back from the not-dead

hi
i um
hey
i went to seattle, vancouver, seattle, juneau, skagway, victoria b.c., seattle, everywhere on the western seaboard until santa ana, and am now in lake arrowhead.
where i'll be until the 23rd, when i'll be back in boston.
i didn't skate much (it's hard to on a boat & with a bunch of non-skaters).
i did skate at the park by heroin ledges in vancouver; i think i was skating with shawn adair, which i think is funny. but no photos from that.

now i'll dump all the bike/skate/chocolate cake related photos i or my sister took.
i'll do it in reverse order, since i'm studip.

victoria, b.c. is not vancouver b.c. but victoria, b.c. is nice, too. my brother skateboarded around it while my sister & i skated around it. here i'm performing a soul grind on a scenic overlook.


before we arrived at the overlook, we were at a park with a beach. i am proud of the degree of crazy i maintained throughout the trip, and at this park i overheard someone from a group of possible boy scouts say "is that guy GAY?" winning.


tree ride at the same park:


before we arrived at the park we skated down the shore. this wonderledge was waxed a little, and some hippy guy with a dog said something about fruitbooting. more winning. i did a soul on the bottom to royale on the top, and i did my grind-of-the-trip, the name of which i don't know.




earlier on the seaboard there were some stairs. my brother and i hot-dogged it some. here's a sweet grab:


apparently, in victoria, b.c., people still inline-skate. there was a separate skate lane in one park, and people were able to easily tell my sister where she should go for cheap previously-loved inline skates. there were a pair of rollerballs in new condition, but Sister didn't want to fork over the $50. instead, she got a hawt riding pair of Ultra Wheels for $15. they destroyed her shins, causing her to lash out at us unrestrainedly. but it was cool. sweet ride:



used skate selection. mainly hockey skates, though there was a pair of argons for sale for $35.


before we were in victoria, b.c., we were in juneau, alaska. we went hiking, and tom called me asking if i could skate. here i am concluding that phone call. my skates are in my bag, but i am 2 far 2 session.


i guess this isn't actually all in reverse order. here is a photo from Redwoods National Forest. i am tree hugging.


here's something important:


we were on a boat for my birthday. i felt pretty disgusting the day before my birthday, and i passed out while my sister & brother went to an indoor pool or someplace. i thought that, anyway. instead they came back with this monstrosity. i devoured it and passed back out, then felt badly for 2 more days.






this may be why i felt so badly. we rented a car in skagway, alaska and drove through british columbia, canada, into the yukon territories. we decided it was important to swim in one of the lakes, which were really really cold. here is a backstroke:


here's a handstand at the u.s.-canada border. the border stations were each a couple of miles inside the countries.


oh. here're pictures from juneau. after we climbed a giant mountain we broke up so my brother and sister could watch basketball while i skated and called katie. i didn't really find anything to skate, so i grinded this to get some kind of a photo. bunity & bro-yale:




the nice thing about the boat was lots of chocolate cake. there were constant buffets, and chocolate cake was constantly a constant constituent of the constant buffets. this photo is from right after we got onboard. this cake was delicious; there were lots of other kinds of chocolate cake too - mousses, rums, raisiny ones . . . it was nice. they gave me a slice for my birthday too, without provocation.




that's pretty much it. the first couple of days i was in vancouver, and i didn't skate any (because of the company i was keeping), but i did get one sweet blade photo:


oh! and one more thing. when i got to orange county i needed deodorant. cvs carries this. i don't know why i didn't buy it, but i intend to remedy that wrong as soon as is expedient.


see you soon,
luv,
ben.