So a lot has happened...
I made my way to Seattle and landed safely on April 9th where my
cousin picked me up at the airport drove me to my aunts and uncles house on
Mercer Island. It was a great flight and landing except for a little hick-up in
Seattle where I was K9ed up hard. I had all of my bags emptied out and drug
searched hard. I obviously didn’t have anything but it was kind of nerve racking
anyways.
Since arriving I have been hard at work accomplishing different
tasks like getting a job, setting up bank accounts, getting a phone, getting my insurance going,
getting a kayak, and most importantly finding people to kayak with in my new
home so here's how it went.
After arriving back on Mercer Island my cousin Allison and I made
our way to Bainbridge Island to celebrate Brendan’s 21st birthday at a local
restaurant on the island. It was a fun night that we finished by playing card
games and eating cake back at the house.
After Brendan’s party Allison and I made our way up to Canada to a
kayak shop in Abbottsford where I had picked out a Liquid Logic Stomper and
paddle for an excellent price. I drove up to the shop and picked out the boat and paddle
and drove straight to the slalom site on the Chilliwack.
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| First run in the new boat |
Quickly after arriving
and suiting up I realized I had forgotten to buy airbags so we drove the 15
miles back into town and picked out some little kid beach volley balls that
were and adequate substitute. On the trip back into town we also picked up some
food, beer, and firewood for our night at the Chilliwack campground right on
the river. After three laps on the slalom section walking the shuttle I decided
to call it a night and we drive to a campsite.
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| Campsite on the Chilliwack |
We made some hot dogs and built
a small fire quickly finding that we should have bought more firewood…next time! After spending the night at the campground we made our way back to
the kayak shop, bought some airbags and head back to Seattle.
When I arrived at the house on Mercer Island I had a bunch of
calls for job interviews so I called all of them and went to a few job
interviews but came out empty handed.
Once I had a kayak on hand I continued to fill out job
applications but now finally got on the water a few times on the Skykomish,
Snoqualmie, Wenatchee, and the Green River
with a nice gorge at the end of the run.
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| Getting on the Wenatchee |
I met
a bunch of people of all different abilities and am still meeting people to
kayak with. The kayaking community here is super large and from I hear the
season doesn’t ever end so I’m happy to be here!
After a few more job interviews I found a job at a freight company
in Kent that liked me and hired me so now I’m going into my first day of work
tomorrow to get trained. The email I got when I got hired stated that I was
getting hired as a Warehouse Associate but when they talked about training me
it sounded like I’ll be getting trained on the cash machine so I’m not too
happy about that but I’ll wait it out and see.
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| Green river |
I also have the raft guide training coming up on April 12th
to the 18th so if that goes well I should be getting a job over
there and that would be a far better lifestyle than working in Kent and driving
20 miles to work everyday. Hopefully all goes well!
Forgot to mention the Robe kayak race that went down last weekend
that was a blast.
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| One of my best shots! |
I was just going to just spectate from the hiking trail that
goes alongside the old robe railroad but ended up get tossed a buddies camera
and got a few good shots of some of the competitors coming off of a rapid
called last sunshine. The sun was out in full force so it turned out to be a
great day sitting along the river drinking beer and taking pictures.
So there it is, the first little bit of me landing and trying to
survive in the US of A. Hopefully the next update is just as good as this one
and hopefully my job is okay!
See ya next time,
Owen
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