The Summer of George is so 1997.

So, how's everyone doing? I got back from Florida this morning and had a lovely reunion with friends. My friends went home this weekend just to see me. They just can't get enough of me. No, actually, they came home for another reason. Kings of Leon is in town for a concert tomorrow night and we're all going! Whoo! Also, we're celebrating Canada Day tonight. We didn't get to celebrate it last July, so we're having a little shindig tonight. We're going to paint the town red! ...or just wear red clothes and stuff. Tomorrow morning is the Terry Fox Run of my university, so I'm going to be running around for a bit, then I'm going to a parade/walk towards the opening ceremonies of the "Arts Festival" (not the real name of the event) in the downtown area in the afternoon, then the Kings of Leon concert at night. Pretty busy day, but I'm sure I'm going to find the time to have some fun. If it means pushing other people aside to finish the Run first, then I will do it. Kidding!

Today was a good day. I popped in my parents home to say hi, then went to my new home with Laura. After brunch, I washed the dishes by hand. Be proud of me! I don't normally do that; I sweep, I dust, and I even vacuum, but I don't wash dishes. When I do, I use a dishwasher. I mean, if God wanted me to wash dishes by hand, why would he let man invent dishwashers? I have to say, though, that I liked it. The feel of the running water in my hands had a soothing effect. That doesn't mean I'l be washing dishes by hand again anytime soon, I'm just saying it was nice.

I went golfing with my buddies after the Kyle Henderson Dishwashing Experience. LOL It was sunny, but it was cold, so we wore shorts and calf high socks. Shayne was really into dressing up today. He wore a pair of high socks that matched his shorts and a hat that matched his shirt, plus he had a sweater tied around his neck. He looked pretty snazzy. (left to right: Shayne, Mike, Brandon, Chad)

Anyway, I'm just stalling. On to my summer shenanigans!

I said before I left that "this summer will be overwhelmingly whimsical." And it was. It was an experience that I will never forget. I'm a city boy, and I go camping, like, once a year, so to be able to spend the whole summer outside, relishing Nature's grandeur was superlatively awesome! (I told you I'm going to fill this blog with big words. Kidding!) This trip was grueling to the body, but invigorating for the mind. I've seen so many wonders that managed to take my breath away and leave me in awe. And that doesn't include the roadkills.

My dad and I trekked through luscious forests, climbed treacherous mountains, and endured unyielding weather conditions. ... I'm kidding. Although, we hiked and climbed unforgiving hills (some of them were so steep!), we didn't have a lot of stormy weather. We were lucky to have mostly sunny days, and a few cloudy and rainy days. We experienced highs and lows, and certain extremes. When we were in Whistler, British Columbia, it was mighty hot; I was perspiring like crazy. When we were in Churchill, Manitoba, it was exceedingly cold; my eyeballs almost froze. LOL That would have been good, actually, because then I wouldn't have been able to close my eyes and miss these amazing creatures that are commonly known as POLAR BEARS! Seeing polar bears is definitely one of the highlights of this trip. Polar bears are only found in certain places in the world; they don't come to see you, you come to see them. So, the memory of seeing these animals in their natural habitat is worth treasuring for a lifetime. I sure hope I don't hit my head on something hard and get amnesia.

Some nights we slept out in the cold in our tents on camping areas with the knowledge that a new day would come and we'd set off to a new adventure to comfort us and get us through the night. Other times, we stayed in hotels with the comfort of soft beds and hot water in the shower. We never stayed in motels, though; we didn't want questionable bed linens to plague us in our dreams...or in our state of wakefulness rather. I'm pretty sure the smell of the comforter alone would have kept me up all night. The inter-changing situations of staying outdoors or indoors for the nights was a pleasant aspect in this trip. It wouldn't have been a legitimate road trip if we had only stayed in hotels and not experience the nights outdoors...or feel the fear that comes from worrying about being dragged off by a bear while coccooned in our sleeping bags. I would have loved to wrestle with bears and run away valiantly after, but we had a schedule and we had stick to it. It would have been awesome to come home with an authentic bear skin rug. LOL Kidding!

We were a bit carefree in the beginning of the trip; we stayed in places for more than two days. After going home for one week, we re-organized our schedule. And we've decided to not stay for too long in places where there was nothing we couldn't do when we're at home. For example, we didn't stay too long in Vancouver, British Columbia because the activities we could have done there were activities we can do at home...also, I didn't want the risk of seeing Ivy jump out of a bush and give me a heart attack, so we got out of Vancouver pretty quickly. Kidding! After the re-organizing, we had a stricter schedule, which meant waking up in the wee hours of the morning to get a head start towards our next destination. Sometimes we woke up at 4AM and only had three hours of sleep, then drove for five hours straight. My dad and I took turns driving; every five to six hours we'd switch, so the driving part wasn't that bad.

The total amount of time we spent driving was 367 hours. 367 hours! LOL That's just getting from city to city; that doesn't include the time it takes to get to the venues we visited in each city. One time I drove for more than 10 hours straight. That did quite a number on a my back. I liked driving through highways where the road is just straight; it was easier to drive on them. I drove with my knee on those highways, which was pretty relaxing. I had to stop driving like that, though, when my dad told my mom about it. My mom called me and rambled on about the importance of keeping my hands on the 10 and 2 positions. After that phone call, I didn't speak to my dad for a good hour. I felt betrayed! I mean, I have loyalty; I didn't tell my mom that my dad drove with his thumb. Oops! I forgot that my mom reads these blogs sometimes...I guess I just told her about it. Daddy dearest will be ever so happy! LOL

367 hours of driving means 367 hours spent in my car, Lexi. Lexi is such a trooper! She has experienced water, mud, dust, snow, and other icky and sticky stuff. When we were making our way to Yukon, we went through this muddy area and she got caked. She got caked good! She was deliciously disgusting. My car has traveled from the southeastern part to the northwestern part of the county. I'm so proud of her! LOL Moreover, Lexi's a hybrid, so I'm not guilty about driving that much at all! We didn't drive her throughout the whole trip, though. When we got to Whitehorse, Yukon, we had her flown to Labrador City, Newfoundland and had a driver drive us around when we were up north (Northwest Territories and Nunavut area). We didn't need to have a car when we got to Yellowknife, Northwest Territories anyway. We did some island hopping through some of the Queen Elizabeth Islands up there, then we landed on Baffin Island, then had a driver drive us to Iqaluit, Nunavut. We did some quality ice fishing there, which was nice. We just sat there with our fishing poles and basked in the ambience of the Great White North.

I liked those quiet bonding moments. We had a camera attached to the dashboard of my car and it took a video of the road and everything we passed along the way. Neither my dad nor I can be seen in the video, but our voices can be heard. The camera recorded every conversation my dad and I had in the car -- the silly ones, the serious ones, the philosophical ones, the fun ones, and the mature ones. Sometimes all that can be heard in the video is music. When Queen or Eminem is playing, my dad's the one driving. When any other band of artist is playing, I'm driving. Sometimes there was no conversation or music at all. The camera recorded the silence, as well. There were times when my dad and I didn't have to speak; it was good enough for us to be there with each other. And I liked those moments; we didn't have to say what the other already knows. Gosh! I love my dad!

When we got to Newfoundland, I felt the coming of the end. I didn't want the trip to end, but at the same time, I missed home so much; I missed my girlfriend, my family, and my friends. To be honest, I considered leaving my dad when he was sleeping and coming home. But I'm glad I sticked around. I was able to take pleasure in this adventure with my dad, which I am eternally grateful for. This trip has been so worthwhile; the whole summer has been exhilarating! Too exhilarating sometimes, actually. LOL Thankfully we didn't have any major accidents or serious injuries. We've gone hiking [through the Rockies and everywhere LOL], mountain biking [everywhere], canoeing [through major rivers], kayaking [in the Bay of Fundy (Kayaking puts the fun in the Bay of Fundy. I'm going to say that for the rest of my life. LOL)], rock climbing, cave spelunking, zip lining [in Banff, Alberta], sky diving [in Manitoba and Saskatchewan], bungee jumping [in Quebec and British Columbia], surfing and snorkeling [in Tofino and Newcastle Island in BC], tundra buggy-ing [to see polar bears in Churchill], fishing [up north and over west], swimming [everywhere the water wasn't too cold ], island hopping [up north], hot air balloon-ing [to see the vast expanse of the Prairies], ATV-ing [in Saskatchewan and Ontario], white water rafting [in Newfoundland and BC], and a lot of other things [shopping (West Edmonton Mall), taking tours, visiting museums (Saint Boniface), playing sports (we played golf in Jasper, Alberta and the greens are amazing over there!), chilling around, seeing movies (in Calgary), getting free bags of M&M's and free cups of Yogen Fruz from unsuspecting girls at concession stands , and more!]. This trip has been so much FUN!

The weirdest part of this trip would have to be when girls came up to me and asked to take pictures with me. LOL When we were in Pink Mountain, BC (they call it Pink Mountain because early in the morning, the area would have this pink-ish hue, then once the sun is up, things go back to normal (trees would go back to being green and stuff)], this girl came up to me and asked for a picture. I said, "Sure," because I thought she wanted me to take a picture for her. But then she gave her camera to this other girl and posed beside me. So, I was like, "Okay," and smiled for the picture, too. That happened a few times when we were in Regina, SK, Winnipeg, MB, Halifax, NS, and even in Algonquin Park, ON. Girls are so crazy.

The event that still boggles my mind is when we went to this diner and the waitress thought that my dad and I are brothers [my dad lost a lot of weight, too, so he looks a tad younger]. I haven't decided whether to take that as a compliment or an insult. She either meant that my dad looks young OR I look old. To this day, I still haven't figured it out. Kidding!

Our souvenirs from this trip are our memories, inner happiness, and some epiphanies. We also collected T-shirts from every city we visited. My dad also bought fridge magnets and post cards. I bought key chains because those are my collections...NOT dead bodies.

The most amazing thing in this trip happened when I was sitting on a rock up on a mountain that is overlooking Churchill River in La Ronge, SK. I had my laptop with me, and I had such a strong Wi-Fi connection!

The worst part of this trip would be the two weeks that I didn't have Internet because my Internet Stick just happened to unceremoniously break. I told my friends (using my Blackberry) on my private Twitter and Facebook not to send me e-mails...but they still did. B*tches! LOL Kidding! It took 4 hours to read through the e-mails, and another 5 hours to reply. B*tches, I say! Kidding!

The worst part of the summer is when I went home for a week. The best part of the summer is all of summer besides that one week.

One sentence to summarize all this: I lost almost 40 pounds from all the rigorous activities I've done, but I've gained so many wonderful memories and so much more in life.

A picture is worth a thousand words, right? Well, this blog is long enough, so I'll just put up pictures in my next blog. LOL

It's Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year) this weekend and Eid al-Fitr (Muslim holiday; end of Ramadan) tonight. So, L'Shanah Tovah Tikatevu and Selamat Hari Raya! To those who are not Jewish or Muslim, have a great weekend!

Kyle -- OUT!

Picture of the Day: Moraine Lake in Banff National Park, Alberta

Oh, and this was our journey!

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