they call it may long out here, but in ontario we call it may two four. maybe because may 24 is actually queen victoria's birthday, combined with the usual may long ritual of getting drunk.
my brother's gf couldn't understand why us canucks called a case of beer a two four. she asked "what do you call a 12 pack, a 1-2?"
whatever you wanna call the holiday, may long, may 2-4, memorial day, it is the first long weekend of the year that is supposed to have nice enough weather to go camping...depending on where you live.
the weather here in calgary was beautiful, sunny, and perfekt for an outdoor adventure. q picked me up around dinner time on saturday and we began our journey to golden in the rockies of british columbia.
we made a quick stop just outside of canmore for a quick hike and explore a cave.
the beauty of the spring run off...
normurai and captain q
i was stoked to be rockin' a new pair of arnette swinger sunglasses. i've been sportin this sunglass stee for over 7 years, and have gone through only two pairs (with the silver lens). it was time for a new pair, and the sunglass faerie blessed me with some sweet red mirrored swingers! yay work perkz! free shit roolz.
on our way to the entrance of the cave...
supposedly, the cave was created by the alberta gov't during the cold war to hide dignitaries in case of a nuclear fallout. the cave is deep with very high ceilings and 6 very large carved out rooms.
lookin out from the darkness of the cave...
q silhouette
as the sun set behind the rockies, q and i continued our journey to golden.
the steamers from calgary were having their annual weekend in the woods with christopher walken celebration in golden.
the steamers are the cspot burners who played the final countdown by europe every morning on the playa at sunrise. they are a fun bunch of peeps.
unfortunately, as we drove through yoho national park on our way to golden, my head began to explode with pain. i don't know what it was, but i was nearly crippled by it. i don't get headaches yet alone migraines, so i had no idea what to do with myself. breathe, and wish away my pain *aargh*
i was poppin advils like they were candy, which kinda helped reduce the intensity of the pain, but not eliminate it. at least there were some amazing people at the party that proved to be a welcome distraction to the pain.
after setting up our tents in the dark, it was time to explore the beautifully decorated site and groove to some funky beatz. the party was held on an abandoned camp ground about 20minutes outside of golden. its been a while since i've enjoyed an outdoor party, so it was great to breathe the fresh mountain air and rock out in my
playa grande glow fur jacket.
my headache was still pounding, so i tried sleeping the pain away. i awoke to the mountains peeking out above the clouds. what a beautiful sight.
the power of the mountains is powerful force, but unfortunately not strong enough to eliminate the pain in my head *grrrr* perhaps a quick hike through the beauty that surrounded me would help.
q, dae, and i followed the river and came across this little carriage on a zip line, used for gettin supplies or whatever across the river. of course i had to sit in it.
you'd think that being outside surrounded by trees, water, and enormous mountains could eliminate any pains that ail ya...but my migraine was not givin up :(
maybe some food might get rid of my pain. q and i drove to golden and had a delicious breakfast at a cute 50'z diner called legends. not even a full belly got rid of my headache, so q suggested that we visit a hot spring just south of invermere.
this is what kicking horse resort looks like in the spring.
yes, i think of snowboarding more than sex. i'm one of those male anomalies. riding powder is better than sex to me, but only by a little bit. that little bit kicks so much ass, it is heaven to me.
seeing mountains still covered in snow, i kept thinking to myself
"how long would it take to hike that peak and shred that snow?" with so many mountains and still so much snow, the thought of riding them almost pushed out the headache pain that was still assaulting me...almost.
aaah, the mountains. i have been so blessed to be surrounded by them for the past two seasons.
a two hour drive south of golden, including a final 17km journey on a sketchy gravel road, brought us to a beautiful hot spring. unfortunately, being may long weekend, it was packed full of people and kids. the spring run off flooded the bottom two pools, leaving only one pool to relaz in, and it was ridiculously packed.
a crowded pool was not what we were in the mood for, so i stuck my feet in the water, we took a pikcha, and then left.
i guess we weren't really thinking. first warm long weekend of the year, of course the hot springs were going to be extra busy. in our last effort to find a hot spring that wasn't so busy, we decided to stop at the fairmont hot springs. the pay to get in hot springs pool wasn't that appealing to us, and neither was the free little pools on the hill.
still, the pain of my headache overwhelmed me.
cloud frog in the sunset
we arrived back at the camp site after sunset. as much as i wanted to celebrate, to dance, to enjoy a full evening of may long fun in the woods, i chose to sleep my pain away. monday was to be a very important day, full of a passion i could not afford to miss...it was the slush cup at sunshine village, and the last day of snowboarding for the season. my board was all waxed and ready to go, and i was to meet my friend kixx at the hill for some last day shreddin. can you tell i'm kind of passionate about riding?
i didn't even sip a drink before passing out in my tent that night. i awoke at 8:45am monday morning, full of the desire to shred
sunshine village. unfortunately, the pain in my head was the most intense it had been all weekend. i couldn't even stand up. it took me two hours to get our of my tent. i would sit up, try to change into my snowboarding gear, and simply fall back over in pain. it wasn't until q came and helped me out of my tent that i was able to see the beautiful scenery that surrounded us.
q offered me her bed to lie in, which was significantly more comfortable than my inflatable mat and sleeping bag. i slept until 4:30pm that day. i missed the last day of snowboarding for the season because of a headache that crippled me. you know if i missed the last day of riding, the pain had to be intense. i would have to appreciate the rockies from a distance until next season.
well, i had an awesome season snowboarding. i rode nakiska, norquay, sunshine, louise, kicking horse, whitewater, and c.o.p. many many times. though i was upset that i missed the last day of riding for the season, i am happy that i had such a long and eventful season of shredding the rockies.
my may long weekend was full of beautiful scenery, beautiful people, and balanced out by crippling pain. it felt good to fall alseep in my bed. it would take another day of doing nothing, which included missing work, before the pain of my headache was enough for me to manage a day of doing anything other than sleeping.
stoopid headaches *grrrr*
