Shreddin'

On Friday (my normal blog day.. sorry!), I went snowboarding. Ian and I thought we might be going to Fernie this week but that obviously didn't happen, so I drove out to Holiday Mountain in La Riviere, Manitoba. Driving for two hours through the prairies, I mostly thought, "Where the heck am I going to ride??" But then I drove around a corner and down into a valley and it all made sense.

This was my first, and definitely not last, snowboarding experience out here. I was spoiled growing up with four (Loch, Baldy, Candy and Lutsen) decent ski resorts out my doorstep - three of them less than a half hour away. When I moved out here for school I was 99.9% positive I could never live here. I mean... it's SO flat!! Then I did my season in Fernie and I'd be lying if I said I don't wake up every day hoping I am still there but I'm not.. so I put on my big girl pants and away I go to make the best of the day that I've been blessed with. That being said, Friday morning rolled around, I stopped at WalMart for an iphone adaptor for my car, grabbed a coffee and a bagel (Tim's ain't no Big Bang, but it'll do in a pinch) and away I went. Last year, I drove out to Fernie by myself - I had never driven out that way before and this was no different. I'd never actually driven further than Morden so I am grateful for Google maps even though once you're on highway 3, you can't really mess up... cause the ski resort is right on that highway.

After a couple hour dance party with myself (Uptown Funk will NEVER get old, I've got some really good moves for car dancing), I pulled into the parking lot at Holiday and I'll admit I chuckled to myself a bit, thinking "What IS this place??" But then I had to remember a) you are in Manitoba, THE PRAIRIES and b) you're never gonna find another Fernie, so get over yourself.

I bought my lift ticket, geared up and found my way to the lift .. that doesn't even have a safety bar .. cause at some points during the lift, you are literally no more than one foot off the ground - amazing. I scoped out where I thought I would start and away I went.

Snowboarding is like riding a bike. Or driving. Or just really any skill or sport that you can learn - cause you really don't forget how to do it. You also don't forget the feeling of the fresh air, the turns, the snow, the speed, the sound of strapping in, chair lift thoughts, picking your lines .. just everything. If I could do one thing for the rest of my life, it would be snowboarding. Sometimes I wish I had stopped playing competitive soccer and snowboarded more seriously, but then I wouldn't be living the life I am today, so I can't think about the shoulda, woulda, couldas when I'm happy with where I am. Think about what your all time favourite thing in the whole entire world that you can't live without is - all these things I'm saying about snowboarding, are how you probably feel about that thing. Like nothing else matters in the world cause it's just me and my snowboard. Me and the snow, cruising. You get a good playlist going through your headphones and you are set for hours. You don't get a whole lot of turns in each run cause they're pretty short, but the lift ride back up is just as short so you can just go up and down and up and down for HOURS! On Fridays, Holiday is open 9-9 and you can bet your bottom dollar that I'm going to ride for that full 12 hours some time. I even made myself hike up the mountain once to earn my turns. It broke up the day and I just pretended I was hiking up Face Lift for some beauty turns on fresh, untouched, pow. Ahhh even just thinking about that makes me wanna strap in.

I'm FINALLY watching The Art of Flight (I know, just three years late to the party.. but I only just realized it is on Netflix and I have a busy schedule) and I highly recommend it to eeeeeeveryone even those of you who don't snowboard. It's so sick. I feel like snowboarding has this big stereotype around it that we're all just big party people and we don't do a whole lot else. No one really looks at snowboarders as athletes. But you should see these pros. They work SO hard. They take huge risks to do what they love and to let people like you and me have a sneak peek into their work. The sport is tough on their bodies and they are just always out there throwing down so hard to get the perfect shots on video/picture. I will probably watch this like every week. Plus there's a series so .. I'm set for life, basically.

Gotta run out to the store, it's a perfect day to make soup (even thought it's almost 3 PM and the day is more than half over....). I'll leave you with this lovely thought..... the other day, I tweeted: "What a wonderful world we would live in if every single person actually did what they loved every day." It's true if you think about it, everyone would be in their own little happy place. Even if it isn't actually physically possible for you to get to your happy place every day, make time for yourself in some capacity to think about what you are grateful for - it'll certainly put a really positive outlook on things for you and put you in a pretty solid mood. If you are lucky enough that you wake up every morning and do exactly what it is you want to do - kudos! I hope you share your love and your passion with others so they too, can experience it. Cause if there's one thing that's better than your most favourite thing/person/place/whatever, it's sharing it with others.

I'll be back, Holiday.

-L