Before I left, this photo book from Mike Burnett at Thrasher showed up in the mail. It's full of photos Mike took last year while globetrotting. You can buy a copy here
|
I haven't been spending too much time in Innetech, our back offices where all the online staff and I sit. There's Angel taking product photos. Why is Online Guy always straight up nekkid? We should at least get a leaf for him or something
|
This was the last week of Skate Camp until next year. Look how stoked these tykes are to spend the day with Wizard Smoke. All they're missing is a campfire and some poison ivy
|
Remember when Dave Chappelle came to SPoT to skate? Shortly after that, he lost it or something and disappeared, but not before filming an episode with a Skatepark of Tampa shirt on in one of his skits. I happened to watch that one on the plane. That's a SPoT Conge shirt Dave's wearing
|
There are some pretty amazing views flying into Vancouver. Right about here is where I start getting nervous about the Customs people at the border. I'm still sketched out from our last Vancouver disaster where we got denied and had to cancel the Contest. We're flying in this time so it shouldn't be a problem, right? Yeah, right
|
After the first Customs stop, we were asked several questions about our visit then told to proceed. Just when we though we were home free, we got redirected before the exit and I got split up from Schaefer. Nearly an hour later, I'm still being interrogated and asked about the last incident at the border and also about an eight-year-old traffic incident I was involved in. They looked through every inch of my bags and found pockets I didn't even know about. After spending all this time searching for documentation on my phone (which costs like 80 million to be using outside the US), I was finally let in. I felt like a sketchy Mexican trying to jump the fence into the US even though I had done nothing wrong. They're crazy here at the border in Canada. After that, we met up at some restaurant outside the airport where these airboats land and get picked up by a half-truck. Obviously, it's front wheel drive
|
The border patrol guy even looked through my phone, so when I finally got out, I was afraid to text more than just the generic, "I'm in, you?" to Schaefer incase they had his phone, too. We were sweated so hard and they had us so nervous that Brian had to make sure it was me texting him by asking personal questions. Crazy. We are all having a nice laugh about it now, but at the time that sure sucked. Welcome to Canada
|
While at the restaurant waiting for the rest of our crew to arrive in Vancouver, we met some random skate dad who had a son that won Slam City in Vancouver several years ago. I can't remember his name, but skate dad texted his son saying, "What's your best trick, son?" Not the easiest question to answer, but son replied with "bennihanna" and he was serious. Whoa. Thanks for the laugh. Those are perogies. It's been good food in Canada so far
|
I wish I ate that fancy stuff everyone seems to love on the left. My style is more on the right. Ribs and mashed potatoes. That's Vern I'm having dinner with. Get ready for his mic abuse during your run this weekend
|
Every bathroom needs an "exotic foot flush"
|
We're so lucky to know a local in every town we travel to. This time it's our friend Risto from Billabong showing us around. Right now everyone's out on tourist mission while I'm stuck at the hotel working. Tonight there's a Fourstar demo here which hopefully is some amazing skating. Maybe I might actually take a skate photo, or not
|
I took a break from the keyboard and walked across some bridge. Our hotel is in that mix somewhere out there. Vancouver looks like an amazing city so far. I'm on my best behavior here. I'm waiting for a tap on the shoulder from a Customs Agent any minute now...
|
Before I left, this photo book from Mike Burnett at Thrasher showed up in the mail. It's full of photos Mike took last year while globetrotting. You can buy a copy here
I haven't been spending too much time in Innetech, our back offices where all the online staff and I sit. There's Angel taking product photos. Why is Online Guy always straight up nekkid? We should at least get a leaf for him or something
This was the last week of Skate Camp until next year. Look how stoked these tykes are to spend the day with Wizard Smoke. All they're missing is a campfire and some poison ivy
Remember when Dave Chappelle came to SPoT to skate? Shortly after that, he lost it or something and disappeared, but not before filming an episode with a Skatepark of Tampa shirt on in one of his skits. I happened to watch that one on the plane. That's a SPoT Conge shirt Dave's wearing
There are some pretty amazing views flying into Vancouver. Right about here is where I start getting nervous about the Customs people at the border. I'm still sketched out from our last Vancouver disaster where we got denied and had to cancel the Contest. We're flying in this time so it shouldn't be a problem, right? Yeah, right
After the first Customs stop, we were asked several questions about our visit then told to proceed. Just when we though we were home free, we got redirected before the exit and I got split up from Schaefer. Nearly an hour later, I'm still being interrogated and asked about the last incident at the border and also about an eight-year-old traffic incident I was involved in. They looked through every inch of my bags and found pockets I didn't even know about. After spending all this time searching for documentation on my phone (which costs like 80 million to be using outside the US), I was finally let in. I felt like a sketchy Mexican trying to jump the fence into the US even though I had done nothing wrong. They're crazy here at the border in Canada. After that, we met up at some restaurant outside the airport where these airboats land and get picked up by a half-truck. Obviously, it's front wheel drive
The border patrol guy even looked through my phone, so when I finally got out, I was afraid to text more than just the generic, "I'm in, you?" to Schaefer incase they had his phone, too. We were sweated so hard and they had us so nervous that Brian had to make sure it was me texting him by asking personal questions. Crazy. We are all having a nice laugh about it now, but at the time that sure sucked. Welcome to Canada
While at the restaurant waiting for the rest of our crew to arrive in Vancouver, we met some random skate dad who had a son that won Slam City in Vancouver several years ago. I can't remember his name, but skate dad texted his son saying, "What's your best trick, son?" Not the easiest question to answer, but son replied with "bennihanna" and he was serious. Whoa. Thanks for the laugh. Those are perogies. It's been good food in Canada so far
I wish I ate that fancy stuff everyone seems to love on the left. My style is more on the right. Ribs and mashed potatoes. That's Vern I'm having dinner with. Get ready for his mic abuse during your run this weekend
Every bathroom needs an "exotic foot flush"
We're so lucky to know a local in every town we travel to. This time it's our friend Risto from Billabong showing us around. Right now everyone's out on tourist mission while I'm stuck at the hotel working. Tonight there's a Fourstar demo here which hopefully is some amazing skating. Maybe I might actually take a skate photo, or not
I took a break from the keyboard and walked across some bridge. Our hotel is in that mix somewhere out there. Vancouver looks like an amazing city so far. I'm on my best behavior here. I'm waiting for a tap on the shoulder from a Customs Agent any minute now...
