The Hoodoos and Life's a Giant Game of Improv

Apparently I was talking in my sleep last night and had a string of totally unrelated thoughts that Mandy clued me in on this morning. It started with some of my signature pterodactyl noises followed by "Thank you, thank you, thank you," then "Let's go to the hoodoos!" and finally "Rehearsal, rehearsal, rehearsal." I remember having some pretty weird dreams last night, but none lent themselves to any of my exclamations but if you think that the hoodoos are something I made up, you would be wrong.

On Sunday, we were told we could hike to the Hoodoos, which is something I immediately wanted to do, not because I know what a hoodoo is but because I like saying the word. A lot. Enough to say it in my sleep, apparently.

Poor camera. Poor phone.

Now, although this hike was wonderful, something horrible has happened to me. When I first stopped to take a picture, I discovered that my beloved camera is not working. It says that it does not recognize the lens! Perfect place for this to happen, right? Ughhh. I've since looked it up and the nearest Best Buy is in Calgary but there is an electronics store here in town that I will stop by today or tomorrow (and they can't help me, then we will be making a pit stop in Calgary on our way to Ekalaka, MT this weekend). If my camera doesn't do these places justice, then my phone really sucks, but it's trying it's hardest!

They're right in the middle there. They blend in, sorry!

So, what is a hoodoo? It is a tall, thin spire of rock that protrudes from the bottom of an arid drainage basin and is also referred to as a tent rock, earth pyramid or fairy chimney (thanks Wikipedia). So, we went to the hoodoos!

On our hike, Mandy got very philosophical. We teach an improv workshop and we tell the kids that the four rules of improv are "Show, don't tell," "Don't say no, go with the flow," "There must always be a problem and a solution" and "Have fun!" This is life, she decided. Don't just talk about things -- do them! Don't say no, have an adventure! Every problem has an answer and you better be having fun along the way. You're all theatre people now because life is just one giant game of improv.

I love improv.

Do You Want To Build a Snowman?

No, Frozen fans, we have not traveled to Denmark (heaven, maybe) but the post title will make sense in just a minute (alternate titles included: "I don't know where I'm going," "Look out for poop" and "Nature is leaking on me" so this was the best option available).

We checked the weather and saw that the meteorologists had predicted that today would be the sunniest day of the week, so we decided that we would go for a drive to one of Banff's most well-known landmarks, Lake Louise. Lake Louise is what Pinterest and Tumblr dreams are made of! People dedicate entire boards and blogging sprees to this place but no amount of internet stalking could have possibly prepared us for this.

Because I am brilliant, I suggested that we pack a picnic for lunch and where better to enjoy some of Safeway's finest grub?

After lunch, we walked out on the ice for a minute for a photo op, because dayummm, why wouldn't you?

Then we went adventuring! Which meant that we started walking down a trail without knowing where it would take us, which pretty much seems to be all we know how to do. Were we prepared to go hiking? No. Were we wearing hiking boots? No. Do we even own hiking boots? No. Did we go hiking? Yes. We started off just by walking but every time we could have turned around, we decided not to until we were all the way  around to the other side of the Lake.

Started from the far shore, now we're here.

When we got to the other side of the Lake, did we stop? No. We kept going. We did not stop until our shoes were literally too ill-equipped to keep going (we'd been walking on slush for pretty much our entire hike, but slush at a 60 degree angle was where we called it quits). We didn't head back until we'd built a snowman. Yup, we built a snowman. At the top of a mountain. That we had just climbed. In case you didn't get that, we climbed a mountain and built a snowman at the top of that mountain that we had just climbed...

Building our snowman included shenanigans, of course, like when our decision to return was reinforced when I went to grab some sticks for the snowman's arms and ended up with one leg thigh high in snow.

Crazy, right?

Nature is cool, people. I said it. Mandy facebooked it (and quoted me). Nature is the coolest.

We aren't sure just how far we hiked today, somewhere between three and five miles for sure but after our shoes had failed us/our sense of adventure, we drove back to Banff and finished a little MCT business before heading back downtown.

We've seen most of downtown at this point and all I want to do is eat everything! I haven't yet but it might just happen. We had backwards dinner when we stopped at a place called BeaverTails (there are two of them right down the street from each other here and that's a little weird but this is actually a place that was recommended to us by the kids in Cayley, AB).

This place sells smoothies, fries, poutine, hot dogs, frozen yogurt and most importantly, beavertails. Beavertails are a fried dough pastry that is rolled out to looked like a beaver's tail and then covered in deliciousness. I got mine with cinnamon sugar on it, so it was basically like sprinkling fairy dust on top of perfection. Just look at that? I want another one!!!

Tomorrow is going to bring more sights, sounds and sweets. Spring break is going great, everybody!

Do you want to build a snowman?

Jasper National Park

Spring break!!!

This is our last free week of the tour and we are already off to a good start. We left before the sun was up this morning for Banff, Alberta, aka Canada's first (and potentially greatest) national park.

What better way of getting to a National Park than by driving through another? Because you get to Banff by driving through Jasper National Park. We drove the Icefields Parkway, which has been called one of the world's most beautiful highways. It looked like something out of Twilight and we would know since our friends had a residency in Forks, Washington. It was actually pretty unreal, except that it was entirely real.

Now, Sweeney basically became our little red airplane today as we reached an elevation of nearly 7,000ft. Yup, we were mile high and more today! During training, they had warned us that driving up into the mountains could lead to unpredictable weather and boy, we saw it all today. Sunshine all morning up until the second we entered the park, when the got splatted with some rain, and then lots of snow at the highest peaks! The snow kept us from going out to see any actual glaciers or getting any decent pictures of the icefields but imagine flat and wide and where there should be grass, there is snow... Ok, that just sounds like Boston this winter, so include a few majestic mountains in that mental picture and your wildest dreams still won't be enough.

Driving through in winter means combating the snow like I mentioned above and it also means that a few prime destinations are closed for the season but we were able to stop for a photo op at Athabasca Falls.

We made it to our hostel early in the afternoon and had time to explore a bit of Banff, which meant dinner and you guessed it, ice cream! We went to Cow's, which is "Canada's Ice Cream" and I didn't get a milkshake, but I will before we leave. They had lots of shirts and stuff to buy besides ice cream but I seriously wonder about copyright laws up here because you think someone would have an issue with "Orange is the MOO black," "50 Shades of Hay," and "Moonions" shirts (among others). It definitely isn't Banff's only place to get sweet treats though and I will have to do a lot of taste testing before our week here is over. And now, I am going to catch up on some sleep so that I can have more adventures tomorrow!

Do You Know Ellen Kuhl?

Yes, yes, I do.

I believe I have mentioned that we played a little game while I was in LA where we competed to see who Ellen's best friend and I was the winner. Well, that game has found its way onto the internet and I thought I would pass it along!

We got stuck in the mud again because that's what happens in western Canada in the spring time. We were moving our homestay today from Beaverlodge to a more rural area -- ya know, one that is on a dirt road and doesn't have an address. Surprise! The hand-written directions we were given told us that it was the first right turn when they meant the second! By the time we realized this, our truck was not going anywhere.

Poor Sweeney.

We called our new homestay who came to drag us out of the mud with their truck. Hooray for people who have trucks that are actually equipped for the conditions they live in! Our truck is fully equipped to put on an entire musical production but not for driving through big mud puddles, go figure.

I was not in a good mood when we finally got to our home for the rest of the week, but our homestay has an indoor/outdoor cat that is mostly an outdoor cat who we accidentally let indoors and then ran underneath a bed where it was definitely not supposed to go, so I used my cat whisperer skills and lured it out from its hiding spot when no one else could and we are now buddies. Yay friendship!

Back in (Oh) Canada!

Just in case anyone wanted to know what my trip to LA looked like from Ellen's perspective, here is her vlog!

We are now way back north in Canada; Beaverlodge to be specific. Except we're actually working in Elmworth this week and they had some very special morning announcements, so check out this link. Because I guess you haven't lived until you've heard a rock version of the Canadian national anthem at 8:30 in the morning.

Beaverlodge. 

This beaver is flawless.

How do I begin to describe Beaverlodge? Well, it doesn't have two Fendi purses and a silver Lexus BUT it does have a giant beaver statue. (For the record, I don't think it has army pants or flip flops either). Now, look at that beaver!!! Look at it. Someone built this statue. Actually, there is a sign and this statue was built so that people would come to Beaverlodge! It was built 11 years ago and has been attracting tourists/terrorizing passerbys ever since. Just in case you think I'm lying about how big this thing is, this is me next to it!

Dayummm.

I'm not sure how we ended up on this topic but while we were having dinner, our homestay asked if we'd ever been ski-dooing. No, we had not. We weren't even sure what it was. Apparently it's a snowmobile with skis.

And hey, maybe we should go out on it. Right now! We dropped out forks and suited up. They gave us snow pants and got us all ready -- which seemed a little extreme to me since I thought we would just be going in a circle around the back yard, but soon, we were off! We did not just do figure eights in the backyard. We went out and we went fast. At first, I thought Mandy might have gotten the better seat since snow was blowing right into my face but then I saw what was getting kicked up onto the back of her white jacket. That poor jacket... My main thought was of how jealous Whitney would be of this -- sorry not sorry, Whit -- and then of how this is so much more enjoyable than tubing because a bit of snow up my nose beats a gallon of salt water in my lungs.

I do miss the sun, but Canada, it is good to be back!

Donut forget your donuts

Last night, I emailed myself a to do list with the subject "Donut forget your donuts" because word play. Since checking my email is pretty much the first thing I do every morning, I knew this subject line would make sure that I removed my deliciousness from the refrigerator and let my stomach say a proper goodbye.

Then it was time to give everyone else a proper goodbye. Ok, just Ellen because Cara and Phil were asleep, but who can blame them? I left super early... It was a miracle that Ellen even woke up! (Then again, I was just officially crowned her best friend, so she sort of had to!).

I took an Uber car to the airport and it was super convenient! Normal cabs are fine too but I would definitely do this again if I needed to get to the airport or somewhere else at a strange hour of the day.

My flight was pretty boring. I spent half of it asleep and half of it reading Frankenstein. I was sitting next to an elderly couple who live twenty minutes from Banff and were giving me the lowdown on the area as well.

After landing, I spent a few hours in a mall in Calgary to kill time because Mandy's flight doesn't get in until late. Wayyy late. Way, way, wayyyyyyyyyy late.

Last Day in LA

Today was my last day in Los Angeles -- well, that is for now, because with three of my favorite people now taking up residence here, it will be impossible for me to stay away! Same for Rose, she's totally come back. We've actually spent a lot of time discussing the possibility of a yearly meet up, whether it is in LA or somewhere new; I think we'd all really like that since we all really like each other and this week has been really wonderful.

The day started off with something familiar though -- Rose and I walked back to California Donuts so she could say farewell! I got a croissant for breakfast but I also bought another M&M Overload for tomorrow morning so that it could be the very last thing I ate in LA before returning to Canada! When we returned to the apartment, Rose called a cab (actually she called Uber, but I'm still not sure what the difference is -- maybe I'll find out tomorrow when I call Uber...) and said goodbye.

Next came something else that was familiar. I agreed to take Ellen and Cara back to Grand Central Market for lunch because they were curious and because I have a new-found love for pupusa. I also decided that we should go to The Last Bookstore because they would like it and I wanted to see their faces when they saw it for the first time. We took the Metro again but when we walked out, it was a different exit than the one Rose and I had used yesterday, so I was a little topsy turvy and started off in the wrong direction.

Are you actually seeing this?!

Well, this was a sign from the gods because just as I was sorting out where we were, we noticed a few food trucks nearby and I spotted one that I'd read about online. A food truck that sells grilled cheese sandwiches. And not just grilled cheese sandwiches, but grilled cheese sandwiches with mac and cheese in between! Oh my gosh. Like I said, this was an honest to goodness sign from above.

I love grilled cheese. I love mac and cheese. I love combining things I love and I loved this sandwich. I have a feeling that if I ever tried to put mac and cheese in a sandwich like this, it would go horribly wrong, but not here! No, no, no. Cara got the same thing as me but Ellen went one step further and got her grilled mac and cheese sandwich with pulled pork and caramelized onions on it. She also got the combo meal which came with tater tots instead of fries. I tried a tot and it was pretty delicious too.

With very full and happy bellies, we went back to The Last Bookstore, where Cara and Ellen's jaws both hit the floor. They were absolutely amazed. I think they're ready to go back with sleeping bags and camp out there because they loved it so much.

Before she left, Rose told me that maybe a book would jump out at me today. I told her that I doubted it but Rose was right. Yesterday and again today, I considered getting a copy of Jack Kerouac's On The Road. I'm on the road, he's on the road, it just makes sense -- even though I've already tried reading On The Road and it would have been easier to try to eat glass. Still hoping that there might be something for me, I went back to where Rose had picked up her copy of Nicholas Nickelby and a book did jump out at me: John Steinbeck's Travels with Charley. How perfect is it that just hours after I find out that my contract has been extended for a whole year (yup, that's my subtle way of announcing it) that I find a book by an author I actually truly like about a journey just like mine? $4 later and the book was mine. I still have a few things ahead of it in my reading cue, but luckily, I also have another year of life on the road ahead of me!

We went to Grand Central Market for lunch and Cara was smitten. We walked around for a bit before I introduced the girls to pupusa. Today, I took a picture of my second lunch so you could visually experience its deliciousness.

Cara and I split it which is why there is cabbage on the side -- I didn't like the cabbage, but Cara needed to try it. She didn't like the cabbage either. Cabbage is bad.

With Cara gushing about how she was already planning a return trip and taking her mom there the next time she came back to visit, we returned to the apartment for a respite.

We drove to The Grove for a bit of shopping and dinner. It's kind of like an outdoor mall meets farmer's market. It simultaneously fills massive/mainstream and small/communal. After wandering and shopping, I cobbled together a modge podge meal for myself of corn bread, pasta, a chocolate cupcake and strawberries.

I'm now trying to pack and blog simultaneously, which means I'm not really doing much of either. Ellen and Cara are curled up on the couch with Divergent on and eventually, I will be joining them for that last bit of together time before we say goodbye and return to our real lives.

Rose is gone. I miss Rose.

Ice Cream and Urban Lights

When Ellen got home from work, we had a trivia competition to see which one of us knew the most about her and was her best friend and I was the champion. *We weren't just being weird -- although we were totally being weird -- she wanted to put it on her vlog about life in LA.

After I was declared victorious, Ellen, Rose and I drove to Diddy Riese for ice cream sandwiches. This was another Buzzfeed find that was on not just one, but two, of their lists. They have more than ice cream -- their specialty is jumbo ice cream sandwiches. You get two pick any two cookies and one flavor of ice cream to get smooshed together in a sugar explosion! Rose and I both got cinnamon sugar cookies and vanilla ice cream plus a brownie for later and Ellen got rocky road ice cream and chocolate M&M cookies. Did I mention that all of this was dirt cheap? Because I got two cookies, ice cream and a brownie for $2.50. TWO DOLLARS AND 50 CENTS for all of that! I can't even get a scoop of ice cream for that in most places and I basically got diabetes in a bowl for less than we paid for parking. The UCLA Campus is right across from this place so I guess it's good I never looked at going to school there because I would have gained 60 pounds and died from a sugar overdose before I ever got close to graduation.

We walked around for a bit and noticed (at 7:40) that there was a movie theatre playing Insurgent which didn't technically come out until today but was playing there at 8 o'clock. This place was a super cute one-room theatre and practically empty, which was really weird since the movie was literally just coming out -- the cineplex near us at school would have half a dozen screens playing this and each one of them would have been full. There was a legit curtain that came down before the movie began and then opened back up for the feature; who does that these days?

Insurgent was nothing like the book. I honestly like what they did to adapt the story -- especially to compensate for the changes they made to the end of the first movie -- but it just wasn't a great movie. It wasn't a great book either so that isn't too surprising but I really don't know how they're going to turn the horrendous third book into TWO movies. TWO! I love Harry Potter, but this trend needs to die, like now.

After that, Ellen said she wanted to take us to her favorite place in the city because we had to see it at night. Now, when Rose and I were making our lists of what we'd like to see, I said that "I wanted to see all of those white lamp posts that they have in movies and stuff because I wanted to know why they had all of those white lamp posts," and this is exactly where Ellen took us! Apparently it is an art installation at LACMA and the lamp posts aren't white, they're gray. It also has a name -- "Urban Lights" -- and was apparently created by an artist from Boston (according to the internet because there wasn't any real signage that I could see. It was really nice to see Ellen's favorite part of LA and a great way to end a really special night.

I am Death!

Another exciting, sunny day in Los Angeles!

Rose and I got on the metro and took it to Union Station to cross off more items on our list while our hosts were at work. When we got off, we got lost (I am always lost! Always!) but found our way to Olvera Street which is a Mexican marketplace that also seeks to preserve the customs and trades of early California. We thought it was just a market with street vendors but when we got there, we found that LA's oldest house, Avila Adobe, is there as well. The house was built in 1818 and visiting was free! We toured around and then kept walking down the street. Everything was bright and colorful but most importantly, it smelled delicious. Rose and I were on the fence about getting something to eat until we saw that we could get scrambled eggs and cactus.
Always eager to try something new, cactus sounded like a great way to start the day and we decided to split an order. We were both surprised by the taste and texture but really enjoyed it and I get to add another item to the list of weird ingredients and exotic things I've eaten.

While we were walking around, we discovered the Aztec zodiac. We aren't entirely sure how it's broken up but unlike the zodiac that we're all familiar with which is basically broken up into month long periods, this zodiac has a cycle that rotates every day and my sign? Death. My sign is Death. I am Death! Everybody else has an animal, but me? Death! I love it! The description was also freakishly accurate, so I, Thomson Jaffe, am Death.

The book tour continued after we left, and Rose and I went from the first house in California to The Last Bookstore. This bookstore makes the top five, everyone!

It was insane! There were books everywhere. They had a tunnel made of books! They had a room where all of the books cost a dollar and were organized by color! Some of the books were used and some were new and there was something cool to look at in every direction!

Rose picked up a copy of Nicholas Nickelby that caught her eye and when she opened it, had old newspaper clippings about a local production of an adaptation. Free bookmark! And the book itself only cost $5.

I didn't get anything, which means that I have to go back someday!

This is MY tunnel of love

Rose and I, although still pretty full from our cactus breakfast, walked over to Grand Central Market, which is all about food. We were interested in visiting a specific stand that we read about on... Buzzfeed but we walked around first to see if anything else looked better. You could get any type of food here! They've "been feeding Los Angeles since 1917" and feeding me since about 1 o'clock this afternoon.

Sarita's Pupuseria serves Salvadoran food such as pupusa, which neither of us had ever had but it sounded good.  It's a dish made of a thick corn tortilla and is normally filled with cheese, pork and/or refried beans. They had a cheese/garlic option so we decided to try that! Looking it up, it says it's typically made with just cheese, but the filling they used apparently included mashed potatoes.

After we ordered, we watched a woman actually make them and oh my goodness! She was like an artist! It was mesmerizing.

It also came with hot sauce and curtido, a cabbage slaw with red chili and vinegar. The hot sauce was delicious, the cabbage was not for me. Pupusa, however, is my new favorite food. I WILL learn how to make it! I've already gone on Pinterest to look for recipes and it's good to know that I'll have something to eat if I ever make it to El Salvador.

We were only a block away from the train at that point and returned to the apartment where I caught up with the final season of Parks and Rec! It's Rose's last night so we have a few more things to cross off the to do list before she goes but we've both had an awesome week.

Beware of Rhino Snakes

How much walking is too much? Apparently none. Today, we were going to hike to the Hollywood sign. Ok, our plan was to hike through Griffith Park to somewhere we could see the Hollywood sign and that is exactly what we did.

Except that first, we went in the wrong direction. Once we were sorted out, we ended up walking for a long while until we felt like we were at the top of LA. We weren't, of course, we could have gone higher but it was a very steep trail and since we already felt like we were at the top, we didn't feel like breaking any ankles. Somewhere along the way, we saw a sign that said "Beware of rattlesnakes" but it ended up coming out as "rhino snakes" and we went with it.

We walked back to the Griffith Observatory although I'm still a little confused as to why a city where you can't see any stars needs an observatory at all. It was very science-y.

We went to a Korean restaurant for a late lunch. Korean food? Not for me, but donuts, definitely for me and we went back to California Donuts for dessert. I got the M&M Overload again and it was just heavenly. Rose, Ellen and Cara tried new donuts but I know that the combination of candy coated chocolate and a chocolate covered yeast-ring is a perfect match.

We're back at the apartment now, catching up on Parks and Rec and planning tomorrow's adventures while Ellen gets ready to make us something yummy for dinner!

And I Would Walk 9.4 Miles

THAT is how much we walked yesterday. That's also 15.1278336 km for any foreign folks that may be reading this. Yup, I reverse mapped it out just so you lucky readers could know that I'm a boss and my friends are also bosses (and also because I was really curious).

Rose and I had known that our travel plans included quite a bit of walking but I don't think either one of us expected quite that much (and I don't think our friends expected anything even close to what we put them through). The day started with a .5 mile walk to the train station so we could take the metro to the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Using vertical pano

When we got to the Hollywood Walk of Fame, I pretty quickly realized that getting a star there might not be the greatest thing ever because I'm not sure I want people walking on me. Yes, they will stop to take pictures of my name, but still, thousands of people are stepping on them every single day! The Chinese Theatre was also very cool. I spent some time there playing around with my camera trying to figure out how to get the best shot of the whole place with the least about of other people in it. Some celebrities have crazy small hands and feet; Natalie Wood's footprints were so tiny that I'm not entirely convinced she had feet at all.

After that, we did a little bit of lollygagging and a lot of trying to figure out if we were really going to walk two miles. I was game from the get-go but everyone else took some convincing and it wasn't until we realized that there was no easy way of getting where we wanted to go using public transportation that we set off on foot. So, we headed down Sunset Blvd. for 2.8 miles, bringing our beloved Book Crawl to the West Coast.

Walking is good, I like walking. If we hadn't walked, we wouldn't have stumbled upon the Samuel French Film & Theatre Bookshop and that was a very cool place for our posse and pretty perfect considering we were on route to another bookstore. I didn't buy anything because I just had too many choices but it was a great find and I have a feeling that Ellen, Cara and Phil will be back there soon. (I looked for monologues for ya, Mandy, but there just weren't any books or plays I thought were right).

We continued on, finding our way to the very glamorous West Hollywood where we arrived at Book Soup. It was a wacky little bookshop, but nothing incredible in my opinion. The next stop on our book crawl didn't take us too far -- it was just next door. Or I guess I should say, next door and through a secret passage.

MYSTERY PIER BOOKS INC. Oh my goodness, this store gave me life! They ONLY sell first editions. Let me repeat that -- every single book in their store is a first edition. Some aren't that impressive, but when you're just inches away from the original printing of all of your favorite authors in a single room, you're gunna nerd out a bit. We weren't even allowed to touch the books! That's how fancy this place is. Some of the books were signed. All of them were way outside of our budgets, obviously, but it was pretty easy to see why this is the favorite bookstore of one Johnny Depp!

Just down the street from this wonderful place is the landmark Viper Room and the Hollywood history nerds in us deduced that that must be how Johnny Depp found out about the bookstore in the first place. I couldn't buy a shirt since Johnny has cleaned them out apparently (thanks a lot!) so I bought a bag -- which are apparently normally the shopping bags that they send the books home in -- to be aspirational. Someday I'll be back there with enough money to get that first addition copy To Kill a Mockingbird (original US printing -- none of that UK edition or 35th anniversary nonsense for me) and more!

I'll be back.

Mmmmmmmmmm.

Having already walked 3+ miles in the day, it was time to get some sustenance. The natural thing to do was obviously walk another two miles to Doughboys Cafe & Bakery just because I read about it on a Buzzfeed list (I've been having really good luck with these Buzzfeed lists! Probably should have stopped in to say thanks when we walked past their office). Doughboys is famous for their red velvet cake. Oprah has eaten this cake and now I have too. They make little six inch cakes and Rose and I split one. I don't think I could have handled one on my own but isn't it beautiful?! I even ate the frosting, which was also delicious! Cara, Ellen and Phil will definitely be going back there someday soon as well because they have a lot of breakfast options that all looked yummy (but after walking five miles, I deserved some friggin' cake!).

After cake and after Rose was totally oblivious to the waiter who was flirting with her, I still hadn't had enough walking or dessert, so we followed our noses (and Buzzfeed) another 1.5 miles to Milk, which is one of the 27 ice cream shops you have to visit before you die according to our internet guru. I got...a vanilla milkshake (I know Mandy is rolling her eyes right now -- if she's even reading this -- but if this is one of the places I NEED to go before I die, I need to measure how they stack up) but I know I'm in good hands when my milkshake comes with a spoon. Rose got an Thai Tea ice cream sandwich, except that they don't just use cookies for their ice cream sandwiches, they use macaroons and Rose is a macaroon-making wiz, so it was very cool.

We were pretty tired at this point and the LA transfers were starting to get cold as the sun went down (hey guys, it's still like 65 degrees out, you shouldn't be shivering just yet) so we started back towards the train station. Just another 2.3 miles to go! On our walk back, the vegetarian convinced everyone that they needed to stop at Pink's Hot Dog stand which was all any of them have talked about since I got there. Apparently it's legendary, has been featured on the Food Network multiple times and ALWAYS has a long line. Well, it didn't have a particularly long line as we walked past and I told them that this was their chance and that they better take it, even if they were eating murder (said entirely in jest, you do you, everybody!). They really enjoyed it and it smelled very good on my end.

We finally made it back to the Hollywood Walk of Fame where we found a film shoot being set up and after some investigating discovered that they were shooting a pilot for Fox called Lucifer. After standing around and watching a whole lot of nothing, we got back on the metro and headed back to the apartment where we pretty much died of laughter and had an awesome night after a totally awesome day.

Big congrats to my sister, Whitney, for being offered an internship with the Israel Lacrosse! She'll be spending a month+ in Israel this summer and while I don't think there is any place on earth that can compete with Cessford, AB, I am insanely jealous.

Bravo, Whit.

California Donuts and Venice Beach

Another sunny day in LA. No complaints here (ok, maybe my feet are sort of dirty and hurt a little but we did that math, and I walked at least five miles today!).

Exhibit A

Ellen had to leave for work at 9:30 and Cara and Phil wouldn't be back until 10:30 which gave Rose and me time for a walk to California Donuts, which was about a mile from their apartment. We'd read about this place online and knew we needed to go! They have a panda donut! (See Exhibit A). They have your standard flavors: glazed, chocolate, old-fashioned, Boston cream etc. but then they have the specialty flavors like the Panda donut or donuts topped with cereal or my personal favorite: a donut topped with M&Ms. That's right, someone said, "no no no, a donut by itself isn't good enough, we need to add some of God's favorite candy on top because calories don't matter when you're eating a piece of heaven."

Exhibit B

I did not eat this deliciousness for breakfast because that much sugar in the morning might have made me absolutely intolerable for the rest of the day. I went with another classic breakfast goodie, the cinnamon roll (going with their standard option and not their super jumbo version) and Rose had a green tea donut but then we splurged and purchased a few specialty donuts to bring back to our less-fortunate working friends (See Exhibit B). I mandated the purchase of the "M&M Overload" and the Panda while Rose really wanted to try the Girl Scout Cookie Samoa Donut. We filled out the rest of our order with the Thin Mint, Fruit Loop and Lucky Charms donuts. Rose and I hurried back to the apartment with our purchases before they could melt in the heat and stashed them in the fridge for later.

Having returned from work, Cara was ready to join us for some more sight-seeing and we returned to the beach! This time, it was a lot easier to find parking in Santa Monica (although we had a bit of trouble getting Phil's car to turn on before we could head out). We walked in the opposite direction, so instead of returning to the Pier, we made our way to Venice Beach. Lots of shops and walking. We didn't really know what we wanted to do there so we bounced around, retracing our steps multiple times and soaking up the sun.

Making Tyra proud

Now, I am in serious need of a new headshot, so we had a little photo shoot on the beach. I was supposed to be the model but since I'm not a very good one, Rose helped me out. More walking followed that, so we didn't feel very guilty when we dug into the donuts upon returning home!

We chopped the donuts up so there was plenty to go around (well, some of them -- we tried the M&M Overload, Samoa and Fruit Loops). This will surprise no one, but the M&M Overload was my favorite and I'm dreaming of having another one right now. They were all basically your standard glazed with the various toppings but very delicious! We suspect that the panda donut has some type of filling but we couldn't cut up that cute face just yet!

Ellen, Rose and I had pancakes and mozzarella sticks for dinner (because we're basically reliving college this week, so why not?) and now it's TV time! On to Hollywood tomorrow!

New headshot, maybe?

Santa Monica

It was a full day here in sunny LA! No one appreciated my jokes about it only being 20-30 degrees all morning. Sorry that I'm a cultured international business woman now... Ellen and I started the day with a trip to Target -- which had its own parking garage! I was able to procure a pair of shorts so it doesn't look like I'll be dying of heat stroke any time soon. I was also able to buy milk so I can get my protein in (I don't know what it is called when you die from lack of protein, but I guess I'll be avoiding that as well).

I've gotten quite used to the open roads of Montana and Canada, where you can drive for hours and see two cars if it's a busy day, but LA is a different story. It took us two hours to get to/find parking in Santa Monica! I could have gone to the grocery store in Brooks and back in that time!!! Now part of that was because the LA Marathon was today but also because that's just how much traffic there is in this city and how spread out everything is! We passed the time where we drove around in circles with friendship and pretzels -- in typical fashion, Rose came prepared with snacks.

When we finally did find parking, it was extra expensive thanks to the marathon (stupid marathon, couldn't they have found somewhere else to run?!). Somehow, the girl who started the day with nothing but Canadian currency in her wallet was the only one who had any cash to pay!

BEFORE!

We climbed out of the car and began our walk down the beach and to the famous Santa Monica Pier. Really pretty, we soaked up the sun and got in a good bit of exercise! We grabbed lunch on the pier (I went with a fish sandwich and got a monstrously large ice cream for dessert) and headed down to the water. None of my compatriots had ever been in the Pacific Ocean before!!! I made sure to get before and after pics (they all seemed to think that the Pacific Ocean wasn't all too different from the Atlantic considering how cold it was). I, of course, had to get in the water too, but I've been in the Pacific Ocean before -- not only that, but on different continents! (I've also been in the Atlantic, Indian and Mediterranean Sea, get on my level!).

I adore these girls

Our return drive thankfully didn't take two hours! When we got back to the apartment, Cara and Phil had to crash (because they work the night shift from 1-9am), we all checked out our tan/burn lines and then Ellen, Rose and I did the BFF Workout from ToneItUp and I'm pretty surprised that they're still my friends at all after that... We made pizza for dinner and are now all snuggly on the couch watching an old, college classic, House of Anubis.

P.S. Dairy Queen is turning 75 tomorrow and giving away free ice cream. I don't think Dairy Queen will be a staple of my LA diet the same way it is in Canada, but I might have to stop in if I see one.

Can't wait for all of the adventures that are coming tomorrow!

Hopped Off the Plane at LAX

With my dream and a cardigan. Or more like my backpack and way too many layers.

Yes, I am back in the States. The US of A. I'm in Los Angeles and Toto, I don't think we're in Cessford anymore.

It is hot here! 22° CELSIUS when I got off the plane at 10 at night. Now nobody uses Celsius here but that is hot. It's supposed to be in the 80s and 90s all week too; I'm going to die of heat stroke.

I'm looking at this week as College 2.0: The West Coast edition. I'm staying with Ellen, Cara and Phil and our friend, Rose totally hijacked my trip and came out to LA as well, so basically I'm about to have a pretty great week.

We celebrated our arrival with In-N-Out Burger which, despite the swarms of people there, didn't impress me too much. Mandy had told me that the whole place was totally over hyped and I have to agree. I got a shake and fries and they definitely weren't anything  special. Ellen ordered "animal fries" off of the secret menu and we still don't know what were in them, but she liked them (I abstained, assuming that "animal" meant meat).

Then it was a drive through LA to their apartment and I'm pretty sure I watched Ellen have a brain anuerism as she tried to drive through the city. It was a tad stressful. I offered to drive because even though I've spent the majority of the past few weeks on empty highways, there isn't anything on the road that can faze me now.

Back at the apartment, we had a good time catching up and then I crashed on the couch. Now it's the morning and everyone needs to wake up so that I can go to Target and buy some shorts!!!

I have friends!!

I'm the Lucky Winner

This post is coming to you courtesy of the Calgary International Airport's courtesy wifi! Which means, that I am at the airport and on my way to LA!!!

We said goodbye to Cessford this morning (after a very cold half hour where we proved ourselves to be insane wifi addicts and sat outside of the school to get our fix). Our drive to Calgary included a really great homage to Hercules and our dream of going the distance and took us through our old stomping ground of Strathmore, AB (where we stayed a few weeks ago during our residency in Rockyford). This is where we stopped for lunch and searched in vain for somewhere to find a money order.

After our pit stop, it was on to the Calgary airport, where of course, we drove right past the parking lot and had to make an extra loop (because it isn't a drive day if we don't miss an important turn at some point). I'm flying WestJet and Mandy is flying AirCanada, so we weren't sure if this would be goodbye, but it was not. We came to the WestJet kiosks first and I checked myself in but then found out that I'd checked in at a Canadian kiosk and not a US kiosk and there is apparently a large difference (but not big enough to put up a sign or anything...). So, basically, I caused a mini-scene within 45 seconds of entering this place. I found the correct kiosk and got things sorted out but when they printed out my boarding pass, the man helping me pointed out that my ticket had SSSS written on it, which means I'm the lucky winner of an extra security screening! While all of this was happening to me, Mandy was checking in with AirCanada and when I caught up with her, the gentleman helping her told me that the SSSS stood for Super Secret Strip Search. He was joking... at least, he said that he was.

Our milkshake senses went off and we quickly found a DQ and indulged in some milkshakes before settling into a few arm chairs to finish all of our paperwork for the week, which means I'm officially on vacation!!!

I get to go through customs in just a bit and will find out what is involved in my extra security check soon and then it will be time to fly to LA. Rose is already in transit and keeps sending us all updates about her travels. We'll be arriving at the airport around the same time and then we'll be reunited with Ellen, Cara and Phil for what promises to be an awesome week!

Side note: It's really great that my friends can pick me up at the airport, not because I'm not willing to pay for a cab but because I only have Canadian money... Gotta get on that.

A Word to the Wise

Just in case you were ever considering this, it might not be the best idea to drive your heavy truck full of heavy theatre equipment onto the grass lawn to unload if a Canadian winter has just thawed out because you will get stuck and cover your tour partner and the school's principal in mud.

Not that I would know this from experience or anything.

A Math Problem

Cessford's population according to the last census is 33. Los Angeles's population according to the last census is 3,884,000. That means that LA is 117,696.97 times larger than Cessford.

Ok then.

Cessford, AB

Well, Cessford, AB’s population may have just increased 10% since our arrival. The town has “no facilities” and one and a half streets. The most recent census capped the population at 33. It’s not without charm though and I’ve got an aesthetically pleasing view of some grass and field (because you can’t get enough of those out here!).

When we first rolled into Cessford, the principal/our contact came out to meet us because he saw us driving by (sticking with tradition, we’d managed to get lost and stop in front of the wrong house, thinking it was our homestay), so essentially, the entire town knew we were here before we did.

No Wifi at our homestay so my blogging time will definitely be diminished but then again, are you really that starved for my witticisms that I need to blog about another long drive to Brooks and back? Because that’s all I see happening in the near future… Although there are a few dinosaur museums “nearby” (I’m measuring in Canadian, where “nearby” can mean anything within a day’s drive), so maybe we’ll mix things up.

Oh, nature here? Gorgeous. These are the stars I've been waiting for this tour! Check out yesterday's sun rise/moon set.

Mhm. The sun and moon in the same photo.

Good morning, moon.

Swift Current: Where Life Makes Sense and Our Last Night in Kyle

Another day, another Canadian town slogan.

Did I drive 40 miles for a yoga class this morning? Mhm. Yup, that was me. For more info on said yoga class, check out that other blog I write -- the link it to your right. If you're too lazy to open a new tab, know that yoga was bangin' and I love my bangin' yoga body and that the drive was worth it.

As you can probably guess from the title of this post, yoga was in Swift Current, which is the nearest "city" to Kyle. They've got the closest Walmart as well but we still didn't find very much to do there. To be fair, however, we were in a lazy day mood and not a find obscure tourism things to do mood. We visited the Modern Family Diner for brunch after yoga and had some monster breakfast before driving back to Kyle. The drive took us through the Saskatchewan Provincial Park, which wasn't much except for the fact that unlike what else we've seen of SK, it wasn't totally flat.

Back in Kyle, our homestay's sons were determined to take us to see the town (although there wasn't much left to see at this point). We mainly got the history of drunken high school parties in Kyle for the first half of our drive but then they took us out to their ranch, where we got to learn all sorts of things about cattle and where they kindly gave us boots so we didn't totally wreck our shoes. We even got to pet a cow! ("The ugliest one they've ever raised" -- she was apparently rejected by her mother for being too small and is docile and friendly, unlike the rest of their herd).

We drove back to our homestay after that and had pizza for dinner before watching The Theory of Everything on TV (because apparently, you can already do that in Canada). Off to Cessford, AB in the morning, or as the residents of Kyle put it "Huh? They must be smaller than us."

Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star

Last night, I made my Kyle debut but not as Mrs. Merman/Professor Thumperdumper. No, this week, I was err-body's favorite singin' Starfish. Yes, our show has a country-Western singin' starfish and no, I'm not making that up.

Normally the part is played by a kid, but with such a small cast, it made the most sense to have me step into the role... and costume. We had been told that the costume was hot and it has been the bane of our existence since Day 1, but we actually put kids in this thing?! Unpleasant and a few stronger words come to mind. And sweaty doesn't even begin to cover it.

Favorite quote of the day about the costume was probably when a kid saw me in it for the first time and immediately asked me if I was a chicken. We also made an awesome, Spongebob-inspired vine to commemorate the day.

Yes, I am a chicken.

My own discomfort aside, the kids put on an amazing show. The audience was probably one of the best we've had since we started the tour. and while it wasn't like the whole town showed up, it was pretty darn close. After the show, there was a local hockey game, so we thought we'd be left to clean up everything by ourselves, but nope, the people of Kyle really came out and we had lots of help! Everyone was super enthusiastic and so impressed with what the kids had just done, so it looks like the little red truck might be coming back to this part of Saskatchewan* some day!

After the show, we headed back to our billet and binged on some mac and cheese and took well deserved baths in the jacuzzi tub.

Now it is time for my tour partner to smell the eggs and eggs (vegetarian problems) and I must go wake her up so we can drive to Swift Current for some much needed yoga!

*I just spelled Saskatchewan all by my lonesome, without spell check, for the first time ever!

The Kyle Times and American Crime Scenes

I made the front page! The Kyle Times came to rehearsal and took a few photos and yours truly was newsworthy.

I've been saving any newspaper clippings I've been able to get my hands on -- sometimes it's hard because they'll write an article before we get there or one after we've left and sometimes not at all, but the Kyle Times is the greatest yet and might be the greatest small town paper ever.

First of all, it's free and who can do that these days? Now, the photo of me is really more of my back but like I said, I'm front page news. Other front page news includes a baby announcement that says "[Parents' names] proudly declare the arrival of their most prodigious feat; the greatly anticipated, the jubilant addition, the prophetic one: [child's name]. Born at [specific time], this little girl has risen from the rank of penniless, newly landed citizen to gracious ruler of all grounds, stables and manors." If this girl doesn't star in an MCT show some day, I will be seriously disappointed. Next to my picture is the ad "Doing Business Without Advertising IS LIKE Winking at a Girl You Like In the Dark!!!!" and apart from the terrible grammar, that ad is perfection. Normally I just save the parts I'm in, but Kyle might be different.

At rehearsal tonight, we realized that the kids know about as much about the US as we did about Canada. I showed a girl a one dollar bill and it just about blew her mind. This led to us passing around the $1 so the entire cast could see it and then a $5 and then it became question time for the TADs (don't worry, we still ran the show twice!). They asked if we had Starbucks and Walmart, how many stars were on our flag, if we were allowed to wear shorts and noodle straps (tank tops) in school, whether or not we had any sky scrapers and, my favorite, how many crime scenes there were in America. We had answers to all of the other questions but surprisingly, the last one stumped us! I am a little disappointed in myself. We told them that we might have time for more questions tomorrow, so I'll be interested to see what they can come up with between now and then!

The Prairie Chickens!

We have seen lots of wildlife during this tour (but still no moose!) but the other night at rehearsal, I looked out the window and saw a whole bunch of strange looking birds just chilling outside. I sort of lost my mind about it because they weren't like any birds I'd ever seen. The kids flipped out too, they said they were prairie chickens and that they were really rare. I looked it up and prairie chickens are super rare, like extirpated-in-most-of-Canada-for-the-better-part-of-40-years rare. The pictures I found online did look pretty similar to what we saw and the internet did say that there have been sightings in SK that do suggest the birds still randomly show up but who knows? I'll trust the kids on this one because it doesn't really matter -- either way, I saw some weird lookin' birds.

In other news, we managed to get lost in Kyle looking for one of the three odd restaurants in town. We figured we'd just drive around until we found it because it was bound to happen eventually but no. We never did find it; we did, however, spend a short amount of time stuck in some snow. Good stuff.

Also, even though the sky has been clearer than a supermodel's skin the past two nights, their have been no sightings of the Northern Lights! The flare (or whatever you call it when the Lights are super bright) was supposed to end yesterday, so that might be it for now, but I WILL see them again before the tour is over (just like I am going to see a moose!!!).

Here are a few highlights from the week:

Also we tell the kids that I really like ice cream (which I really do) and yesterday, I got this beautiful drawing:

"I hope I spelled your name right."