need new camera

I've been pretty busy lately. This whole living in California and having wicked weather is starting to grow on me. Hiking, surfing, and mountain biking are great times. They are even greater when you can look at the weather network and be fairly certain the weather pattern is predicted properly. Not something either Calgary or Kelowna are well known for. This week: rain tomorrow, 20+ the rest of the time.

The drawback of such nice weather is the fact that there are millions of people in the state of California that are wanting to enjoy it just as much. On Sunday, after a grueling 1.5 hour climb to the top of the mountain to check out the amazing view, I was somewhat dissatisfied. Ya, ok, the view was great,it was awesome to make it to the top, but there was something missing. The trees, vegetation, rocks, and even the dirt was different, but that wasn't it. If i had a camera at the time, I could explain it to you better than words. On a couple side notes: The deer are tiny and I didn't actually climb for the view, I mountain biked to the top so I could see how fast I could make it back down.

The reason I was dissatisfied was because when you get to the top and look back down to where everyone lives, the view is non-existent, just full of houses and roads everywhere. Plus, the view of the concrete jungle is distorted through the cloud of pollution hanging in the valley. One would think that, if you live at the South end of the San Francisco Bay, and you climbed to the top of a mountain close by, you'd be able to see the Bay. There isn't much industry in the area in the first place. It was somewhat windy as well. Why didn't it just blow away? Where did it all come from?

I think i finally realize why I can't run as well as I could in BC. For every breath I take, my lungs want to reject at least 50% of the air because it's probably contaminated or not actually Oxygen. I'd say that is a great excuse for feeling out of shape...it's the air!

All in all, the times have been good down here. Mountain biking has been great as expected. Andrew, Scott and I will probably do that more often. I can see how surfing could be fun, but on Saturday when we went there was no waves. My new roommates brother was nice enough to let us use a couple of his surf boards and a couple wet suites. First time on a wet suite, first time on a surf board, first time not being successful at something. First impression...mountain biking, snowboarding and snowmobiling win. Andrew and I have been going rock climbing once a week as well. We're getting to do some pretty crazy stuff. We can do 5.9's fairly easily now. The jump up to the next level is difficult though. The 5.10's have kicked my ass everytime. Not this week though!

We don't get easter off next weekend at work. But, Happy Easter to everyone!