Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

I’m writing this post from where I will call home for at least the next year. My wild and crazy travels have been temporarily put on hold so that I could get my life back in order in time for my return to the (dun, dun, dunnnn) real world in January. Luckily for me, this means I have no job encumbering me from getting everything finished in that time. In the past few weeks, I have found an apartment in Edmonton, arranged all my things in Saskatoon, packed them into a trailer, moved them all into my new apartment, unpacked and purchased all sorts of new things to fill out my place, and sorted out my return to work. The only major things left to complete are a few writing projects, a bit of decorating and I'll be ready to get back to what most would consider a normal life again.


That being said, I'm not finished traveling just yet. I'm back on the road next week to further my career as a photographer and then I would expect to find some mountains in my future.

In the meantime, I'm still in Edmonton and if you're in Canada you know that this is Grey Cup (Canadian football championship) weekend. One of the perks of my new apartment is that it's located downtown and this week that means I'm walking distance from one of the biggest parties in Canada. Last night I took advantage of the free concert stage that is part of the festivities. The band Big Wreck was playing last as part of their reunion tour and I couldn't pass up the opportunity to see them. This band created what I still hold as my favorite song of all time (That Song) and I'd never seen it live (mostly because the band had broken up by the time I heard the song). I really went to go see them just in case they played That Song (which they did and sprinkled in some Thornley too) but was overwhelmed with how solid their performance was and how great is was to feel live music again. And by feel, I mean having you're whole body shake every time the bass drum is struck. It was a great start to the night, but nowhere near the peak.




After that I walked home, got my car and picked up Andrea to go see my second show of the evening. Next up was the John Butler Trio which is a band Andrea introduced to me after she spent time in Australia (their native land) and inadvertently met John Butler. I had listened to this band for the last couple of years and really started to appreciate their music while in Australia when I realized how revered they are there. I remember listening to JBT while working in Australia and hearing stories about how he used to busk on the streets in WA and about how great his live performances are. Little did I know that I was about to see one of the greatest live shows I've ever experienced. The band came out and went through an astonishing number of great songs, while mixing in great crowd interaction and some jaw-dropping guitar performances. John Butler himself played 10+ different guitar-like instruments (including lapsteel, acoustic, electric, acoustic electric, 12 string, ukulele, banjo, etc, etc). I'm still in shock because how good the 2.5 hour show was. It's taking everything I've got not to drive to Calgary tonight to see them again.




I've got more of my own videos of JBT trio last night, but I found this clip online of a song I saw him perform last night. The clip is the closest thing to what the experience I had. This song raised the bar for what I thought was possible with music and I implore you to watch the entire clip. Then I dare you not to drive to see him in Calgary.

Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada

So after the bright lights of the concert I saw in Edmonton on Halloween I packed up the car once again and headed for Saskatoon for the longest visit since I moved away from the 306. In typical fashion of the prairies, I was treated to a spectacular sunrise which kept me awake on the early morning drive.


When I got to town I finally got to see the newest member of my family, Maxwell. He was born about 2 weeks ago and has been a joy ever since (just ask my sister). I also was joined in taking photos of Max with Rylen as well.


I have been able to visit with my family and with friends in the city for the last few days. Most of my days are now spent trying to catch up on the mountain of work that I have accumulated over the last year. I have finally finished compiling all my full resolution panorama photos and converted all my videos from the trip. In the process of this I have found some hidden videos that are randoms and intersting.

This is just another example of what passes (no pun intended) for typical driving habits on Thailand highways. Just watch the oncoming traffic have to swerve out of the way.


This was the second AFL game I ever saw and was the game that cemented my love for the sport and the Fremantle Dockers. The entire second half felt like this video: non-stop edge of your seat excitement.


This is at the future US Open venue of Chambers Bay and this is Riley hitting a monster drive off the elevated 5th tee. Nice to see that his swing has rounded out and is now coming more from the inside compared to the old chopping feel that his swing produced.


I didn't always have awesome seats at AFL games, but even from the upper level you can feel the electricity of a Sunday afternoon game at the Melbourne Cricket Ground with 80,000 fans.


This video was meant to capture the beauty and sound of the Oregon coast, but Kari went ahead and provided some tremendous unintential comedy by awkwardly trying not to be in this video. Love it.


This is just one of the many fire twirlers you will see on any number of beaches in Thailand.


I was sitting on the patio of the bungalow on Koh Mook when I noticed a colony of red ants filing across the clothesline in front of me. It inspired me to take some of the best macro photos I've ever done, and at the same time the best macro video ever.


This video has a race marshal pretend to start taking his clothes off right before the race comes into turns 15 and 16. The back story to this marshal is that I saw him out in the parking lot in the morning. I had a brief conversation with him as he walked into the track. Then later in the day when I'm watching the race, he recognizes me and immediately asks why I'm not in the parking lot. I mention that I do, in fact, get some time off and that I'll see him the next morning (which I did).


While walking through the Swiss hills we encountered many farmers walking their cows down the path towards the lakes. Once we got to the lakes, the cows stopped and allowed me to get up close and personal with this particular moo-cow.


This was during my last round of golf in Montana where I found my drive in the trees on the left side of the 2nd hole. I looked to my right and saw a nice easy way to punch my ball back into play. Not wanting to take the easy way out, I looked towards the green and saw a MUCH smaller opening. I asked my caddie (Kari) which option I should take and she promptly told me to go for it. This video shows me successfully punching the ball through with a 3 iron. The down side was that despite the successful shot, I never saw this ball again. Double bogey.

Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

I have once again returned to my home and native land. This time there was a few reasons why I came back to Edmonton this time. First of all, I had to drop off Riley and Kari because they have to (cringe) go back to work. Tough break for them.

The other reason was that Riley and I had tickets to see the band Stars. I had an opportunity to see them back in 2005 and didn't, so it was 5 years of anticipation for me. After a bit of a slow start, the band actually swayed me over with one of my least favorite of their songs. The measure of a good concert for me is how many times I get goosebumps, and after a long wait for the first 'moment', Stars did not disappoint. The rest of the show was spectacular and the crowd just kept getting louder and louder. I tried to capture some of the concert for you. Enjoy.

Whitefish, Montana, United States of America

So the trip is finally coming to an end shortly. For Riley and Kari, today is their last day with me on this adventure. We are returning to Edmonton this evening so that they can return to their normal lives and I can continue whatever it is I call normal.

The last few days have consisted mostly of eating and relaxation while in Whitefish. We got into town in time to hit up my favorite sushi restaurant (Wasabi) before coming back home and wearing out the leather couches at my parents house. The next day we did what any reasonable person would do, which was eat, buy alcohol, golf, and eat. We completely lucked out and got a perfect day for golf in the middle of a week of rain.

And now I return to a life of question marks. I have no idea what the next two months will bring. The part I'm looking forward to the most is to meet my newest nephew when I get back.

Seattle, Washington, United States of America

I'll warn you in advance, this post is going to be heavy on dorky golf talk.

Yesterday we got up from Portland and started getting ready for the day and then headed down for breakfast. Unfortunately for us we showed up 5 minutes late to a breakfast that concluded at 9am. We found alternative place for breakfast (Safeway) and headed up the I5 towards Tacoma. It was going to be a big day for me because we had a 1:44pm tee time at Chambers Bay Golf Course. The true golf dorks out there will know that this course hosted the US Amateur this summer, and the even dorkier know it's the venue for the 2015 US Open. I had been to the course before, but because of dreadful conditions I only got to play the front 9.

Going into the round, I had exactly zero expectations because I'm still in my 'early season' mode with this being my 3rd round of 2010 (sacrilege, I know). After discussing things with Kari and Riley I decided an appropriate goal for the day was to simply finish the round. I had no thoughts about it being a tough task, just a humbling one. It turned out to be both as we played in near darkness for the final two holes. I played the 600+ yard 18th hole completely by feel, but managed to keep finding my ball, stayed determined and finished the round.


After getting back to the car, Riley took the scorecard and added up the totals for all three of us. And that's where the humbling part came in. 104. Ouch. We played the furthest back set of tees we could find, and luckily for us most of the back tees weren't accessible so the course was 'only' playing 7300 yards instead of the potential 7600 (at sea level). What I do know now is that I will greatly enjoy watching the US Open in 5 years, and I'm just hoping I get another shot at the course before then.

After the round we hauled from Tacoma to Seattle to our last hotel of the trip. Upon arrival to the hotel we discovered that there is a free shuttle to the market so we headed to one of favorite places in the whole world: Pike Place Brewery. It's pretty much on the list because of their BBQ Chicken Nachos. I over-hyped them to Kari and Riley for weeks and even with that, they were still impressed.

So to recap, 18 holes and best nachos in one day. And that was followed up with a soak in the hot tub. 'Twas a great day.

Portland, Oregon, United States of America

Today was yet another normal day for me, which is to say, it was jam packed with fun. We started the day on the Oregon coast and drove through the rain for a while before we finally got to a point where there was sunshine. We stopped the car and got out for a walk at Perpetua Cape. We discovered Devil Churn which turned the ocean water into a milky foam. We were on our way back to the car when we saw a sign for a blowhole and went to check that out as well.


After that stop, we traveled a little further up the coast before heading inland for Portland. The hotel we found is on an island in the middle of the Columbia River and our room is spectacularly big. We also got a free breakfast and free drinks at the bar. Anyways, we spent a few hours wandering around downtown before settling in for a great dinner at a restaurant called Southpark.

On tap for tomorrow is Seattle and GOOOOLLLLLLFFFFFF!!!!!!!!!!

Coos Bay, Oregon, United States of America

My trip around America marches on as we now approach the final few destinations. Yesterday we awoke in northern California, to sunshine for once, and started driving towards Redwood National Park. We managed to get in a short hike before the rains began again in earnest. That didn't stop us from seeing a few other random stops along the way, including some random beach where we were able to see the true force of the massive surf. The waves we so big that the water was being turned into a foamy lather and at one point they just about came completely over the tall beach where we were standing.


We then proceeded up into a new state (Oregon) to see the coastline. We made a few stops along the way, in between the rain, to experience the coast. I tried to get a few videos to show what it felt like to be standing there. Words and pictures have failed to do it justice.