself, which is good.

I met a few of the people staying here over dinner and I ruined a game of Trivial Pursuit in the process.