‘splorin’

a word that puts an exclamation mark to this trip especially right after we drove through the ‘heartland’ where desert meets dusty green shrubs and an infinite sky. sunset was surreal, music was on tune, and conversation was love.

driving from vancouver to hood river was pretty much a breeze for geordie (my boyfriend) and i. we ended up leaving around 12:30 pm and had a couple of stops, arriving for about 9:00 pm.

why ‘splorin’?

well, as geordie and i were driving through the heavenly ‘heartland’… where beauty can quickly be taken over by acres upon acres of nothing but land. land that just about took the gas right out of our vehicle. cause we all know that when everything is grand… something may go wrong. geordie says, “i sure hope there is a gas station soon”. see the thing is that i stay calm in these situations. i mean most of the time i am the most energized monkey around and one that gets high on life or eating food (this is a good thing for the most part… geordie may argue differently haha). we tried looking on google maps for the next gas station is… haha but we were out of service!

so. sunset starts to get shaded behind mountains, acres of beauty turn to driveways of rusty trailers, broken down cars, “TRUMP 2020” banners as if awnings over house entrances, and logging roads that must go to places like that of ‘jeeper creeper’ honour films. we stay laughing. turn a bit more quiet. and check our phone every minute for cell service. geordie slows down, kinda like my sister driving up hills… you save gas right!? we hope a gas station appears soon, cause rhythmic gymnastics on a fine red line is absolutely not a spectator sport!

cell service. check. gas station. check!

i will make a blog post one day about ‘my story’ and in it i will talk about smithers, bc (where i grew up). that being said, i respect and understand how small towns roll, that weekends are meant for shooting targets, celebration is more extravagant over the biggest catch than your nineteenth birthday, redneck was a word that wasn’t laughed about. it was a fact for most. so, our gas station pit stop was a bit of smithers times 1 million. above geordie’s head as he is fuelling up a sign reads, “GO ‘SPLORIN’!”. as we have no clue what town we are in, all we know is that this is a gas station, that denied us at the pump. so, as hyper me starts to tag behind geordie to witness possibly one of the most legendary american to canadian moments… yes, i pull out my camera and identify all the memorable moments such as:

meat meat meat and more meat. i mean meat on the counter, meat in bins, meat dried, meat refrigerated, canned meat, stewing meat… meat you name it
camo and knifes deckled between sequinned pink hats, and jumbo jumbo chocolate bars that only on halloween may you dream to receive one of those bars between all the rest
smokes and liquor oh and chew… can’t forget the chew
and of course both subway and dairy queen on either side of the hot deli

so. here we began our ‘splorin’ trip in america!

it was a wonderful rest of the drive and when we arrived to hood river our friends fiona and leif along with their families welcomed us in like family.

we are so grateful for the people we met and the hood river community. a community that wouldn’t consider having a specific age demographic. just a sport demographic. WATER & WIND!

sailing.

this bucket list must was something that i have always wanted to try. i learned to tack, to hmm what’s the right terminology? to bring the sails down, to not be afraid when the entire side of the boat goes into the water… and so forth. it was a stunning night with good waves, wind, and people. oh! and we blew off a bunch of fireworks and jumped off the boat! so fun.

down winding the gorge.

we did it!!! and can’t wait to do it again. i used the starboard ace in the 14 x 23.5. this was a technical board for me to sup in the way that it continuously wanted to roll… but the thing is that it has a great recovery stage and as long as you keep paddling it likely will keep you afloat. the waves were good sized in the sense that we actually got to surf the down wind while chasing fiona down the river. geordie used the sunova allround board in the 14 x 25.5 which he enjoyed and i enjoyed watching him surf the tail.

surfing the coast.

the last two days we ended up leaving hood river after doing a fun down wind run with the kid’s jet team who soared and ripped the bumps! we then headed west to cannon beach where we ate, ate, and ate, star gazed and shared stories with fiona and leif’s family and friends. we were a crew of 10 which meant surfing was epic! it was great to catch bigger waves and tear it up with the crew. also, the energy that fiona and i share is pretty special- so cool that we were able to share the stoke and the athletic vibes with the boys. i was surfing my starboard pro which i feel one with.

can’t wait to go back and can’t wait to go surfing again!!

driving home.

the drive home was stunning! beautiful weather, more laughs, stories and if love could start a website it would have right under our nose. <3

chow for now! xo

huge thanks to.

coast outdoors for being my go to outdoor adventure shop

trident sports for my SUP

mike darbyshire for your kick ass training program and ace sup

nikki rekman for providing me with my paddle

fiona and leif for having us

geordie. I love you!