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We left Chicago today, but not before stopping off and checking out Binny's liquor store. I can't get over how we're screwed by the LCBO and the government of Ontario's liquor control mandate......We were at Binny's for almost 1 1/2 hours, it took forever to walk through the store and take in the sights, there was hundreds of bottles of beers and liquor that I would love to buy, but I have to save my money for the rest of the road trip.

Before heading north of the City, we stopped off at Bop'n'Grill. It's a Korean burger fusion place, and wow! I ordered the Umami, it's a truffled mushroom duxelle, sun-dried tomato confit, togarashi mayo, bacon, smoked gouda......oh my....it's one of the best burgers I've ever had. I screwed up and should have ordered two of them! 

We drove north through the state of Illinois on the I-90, the roads are terrible.....we drove towards South Dakota, and as we crossed the Mighty Mississippi, what a spectacular view, being able go across a river that runs north of the 49th all the way down to the gulf. The thousands of explores that have come before us. We made it as far as Sioux Falls, South Dakota for tonight, a little bit less then I was hoping to make it, but it's time for beer and pizza. What this road trip was all about.

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After my Road Trip last year with my Brothers, I can't get enough of cross country exploration. I spent the last few months chatting with my buddy Roland to convince him to join me for this years Road Trip. We discussed for a while, where and what we'll see and do. We've narrowed our plan down to take us from Mississauga (Where I am), to Portland, to Vancouver and back. We're planning on making stops at Devils Tower, Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse Memorial, Yellowstone and whatever else we discover along our way. 

For Day One we drove from the Greater Toronto Area to Chicago, the Windy city is nice (at least the part we're in), just off the magnificent mile. We left the GTA early, I picked up Roland around 4 am, we drove from the morning into the early afternoon to Chicago. We made a couple of stops along the way to ensure that I wasn't being over taxed on day one of the drive. One of the things Roland and I are doing, is making sure we stop off at some of the sporting good stores, as well as liquor stores along the way. This trip is about having a good time, and drinking as much beer as possible.

As the names suggests here is a video of our great western road trip of 2012. 

I made the video using my Go Pro Hero 2 and taking a video every 30 seconds. The video covers most of the 12,000 Km+ drive. 

There is some pics missing, but all in all it's a cool video to watch

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We're finally home, it's been a whirl wind trip, covering over 12500 Km's, from Mississauga to Tofino and back!

Lots of memories, stories, and place I would like to visit again in the future. 

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We're back in Lacombe, we made it back with a full day before the wedding, it gave us time to pick up Jonathan's rental suit, go to the wedding rehearsal so he would know his part for the day.

Our Aunt Sheron and Uncle Don have flown in from Mississauga for the wedding, we met up at my Uncle Jays place for conversation and taking it easy. 

For the first time in a long while there was a bunch of us under the same roof. 

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We're seventeen days into our trip and we're on the loop back home. 
As I said yesterday, we weren't able to spend the night in the park, we could find any hotels, so we drove back from Hinton, Alberta to the gate at Jasper. 
Today we drove down along the Icefields Parkway, I'm still stunned by the twists and turns long the road and every where you can stop to admire a part of the land scape. 

We stopped along the Columbia Glacier, Overlander Pass, Lake Moriane, Lake Louise. I still can't get over the turquoise blue of the glacial lakes. I went in up to my knees, the water is freezing! 

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It's Day Sixteen of our road trip, and we're on our way back to Lacombe, we'll be taking the long way back to my Uncle's place. 

We stopped in Kamloops so I could visit the companies new Data Center, it's an amazing building that screams "FUCK OFF" when you pull up to it. After a tour of the facility we got back onto the road. 

We're going to visiting Jasper and then Banff national parks, (there's no real way to bypass them on the road we're going). 

As a bunch of city boys from Southern GTA, the only mountains we ever really see is in Hamilton, comparing Hamilton to the Rockies, there is no comparison. 

Driving through the mountain's is amazing! Every where you look you want to stop and take in the sights. 
We stopped in Jasper for lunch and to walk around a little bit, we had a hell of a time trying to find a hotel to stay for the night. 
It's great traveling with my brothers, but when it's four of us, trying to find room(s) to stay in is almost impossible. 

We left the park for the evening and stayed in Hinton Alberta, we'll be back into the park tomorrow morning for more exploring!

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Day Fifteen actually started late (or early in the morning, depending on how you look at it), I decided to try my hands at some night time photography, sadly the images didn't turn out as well as I had hoped). 

We spent the morning topping up on some groceries and getting ready to boot back across the Island, sadly, we're running out of time and need to be in Lacombe in time for my Cousin JR's wedding. 

When leaving Tofino, in think the realization is, we're heading home.....this is our swing back of Road Trip 2012, at vacation, our adventure is now coming to an end. 

We caught the ferry from Nanaimo and landing back on the mainland in Horseshoe Bay. We decided not to spend the night in Vancouver, we would bypass the city and head into the mountains. Tonight we would be staying in Kamloops BC. 

I regret not staying in Vancouver, I will be back, hopefully next year. 

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The day started much like every other day, we're up early and start packing up our gear getting ready to head out from the hotel and get back onto the road. 

We left Nanaimo and started to drive inland on Vancouver Island towards Tofino. I can't get over how spectacular the island is, everywhere you look there's just raw natural beauty to catch your eyes. 

We stopped off briefly in Port Alberni to check out the tourist center before continuing on our trip to Tofino. 

Mom, Dad if you're reading this, we're doing alright and a post card is inbound from the West West West Coast of Canada. 

We made our way down to a couple of the beaches and finally saw the pacific. 

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It's time to head north of the 49th and get back into Canuckistan!

We're heading out of Seattle, and on our way to Vancouver Island, we will be taking the ferry from Anacortes Washington to  Sidney, British Columbia. 
It's my first time in the Pacific Ocean and the weather and view didn't disappoint. 

After landing on Vancouver Island we needed to bunk down for the night, it took a while, but we managed to find a hotel in Nanaimo. 
Tomorrow we're on our way to Tofino!

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We're in Seattle for our 3rd and last full day, again trying to squeezing in as much of the scenery as possible. 
We started the day by grabbing the mono-rail downtown so we can check out the tour of the underground. Seattle shady and buried past. 

We also walked down to Pikes Place again to walk the mall, grab another cup of coffee from the first Starbucks, we then went back to the Space Needle for an observation during the day. 

A little less memorizing then at night, but it was nice to see a 360 degree of the city. 

We finished off our last night by visiting the Chihuly Garden and Glass exhibit. I'm not a big fan of Art, but I can appreciate the beauty of this display. 

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One of the spots we were told to visit is the Museum of Flight. 

It's a Museum that showcases the development of the air and space industries, as well as a monument to the innovations of flight, everything from commercial, research to weapons of war. 
My brothers and I spent about 5 hours there wandering every hall of the Museum, we ended up taking hundreds of pictures of all of the displays. It's an amazing day long experience. 

Continuing our adventures in Seattle here are a few videos of the Space Needle

The first is a time lapse video of the Space Needle, as seen from our hotel room

The Second video is the Elevator ride down from the top of the Space Needle, I wish I had gotten a video from the top of the Space Needle as well.

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Another busy day exploring Seattle, we took in the Museum of Flight (I will post a separate article for that, just because they're so many pictures). 
We tried to visit as many sites as possible around the hotel, finally went up to the top of the Space Needle and looked out over the Seattle Night life, what a view!

I think tomorrow we may check out the Chihuly Garden and Glass exhibit, it's at the base of the Space Needle and at night it looks impressive. 

Here are the pics of the day

My brothers and I are in full swing of our road trip, we've made our way to the West Coast and we're in Seattle for a few days.

Here is a short video of Pikes Market

Taking in the sights and sounds of Seattle, we visited the Seattle Aquarium.

A short video of one of the displays, that's well on display.