Snow Day!

I guess you could call me lucky, since just 2 days after my 4 days floating down a freezing cold river we got a cold front accompanied by a heavy snowfall. I don't think it would have made much of a difference, though. Once you're numb, you're numb. Anyways, we were happy to get some snow. It makes the mountains look a lot cooler, and supposedly it's good for the ski tourism, which I guess we care about. Most of it had melted by the afternoon, so while Steph worked I walked down to the lake to try my hand at some fishing. I had hooked a small fish the evening before, but it got off pretty quickly. This time after only 4 or 5 casts I hooked what seemed to be another small fish, since it wasn't putting up much fight. I was shocked when I reeled it in and saw a huge trout on the end of the line. I guess he was just toying with me, because once he saw the shore he turned around, took off, jumped out of the water, spat out the hook and was gone. I will be back though, and next time I'll bring a net and snag that sucker before he can escape again.

Kawarau River - where we go riverboarding

Like I mentioned above, I have completed my 4-day riverboarding training course, barely. It was really hard and tiring, but turned out to be a lot of fun. There were 4 other newbies with me - a girl from the UK and guys from Sweden, South Africa, and Zimbabwe. It was cool to meet and chat with all of them, especially the guys from Africa. They have some, let's say "interesting" stories about back home. Do not worry, though. I am still a long way from actually becoming a certified guide. I have to log about 35 more trips down the river, do a safety/rescue course in mid-November, and get my first aid certification. So, it'll be at least a month and half before I actually get paid to do this stuff, but hopefully I can be doing some more temp work here and there during that time. Plus, Steph is used to being the bread-winner. She's been working 4 or 5 days a week and generally enjoying it. She's realized she does not like the breakfast shift, which she has been getting a lot of, so once she requests not to work breakfasts she'll be happy.

Speaking of Steph, she managed to pull of an all-time classic the other day. Those that know her may know that she has a bit of an issue with car keys. She loses them every now and then, of course, but also has a tendancy to lock them in the car. She once locked them in the car while it was running. But all of that pares in comparison to what she did a couple days ago. She left home and drove over to the library, but by the time she got there the keys were gone. She had lost her keys while driving! I know, impossible right? Well our car is a bit older and the key can slide out of the ignition even when the car is on. But still, the keys would have to be in the car, right? She searched and searched but could not find them, eventually drove home to find them sitting on the floor in the garage. Somehow she managed to turn on the car, toss the keys out the open car door without noticing, and drive off. Classic Steph.

Otherwise, we've been taking it pretty easy since our last post. Our schedules have kind of conflicted, so we haven't had many free days at the same time. Plus, the weather hasn't been too good. We did have a little barbeque with the entire riverboarding crew once the training was complete at one of the guides' house. It was a good time - hung out and played some foosball, chatted about the 'dangers' of riverboarding (mainly panicking clients trying to drown you), and dominated everyone in Wii.

At the request of birthday-boy Rob Hollister (Steph's dad), we will actually do a top-10 list of places from our US road trip like I had promised.

10. Los Angeles. Can't forget our final sendoff from the US. Sightseeing in Hollywood and hanging out with Betsy, Steve, Steph's brothers Robbie and Ryan, Uncle Bean and Sanita (sp?), and even my buddy Graham who happened to also be in town. Good stuff.

9.  Bryce Canyon National Park. I'm going to go ahead and say it is NOT the best 3-mile hike in the world, but hiking among the colorful hoodoos was still pretty cool.

8.  Estes Park, Colorado. Cool little town just outside Rocky Mountain NP. The outdoor seating area of the Starbucks right next to a little river was a highlight for Steph. I'm talking lifetime highlight here.

7.  Grand Teton National Park. We didn't spend enough time here, but the view of the Tetons from the shore of Jenny Lake was one of the best we've seen.

6.  Yosemite National Park. Arguably the most beautiful of our national parks. Luckily we weren't too exhausted when we reached the peak of Cloud's Rest to enjoy the amazing view.

5.  Rocky Mountain National Park. The hike to Sky Pond with Taylor was our first real introduction to the amazing backcountry of our national parks.

4.  Vegas. Not so much the casinos and typical Vegas stuff, but spending time with some of Steph's family that we don't see often was great. Seeing Seinfeld live didn't hurt.

3.  Grizzly bear encounter in Yellowstone. Seeing a wild bear less than 50 yards away from you while hiking is something you don't soon forget.

2. Angel's Landing in Zion National Park. Not only was the view from the top stunning, but the 2.5-mile hike to the top along thousand-foot cliffs made it that much more spectacular.

1.  Yellowstone National Park.  Truly a special place. Huge wilderness, volcanic activity, amazing wildlife, beautiful scenery. Our favorite moment was seeing the wolves on our last day. They kind of epitomize what makes Yellowstone so special.

Honorable mentions would be Grand Canyon and Sequoia National Parks. Grand Canyon was cool, but I think we'd have to spend more time there and hike down in it to truly appreciate it. Sequoia seemed great while it lasted, but the Jimmy ruined that experience pretty quickly. Good reasons to go back though.