The Original Ashley

I'm going home tonight and looking through all our photo albums to see if I can do one of these. See the whole collection here

I love this idea! Now all I need is a pile of old slides!!!! See the site here

Note: we are on a schedule, so pictures will be added tonight. So if you scroll down a bit to the end of day six’s blog, you will note that I took a picture of the hotel room. This is where the story begins. When we arrived in the hotel, I immediately said I needed a picture before we messed the room up, and then on a nearby dark counter I switched my long range lens off and put on my regular, placing the long range on the counter. I took said pictures and then went about my night. In the morning we packed up and left Nanaimo… and my lens. (don’t panic mom, note that the title says I’m a lucky idiot.) So we drive through Nanaimo, stop at a local bakery to get two Nanaimo bars, and then proceed to fulfill a promise 6 years old and eat Nanaimo bars in Nanaimo. I don’t really like Nanaimo bars in the first place, but Marni found hers to be very tasty! We then started to drive towards Victoria, making stops at the town of Chemainus which is a town with 43 murals dating back...

I can’t believe how much we are getting done, and I still don’t really feel that tired or sore! This morning we ate a very light breakfast because in a short while we would be swinging from the trees and honestly we didn’t want much in our stomachs… We signed in with Ziptrek Ecotours (a measly $100…..) signed a form telling them where to send our bodies if we die and then we were off to get on the weggie maker! I mean gear! I will tell you this about Ziplining, not once did I fear for my life because of the equipment. That stuff was SOLID. Not that comfortable to walk around in, but damn solid! We did a tiny zipline just to see how we felt about it, think of it as a bunny hill of ziplines… and then we were packed on a bus to the vally between Blackcomb Mountain and Whistler. We were actually right next to where they did the Luge in the Olympics! You know, they place were they managed to clock at 5 g’s? yeah, that high up… The valley crisscrossed with a bunch of lines all at diffe...

Marni here. Ash is using the hairdryer so I have once again snuck onto the blog. Where was I? Oh yes, horses. Well, wait, that was yesterday. That’s no good. That’s already been blogged about. Then, I suppose we will have to go with today. We’re not longer in Whistler. We have traveled across the mainland, and are currently blogging from Nanaimo, the Harbour City, as they like to call it. After yet another busy day full of adventures, we have crashed for the night to prepare for yet another busy one. Today, we went from mountains to ocean. From mainland to island. From sedate picture taking, to taking videos while screaming wildly, over a river on a 1100m long wireline of awesome. Oh, yes. We went ziplining. Let’s talk about zipling. Firstly, it’s not nearly as terrifying as it seems. Yes, it’s really just you and the cable holding you up from the ground which, as it were, was getting increasing further away as we went up the mountain. Yes, it’s fast, and yes, you kind ...

Driving through the mountains is awesome. I think it was the highlight of the day, despite the horse trail ride. We left North Van early and took the new highway 99 up towards Whistler. The mountains were beautiful and looming and bigger than anything I’ve ever seen. It took almost two hours to get to whistler and find the hotel which was also beautiful. I don’t know what Whistler Village looked like before the Olympics, but its gorgeous now! We walked around a bit and did a little shopping and ate lunch at the BG Urban Grill. It was tasty, but marni said I looked hungover…. What do you think? We then went back for the car and driving further north towards Adventure Ranch. It was only Marni and I, and two girls from Germany on the ride with our guide. My horses name was Jigsaw and apparently gas powered. Also, he likes to snack, like a lot. At one point we were allowed to trot, and Jigsaw was trotting along, head down in the long grass ripping it out and eating as he was g...

Greetings peoples. I’m afraid that this blog has been taken over by me, Marni, this time. Ashley is stuck on her bed, unable to move due to horses and too much pasta. Leaving it to me, to write instead. Little does Ashley know that I’m writing it. Hur hur hur. So. Where to begin? Our day started in North Van, where we dragged our butts out of bed Oh no. SHE MOVES. I DON’T KNOW IF I CAN……… ASHFKJASHfkJAHSKFLjahskjfhaij kshfkajshfjasjhf………. Noooooo

Today was our last day in Vancouver, and we decided not to drive into the city, but to take the sea bus instead. The sea bus leaves from north Vancouver and cuts right across the inlet to Gastown. We walked to the Art Gallery and had a great time in their surrealist exhibit. There were a lot of interactive pieces! Unfortunately we couldn’t take our cameras in so there are no pictures of that at all. We walked Robson St. after that be cause we had been told that was the place to shop, but it was mostly stores we had in Toronto. We did find a cream puff store, and ordered one each. We stopped by the Library where a group of people were doing squats. When we left they were up to 430. My thighs hurt just watching them! The library was very cool though… We walked down to Gas Town again so we could finish off where we left off. Marni found a really cool compass in an Antique shop and I found my art piece in he form of a photograph by a local artist. Marni also bought a hand mad...

Today we did so much I feel like I should be completely worn out, but I guess years of conning with Marni has gotten me used to doing a ton of events in one day. We woke up around 8:30 this morning, and drove into the city. Our first stop was at the Dr. Sun-Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden, which was located right next to China Town. The Garden was beautiful and the tour was full of really interesting pieces of history. Also, in the pond are Koi that come when you ring a gong to feed them. China town was next and we realized no matter where you are, China Town is the same as all the other china towns. The Entrance was very pretty though… We then cut through the streets to Gas town which was much more impressive and very cool. The streets were cobble stone and there was a really good mix of stores and cafés. We ate a late lunch right across the street from an actual steam powered clock that sang every 15 minutes. The food was amazingly good and after all that walking aro...

Despite the fact that I never sleep well in hotels, I slept like a ROCK last night. We woke up around 7:30 local time feeling refreshed and ready to start the day. After a quick free breakfast in the hotel we took off for our first stop of the day, Stanley Park. For those that don’t know, Stanley Park is kind of like a central park, but not as big and WAY more green. Its full of huge redwoods and cedars over 500 years old. And yes, it is named after Lord Stanley, as in the Stanley Cup Stanley. Inside the park there are lots of things to do, including one of the biggest aquariums in north America. We were a little early so we drove the loop around the park and took in some of the sites before touring the aquarium. Lots of photos were taken there! It was a very cool aquarium filled with local wildlife as well as some more exotic species. After the aquarium we took a horse drawn carriage ride through the park and learned some of the history of some of the sites. Our horses were ...

Its everywhere. EVERYWHERE.

I think it would be more accurate to start with last night, with my last minute packing, booking ziplining tours and getting all gadgets from my brothers. One thing led to another and suddenly it was 11PM and I was still awake. Sleep didn’t come easy either, as I dreamt that I had gone to the wrong terminal and had forgotten my ticket… and then my alarm was going off at 4:45. Mom and Dad drove Marni and I to the airport where we got our boarding passes, dropped off our luggage (under the 50 pound limit!) and said our goodbyes. After a quick breakfast at timmies, we boarded the plane at 7. It was pretty much empty, so marni and I made the most of the elbow room playing cards and going over plans. It was a five hour flight and we landed right on time. There was a minor (huge) scare when we went to pick up the rental car, in which they told us they couldn’t give us the CAA rate they promised us online if I was driving and Marni was the card holder. Without the rate, the price would ha...