It’s been two years since I made my first trip to the lands of Waterton and I must say that my second trip might have been better than the first if that is even possible. My brothers always go there every year in August but unfortunately they have to be there just under a week from the same time due to work schedules and family itineraries so it’s always a challenge for me to be able to visit them both but once again I somehow figured out a way and it was definitely worth it.
For those who have never been to Waterton I highly suggest taking the time to make the drive there. You have everything you can possibly imagine with a 15 minute drive one way or another.
If you don’t want to ruin your initial experience I would suggest not watching this video because I jam a lot of hikes and adventures into just one 20 minute video so enjoy or don’t enjoy, the choice is yours!
2017 has been a roller coaster like no other so far… It’s been filled with financial stress, loss of loved ones, injury and luckily enough a little bit of adventure in between to somehow find a way to keep on living and enjoying each day the best I can.
It has been a tough couple months for close friends and family who have suffered major losses in their life and I haven’t exactly been there for my friends and family the way I should have been through their tough times which is why it makes it even harder to post joyful life events like these videos now.
But I realized that if I stop sharing the positive moments in my own life then I will never find happiness from all the sadness around me and I too will miss out on life and we need to continue to keep on living life and motivating each other and inspiring each other as best we can no matter what life challenges us with.
To sum up this video I went snowboarding a couple times, hitched a ride with my parents to a family funeral in Revelstoke and made some pitstops along the way at Johnson Canyon and Moraine Lake at Lake Louise, and I might have even adopted my first ever Betta fish named “Barney”. He currently owns and operates “Barney’s Bamboo Beach Bar & Resort”.
This was my 4th time at Sunshine Village Ski Resort in Banff National Park, Alberta Canada and I will honestly say that it was for sure one of my top 3 best days on the mountain snowboarding. The snow continued to fall all day long while the sun shined off and on all day making the conditions almost perfect for an all around snowboarding experience. I have been using the “Quik” app on my Iphone a lot lately to create an “all in one” compacted video of all of the short recordings I take throughout the day on my adventures. It’s an easy to use app once you learn how to use the basic tools and I highly recommend it to anyone else who likes to share their life stories.
I have been spending a lot of time going through all of my old SD memory cards from my GoPro and camera lately and it has been very liberating to reminisce on all of the adventures and travels I have been on in the past few years. This week I decided to take the time and edit about an hour of deep sea fishing GoPro footage from Puerta Vallarta Mexico with my very own father and my older brother during our stay at the Riu Hotel for my younger brothers wedding.
We started off the day going for Marlin and managed to see one giant marlin jumping into the air over and over but I missed to capture any on video so we spent the second half of the day going for some smaller fish to get our moneys worth and maximize our experience for the day.
Well it’s not the most expensive drone but it’s kind of like buying your first vehicle when you were 16. Don’t buy a good one until you actually learn how to drive properly so consider this Walmart purchased drone my test vehicle.
It’s not an amazing video but it’s just something I felt I should add to the bucket list of things I’ve tried and done. Try not to fall asleep!
So this video goes along with the slideshow that I made when my parents came to Calgary for Thanksgiving weekend. I made a video of their time here touring around with my camera jammed in their faces the whole time. It’ll all make sense when you watch the video.
I’ve been slowly picking away at a ton of GoPro videos I had taken over the past couple years so this video I put together was from two summers ago during the August long weekend in Waterton, Alberta when I met up with my two brothers and their families. This hike was short and sweet but is still something I would consider doing if you end up in Waterton some day. I did this hike with younger brother and I did Crypt Lake hike with my older brother the day after this and it was about 5 hours longer but both were great experiences spent with family. (Crypt Lake Hike video is on this site as well)
I have to post a short video of the last time I had the chance to go for an old fashioned “shinny” during the Christmas holidays at the Craik Memorial Ice Rink. The name of the rink defines itself in every aspect from the character it displays to the history that has been made throughout its continuous life cycle.
There aren’t too many small town barns that look like this anymore due to the fact that they are either no longer standing or have been shut down and replaced by a new ice arena.
As you can see in the video there is almost zero plexi glass surrounding the side boards which means the game has to be played in a completely different way than it would be in a city rink or newer arena. Some may call this home ice advantage but others will call it a nightmare. Regardless of how you look at it I can’t help but still enjoy its original shape and form. Unfortunately the old vintage wooden roof rafters had to be covered due to constant condensation issues that were occurring during the early and late months of the warmer seasons which caused hundreds of tiny ice bubbles to form on the ice surface which makes it a little difficult and dangerous to play on.
Other than that minor change you will still find the old wooden church pew benches for indoor lobby seating and the lone blue plastic seat that was put in place behind the home goal inside the lobby in memory of my grampa ‘Willard Archibald’ who was known for his voluntary top notch, non biased, non home team advantage goal judging skills. Many games were definitely won and lost in accordance to his final goal judging decisions. And call it bittersweet but anytime one of his own grandchildren would score a goal on that net it would always cost him a dollar the second he flipped that goal light on.
That is definitely only one of many memories I will always cherish being a part of growing up playing in that classic old barn.
Last minute trip with a couple buddies up to Whitecourt, Alberta Canada to camp out on riverboats and look for Elk and any other wildlife we could find. I won’t say any more because I think the video will speak for itself.
