Whirlwind Update!

Alright, we've been neglecting the blog a bit, so I am going to do a whirlwind update about the western half of the country. Erica already covered Vancouver Island, so I'm just going to add a few random points of interest.

We went to Medicine Hat and went to Dinosaur Park, which you know already. We came back to our Super 8 Hotel room and the housekeeper had set up Batman like this on our bed:

Legs crossed! Adorable. He was all "I don't suppose it occurred to you guys that I might have liked to go to Dinosaur Park."

Then we played a show at the Ottoman Lounge in Medicine Hat, which had the most awesome stage ever:

Medicine Hat is also where we met up with fellow Haligonians, Brent Randall and his Pinecones:

Then we went to Lethbridge, where we played with Brent Randall again, along with Vancouver's Lotus Child. We all signed a t-shirt for one awesome fan:

Then we had that whole unfortunate tow truck incident later that evening, and went to Calgary to crash for the day before driving into the mountains to Canmore:

We played at the Canmore Hotel, which was fun, and slept in four separate rooms for the first time on the tour. Probably also the last time. The next day we packed it up and headed across the mountains to Vancouver.

It's a long, but excellent drive.

We played in Vancouver that night at a karaoke bar/sushi restaurant called Hoko's in the SCARIEST NEIGHBORHOOD I HAVE EVER SEEN. It was near East Hastings and Main. Actually, not so much scary as it was depressing.

But the venue was cool:

We hopped on the ferry the next day to Vancouver Island. The ferry costs a lot, but it is WORTH IT. It is also WINDY.


We played in Nanaimo that night, which is an excellent town. Surprisingly, I consumed zero nanaimo bars while there. But we did notice some pretty strange/awesome flags decorating the lampposts downtown:

At the Vancouver Aquarium I met my soulmate. This sea lion didn't really move from this position at all, except to occassionally yawn:

After shows in Victoria and Vancouver, we drove back across the mountains.

Ooooo...the majesty...

Then we played in Calgary and Edmonton. Here we are in Calgary:

Then we rolled back across the prairies, which was also scenic:

Now we're in London, Ont, only 4 shows away from home. I have lost, I would say, a significant amount of muscle mass in my legs due to sitting for a solid month. I am in terrible shape right now. Standing for five minutes is exhausting. I need a gym and a comfy bed and my kitchen very badly. But this trip has gone very well. It feels like we've been gone forever, and in a way, we really have been away for a very long time. Perhaps if we do this again I'll pack a thighmaster or something for the car.