Today we visited Niagra falls to find mixted emotions, as although the wonder itself is truely beautiful the same can not be said for the surrounding hotels, casinos and haunted houses. I simply assumed (incorectly) that the area would be a national park, and ian having visited 12 years previously was surprised by the development over that time. It is a shame that the first thing that strikes you when you gaze out at the falls is not its beauty but the impossing nature of the concrete structures for boat rides and view points. Never the less we enjoyed the day, which included a brief trip to a vinyard, where we learnt the basics in wine tasting, and tryed ice wine. Which is wine made from grapes picked and processed still frozen. Rather nice, even to a self confessed Fosters drinker.
Tomrorrow is our last full day in Canada, and indeed abroad. We intend to finish the trip with a Mastodon gig, so we can rock out one last time.
Allright peeps, today we explored Coney island in Brooklyn and South Manhatten. Visiting Little Italy (which is mainly resturants now and not actualy populated by Italian Americans, go to the Bronx for that) and China town too. We also found some dope sneaker stores with leather and snake skin air force ones!! only $2000, sorry Mark i didn’t buy you any. we had dinner in Little Italy, which was rather nice. I had Lobster ravioli and two beers for fifteen quid, not bad. Tomorrow im either off to Malcom X st Harlem and the Bronx by myself or ground zero with the lads. I may play it safe tomorrow and explore the day after.
As for today Coney island was surreal, a combination of Blackpool and the ghetto., this feeling reached its peak when we came across the working shoot the freak stall, only $5 to shoot a freak. Not a bad price if you ask me.
PS New pics up on JIJ and words on Ians page.
Allright there, hope things are peachy.
I’m in san Frizzle which is rather lovely (as my mum would say) or Big Zilla (as well nobody would). Today we pop’d over to ALKATRAZ, which is the most beautiful defunct prison ever, and has a rather good audio tour (complete with sound effects and narration from ex cons). It’s been a fantastic few days here for the six of us exploring the city and countryside. Two days ago we rented bikes and road from pier forty something out over the Golden Gate Bridge and far into the Cali countryside. This was my favourite part of the last few days and well worth the subsequent sunburn. Riding we were blessed with seeing some smaller towns with the backdrop of rolling green hills and wide blue skies, which really gave a nice sense of perspective for the area. I love California.
Tomorrow we fly to Vegas but brace ourselves for the forecasted rain. I’m not sure if I will gamble (to say I’m skint would be a gross understatement) but feel I really should do something in the spirit of Vegas. Maybe they’ll take shoes as currency at the roulette table.
Today Greg, Ian, Ralph and myself left whistler for the final time. It was an odd experienece to wave goodbye to the place we called home for the last 6 months. I will miss the mountains. I’ll miss the snow, and ill miss the people with their odd fashions and surfer dude attitudes. It was nice to live in a town where it’s the norm to say “whats up dude?” without a satrical smile or subconcious need to be beaten to a pulp.
Never mind, im here now. back in Vancouver on the start of a trip around the US. Seattle tomorrow, San Fran, then VEGAS (it deserves caps and possibly gold glitter), New York and finally Torronto. Let’s see what happens.
ello ello heres a short video john took of me.
as the snow is melting all manner of things are appearing through the snow and this is one of them. this is a mountain biking jump that we found and decided to jump off of! muchos fun!
i took some footage of me jumping off a 6 foot cornice (overhang) the other day so here it is.
the video is a bit blurry because it has to go into youtube before being put on this website but you can still whats going on.
after i land it looks like i fell over in a big snow storm but i can assure you i did maintain my balance and ride away clean (looking awesome no doubt).
enjoy (or dont, its upto you)
sorry about the wobblyness the run was pretty icy that day.
this is john busting out some phat tricks on a run on blackcomb called ‘easy out’.
how Xtreme!
Well it truly has been an action packed week here in our winter wonderland. Not only was a guy shot dead in the village last night (see Ian’s page) but John and I went on a very thrilling snowmobiling adventure. Working for Guest Relations we managed to get a big group of us to go on a snowmobiling late night fondue adventure up the mountain for a mere $90 each (full price $220 per person). We were split into 2 groups, John and I were in the first, and headed up the mountain to the Crystal Hut were our fondue dinner was waiting. The journey up was scary but exciting. You need to use all your arm strength to control a snowmobile going round corners especially when you are on a slope and in the dark. Anyway the most exciting moment was the last corner before the hut when I went too fast and managed to flip my machine. It was more dramatic than it sounds. Anyway we sat at the hut with this fantastic fondue ready for us waiting for the rest of our group. 25 mins later most of them rocked up looking somewhat shaken. It turns out that one of the girls had flipped her machine on a rather perilous part of the track and as one of the other girls, Michelle, tried to go past her she misjudged where the edge of the track was, her machine started to slip over the side so she panicked and jerked it on to the track driving over the other girls leg as she did so. This resulted in the original girl having her leg splinted and being taken down the mountain in a snow cat.
Only a week left for me in Canada now so I shall be making the most of it.
John, Ian and I got up very early today to do Fresh Tracks. Basically this means going up Whistler Mountain about an hour and a half before the main lifts upload, eating a massive breakfast including bacon, sausages, eggs, hash browns, coffee, orange juice, cereal etc etc. Then we rode all the way back down again to the village. Ian was filming us on the way down so I am hoping to get some of the footage up here. For now here is a photo and there are more on my photo site too.
Finally the Christmas parcel from Monica has arrived. A mere 2 months late. John and I had great fun opening all parcels and tonight we will pull our crackers at dinner.
Posted by jijadventures 
Posted by jijadventures 
Posted by jijadventures 
