Outdoor and Indoor Adventures (by Neil)

Woah, so what did you guys do this weekend?

Well, now that we are semi-settled in our new place (still hardly any furniture though) we figured it was time to start taking advantage of the outdoor playground that is so easily accessible from this new city of ours. Since hiking won't be an option for much longer until next spring, we figured we should take advantage while we still can. We drove up close to Squamish (about 1 hr) to hike up the Stawamus Chief, a series of 3 peaks that soar above the Howe Sound and sea-to-sky highway. The weather was decent until it started raining on our descent, just as we hit a section that required holding onto metal chains and a vertical steel ladder. Here are some shots from the top, you can see snow that's already fallen on the mountains up north (closer to Whistler):

I'm sure we'll end up spending a lot of time up around those parts. The area is apparently also a mecca for outdoor rock-climbing, which we'll finally get into in the spring (we'll brush up on our indoor climbing skills during the winter).

Ok, big deal. What else did you do?

Sunday evening we went and did a beginner whitewater kayaking course with the Vancouver Kayak Club. I work with the guy who runs it, and when I showed some interest he insisted we come and try it out. They run pool sessions during the winter to practice/learn skills for the river. Most people there were very experienced, but there was one other newbie who joined us for a sort of intro course. You need to pick up quite a bit of experience before heading onto the river, as the boats are extremely unstable and easy to tip. After the hour and a half course anyone there who wanted to played a game of contact kayak polo which was extremely exhausting and entertainingly violent. I'm actually already pretty hooked, we'll probably go back next weekend and then again later in the winter before the season begins to brush up and get ready to try it on a real river.

Cool, cool. Anything else to say?

I think we are finally starting to get more settled and starting to enjoy our 'free time' a lot more. There are still a bunch of little things to take care of, but we've bought most of the important furniture items (still waiting for delivery though, using out patio set as dining table/couch/computer desk/toilet). Aside from that I'd like to dust off my bike and take it onto some nearby beginner trails to get into a bit of light mountain-biking. A lot of the guys I work with go mountain biking at lunch on nice days and I'd like to be able to go along (at least when they do some of the easier trails).

That's all for now...