Update 1.0

Well, here it is, the attempt at the long over-due update Christmas version.

After making my decision to come down to Arizona in early November, December 23rd was a date that I couldn't wait for, but seemed so far in the future. That was the date of my last shift at work and my last day in Victoria before heading home for christmas and then down to AZ.

Christmas was a blast. I arrived in Calgary on the 24th, and spent the 24th and 25th with my parents.

On the 26th, I spent a fun-packed day with a great friend, Mr. Sean Van Der Lee, who I hadn't seen in ages. We started the day of by heading to our old stomping grounds, the Calgary Climbing Centre, and got gnarly on the walls. And by gnarly I mean, had a few good climbs each and then got our asses handed to us by lactic acid in the forearms. Neither of us had been climbing consistently and neither of us had much endurance. Nonetheless, BAD ASS. We had worked up quite an appetite and since we were sufficiently jacked and could no longer hold on to the largest most generous of holds, we decided to grab some grub. Since I had never been before, Sean suggested we checked out a place that goes way back in his Family's history, Tom's House of Pizza. It's a sweet little place with unreal pizza. We sat, enjoyed pizza, great conversation, some good people watching, and watched Canada play in the World Jr. hockey tournament. Once our stomachs were filled to the brim with delicious pizza, Sean took me to a really cool little bookstore that had EVERY book you could imagine. It even had "The Average American Male" which I had been searching for for years and had never found in a store. I was able to pick up 2 books there for about $10. We then went grabbed a quick coffee to bide time before watching TRON in IMAX 3D, which was quite a show, then called it a day.

The very next day I met up with an equally great friend, Jessica O'Connell. Jess and I decided to head out to Bragg Creek because I thought she wanted to get some moccasins. Turns out, half way there, she didn't want moccasins, she thought I wanted moccasins. So we had kind of gone to Bragg Creek for no reason, since we were out there we still took advantage. We went for a nice little 30min run, after which we ate in a really cool little coffee shop. After we devoured our soup and sandwiches we strolled around the little strip mall in Bragg Creek, which has some pretty neat little shops, eventually stumbling into yet another cool little bookstore! I was able to pick up 3 books this time for $14. Jess and I had a dinner date with a friend of ours so after the bookstore we cruised on home and met Nicki at Ruan Thai for dinner. Nicki is a world-class speed-skater. I always love chatting with her and hearing thoughts and opinions from someone in a similar but completely world of sport. I then dropped Jess off, and headed home for the evening.

My friend Tom Fleming was in town from Edmonton and him and I hit the town for old time sake one night, but other than that it was a pretty low key visit. I didn't really do anything for New Years because I had to fly out the next day and start my drive to AZ.

My day started around 10, got ready, headed to the airport for 11, boarded my flight a little after noon and landed in Victoria right around 1pm, zoomed home finished packing up the car and got to the Coho Ferry right at 2:30 and the road trip officially started.

To be continued...