2007 December 16-18: Vacation in Banff Canada

So we dropped kitty off at Colville, and then headed to Banff Canada at 6am on Sunday. The roads in the US were terrible, but once we got past Creston, the roads were great and I could drive 120kph (70ish). It still took us like 8 hours to get there though, but the drive was beautiful. The first day we checked into our nice hotel, the Brewster's Mountain Lodge, and then looked around at all the awesome shops they had. We then went to Whyte's Museum and saw lots of cool historical stuff from this family that had traveled all over the world and collected tons of stuff, it was really neat and inspired me to want to create a house that was really a world museum full of artifacts, so that is now my goal in life.

After eating a delicious meal at Guido's, eating Veal Valdostana for me and Veal Cordon Bleu for Christelle, we headed to the Banff hot springs. It was nice, and relaxing, but we still think Radium is the best hot springs we have been too. It was a fun first day, even though we drove for 8 hours

The next morning, we woke up around 8am, and took showers and then headed down to the continental breakfast. It was really good, they had cereals, toast, pastries, fruits, yogurt, juices and coffees. We ate a whole bunch and then set out for a long day of fun. The day before we had walked around and seen the shops but we didn't go into many. We started this morning off by visiting almost ALL of the shops. We saw so many cool things, rocks, gems, souvenirs galore, and a vast amount of other awesome stuff. The funny thing about this town is that nothing opens before 10am so we were actually early to a lot of places, which is strange when you wake up at 8am. Everything was in walking distance though so that was nice. Christelle bought a kitty knit cap, and we got me a nice waterbottle and some magnets.

After shopping, we headed to the Sulphur Mountain Gondola. The ride was really fun up the mountain and once we reached the top it was really cold and windy. We took lots of pictures, and then grabbed some hot cocoas and walked along the mountain ridge to the Sanson Peak, where they have a galactic ray station. The views were beautiful, and it was cool to see the old cabin that the meteorologist Sanson had stayed in when he was doing his high altitude research back in the early 1900s.

After taking a ton of pictures on top of the mountain we took the gondola back down and visited the Cave and Basin Museum. The caves were really warmed and smelled like delicious soup. It was the site that started the first National Park in Canada, so it had a lot of history. They also have some really rare snails that they are protecting too so it was cool to see the tiny little guys.

We then headed to the Banff Museum which was full of taxidermy. They don't condone taxidermy anymore but back in the 1890-1930 era the scientists used it to classify animals, so they still preserved them even though they don't practice those methods anymore. They have a very impressive collection of so many species. I think it is the best collection I have ever seen and is an amazing piece of history. After that we drove around town and went out to visit the Hoodoos. These rock formations that native americans used to think housed demons. The view of Mount Rundle and the icy river, as well as the Hoodoos, was the best of any place I thought.

After that we headed back to the hotel and parked the car and walked to the restaurant Melissa's MisSteak, a really great steakhouse. The food there was amazing. We started off with a calamari appetizer, warm bread, and caesar salad. Then our combo meals came. I had a the sirloin and brook trout, and Christelle had the Hunter's chicken and brook trout. The fish and lemon was some of the best I have ever had. The food was great and our server, Steph, was really awesome and even packed my peppercorn steak sauce in the to-go box! After eating we went back to the hotel and relaxed in the hot tub. We then watched the Grinch, Frosty the Snowman, and some other Christmas shows before we took a last walk around town as it snowed.

The last morning we again ate a huge free breakfast and then wandered around the shops for some last minute shopping. I ended up getting a visor that says Banff on it with my last 10 dollars. We then headed back to Colville. In Radium we came across a ton of big horn sheep wandering around the roads and we were like 5 feet away from them. After that we drove to the Kingsgate border crossing. We made it across without too much hassle and that is when the bad weather started.

It began snowing so much and we saw two semi trucks flipped over in ditches. The roads around Newport and Ione were so bad that it took us 3 hours to go 80 miles. I had to drift around the uphill switchbacks of the Tiger highway, and it was really scary, good thing no head on traffic was coming. As we were going up the Tiger we saw a lady in a ditch and stopped to help, but she had already called somebody so we headed back to Colville.

After 9 hours we finally made it home to where our kitty was getting along great with Lydia and Jack. We then ate lots of spaghetti and watched Battle of the Choirs. It was a fun trip, but boy was it nice to be back in the US and done with driving. I really like Canada and want to live there. They wake up late, drive fast, eat good food, have awesome landscapes, are very environmentally aware, and are just good humored and internationally cultural people. Just the kind of life I want to live!

Christelle also made a nice blog from a different perspective and more photo descriptions that you can find at her myspace site here.

2007 July 12-16: Tour #3 - The Westside of Washington

So we drove from Pullman to Seattle to visit my Mom for her birthday on the 15th. We drove on highway 26 and then met up with I-90 right before Ellensburg. We arrived at my Mom's place on Lake Angle right next to Seatac. It was a really cool place right off of the nice lake. They had 5 cats but we met only 2. Bulldozer is the big orange cat who is 15, and he was so awesome. Christelle really bonded with the other cat named Squirt. We all went to Herp's Burger and Teriyaki and had the delicious Teriyaki Chicken, Chow Mein, and Gyoza meals. Then we headed to Safeway to buy all the food for our camping trip.

We started out at my Mom's place in Seattle off of Angle Lake near Seatac, and headed over to the Olympic National Rainforest after a nice big breakfast of my Mom's delicious french toast and hashbrowns. We found a camp site at Gatton Creek Campground which only had 3 sites and 2 were full, so basically in the entire area we got the last open spot out of all the campgrounds. We walked the Rainforest trail, and various other trails and saw lots of beautiful sites. The trees were huge and the creeks were beautiful. We also found a couple slugs that were pretty.

After packing up the camping gear at Lake Quinault we headed along the coast line on 101 to see the beach. We stopped at Copalis Beach but it had formed a water barrier so we couldn't reach the beach. So we headed down the road farther and got to Ocean Shores and got out to see the beach. There was lots of people, horses, mopeds, and kites. We beach combed for awhile, then went to the Quinault Casino (even though it isn't at Quinault) and had a picnic in the parking lot. We went inside and got cleaned up and then Christelle and I went to beach comb in the less populated beach by the casino while my Mom played some slots. We saw jelly fish, broken shells, lots of dead crabs, sandpipers, and even a seal playing a few waves out. It was really fun. After we collected some neat ocean rocks we headed back to my Mom's place. We hung out and enjoyed the lake view and the park nearby. It was a fun day.

So we woke up early and my Mom made us a delicious breakfast of hashbrowns, bacon, and french toast. It was her birthday today and so we took a bunch of pictures with her before we headed out. We would have stayed longer, but it was Christelle's father Jack's birthday today as well. So we packed up the car and headed out for a 7 hour journey to make it to visit her Dad. We went the way through Leavenworth, Wenatchee, Coulee City, Davenport, and then up to Kettle Falls. The drive was very scenice and beautiful and the traffic was very light. It was a good drive even though it was long. We went from breakfast at my Mom's to dinner at her Dad's. We visited with her Dad, Mom, brothers, and her Dad's cousin Nancy, who was a hilarious addition to the dinner table. She was really outgoing so her brothers talked more then usual and it was a good birthday dinner for her Dad. The next morning we woke up early to drive home and get a kitty. This was the last day of our tour #3, and even though we had a ton of fun, we were glad to be going home.

2006 October 28 Haunted Houses

So Christelle and I made a friend named Jessica in Chem 105 lab. She is a funny outgoing cowgirl that drives a huge truck. Anyways, she invited us to a fun Halloween, double haunted houses(her husband worked on some of the stuff on one) and a haunted cornmaze in Palouse, WA. We first all met up at Basillio's downtown in our costumes, and then we headed over. They all had on awesome costumes too.

When we reached the haunted houses the lines were huge, but very few people were in costumes so we were the hit show at the place. Everybody knew us, especially our scary huge clown man that scared all the kids everywhere. It was awesome. Plus we got to leave line and go do the corn maze while Cruella Deville held our place and let us back in. She was the Mayor's wife, or somebody of power, and then we hung out a bit with the mayor too, who was in an awesome skeleton costume. The cider and stuff was only $0.50 too!!! So even though it was super freezing we all had a good time.

Then we came back to Pullman and hung out at Jessica's place and ate her delicious foods, including lil' smokies and the pirate lady made the best ever crab dip, yum yum. Then we all watched Monster House, it was actually pretty good. Then we walked home (a whole block!) and passed out at about 3am, oh wait, daylight savings... then 2am I guess. So yeah, now we are sitting around sleeping in, and doing math. Yay, Yay, Yay. Oh yeah, not to mention we went to a craft fair and got some natural honey and some natural COCONUT!!!!!!!!! soap that is AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!! Craft fairs are the best. 

2006 August 24-31 - TOOL @ The Gorge

2006 08 27 - TOOL @ The Gorge
Now this was a busy day. Christelle woke up and went to work at 5am; I woke up at 7am and finalized the house. Christelle got home around 10am again and then we cleaned out the fridge into the cooler, packed up our cleaning supplies and headed over to my Dad's so I could take a shower. Then we were supposed to meet my brother Buc who was in town from Belmont, CA at a tattoo shop, but that didn't work out so we met him at a Zip's and had a nice long catching up session, then Janis came as we were leaving and then we departed.

We went back to my Dad's and ate delicious spaghetti and had ice cream afterwards while watching America's Funniest Home Videos. My sister didn't eat with us because she had already left for the TOOL concert to camp out a great spot. After eating with Dad we had to go back to the apt and turn in all of our keys, unfortunately the $600 worth of 16" tires I had in the garage had to stay, as well as Christelle's old huge wood TV on a lazy susan base. Then we headed to the Gorge running late. We stopped and got some food to take in, and then went to the show.
We got there about 30 minutes before the show started but had to wait about that long in the line to the Honey Bucket to get ready for the show. Then we got back in line and they herded us through. Christelle successfully and easily snuck her camera in, but the caps to our water bottles were confiscated for some retarded reason. Then we found the shirt booth, we waited in that during the entire opening band, then we got our awesome shirts and headed to the hill.

It was intermission at the time and I looked down among the masses and just opened my mind to the way. I ended up taking a winding meandering path to the right side of middle by about 15 degrees. At one point I stopped at a barricade of people and had to choose right or left, so I followed my instincts again and as I took the path we found my sister smiling and waving at us. It only took us about 3 minutes to find them in the huge ass crowd, it was awesome. We talked excitedly and sat on the blanket as we waited for TOOL to come on. After waiting for about an hour or so the show started, and boy was it crazy.

The entire stage was all white and there was no back drop behind them, just these weird white cubes. Instead of playing the videos on a screen they played it on the entire white stage and the weird white blocks, it looked amazing, but I would have like to see the full videos in detail, but hey, it was awesome anyways. The sound was amazing, we were up on the hill so I couldn't feel the bass as much as I would like to but it was plenty loud. A few times Adam Jones' effects and stuff got a little to piercing on the ears, but it was only a few times.

They played an awesome set list, Maynard broke the silence by saying "blah blah blah" and then instantly starting into

Stinkfist, a badass song to start out the show with, Jesus, it was even the extended version with all of Maynard’s little voice fills, then

The Pot, which was so friggin awesome, I wish I could have been up at the front to feel the bass, because that song was badass

Next was Forty Six & 2. At this point we couldn't believe the lineup they were playing; every song was just so awesome,

Next was the much anticipated Jambi, it was amazing to see these guys actually playing this stuff, so great,

On to Schism, Danny Carey's electric drum stuff was sounding so sweet, and I think it was after this or before it I am not sure, but they just did this awesome little jam between them, it was sweet.

Then Maynard broke in at the end with "wake up drunk bitches!" and the crowd roared.

Then the craziness started with Rosetta Stoned, for Maynard’s voice on this one it was a triple repeat that was fast so it garbled the words but you could make out the somniferous almond eyes or whatever that means part and it was funny, he was awesome to watch doing this part and confirmed my suspicions that it was about Justin because he went over to Justin during it and it felt like there was something there.

After that Maynard said,” some of you might remember this one from long ago" and then busted out Opiate, he had a lot of feeling while he was singing and it sounded great. They did a little part where Maynard would sing for us to repeat, which nobody was smart enough to understand while the band jammed, then they would sing one line, the band would keep playing, then they tricked us a few times before they came back into the chorus, it was awesome.

Then they did a short Merkaba with some ear piercing moments, but an awesome pulsing back lit Danny Carey looking like a heart in the sea, this led into Sober which was started quite roughly by Justin but evened out once everybody else came in and then said they were leaving.

The crowd was roaring and applauding and lighter started to get held up... then more and more people put them up. Then the ENTIRE crowd had lighters, cell phone lights, everything in the air, it was the most amazing breathtaking moment at a concert ever. It went on for a few minutes and then Maynard replied with true appreciation, "Thank You" and they started into the encore of Lateralus, which should have had that badass video they always had on a back screen, but the other visuals were unique and awesome.

Then to Vicarious which was definitely a live powerful song, and then closing with Aenima, right before though Maynard went "woohoo!" in a hilariously faggish voice, and then said "Peace Out", the lighting and stuff went with the music really well and it was an awesome way to finish it off. During the last three songs these crazy light vines rose and did crazy patterns while the super powerful green lasers blasted out over the crowd and onto the stage. There was no end to those laser beam and they lit up the sky, the smoke machines they were using were at the highest caliber like the lasers too. After they were done, they walked around the huge white stage and really soaked it all up, it was awesome they stayed out a long time talking with the people in front and throwing drum sticks and water.

It took about 1 hour just to get out of the venue and into the parking lot. Then we all went to my sister's car and chilled for an hour while the craziness of 15,000 people trying to leave a grass parking lot all at once. As we were sitting on the tailgate talking some douche bags next to us in the back of a truck were talking about us. I was the only one who actually were paying attention to them and they were like, "these idiots don't even know we are just sitting and listening to everything they say", and "well at least we got these guys to entertain us" followed by sneers, so I said,” lets go to this side of the car cause these guys are all douche-bags" and the lame people were just silent. Then we sat in the grass on the other side and had some good conversations without a bunch of jackasses listening in.

Then we departed and went back to our car. It was starting to clear out but we waited another 45 minutes for it to really clear out, then we headed out without any stress like it would have been earlier. By this time it was about 2am and we had a 3 hour drive ahead of us and would then have to get up to go to school at 8am. We stopped at Shari's in Moses Lake and had a delicious meal and then headed home. We were super tired and had to switch drivers like 5 times, but we made it home at about 6:15am, and then got about 2 hours of sleep before going to 5 hours of school. Fun night, fun night

20060331 - Last Day at the Airport

We woke up and headed over to O'Sheas for some $5 blackjack, while waiting for a seat some crazy mexican became my friend unwillingly and stood around and yelled like a crazy fool while security told him to back up. Then he settled down and I got a seat. I won a bunch of hands in a row and then lost one with a 7 - 7 so I left and let Christelle play. She then got dealt a 7-7, and then a 6-7, so she lost all hers right away. So then we left and went to McDonald's and got egg mcmuffin meals. They were delicious, but gave me gut hurt. Oh well, its vacation.

Then we checked out, took a Towncar to the airport, waited in long lines and got on our flight, which was running way late. By the time we got to our next layover we had to run through the crazy Seattle terminals until we made it to the plane. Then we took the short ride back home.

Unpacked a bit and then went to my Dad's to get my car and to get mail and give him the awesome purple glass buddhas we got at the Aladdin for him. In the mail I had got my new awesome Yomega Saiber Raider and my Duncan juggling scarves that I haven't played with for like 10 years. So it was a good day, very tired and must work at 4 am the next day. 

20060330 - Fifth Day at the Grand Canyon

So we got in the big bus at like 6:15 cause it was running late, then we picked up a bunch more people from other hotels and then to the Nutrition Vitamin Company where they had our packets and breakfast. We even got to see how they make vitamins. Then we got into the bus and started driving. It was 300 miles away, but we stopped at the Hoover Dam about 40 minutes into it and took some photos. Then we stopped at National Geographics Grand Canyon site and ate lunch while watching Grand Canyon Imax. Then just a short ride to the canyon.

It was amazing.

Took lots of pictures and videos. Walked a whole bunch, nearly missed the bus, then went from Matthis Point to Bright Angel Falls. Checked out the view and the studios there. Then back on the bus for the long haul home. During the ride we had watched Mousetrap, Cheaper by the Dozen (which was awesome), Holes, and then Funny Farm with Chevy Chase. At the stop in Arizona for dinner we ran over to Wendy's, got the bacon cheese burger meals Biggie sized with frostys instead of sodas, and then after that long line we ran back to the bus that we almost missed again. Ate the delcious food we had been craving and then sat full to the brim and watched Funny Farm until we got back to the Flamingo, after seeing everybody else get off the bus, and then us at the end cause they had put us on the wrong one, haha. Long long 17 hour day, but very fun, good time

20060329 - Fourth Day having a free fun day

Woke up with a terrible hangover and the bloodiest red eyes, but I took a crap and drank a ton of water and I was better in about 90 minutes. This morning my feet are totally blistered and sore and overall miserable, but the trip is still a blast. First we went to the Venetian and at at Panini Bella, a wonderful Panini shop and a salad. It was delicious, after that we went to the Fashion Mall and checked out the Sanrio store, they had a ton of cool Hello Kitty, Chococat, Pandapple, and more. Then we headed back to Caesar's Palace and saw the Zen shrine and some other things.


After that we went to Gameworks and played a bunch of pinball and shoot 'em up games. Upstairs from that we went to the M&M little fake factory and the 3-d movie, which had some funny parts, but bad 3-d. We bought 4 more waters for 2 dollars at a little strip mall store, then we walked back to the hotel and explored it a bit, and bought some things from its gift store.

Then we got prepared and took the Bally's shuttle over to the Rio for dinner. The Rio buffet was amazing, it had everything and was HUMONGOUS. The best part was the dessert bar, the gelatos we had were amazing, pistachio, creme brulee, and wild berry. There were little chocolate cups with custard and fresh berries in it. They were the best, I ate like 7 myself, haha.

After that we went home to get a good nights rest before the Grand Canyon shuttle picked us up at 6am the next morning.