O rite I graduated on Thursday.

( Pictures of me and a piece of paper that I spent $20,000+ on )

I'm an official graduate of Ryerson U. Yay.

Guise, I got a tumblr.

IT'S HERE

Michelle, you will especially love it as I will be posting hilarity throughout my days. Please follow me, if you have one!

Looking for jobs sucks btw. Everytime I look all I see are jobs for graduate degrees. I hope I get one fast because I'm turning into a lazy cat that only emerges from under the bed when it's being fed or being entertained by a ball of yarn.

So I'm back, obviously. Andy decided to drive through the night on our final day in Chicago. We got back to Aurora (only stopped for gas twice) at 7:30am, and went straight to sleep.

After travelling through ten states, 5 provinces to a total of 12,000km, I only want more. Andy and I want to do the east coast in August, but I'm not sure if I'll have the money or the time at that point.

My favourite parts of the trips are under the cut.
( Read more... )

Of course the best part of the trip was spending my time with Andy, and having such a successful trip. I'm not sure if he'd agree, but our relationship was truly strengthened through our journey. I look forward to more fun trips with him.

Tomorrow I'm going to apply for jobs. Wish me luck!

I know I just posted like 2 days ago, but since we're nearing the end of our trip, I thought I would fill in a few more times. I really enjoy making these posts!

After we left Cody on Saturday, we headed on a long drive throughout Wyoming. I think I've decided that Wyoming has been my favourite state so far on this trip. The diversity of the lands there are incredible! Before going into Cody, we went on an awesome scenic byway that went through canyons and up mountains - gorgeous. On our drive towards South Dakota, we passed by Buffalo Tongue, where a group of people were preparing to hand glide. We spent about an hour and a half there just watching the people jumping off the mountain - pretty cool!

We ended up staying in Custer, South Dakota last night, which is about a 5 minute drive to the Crazy Horse Memorial - a soon-to-be 563 foot sculpture in the Black Hills. This was awesome. So far, they only have his face completed, but it's still so impressive. The memorial was chosen by Sioux elders as a response to the White man's heroes down the road (Mt Rushmore), to show that the "red man have heroes too". The sculptor believed in a free enterprise system, so he twice turned down 10 million from the government. This is probably why it's taking so long to finish - his family are completing the sculpture! We were going to see a laser show on the rock face, but were unable to because it was so foggy:(

I bought some moccasins in Custer and we went for some hot meals at a cool little restaurant there. Andy is perpetually looking for a buffalo burger to match one he had in Saskatoon, and hasn't been able to do it since. I think he's eaten more buffalo burgers in a short span of than anything else.

Today we headed to Crazy Horse to see more of the awesome area, but it was still foggy so I wasn't able to get a picture of him :(. After that, we headed to Mt Rushmore, which wasn't as impressive in comparison to Crazy Horse and it was foggy still. Also, the museum talked about the "unclear winner" of the War of 1812 so I wanted to leave. LIES!

After that we drove through Badlands National Park, which is similar to Drumheller only more vast. Definitely cool, since it was warm and dry!

Anyway, tonight we're staying in Mitchell, South Dakota. We were supposed to go to Nebraska tonight, but we decided against it. Tomorrow we head to Iowa to stay with Andy's friend from school, and then Chicago to stay with Shannon. I'm home on Thursday!


A picture of me in the Badlands National Park!

Hello everyone! I'm already in Wyoming.

Arrived in the US easy. Stayed in a great hostel in Port Angeles (north-western Washington - it was only $30!) And drove to Seattle on Tuesday. Seattle is AWESOME! My only regret is that we didn't get to see it for long enough. We stayed in the "U-district," the University of Washington area. We got a chance to see a lot for the time we were there though: the Space Needle (and Seattle Centre), Pike Place Market, the mono-rail, the U-District, etc...

The day before yesterday we headed out on a drive to Montana, where we stayed in Missoula. It was one of our longer drives, and we didn't get to Missoula until at least 9:30pm. We drove through beautiful and diverse Washington (and even headed to the Grand Coulee Dam), and then through northern Idaho (which has been traditionally known as a neo-nazi area), and then through eastern Montana. Montana is a really cool hilly-agricultural area.

Stayed in West Yellowstone, Montana last night, which is just outside Yellowstone National Park. To get there, we drove through Butte, Montana, a really old copper mining town. After that, we headed to Nevada City and Virginia City, which are actually just old restored Western towns. Many of the buildings in Virginia City are originals, whereas in Nevada City they were old buildings from all over Montana.

Tonight we're in Cody, Wyoming, the rodeo capital of the world. We spent the day exploring Yellowstone National Park. We saw more animals than we've seen probably the whole trip: COUNTLESS bison, elk, moose, a coyote (or a wolf?), bald eagles, big horned sheep, pronghorns (like antelopes), deer, etc... However, I think the scenery is nothing compared to Banff or Jasper National Parks. The geysers and thermal activity was interesting though. Very barren though and that's probably why we saw so much wildlife!

We took a drive through the countryside of Wyoming to get to Cody. I'm heading out for dinner now!

Two pictures today:


Andy lookin' awesome on an old train in Nevada City


Here is me at the Canyon area of Yellowstone!

Headed to South Dakota tomorrow.

Hi! I'm in Victoria, BC right now.

To celebrate our final night in Canada, Andy and I went to a Mexican restaurant and got nachos and pina coladas. We are just hanging back at the hostel right now.

The past few days in BC have been wonderful! BC has definitely been my favourite part of the trip. I've been to Vancouver before, but I love it the second time all the same!

Driving to Vancouver was uneventful, but our stay in Vancouver was a nice one. We stayed with Andy's friends in a teeny apartment that they pay a fortune for (that's Vancouver!) We ended up watching the entire series of "Eastbound & Down" while we were there. It was ok, not my style, but I laughed a few times. During the day, Andy and I just walked around downtown Vancouver and Stanley Park. Love that city! Later on, we got to go up Grouse Mountain for free - Andy's friend works there. We saw some captive grizzly bears and wolves up close, which is what Andy's friend works with.

The next day we took the ferry to Nanaimo and drove from Nanaimo to Pacific Rim National Park - where we camped for two days. Pacific Rim National Park is basically a temperate rainforest right on the coast of Vancouver Island. It's basically a surfers haven - the waves are awesome in the Pacific. Camping was okay... but I felt really gross and smelly after two nights of campfires and a day of hiking in the rainforest and visiting the beaches.

Today we headed to the south coast of Vancouver Island. On our drive today we saw a black bear eating at the side of the road. Definitely a highlight. Victoria is a pretty sweet city - the shops look fun. Tomorrow is Victoria Day, so they have a parade here in her name.

Tomorrow we're staying in Port Angeles and we'll be quickly moving on to Seattle the next day. Off to the U.S. of A!


A photo of me at the Long Beach on the west coast of Vancouver Island, near Tofino.

Posting now because we've had bad luck with internet lately and I haven't had a secure connection since Saskatoon.

I'm in Kelowna now! Yesterday was probably our best day of driving - left Alberta and headed into BC. We decided to drive through the Okanagan Valley instead of driving to Kamloops.

Our stay in Banff was lovely - it's such a happy place. Everyone there is on vacation, and it seems like no one who lives there is originally from Banff. We drove through Yoho National Park and then Glacier National Park yesterday. The highways in BC are all being re-done - and they're amazing! It's all on the edges of mountains. We're in the rainforest, so everything is so beautifully green. We also managed to stop at the Last Spike - an (almost) ending to our trip across Canada. It brings it together!

It's truly spring in Okanagan Valley! The rivers, farms, green, hills, everything is beautiful! It almost looks like Hawaii when it's sunny or Ireland when it's raining. I could totally live here.

We stopped in Kelowna - the biggest town in the Okanagan. We ended up just sleeping in the car. It was ridiculously uncomfortable and hot. I thought it would be chilly so we loaded on the blankets. Luckily we managed to get a place to stay in Vancouver... with Andy's friends again.

We're headed to Vancouver soon. I'm upset the Canucks are out. I wanted to see crazy Vancouver fans when we were in Vancouver. Wah.

Older picture from our drive on the Icefields Parkway (to Jasper) on Sunday.

:)

Happy Spring, everyone!

I haven't had internet for days and I'm currently surviving off an internet connection from Starbucks in Banff Town. Banff is a tourist paradise - me and Andy have felt odd about it since we got here earlier today. Maybe we're not used to the wafts of tourists, nevertheless, it's beautiful.

We headed to Alberta on Thursday and got explored a bit through driving around. Drumheller (the Canadian badlands) is fucking awesome. It was raining when we were there, but holy shit - it is so fucking cool. There's almost no way to describe what it's like. Michelle, you would love this place! We also went to probably the best museum ever in Drumheller - the Royal Tyrell Museum. It was basically a dinosaur museum.

Calgary's almost like a smaller Toronto - kinda busy, with lots of business people. I didn't think particularly highly of it, but it was a good time. Andy's friend that we stayed with was a really nice guy. Last night, we spent the latter bit of the night wathing Arrested Development - which Andy is now hooked on. And I must admit, I don't dislike it as much as I remember.

We headed to the Canadian Olympic Museum today and explored Olympic paraphernalia as well as heading up to the ski jumps above Calgary.

Banff is truly paradise, though. I still have to overcome my (serious) fear of heights. We drove up a few high cliffs today just to check it out and I had to pace myself not to have a heart attack.

Wildlife count today:
-deer
-bald eagle
-big horned sheep
-prairie dogs
-cool awesome birds

We are here until Tuesday, at which time we head on a breathtaking drive to Kelowna. I hear gas is going up in price, so we're kinda pissed.

Two pictures today!


Badlands!


Me standing in front of some bighorn sheep on Norquay Mountain.

In Saskatoon right now! Spent the day driving from Winnipeg to Saskatoon - not as boring as you might think (though it will probably be one of the more boring rides of our trip).

The drive to Winnipeg from Thunder Bay was awesome - we took a long route along the border... gorgeous towns along here! I will post some videos when I get back to show everyone. We saw a total of like 12 deer along that ride, and even got out to take pictures of a few who were lounging on a hotel yard. Surprisingly, we haven't seen any moose yet but Andy saw a buffalo!

Winnipeg is a cool city - we didn't get to see too much because museums are closed on Mondays. The Forks are nice and the Red River really is flooding everywhere. No one seems to mind though.

The drive today wasn't exciting, but it was a good chance to listen to a lot of CBC radio and just take in the sights. Lots of grain elevators and cattle... a few small towns. We stopped in one called Sheho and it was almost like a ghost town but with people living in it.

Saskatoon is awesome so far! We are staying with Andy's friend in the downtown area. In two days we are headed to Calgary.

This is a picture of me entering Manitoba.

Hi people. I'm in Thunder Bay right now. It took us ridiculous amounts of driving to get here. It will take us 8 hours to get to our next destination (Winnipeg).

Northern Ontario is beautiful. It smelt like pine in the car at some points, and there are lots of unexpected rivers/creeks sights to see. The Canadian Shield is intense- it's weird to think that a lot of this was mountain ranges millions of years ago.

We're staying at Andy's friend's house right now, who goes to Lakehead. Nice guy, cute little place. Last night we stayed in Sault Ste Marie. We walked into this creepy hotel and asked how much it was so stay there. She said $60.50, and we said that was too expensive (we were going to sleep in the car, but holy shit IT IS FREEZING AROUND HERE FOR MAY!). She ended up saying (without us prompting her) that she would give us the room for free and put us under Ontario Works (Ontario's welfare system). We were pretty excited.

I have some pics but I'll hold off on posting them for a while. I'll just leave you with me at the Big Nickel in Sudbury.

ATTN: people who have Nintendo DS!

Would anyone be interested in any of these games? I will pay for the shipping myself if it needs to be shipped.

Animal Crossing
Harvest Moon
Elite Beat Agents

If you're interested, make me an offer. I'll keep the comments screened.

I AM SO SICK OF HEARING ABOUT THE RECESSION!

Seriously. Every news story does not somehow have to be about the economy. There are important things going on in the world. And they don't all involve the recession. The media and government are making it okay for companies to justify pay cuts and lay-offs, even when the slowing economy doesn't apply to them.

Seriously. Stop comparing it to the Depression. Not even close, people.

lol I cried watching this.

Yay! I got the job. It pays $11 an hour, and it's only alternating Saturdays.

I'm watching "Metal: A Headbangers Journey" right now because it's on TV and it's at the best part:


I've never actually watched the full documentary, but the parts I've seen are fucking awesome. I don't even relate so much because I don't listen to much metal (and what I do listen to is the bands that started metal or nu-metal like Deftones). But it's awesome.

The Office last night really redeemed my faith in the Office and its writers. That cold open had me lolling, as well as the roast (especially Pam's). Even the Jim/Pam was good! I am so pleased.

PRC!!!

Eeee! A new season of Project Runway Canada. This show is so much better than the original. I just hope it stays that way!

Holy shit Ted Rogers kicked the bucket!

I have no kind words for that man in death. He was a greedy (yet successful) crook.

I don't understand our culture's obsession with zombies. I've been trying to watch 28 Days Later for years now and I never finish it because I get bored. WHAT IS WITH IT?

Also, I am in love with Ane Brun. I am seeing her live next Friday.