Over The Hills and Through The Woods
Posted by jtbourne on August 18, 2009 · 11 Comments
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The multi-week period of bloglect has ended. I’m settled.
After a week of running around at the Hockey Greats Camp, Bri and I said our farewells and embarked on our three day journey from Kelowna, BC to Phoenix, AZ. And here I am. Home. (Read: my mom’s place. We’re still house shopping).
We left Saturday morning and loaded up the car with the snacks of champions. Behind the ziplock of fruit my mom forced upon us, we had Pringles, Doritos, seasoned Spitz, ranch Corn Nuts, vanilla wafers, peanut butter M&M’s, Smarties (the Canadian kind), Twizzlers, and a box of Nestea.
We bought the audiobooks “Running With Scissors” and “Choke”, charged up our iPods and headed south. I’m glad the novelty of road trips lasts for awhile, because the first day was about as thrilling as watching C-SPAN.
Over the hills and through the woods to Ontario, Oregon we went, finding a nice little Holiday Inn for $89.99. Having treked about 11 hours, we evaluated our next days drive.
“You know, if we drive that long again, we could make Vegas tomorrow night”, said a voice inside my head, then one outside.
So sure enough, with a little effort and that same $89.99, Bri and I paid the same amount we did in Oregon to stay in a king bed at the MGM Grand. Thats one of the beauties of Vegas. Hotels are a bargoon.
We hit the New York, New York roller coaster, front seat at night, high above Vegas. We bought two “Yard O’ Marg’s”, only to find out they’re so paralyzingly sweet and devoid of alcohol that it wasn’t worth the fun of holding it. We won a combined $38.00 on the nickel slot “Texas Tea”. It was awesome.
The View From the Dam on a simple cell phone. Real ones to be loaded up shortly!
The next morning, we woke a mere 5.5 hours from Phoenix, which gave us ample time to be tourists at the Hoover Dam. For those of you who haven’t been, it’s a dam. And ho-ly shit is it one amazing feat of human accomplishment.
You know those moments when you’re like, “yeah, there’s definitely people smarter than me”? You know, like when you watch a plane cruising overhead, or you look at the motherboard of a computer? This is one of those. Definite wow-factor.
The drive was a blast, but I’m happy to be settled. I’m happy to blog. I’m happy to write my next articles for other news outlets, and just generally organize my life.
Bri and I are just starting to figure out this “real world” thing, which involves, of course, heading out right now to buy this years NHL package.
I’ve sent texts to Higgins, Komisarek, Goligoski, Tambellini and others to let them know I’m gonna be all over ‘em for quotes and thoughts this upcoming season.
So here we go. Life in Phoenix begins…
Now.
*****
Post blog addition: Here’s the story of our three day drive, in pictures:
There ya go – A blog in pictures of a three day drive!
I'm a hockey player turned writer. After playing for Alaska Anchorage in the WCHA (NCAA), I carried on with an NHL tryout (New York Islanders in 2007) before spending a couple seasons in the AHL/ECHL (last year was 2008-09). My father, Bob Bourne, won four Stanley Cups with the Islanders in the '80's, as did my fiancee's dad, Clark Gillies. I'm now the web editor for theScore's hockey blog "Backhand Shelf."
Congratulations! And good luck!
PS How are smarties different in Canada? Please tolerate my ignorance.
congrats on makin it there safely and i hope ya get all settled into the new place!
ive only been thru Phoenix, but it looked like a pretty cool place! enjoy!
random note: is ur twitter hacked or are u posting and Direct Messaging people with a link to something? ive gotten a couple DM’s and dont wanna click the link b/c it doesnt seem like you would message that! lol if its not u doin it, change your password! ive been hacked a few times and that should solve the issue!
…anyways, love the blog, great stuff man! thanks for entertaining and keepin me updated in a fun easy way!
I get to Phoenix for business pretty often. Maybe we’ll have to catch a ‘Yotes game one of these days!
Good luck, mate.
That’d be fun, for sure!
Yeah, the Twitter thing has been rectified, thanks. Phoenix is great!
Well J.B., since you didn’t stop in Boise for lunch (breakfast?) or just to say hi ;-(, I glad you made to Vegas for a little R & R. Watty has a golf tourney in Vegas in oct that me and Mylsy and couple guys are going down for. Maybe you can meet up for a night or four. Keep it real and don’t be weird.
jl
My Grandmother told me the legend of Canadian smarties. According to folklore, they have chocolate cores as compared to our time tested solid sugar chalk design.
After getting the NHL package, I wager that your next move will be to find a rink to play drop-in. I’m curious to hear what the rec scene is like in PX. I always thought that living in a warm climate with the opportunity to play hockey whenever you want would be somewhat close to a perfect situation. Let me know if I’m right.
Congrats, and good luck man!
I’m interested to know…How’d you guys like Choke? One of my favorite books by far.
If you’re looking for a good margarita in PHX – check out Arribas. I think there are a few scattered around the area. (Arribas is WAY better than Salty Senorita). We might be headed down there for a long weekend in December to catch a Wild vs Coyotes game. We’ll buy you and Bri a marg at Buffet’s Margaritaville before the game!