Thought I was gone, didn't you???

Well, after a few months of no posting, I'm sure for those of you who were following the blog were wondering if I was ever going to post again eh? This past summer was amazing and I had an absolute blast! So after the last post when I had just finished exams, I flew to Arizona to be with everyone there and work for a bit. I was so happy to start working at the clinic again and work in surgery with Dr. Prevatt a few times. I sure do miss working at the clinic full time. Kristin, Michelle and Mike came down to Arizona this summer as well and stayed for a week and then I went back to WA with them. We drove up the Pacific Coast Highway for several days and the views of the coast were gorgeous! I will post the photos as soon as I am finished with this post. Washington was a blast and I wished I could have spent more time there. Kristin, Michelle and I went to Mount St. Helens for a day trip and there was a really cool chipmunk there that walked right up to my camera and sniffed it and quickly ran away. I then went to California with my mom, which was a nice relaxing trip. The ocean was cold, but the more time I spent in the water, the warmer it felt. The waves were immense and cap-sized me a few times! After California, I spent a couple more weeks in AZ and had a blast hanging out with everyone and definitely enjoyed my puppy dog before I went back to Edinburgh. At 13 years old, Brownie sure has quite a bit of spunk in him and loves to chase his tennis ball around as much as he did when he was 5 years old! After AZ, I went to Ottawa, Canada to visit my amazing girlfriend for 6 weeks!

In Ottawa, I got to spend a week at a cottage with Kristen and her parents. Although, I did have to study for two exams because I failed to pass the two exams when I was in Edinburgh. So I had to go back to Edinburgh to re-sit the examinations and I was going to only be in Edinburgh for 6 days. At the cottage, Kristen and I got to canoe down the lake and relax on the dock during the day and sip on beers. It was oh so relaxing and I needed a good de-stressor. Kristen's dad and I took up fly fishing for the first time and I managed to catch 4 large mouth bass on the fly rod, 3 of which we ate for breakfast, 1 of which jumped out of my hands as I took the hook out of it's mouth. I caught one while I was canoeing solo as well but it was too small. Kristen and I went swimming in the lake a few times and it was so muddy and full of algae that it was kind of gross to swim in. There was also this man from Germany that would swim the full length of the lake every morning. Crazy! The lake was so thick of algae that I'm sure he was paddling in the thick of it too! Kristen and I also floated out on rafts to the middle of the lake and it was so relaxing! However, in an attempt to relax, the black flies and deer flies wanted to make sure that we weren't completely relaxed, as they assaulted us with their relentless dive-bombing attacks. They even bit us through our water shoes! Stupid things! I had so many welts from the mosquitos and flies. One day, I was fishing and felt water running down my bicep. It happened to be blood and there was a large welt and bruise where I had been bitten. We had S'mores at night around a very smokey campfire to ward off any evil insects that came near us and we donned our campfire clothes to cover up any exposed skin that the insects might find tasty. All in all, the week at the cottage was a week of greasy food and relaxation! Kristen's dad caught a 5kg Northern Pike as well, which was a very nice catch. After the week at the cottage, I went back to Edinburgh for 6 days. Well, first let me tell you the problem we had prior to me leaving for Edinburgh. So Kristen had to work the day I was leaving. The night before, I had looked at what time I was supposed to be leaving and failed to look at where I was leaving from. I had assumed it was the airport in Ottawa. So, in the morning, I took a look at the confirmation email again and noticed that it wasn't at the airport and was at the rail station! Ah! So I told Kristen and we had to hurry up and get to the station. We got in the truck and made our way to the station. Once we were there, I checked for my passport and could not find it! Ah! So we had to drive all the way back to her house and search for the passport. I could not find it and started to panic and then Kristen forgot that she had hid my passport as a joke. The idea of her joke was that if she hid the passport, I would not be able to find it and would not be able to go back to Edinburgh and would have to stay in Canada. I grabbed the passport, we went to the rail station and I flew to Edinburgh. I took the two exams that week and then saw Tom Green at the Fringe Festival the night before I had to leave.

Back in Ottawa, Kristen and I spent 5 more weeks together. We went to Kingston, Sandbanks, Merrickville, downtown Ottawa (got some good gelato and saw a weird light show on the Parliament buildings) and went canoeing as well. We also went to her friend's wedding, which was an absolute blast! Kingston and Sandbanks was so relaxing and nice. It was nice to get away from town and relax as just the two of us. I will put up photos of the trip after I post this. After my amazing time in Canada, it was time for me to go. However, we ran into a bit of a flight snafu again. I had checked my email for the flight time the night before and apparently it was the wrong email (I didn't know that at the time). So we set up a time to leave by the next day. My flight was scheduled for 5.30pm and on the day of, we planned on leaving the house for 2.30pm. Well, that day, at 2.37pm, I went to check in online and noticed that the flight was changed to 3.07pm. I failed to look at the right email because I had so many emails from them changing my flight so many times! So we had to RUSH to the airport, quickly say goodbye and I go to the check-in counter at 2.45pm. I went through customs with untied shoes and made my way to the desk. When I got there, I threw my passport and ticket in front of the lady and she just looked up at me and said, "Sir, we are not boarding for this flight yet. Please have a seat". Doh! The flight had been delayed! I was so lucky!

So I am now back in Edinburgh and classes have started up again. I spent 4 days this week hiking through the Scottish Highlands with my buddy. The idea was to hike for 137 miles. We hiked about 35 miles of that and my knees were not doing so well. My knees were still acting up from when I practiced running back in Ottawa (7.22 miles without properly warming up). It was an absolute blast hiking though. We ascended 800 metres at one point and camped in the clouds in a bog. It was very cold that high up. I woke up to deer calls around our campsite, it was amazing! We had to descend the 800 metres, which is what really did my knees in. We came across an old building that hikers use to stay in overnight called a "bothy". We finally got into Ullapool and collapsed! My knees are still quite sore, but are getting better. Anyway, I will be posting some pictures up of the hike so you can all see where I was. I will cut this short so you don't have a book to read. Enjoy the pictures and I will post again soon!