The West Coast Experience
The dry spell has ended! You are reading an update to my blog – hooray!
My paragliding travels have led me to Vancouver where I’ve been flying some sites just outside the city. I’ve always found Vancouver and BC in general kind of an easy place to make fun of; the old “4:10” joke, the constant rain, the threat of earthquakes and high taxes – `nuff said. Deep down, us Albertans know that BC is a very nice place to live, but that in our province, it`s perfectly acceptable to drive a Hummer really fast on a 2-wheel drive highway wearing a cowboy hat (bought without paying PST!!!) with the AC cranked listening to Nickelback on the way to Banff without one single ounce of guilt, and THAT right there, is what makes our province great!
Anyway, admittedly, Vancouver is impressive – it does seem to rain a lot, but with that comes a mild climate and a pretty, green, and very scenic place to fly. The days are getting colder and the season is slowly coming to an end, but I’m a para-optimist who thinks there has to be at least one good xc day left this season…it’s GOT to happen!
I’m so close to officially being signed off as a tandem pilot, it’s not even funny. One flight! One flight! That’s all I need! I’ve done some really great tandems out here lately that I’m very happy with; ridge soaring, floating near the clouds, having passengers take video and photos of other pilots – it’s 100% pure fun. I know I haven’t done many, but the tandems I have done lately are just as special as the first ones – I love flying with other people, I really really do.
So yes, things are generally good. I feel privileged meeting the amazing people I have, having truly fantastic accommodation and being able to fly new sites in Canada – something I really haven`t done much of. I’m disappointed and sad to have encountered politics out here, but I suppose it exists everywhere; I’m here to fly and I totally don’t care who it’s with, or where it’s at. At the end of the day paragliders are like one big family who all want the same thing: good lift, adventure, and most importantly, happy landings.
My paragliding travels have led me to Vancouver where I’ve been flying some sites just outside the city. I’ve always found Vancouver and BC in general kind of an easy place to make fun of; the old “4:10” joke, the constant rain, the threat of earthquakes and high taxes – `nuff said. Deep down, us Albertans know that BC is a very nice place to live, but that in our province, it`s perfectly acceptable to drive a Hummer really fast on a 2-wheel drive highway wearing a cowboy hat (bought without paying PST!!!) with the AC cranked listening to Nickelback on the way to Banff without one single ounce of guilt, and THAT right there, is what makes our province great!
Anyway, admittedly, Vancouver is impressive – it does seem to rain a lot, but with that comes a mild climate and a pretty, green, and very scenic place to fly. The days are getting colder and the season is slowly coming to an end, but I’m a para-optimist who thinks there has to be at least one good xc day left this season…it’s GOT to happen!
I’m so close to officially being signed off as a tandem pilot, it’s not even funny. One flight! One flight! That’s all I need! I’ve done some really great tandems out here lately that I’m very happy with; ridge soaring, floating near the clouds, having passengers take video and photos of other pilots – it’s 100% pure fun. I know I haven’t done many, but the tandems I have done lately are just as special as the first ones – I love flying with other people, I really really do.
So yes, things are generally good. I feel privileged meeting the amazing people I have, having truly fantastic accommodation and being able to fly new sites in Canada – something I really haven`t done much of. I’m disappointed and sad to have encountered politics out here, but I suppose it exists everywhere; I’m here to fly and I totally don’t care who it’s with, or where it’s at. At the end of the day paragliders are like one big family who all want the same thing: good lift, adventure, and most importantly, happy landings.
posted by Veronica at 2:50 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home