Back In Canada

Posted on Friday, June 20th, 2008 at 12:09 pm

It has been a while since I last posted so I will try and not ramble on too much about what I have been up to. Since My last post we were in Belfast for a couple of days which was quick but a lot of fun. We met up with some old friends and had some good meetings as well. We stayed at an awesome hotel, Malmaison. We got a good deal on the price before you make a comment to yourself about how expensive it is. It is so nice to be able to stay at a hotel like that. Too many times playing the East coast league I have stayed in some brutal motels right next to the highway! After we got back from there, we spent another few days with my parents and finished up some painting, I know, more painting.

Then it was off to Canada. The trip was almost hassle free, I mean as hassle free as it can be with a ton of luggage and two dogs! Fly Zoom is a good airline and I think they do a good job with customer service and meals considering it is a less expensive way to fly. I mean at least you get your own seat before you board and it has a pouch in the back of the seat for your magazine and Ipod. Whats up with those planes with the hard plastic for your knees to hit off and with the safety thingy glued to the headrest in front? haha. When we arrived in Calgary, we couldn’t get to Castlegar until the next day with the flight times etc. So, we stayed with Kristy’s sister Kim who lives in Calgary. It was a good night, we had nice dinner with some of her brothers that live there too until jet lag kicked in and it was lights out. The next day, I was wide awake at 5am, I am sure because of the jet lag. Or maybe it had something to do with the thin mattress on the bottom bunk of my sister in law’s daughters bunk bed which she had been kind enough to let us sleep on that night! So after some airport Starbucks and almost missing the flight cause of an unusually long security line, it was off to Castlegar.

Flying in Dash 8 planes in western Canada is an experience let me tell you. I have made this trip a dozen times and it does not get any easier over time. Something about that little plane dipping and diving all over makes me a little nervous. But we made it safely and so did the dogs. The weather here is pretty nice, I guess there has been a lot of rain so everything is nice and green. I started up my truck which had been in the garage all winter and it sounds like an old tractor now, which I don’t remember it sounding like last summer, so tune up time I think. Got right back into workouts here, there is a good spot for running right by the river where we live and also checkout out a spin class last night too. It was a good tempo and I think I will be going there a couple times a week this summer. It is actually in an old school that is now a rec center which was kinda cool.

Well I will leave this one here. Hopefully I will have some exciting things to post about soon. We are going to watch my brother in law play in a town soccer/football match tonight so that should be good for a laugh as he hasn’t played in about 8 years. Then it is wing night with my father in law at a local bar. I am sure there will be some interesting things happen at those two events!

Colin Shields