Alright, Frenchy started to complain that my blog was a bit dead, despite of much recent traveling... So, here is a post on a trip to the west...
I indeed went for a month in British Columbia (BC), staying around Vancouver for 2 weeks with Bruno, and then going to the Rockies with Bruno and Travis. Of course, telling everything would be rather long, so I will focus on a few facts now, and maybe complete later...
Bruno, el Boulettos:
Now, Bruno is back to Europe since he didn't enjoy the life in Vancouver. He is currently looking after a job as a geek, and looking after some cougars at the same time!
Travis, the Feeble:
Travis could not join for the all trip since he unfortunately found a job just before, but still managed to come over for 2 weeks. A good Amercian trip for him, with tons of driving! But its alright with Bethany's fancy Subaru, which has heating sits to warm your butt if needed... Travis is a nice guy, and brought a few presents for me: 3 cans of EasyCheese* from his mum, and an American flag bikini** from Bethany. We went then to the Bugaboos ranges for some good climbing on excellent granite, was excellent. Unfortunately, we couldn't attempt the main objective of the trip, i.e. climbing Mount Robson, since there was too much fresh snow and that the weather was not great... So we went for a romantic canoe trip in the Wells Gray Provincial Park, which was actually fun albeit I had very sore shoulders due to the 60kms we canoed over 2 days... Probably a bit too much for my first canoe trip ever...
Travis came back to his normal life, and discovered that his company got bankrupted during his holidays... But it has been bough by an other company which re-hired Travis... Things are going fast in North America! Now, he is enjoying mountain biking in southern Oregon, and is still dreaming of mountains, and even more of climbing gears!
* it makes actually "tasty" sandwiches combined with peanut butter... As a matter of fact, Bruno, as a good French, refused to eat any of it
** sorry, no photos since there are not politically correct!
Romaric, me:
Well, what to say about myself? I definitely enjoyed the trip! What I liked the most:
- was good to catch back with Bruno and Travis
- the great trad' and sport climbing in Squamish
- the sushi-places in Vancouver!
- climbing in the Bugaboos: great climbs, fantastic sceneries
- the lakes with dead-trees... (somehow Bruno did not enjoy them as much as me)
- the wildlife: saw a couple of bears, tons of mosquito... and a cougar!
- hiking or canoing in the Provincial Parks
- riding around Stanley Park in Vancouver, definitely a fine city bike ride
- the port of Vancouver with the huge boats and cranes, which I find scenic somehow
- the huge burger in a small place in the Cariboos (supposed to be the most boring place in BC, touristic-wise...)
I enjoyed less:
- Vancouver downtown: not much charm, really noisy, full of huge cars... But I guess it is classic stuff for large North America cities...
- the National Parks: you really feel you are a sheep there, following everybody, paying for everything... And it seems difficult to get away from that feeling... Just could not stand it...
- the mosquitos...
Now, I am finishing my postdoc position in Swizzy, and I am looking after an other one. I am applying to find my personal research funding, and I can tell you it is a pain since these are challenging to get. If that was all about science that would be fun, but 3/4 of the application is about speaking nicely about yourself, which I really don't like and makes me feeling guilty...
I indeed went for a month in British Columbia (BC), staying around Vancouver for 2 weeks with Bruno, and then going to the Rockies with Bruno and Travis. Of course, telling everything would be rather long, so I will focus on a few facts now, and maybe complete later...
Bruno, el Boulettos:
Still my master in terms of being a "boulet" (http://frenchiiiiie.blogspot.com/2010/06/being-boulet.html), I really feel normal when I am next to him. For example, I told him I was arriving at around 7pm the Saturday (my plane landing at 6pm). I went to the bottom of his building. His name wasn't in the interphone, since he never asked to link it to his phone... As well, his mobile phone was turned off so I couldn't call him... Having no idea what his flat number was, I was stuck and had to wait in the hall... After one hour, he passed by, not recognizing me since he was expecting me to arrive much later... So I had to run after him... And I have quite a few stories of the kind!
Now, Bruno is back to Europe since he didn't enjoy the life in Vancouver. He is currently looking after a job as a geek, and looking after some cougars at the same time!
Travis, the Feeble:
Travis could not join for the all trip since he unfortunately found a job just before, but still managed to come over for 2 weeks. A good Amercian trip for him, with tons of driving! But its alright with Bethany's fancy Subaru, which has heating sits to warm your butt if needed... Travis is a nice guy, and brought a few presents for me: 3 cans of EasyCheese* from his mum, and an American flag bikini** from Bethany. We went then to the Bugaboos ranges for some good climbing on excellent granite, was excellent. Unfortunately, we couldn't attempt the main objective of the trip, i.e. climbing Mount Robson, since there was too much fresh snow and that the weather was not great... So we went for a romantic canoe trip in the Wells Gray Provincial Park, which was actually fun albeit I had very sore shoulders due to the 60kms we canoed over 2 days... Probably a bit too much for my first canoe trip ever...
Travis came back to his normal life, and discovered that his company got bankrupted during his holidays... But it has been bough by an other company which re-hired Travis... Things are going fast in North America! Now, he is enjoying mountain biking in southern Oregon, and is still dreaming of mountains, and even more of climbing gears!
* it makes actually "tasty" sandwiches combined with peanut butter... As a matter of fact, Bruno, as a good French, refused to eat any of it
** sorry, no photos since there are not politically correct!
Romaric, me:
Well, what to say about myself? I definitely enjoyed the trip! What I liked the most:
- was good to catch back with Bruno and Travis
- the great trad' and sport climbing in Squamish
- the sushi-places in Vancouver!
- climbing in the Bugaboos: great climbs, fantastic sceneries
- the lakes with dead-trees... (somehow Bruno did not enjoy them as much as me)
- the wildlife: saw a couple of bears, tons of mosquito... and a cougar!
- hiking or canoing in the Provincial Parks
- riding around Stanley Park in Vancouver, definitely a fine city bike ride
- the port of Vancouver with the huge boats and cranes, which I find scenic somehow
- the huge burger in a small place in the Cariboos (supposed to be the most boring place in BC, touristic-wise...)
I enjoyed less:
- Vancouver downtown: not much charm, really noisy, full of huge cars... But I guess it is classic stuff for large North America cities...
- the National Parks: you really feel you are a sheep there, following everybody, paying for everything... And it seems difficult to get away from that feeling... Just could not stand it...
- the mosquitos...
Now, I am finishing my postdoc position in Swizzy, and I am looking after an other one. I am applying to find my personal research funding, and I can tell you it is a pain since these are challenging to get. If that was all about science that would be fun, but 3/4 of the application is about speaking nicely about yourself, which I really don't like and makes me feeling guilty...
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