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Here are some videos of the day spent at Calgary Shooting Center, shooting prohibited rifles.

First up is me shooting a British L1A1

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We were back down in Calgary today to check out Calgary Shooting Center.

My cousin Jessie, Uncle Jay, Roland and I, decided to try out a couple of the prohib rifles that Calgary Shooting Center allows you to rent.

We rented a British L1A1 FAL, HK MP5, and my uncle tested out a Side by Side rifle in 470 Nitro Express. What a day!

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It was an amazing day, the FAL is sweet rifle. Being able able to shoot it with a standard capacity magazine was fantastic!

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Day 13 for our road trip was pretty much a right off, nearly two weeks of driving it was nice to be stationary for a day

We chilled at my families place in Lacombe all day, and went on small junkets around the town, mostly check out some Alberta liquor stores and enjoyed a bunch of beers.

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For Day 14,  Roland, my cousin Jesse and I, went up to Edmonton to do a little shopping...well mostly looking at gun stores and grabbing a bite to eat. We checked out P&D Enterprise, Milarm, Wild West gun shop (in West Edmonton Mall), it's always fun checking out gun shops 

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We're on our way out of Calgary today, I promised my uncle Jay that I would come up to visit him in Lacombe (a few hours north of Calgary). 

The plan is Roland and I would use my Uncle's place as a base of operations for day trips back to Calgary, Edmonton and any of the other cities around the area. 

Being able to hang out with my cousin Jessie and crash at my Uncle's place is nice, a few night's there really saves on the trip budget. At the rate I'm spending money I may need to sell a kidney (joking...kind of). Before we left Calgary to head up to Lacombe, Roland and I decided to check out a breakfast spot that was recommended by Kiera. 

The Pfanntastic Pannenkoek Haus, it's hard to describe what they are. It's kind of a mix between a crepe, pancake and pizza..depending on the toppings you decide to add. I can tell you this, it's 100% delicious!!!!! 

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We're back on the road again today, driving down through Jasper National park into Banff National park. 

If you want to feel small amount the giants, then this is the drive for you, winding highway, with bountiful forests and rivers where ever you look. 

All while being dwarfed by the mighty towering rocky mountains. 

We managed to get a bit of sight seeing into today, along the highway we stopped off and took in the Athabasca falls, 

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Roland and I are back on the road again, today we left Kelowna, BC and we made it as far as Jasper, AB. 

This is my second time visiting Jasper National park, and I keep forgetting just how beautiful this part of Canada is. 
It's endless rugged beauty, rivers, streams, forest and mountains. One can both literally and figuratively loose themselves in the park. 

As usual after a long day of driving Roland and I were able to find a hotel, more like a hole in the wall. The room here was tiny barely enough space for two people and navigating into the washroom was a bit of an adventure. But any place with a somewhat comfortable bed is still a good place to crash for the night. 

We did a bit of exploring, check out a couple of local restaurants for dinner, followed by another dinner....yes that's right, we're fat bastards. Why have one meal with two back to back will do, haha.

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One the restaurants we visited featured a spectacular game meat menu, I had the braised bison ribs (picture from above) in a saskatoon berry reduction. Roland had an elk steak, with the same saskatoon berry reduction. It was a fantastic meal. Then we headed over to a bar for some beers and yup another meal. 

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Thus far Vancouver is the only city that we've spent more then one night in, there's been other cities that we would have liked to explore a bit more, but every day you spend somewhere, is one less day less you have to enjoy somewhere else. 
Before we left the city, we went back to DS Tactical (I know, I know, spending monies like its going out of style), but since we are in the city, I want to be sure there wasn't anything awesome we were going to miss out on. 

We also checked out a few more of the gun stores in the city, places that had closed the day before. I finally got to see Lever Arms, nice store, good selection of Nagants and SVT-40's...I'm still looking to bring something back from this vacation..what to buy...what to buy! 

Our last stop before heading to the mountains was back at the Central City Brew Pub, I wanted another glass of their beer from tap, I had the Session IPA, it's a very light beer and very enjoyable. Again, the food was superb and the service fantastic! I picked up a little red racer swag, some pint glasses and a shirts, as well as two growlers of beer. A Growler if you're never seen one before is basically 4 pints of a delicious liquid heaven.

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We're in Vancouver today exploring the scene, we went out to DS Tactical and spent a bit of money there on making myself look tacticool, some magazine pouches, and accessories for my load out. I don't think I've posted any pictures yet of my Plate Carrier, I will when I get the chance. 

After Visiting DS Tactical (the stores is amazing by the way), we went to Warriors and Wonders, we looked at the knives they had, I ended up buying myself a Benchmade Osborne Barrage, it's a spring assisted knife (which are legal in Canada) and a few rescue hooks, the nice thing about a rescue hook is it cuts cleanly through fabric and rope. I'm going to be keeping it in my truck with my everyday carry bag, I want to be sure if I ever have to cut a seat belt I can.

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We're back in Canada, the plan to spend the night in Seattle fell through. We couldn't find a hotel room, and instead of struggling to run around the city to find one. We just headed north to the border. It was a bit of a pain in the ass getting back into Canada, but more on that later. 

We started the day in Portland, and after last nights delicious Reggie Deluxe, I (we) wanted another one. So Roland and I headed back to Pine State Biscuits and to our disappointment, the line up was huge! Right around the block, people were lining up, but then again, I can't blame them, the gravy alone is delicious enough to drink. So instead of a biscuit for breakfast, we opted for donuts. 

We stumbled into a little shop, that we read about...Pip's Original Donuts, they're little bit sized morsels of heaven. They offered three flavours to choose from, Cinnamon and Sugar, Honey and Sea Salt, Nutella and Sea Salt. Being the connoisseurs that we are, we ordered one dozen of each flavour....each. Yes that's right, we each ordered 36 bite sized donuts and hot damn, were they ever delicious! I found the Cinnamon and Sugar to be the most balanced of the three, the others being just a little too sweet / salty.  

I ordered an Americano to help get me through the day, and Roland wisely ordered a scoop of Caramelized Banana ice cream....I f'd up... I should have gotten a scoop as well. After leaving Pips, we drove to Voodoo Donuts, yes...I wanted more donuts. But after getting downtown Portland to the store and seeing the line up, we gave up and headed out of the city.

Our next stop was Mount St Helen's.

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The drive from Idaho Falls towards Portland Oregon was amazing, I've done a similar drive in the past along the Columbia river (last year with my Brothers on the way into Seattle), but this year I went further south. The scenery didn't disappoint! The Columbia river snakes through a valley on the way to the Pacific Ocean, with each twist and turn, you see a bit more of the river. 

We made it safely into Portland and was able to find a hotel for the night, so far the system of Roland gets the first one, then I get the second one, seems to be working fine, other then the small room in Rapid City, most of the hotels have been pretty good. 

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After an eventful site seeing Day Four, today we're drove through Rural Wyoming on our way to Yellowstone National Park. Wyoming is an amazing state, vast open spaces, great plains, hills, mountains, untamed beauty. One of the great things about Rural America (and Rural Canada) we spotted a couple of guys on the side of the road sighting in their rifle. Watching guys do a little bench shooting is well Freedom!

We made it to Yellowstone and driving through the park was awesome! I could spend a few lines writing out what was seen, but I'll leave it up to the pictures. We came to Yellowstone to see Old Faithful, all my life I wanted to come down here and watch the eruption, here's a video of the awesome force of nature.

My only regret about Yellowstone, was running out of gas, physically...not fuel wise. I wish I could have walked around the park more, explore all of it's sights. Here's some more video of the park

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Today started off by walking over to First Guns to check it out, wow....it's frustrating to see all of the awesome toys on the shelf. If only our laws weren't so bad. I would love to buy an AK. I was chatting with one of the owners there for a while, he was asking about our laws up in Canada, and how it works for us Canadians if we decide to purchase a gun.

During our conversation a Lady walked in, and within 30 minutes was able to walk out of the store with a handgun, carried concealed. The fastest transfer I've had in Ontario was a week, bloody laws getting in the way of purchasing new toys.

After spending a bit of time and money at First Guns (buying items that are legal to take out of the USofA, like paper targets and such), we hoped back into the truck and made the hour or so drive down to Mount Rushmore. What an experience it was driving up to the Mount, seeing the first glimpse of Washington and Jefferson carved into the mountain side. 

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Today I was hoping to put hundreds of miles ahead of us today and get us as close to Mount Rushmore, that way we make our road marker for the day. However, I fell way short of the goal, it didn't help that we were always stopping at either a Bass Pro or Cabela's to wander the store and admire all the amazing guns that we would love to buy in Canada, but can't.

I still can't get over how friendly our cousins to the south are, when I was at Cabela's in Mitchell South Dakota and had a long conversation with a couple of staffers there. They could hear by the twang in my voice that I'm from out of town, out of state. It was nice swapping stories and getting to know a bit more about the way of life in South Dakota.

Roland and I crossed another mighty river today, we passed over the Missouri river on our way to Wyoming. One of the things to note in South Dakota, is every couple of miles you see some mile marker that letting you know about an upcoming store or restaurant to try. We kept seeing a signage for Wall Drug, it's kind of a like an Honest Eds, another mile marker that kept catching our attention was Firehouse Brewing Co in Rapid City. I guess the marketing worked, because we ended up eating there.

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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.

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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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