2 years ago, we were invited on a hike with a group of families. We thought it would be a great way to meet like-minded people, and the first organized outing was to Stawamus Chief Provincial Park, just outside Squamish. I won’t describe the misadventure of that outing, but we realized we might be more on the beginner side when it comes to hiking terrain that is more vertical than our old stomping grounds in Ontario, and we were not able to all stick with the group. It’s always bugged me that we weren’t able to make it to the peak as a complete family, and this past weekend, we had a chance to redeem ourselves.
They do try to warn you.
My eldest remembered how the old held back the young last time and wanted free reign to hike ahead; he’s almost 15 so we allowed it (having him rush us would only make keeping a sustainable pace more frustrating.
The Lightning Kid wanted to go off the trail to climb various cliff faces he could see; we tried to prevent that as we knew he’d need to save his energy. I was soon proven right, as the trail morphed from trail to rocks to stairs to rocks again. Going up that steep a climb will blow up your cardiovascular system, but luckily the Lightning Kid was willing to let Mom and Dad catch their breath. Eventually, Mom got into a flow and it was the Lightning Kid who needed more breaks.
We reached the approximate 3/4 mark where we had separated last time, and resolved ourselves to keep going. Eventually, we got to some parts where I wish I had taken more pictures; the rocky steep terrain had chains and ladders at various intervals enable climbing higher. We paced ourselves, and picked our footing carefully, with everyone choosing when to use hands, handholds, etc. and when they felt comfortable walking.
The summit provided us with views that made all the sweating, huffing and puffing worth it.
Heading back down was mostly easier, but not so gentle on middle-aged joints, so there was less need for breaks to catch our breath, but we still found ourselves having to pace ourselves to not twist an ankle or jam a knee etc.
Another big family hike in the books, with only the question of whether Stawamus Chief Peaks #2 and #3 are as hard…?
Bone conduction (or Open-Ear) headphones transmit sound by inducing jawbone vibrations, freeing your ears to hear outside sounds. This makes them ideal for women runners who, unfortunately, need to be more aware of threats when running alone. My wife has enjoyed a pair of Shokz for years, but I was intrigued when I heard of a waterproof version.
From the Shokz website: Transducers send vibrations through the cheekbones and deliver sound directly to the inner ear, bypassing the eardrum.
Overall First Impressions/Controls
I’m not an audiophile, but I had trouble believing that this technology could produce the same quality of sound as regular earphones. My favourite songs sounded the same.
The only controls are two volume buttons on the right side, and a “multi-function” on the left. The multi-function has to be pressed a combination of times to advance or go back a track, held down to enter pairing mode, etc. The volume buttons are used to power the device on/off in addition to obviously controlling the volume.
Normally I prefer to have more dedicated controls rather than memorizing combinations to accomplish basic tasks, but I can see how not having to fumble around searching for the right button when the headset is being worn is actually more practical and user-friendly.
Bike Test
My first test of the OpenSwim Pro was on a bike ride. Normally, headphones would be a big no-no on the bike, but the open ear should mean that a rider can maintain situational awareness. On this ride, the way out was mostly downhills and steep ones at that, so I didn’t listen to music at all, because I wanted my full attention on handling my bike through the turns and such. I had planned to listen to music to motivate me up the steep climbs home. Unfortunately, I remembered to turn on the music a little late, but for the last stretch, I did notice that I could hear a car come up behind me as I rode.
Run Test
I brought the headphones with me on a run around the track at the town stadium. I had the music playing while I used the bathroom before my run – what was interesting is when I used the hand dryer, I couldn’t hear the music anymore. So loud sound coming in your ears will override the music coming in through your jawbone vibrations.
During the run, I was able to have conversation with my wife when I passed her on the track without turning down (or off) the music.
Swim Test
So the headphones are waterproof, but that doesn’t mean they can connect to Bluetooth while in the water – this is made clear by the manufacturer. So for swimming, you use them as an MP3 player; remember those? You have to load MP3 or other audio files from a computer over the USB cable to the memory of the OpenSwim Pro. MP3s are getting a little hard to come by, but I still had some songs loaded on my phone (in unprotected m4a format from iTunes) that I loaded onto my computer and then back to the headphones.
The headphones convert from Bluetooth to MP3 mode by pressing the 2 volume keys simultaneously. On my first swim, I absolutely loved hearing music and the laps seemed to tick by with less boredom and tedium. The headphones hug my head and can almost be forgotten, which is a far cry from the “listening to music while swimming” I had over 10 years ago.
Other Applications
I’ve used these headphones a bit in the office as a way to listen to music or be on a call while having a better awareness in my surroundings; e.g. a co-worker wants my attention. The microphone seems to work well for calls, though I prefer noise-cancelling headphones for longer sitting periods of meetings or deep work.
Conclusion
So far, the Shokz OpenSwim Pro is one of the best electronics purchases a multi-sport athlete could buy.
Combining a race with a camping trip worked back in 2014 when we went to Rattlesnake Point (as mentioned here), so why not try something similar here in B.C.? In both cases, we felt rusty to the point of feeling like camping novices, so we tried to manage our expectations…
After work and school on Friday, we rushed up to our campsite in Cultus Lake Provincial Park in the hopes of setting up our tent with the maximum amount of daylight. Our campsite had few trees within a reasonable distance to put up a tarp, and the ground was poured cement intended for trailers and RVs (yet not smooth like a sidewalk) so sinking tent pegs was impossible too. Did I mention it was raining?
Once the tent was up and secure, we ventured into town for pizza. Beethoven’s pizza is somewhat locally famous so we were looking forward to it, but it was about to close as we arrived. Luckily the Lakeside Beach Club was open and served us some fabulous food, including the best Jambalaya I’ve ever had.
After dinner, we went back to the campsite and were going to inflate our air mattresses and get set up for the night. But between dead batteries (we found some spares) and being unable to figure out the air pump in the dark, we ultimately (around 10:30 PM) threw in the towel and decided to stay dry and comfy at home for the first night.
It had been a rough night and a rough week beforehand, so we didn’t get out to the site till after noon on Saturday. We stopped by the race site to pick up my race kit and drop off my bike. We encountered more rain as we got the rest of our stuff deployed into the tent, but in the late afternoon it seemed to clear up, so we took advantage of the lake to go swimming.
With the rain well in the past, we were able to have a proper camp dinner with hot dogs, beefaroni and chilli over the portable gas stove. We slept in the tent and heard owls and coyotes through the night.
I wanted to sleep with my CPAP (an apparatus that prevents sleep apnea) but without power it won’t work. I thought I had been clever by buying a portable power supply, but I underestimated how much power the pump in the CPAP uses and it stopped working around 2:30AM.
We headed to the race site, with me having slept less than 5 hours. The Dynamic Events crew run a very structured race, with strict rules and timing about accessing the transition area prior to the race. I was tugging on my wetsuit, I overheard some other athletes talk about their timing chip ankle strap and realized I had forgotten to pick mine up. I grabbed it and was helped to get my wetsuit on by a good Samaritan.
I was in the first wave and luckily the water didn’t feel particularly cold. Swimming was the event I was best trained for, yet somehow I still struggled. I kept a good easy pace at the beginning, but a nagging cough kept me from having regular breathing – I even ended up drinking some of the lake water. At one point I looked at the sky and saw a drone – I wonder if that footage will turn up somewhere. At 22:53, I exited the water.
I still felt gassed so I walked to my transition. It took me forever to get my wetsuit off – I couldn’t pull it down off my ankles. I began contemplating whether I needed to invest more time in Yoga to be able to accomplish the feat. I walked the bike out of transition.
On the bike, I thought I was happy with my pace, but I did notice myself getting passed by people who might have been first-timers; fit ones, mind you. My hat’s off to anyone trying this course with a commuter or mountain bike, especially if you can climb those hills without huffing and puffing, like some riders I observed.
The bike course took us right into the touristy downtown of Yarrow, then doubled back on itself. I witnessed a near collision between a left-hand turning car and some racers – I’m not sure how the volunteer with the ‘SLOW/STOP’ sign could have done better to communicate to the driver. Luckily no one was hurt.
Heading back to the race site meant a big climb that took a lot out of me, so between that and being rusty, I dismounted a bit after the official line. Luckily I came in so slowly and safely that the race official called it ‘close enough’ and let me on my way without a penalty. I took my time getting my shoes on before heading out on the lovely lakeside run.
As I commented last year, the run course is gorgeous. One racer asked me as we looked at the houses on the shore “Can you imagine living here?” I smirked because there’s no reason one of the homeowners couldn’t participate in the triathlon (in fact, they’d have free parking!) so how did she know I didn’t live there?
The run course has multiple turn-around points and when I hit the first one, I wanted to imagine that it meant I was halfway done. That would turn into lamenting that I was on the “longest 5k ever”, which was echoed back to me by other racers.
I crossed the finish line well over the 2 hours I had predicted, and almost 30 minutes slower than last year. I promised myself to merely focus on finishing (complete, not compete) but that’s hard to do when you know better results are in your history and hopefully, your future.
I loved the idea of combining a family camping trip with a race weekend, but it made for a lot of work prepping, stress over mistakes, and poor rest before the race. Still, it was, as always, an adventure.
With my elder son travelling to Japan with his competitive gymnastics team and Team BC, we decided to go to Japan too. That way, if something happened, we could be close at hand to support. I’m happy to report that all went smoothly and we did not meet him in person once during the entire trip (9 days) so we were free to have our own adventures with the Lightning Kid.
Trains and Transportation
Tokyo has 2 airports, Narita and Haneda. We flew in with All Nippon Airlines from Vancouver to Haneda. Though we landed in the evening, we opted to try and get out of Tokyo right away to our first destination, Nagoya. My wife did a lot of research through Japan Travel groups on Facebook, and it was funny how people get used to using Japanese names for things, especially trains when those names don’t mean anything to you if you haven’t been to Japan. For example, we took the Keikyu line to Shinagawa, and a Shinkansen straight to Nagoya. The Keikyu is a commuter train from the airport (run by Keikyu Railways), Shinagawa is a station that serves the Shinkansen – Bullet Trains! After about 3-4 days we started using these names in casual conversation too. Bullet Trains can go up to 320 km/h, and if you take a Nazomi service, it will make fewer stops (express) and definitely hit those speeds. We rode these between Tokyo and Nagoya, between Nagoya and Osaka, and from Kyoto to Tokyo. Every Shinkansen ride seemed to need 2 tickets per person, which we found odd. It seemed like the best way to get tickets right was to use the counters staffed with people, not use ticket machines.
Bullet Train (Shinkansen) arriving at the station
We tried to visit a Dinosaur Park on the outskirts of Nagoya and had to use a local train. Unfortunately, we got on an express train which overshot our station and forced us to backtrack – we were lucky that a local woman with good English skills overheard our dilemma and set us straight. The dinosaur park wasn’t even open, but we had such beautiful weather that just taking the Lightning Kid to a playground was a pleasant experience.
The other kinds of trains we made use of were subways and monorails. I usually found I could buy a ticket from a machine that had an English interface (when selected) by picking the line and station I wanted to get off at. It was important to hang onto tickets as you can’t exit a station without running your ticket through a machine. One time I made a mistake, and the gates blocked us until I could correct our fare with the ticket taker. Getting around by subway was very convenient; there were a few times it was very crowded but having such a cheap way to get around was a blessing.
Also worth mentioning in this section was that on 2 occasions we shipped our luggage to the next destination/hotel rather than trying to lug it through train stations and onto the train. This is common practice in Japan apparently, and worked well (keep your receipt/paperwork!); you might have to repack a few things so that you have the most important items upon arrival as it can take an extra day for your stuff to arrive.
Onsen
Some of my favourite things on the trip were Onsen – public baths that we had access to in both hotels and ryokan (traditional hotels with smaller rooms where you can sleep on mats on the floor). Onsen have set rules – most notably you go nude, though they are separated by gender. The tubs were wide and shallow with a single step down the bottom. You could dip your feet in first, sit on the first step to put your lower body in the water or get your whole body in, provided you could recline in a semi-lying position.
Some Onsen had saunas, some had cold plunges, but they all had little sit-down shower stations for washing before and after. Each station had a bowl that you could fill and dowse yourself with. Bowls were also next to each tub (hot or cold, indoor or outdoor).
I brought the Lightning Kid with me, and I found that children are generally welcome to come, with the understanding that the Onsen is a quiet space for relaxation. An interesting note is that people with tattoos are often not allowed in Onsen. Luckily, that didn’t apply to us.
Accommodations
We stayed in The Nikko Style Hotel in Nagoya. It definitely had a stylish vibe, with a lounge decorated with spacious bookshelves. The room was definitely one of the more spacious ones we had in Japan, though we had to share one bed. We did find it odd that we had to book the Lightning Kid as an adult at age 12 in a lot of venues, though obviously, we weren’t going to get him a separate room. We found king-size beds generally big enough for 3.
This room had another 2 twin beds, but we thought it would be more fun to sleep like this.
In Osaka, we stayed in a Ryokan – a more traditional form of lodging. The room was mostly one living/eating room with only a table and mattresses that had to be fetched from a closet. The Ryokan included dinner and breakfast with traditional set meals and the Onsen in the basement was very artfully decorated.
Our Kyoto stay was at the Granbell Hotel – Kyoto; which had a great speakeasy-type subterranean entrance and a nice bar and Onsen. It was very close to the train station, though a lot of nearby restaurants were closed early.
Our stay in Tokyo was at the Candeo in Roppongi. This hotel had a rooftop Onsen and provided loungewear that we could wear to and from the baths. It took me a day or so to realize that the bathroom floor was sloped and thus I sometimes felt a little disoriented going in there.
Sights and Attractions
In Nagoya, we visited a science museum – the Lightning Kid went to a playground while my wife waited in line for entrance tickets and engaged in play with a Japanese boy. The museum had dinosaur exhibits, as well as sections devoted to biology, physics and technology.
Later that day we visited Nagoya castle and were treated to a live samurai and ninja show.
The castle was quite scenic with its gardens and moats, especially with fall colours and bright sunlight.
There was also an inner palace within the castle/fortress grounds. The tour of this was rather crowded, but seeing the interior artwork and design was interesting.
We tried to find and go to a Dinosaur Park on our second day in Nagoya, but it ended up being closed so we spent some time in the sunshine at a playground.
On our first day in Osaka, we got a Ninja lesson at a Ninja Cafe. We got to don ninja costumes (with belt and headband), then got lessons in using shuriken (throwing stars), a blow gun, and finally some sword techniques. We also got lunch and drinks in the package, it was tremendous fun for the whole family.
Our afternoon in Osaka was spent exploring the Shinsaibashi Shopping area and Dotonburi Street (fun fact: on the flight home I watched John Wick Chapter 4 and was able to identify Osaka based on sights from Dotonburi Street before Osaka was identified by the movie characters).
At night, we went to an art installation created by a collective known as teamLab that they set up in the Botanical Gardens. From the website: “teamLab’s art project Digitized Nature explores how nature can become art. The concept of the project is that non-material digital technology can turn nature into art without harming it.”
Some Images from teamLab Botanical Garden Osaka
We visited a place called Spa World that had Onsen and other bathing options from around the world, but navigating their ticket system with regards to the built-in waterpark with waterslides proved to be too much for us to really enjoy any relaxation.
For our day trip in Kyoto, we ventured to Aramayashi, which had multiple attractions in a mountain village setting – first off was a Monkey Park! There was some climbing involved, and we saw a few of the native Macaques (the only species of monkey in Japan) on the way up, but that was no kind of preparation for the number of monkeys we’d find ourselves surrounded by at the summit! There were strict rules about engaging with the monkeys – avoid prolonged eye contact, hide any food you have on your person, and keep your distance.
In Tokyo, we started by fulfilling a promise to the Lightning Kid that we would rent a dog and take it for a walk. We chose Sumire from Dog Heart, who was a gorgeous golden retriever, but she had her own ideas about how far she wanted to walk so it was a bit of a struggle; I ended up deferring to her ‘local expertise’… we ended up also paying to have an extra half hour with the smaller dogs in the pen. There were miniature French poodles and a beagle among other breeds of dogs and some couldn’t wait to jump in your lap and be petted.
Later the same day we made our way to Harajuku, but those adventures are culinary in nature, so you’ll have to see the next section! We’ve always enjoyed seeing cities from the water, so we found a small river cruise we could take that ended at the Odaiba Marine Park.
There was a beach and playground at Odaiba, as well as a mall and a replica Statue of Liberty. We did some shopping but did not visit the animal cafe which had otters, toucans and capybaras.
Food
Due to a late arrival on our first night in Nagoya, our first meal in Japan was food from a convenience store on one of the train station platforms: Pringles, sandwiches, waffles and Pocky (my fave!). The Nikko Style hotel had options of western breakfast (french toast or omelette-based platters) or a Japanese breakfast. It wouldn’t be the last time I had to find a way to like fish in the morning…
Japanse style breakfast at Nikko Style Hotel.
That evening we made a point of trying to find a Gyoza (dumpling) based restaurant and lucked out thanks to some recommendations from the hotel staff. We actually sat with a Japanese family and made friends using broken English and even more limited Japanese. The Lightning Kid even tried a fermented drink called Calpis.
Breakfast and dinners in Osaka (at the ryokan) were set meals – no a la carte. Our first dinner was 5 different courses and despite a written description, we often didn’t know how close we were to being finished. Our breakfast involved poached eggs, and tofu and grilling our own fish over an open flame.
There were two occasions, the first in Aramayashi (a beautiful mountain village outside Kyoto) where we had to navigate a different eating experience. You purchased tickets for the food you wanted from a machine, then handed them to a server from your table – the food is still brought to you at the table when it is ready, but the aisles stay clearer of servers this way. It was difficult to gather an entire order for 3 people before starting to press buttons and pump coins into the machine. Once we ate Udon dishes this way, the other time Ramen.
Ordering food from a machine in a restaurant.
The Ninja cafe where we got our ninja lessons had passable food, but nothing special – my meal was a curry.
Dotonburi street is a marvel of food, but we actually stuck to eating meals at restaurants rather than grabbing random eats. We may have to correct that if we visit again in the future!
Dotonburi St in Osaka
We tried to find a Tonkatsu (fried pork cutlets with a BBQ sauce) restaurant in the Harajuku district, but Google led us to a place that was closed. We wound up wandering around till we found a restaurant with Italian cuisine! It still had a Japanese spin on the pasta dishes and we found it to be delicious. Unfortunately I didn’t record the name of it and my Google Timeline wasn’t any help tracking it down. The other thing we found in Harajuku was a “candy factory” that specialized in Cotton Candy…. look at the size of those things.
Exploring the different types of Japanese food remains an incomplete quest; I’d like to get to know Ramen better and maybe some Izakaya…
Conclusion
I love Japan! In the period leading up to our trip, I didn’t have a lot of time to get invested in a detailed itinerary, so I just wanted to know that I would be able to relax and get a taste of what the country was like – and all my expectations were exceeded.
1: Very Strict Rules – But Well Communicated Running triathlon races takes a lot of structure and rules for safety and efficiency. This is known to me, but somehow the vibe I got coming to this event after a 3-year absence from the sport (and the last race before it’s run during the pandemic with different rules for social distancing etc.) was that the rules were somewhat heavy and oppressive. Still, when those rules are well communicated by volunteers, pre-race emails and written material in the race kit, I can’t claim there was any space for misunderstanding so it was easy to follow the rules.
2: Swim Start Needs To Be Broken Up In Waves The sprint race had 2 waves to start: the first was all males as well as non-gendered athletes. The second wave was all females. I’m more used to waves being broken up by age category as well as gender to spread the masses out in the water. Open water swim collisions are already scary for the beginner triathlete, and we were having these kinds of collisions even while treading water and waiting behind the starting line. I think it made the swim leg of the race more difficult than it needed to be.
3: Best Run Course The course followed the lake shore initially and had sections through a shady forest path and along residential streets with beautiful houses and people cheering us on from their front porches. One of the nicest run courses I can imagine.
4: P.A. System I saw a race crew member trying to locate a certain athlete by yelling throughout the transition area. The pre-race briefing where course details were shared with racers were done with a megaphone at least.
5: Body Marking Rather than write bib numbers on racers’ arms and calves, the race organizers supplied temporary tattoos. They look neat and worked well (though I was stressed about applying them properly), but it seems like an overcomplicated solution to what wasn’t really a big problem. Perhaps the tattoos will wear off faster than a number written in Sharpie, which is what I’m more used to and is easily done in a matter of seconds.
6: BC Beauty The bike course was a simple out-and-back with a little climbing (and thus downhills too), but even the simplest routes in the Chilliwack area can have beautiful greens and mountains to see.
7: Friendly Neighbour The fellow racking his bike next to mine in transition was very nice and friendly and we managed to meet twice during the race – we finished our swim and bike legs at roughly the same time. I think he must have been much faster on the run because I believe his total time was 10 minutes less than mine.
8: Cycling Jealousy I can remember being passed on the bike leg very far along the total distance and seeing what kind of difference a very expensive bike can make. I’m used to that – but on that day I got passed by someone riding a simple commuter bike and I was unable to catch him again – he must have very strong legs!
9: Cool Weather The temperature was in the low 10s at the start of the race. When I first got on the bike with wet skin and no sleeves I was freezing, but luckily the early parts of the bike ride were an incline so the work of going uphill quickly warmed me. I think the cool weather meant I also felt less need to drink water, which meant better speed as I didn’t slow down to hydrate (or urinate).
10: Cool Location Cultus Lake has a water park and theme park nearby and other cafes and restaurants. We could have stood to take more advantage.
I bit the bullet and signed up for a Sprint Triathlon after a hiatus. My wife always encouraged me and dismissed my excuses and the negative idea that I was not in good enough condition to take it on — she figures I won’t improve my fitness without the deadline and goal of a race, and there may be some truth to that. She asked me if I have a training plan for it, and it’s unlikely that I can find one on the internet that will fit into the 6 weeks I have to get ready, never mind one well suited to someone who is experienced, but in worse shape than some beginners.
I have over 10 years of experience in triathlon, so I will show confidence in my ability to wing it. Here’s a checklist of what I think I need to do or be able to do before mid-September.
Weekly Running Mileage increase to 15km per week
Long Runs of over 5km
Bike: 60 Min sessions on the trainer
Swim: Get into my wetsuit
Swim: 750m open water swims
Swim: 1000m (total, broken into 100-200m intervals) pool workouts
Bike: 30 min hill sessions
Run: 30 min hill sessions
Transition: Check Equipment (Make sure my racing shoes are OK. Goggles, water bottles etc.)
Today, I booked a 75 minute “float”; I lay in an enclosed tub that shuts out light and sound, and the water is heated and salted so that you can feel weightless and don’t notice the water over time.Here’s what can happen while the time goes by.
1: Hallucinations I’ve never experienced this, but I’ve read that it can happen, so I thought I’d mention it and get it out of the way.
2: Itches With nothing else to notice, I find itches to scratch. It’s a problem for me when I meditate too.
3: You end up tasting the water. Probably from touching your face It’s disgusting.
4: Your Muscles Relax …in a way you’ve never experienced. You don’t have to support anything, or swim to keep your head above water, so your whole body (and thus your mind) can just be.
5: You Stretch In spite of the relaxation, I still felt some pain and tension in my worst spots. Stretching in a float is entirely different, because you can maintain that weightlessness (up to a point) and adopt poses you couldn’t on the ground.
6: You “Dance” Similarly, it’s fun to sway and feel your way through the water.
7: You Daydream
8: You Reminisce I had some nostalgic thoughts
9: You Lose Track of Time I really wasn’t sure how long I had spent in there at various intervals. When the chime went off to let me know I was done, I could have thought I was only halfway done, or had been in there more than 2 hours.
10: You Can Practice Meditation and Breathing Exercises You feel peaceful and patient, and there’s not much else to do.
I composed this list before our flight, but I’m publishing it after our return so you’ll see some pics and updates on how it went down.
Very shortly I’ll be flying to Germany for a month or so. It’s been 3 years since I’ve been.
1: Beer I’ll just get that one out of the way first. I like German beer.
2: Spaghetti Ice Cream Invented by an Italian in my father’s hometown – I don’t think I’ve ever seen it anywhere in North America.
This one was a little too big even for me.
3: Strengthening My German Language Skills I’ll get to work off the rust. Even better, the kids both really improved their spoken German. It was thrilling to see them communicate with locals and their grandmothers in German.
4: Commuting by Bicycle We don’t have a car there so bikes will be a significant mode of transportation. I rode at least 16km a day. The kids rode to their summer camp (on an island) by bike every day. I even got my wife a bike for her birthday.
5: Riding the double-decker bus into town
I think the double-decker buses were decommissioned. This was pretty disappointing.
6: Curry Wurst A Berlin specialty. A bratwurst with curry powder. Also, french fries with both ketchup and mayonnaise.
7: Free Range Kids From less ‘sanitized’ playgrounds to a largely unstructured summer camp, I’m hopeful the boys can flex their independence muscles a bit. They spent a night on the island in a tent, and went to the bakery to get us fresh buns for breakfast every morning. They rode the bus home from town alone too.
8: Fresh Water Swimming A river and a lake are within short walking distance
A Stork on the Dock
9: Berlin Sightseeing We might not get that much of this done, but we’ll see. We got into downtown Berlin (Kurfürstendamm) for Sushiand a bit of a walking tour. We also did our usual river cruise
10: Summer Festivals Germans celebrate the summer a lot like other countries in the Western world.
This was taken at the Havelfest in Tegel.
Overall another successful Germany trip. I worked remotely for most of the visit, and I may share some thoughts on the ‘Laptop Lifestyle’ in a future post.
I grew up in a suburb, and there comes a point in your youth when you decide they are lame. You’re not where the ‘action’ of the city is, nor do you have the wide-open spaces and freedom of a more rural setting.
Before I got married I lived in a condo along Toronto’s lesser-used subway line (the University-Downsview line). While it wasn’t downtown Toronto, the nearby subway let me access the core of Canada’s largest city, and Eglinton had some more upscale businesses that spoke to some of the glamour Toronto had to offer. There was a handy nearby running trail, but you’d have to think a little about cycling – lots of intersections with traffic lights or stop signs to slow you down. The running trail was too crowded for higher-speed cycling. I’m honestly not sure how to evaluate how kid-friendly the neighbourhood was overall, but I know my condo did not have a backyard.
Our current residence in Abbotsford BC is pretty rural. The space behind the house is huge and the air is always fresh (ok, maybe some manure smell sometimes). We don’t however, let the kids leave the property, as big trucks are constantly whizzing by (did you ever see Pet Sematary? Don’t). Even when my wife and I go out for a walk, we either drive to a second location or wear a high-visibility safety vest or other illumination to be seen by drivers passing by.
All this to say, I love the suburbs. The suburbs have a dark history, where the way they were planned was to encourage racial segregation and block access to education for marginalized groups. I’m hopeful, that, in spite of this history, as long the residents of a suburb can represent a good portion of the community’s diversity, the benefits of a planned suburb can be enjoyed by all.
Here are 10 Things I Love About the suburbs (this list represents my best experiences, and when suburbs are done right).
1: Sidewalks
If you’ve ever been a pedestrian in a space that didn’t feel safe for pedestrians, you probably won’t take a nice sidewalk for granted again.
2: Bikes, Skateboards, Scooters, Inline Skates
Between those sidewalks, some paved multi-use trails, or even streets that aren’t too busy, you’ll see people moving under their own power, getting fit and protecting the environment.
3: Parking
In spite of the previous points, if you use a car to get around (like so many do), having a place to put it is hard. Whether it’s driveways, garages, carports, or simply pulling up in front of the house (as you do when visiting a friend), it’s generally a safe, stress-free experience.
4: Parks and Playgrounds
Good for kids to play, or adults to get exercise. Increase the green space we need to keep the air clean.
5: It’s a Threshold
In the book ‘Mostly Harmless’ Douglas Adams describes happiness as a Lake House. A state of being on the verge of two different states of being. A Lake House is by the water, yet on land, which explains why it’s such a desirable piece of real estate. A suburb is the boundary condition of being near a city (and its amenities) and a more rural space (with its natural benefits).
6: Backyards
It’s nice to have a little green space of your own.
7: Noise
Both urban centres and rural settings have sources of noise (nightclubs, trucks, tractors, farm animals).
8: Sports Fields
Softball, football, and soccer are all ways to stay fit, have fun and join your local community.
9: Utilities (including Internet)
Infrastructure can be more easily maintained in the suburbs. In the city, digging up a road or accessing subterranean equipment can mean disrupting critical commercial operations or working around important landmarks. In the country, there might not be that kind of infrastructure at all (unreliable power, no high-speed internet, your waste goes to a septic tank you have to maintain).
10: It’s been idealized by modern pop-culture
I saw a post lambasting the movie American Beauty – a masterpiece of 90s film where the idea of working a corporate office job and living in the suburbs with a family caused enormous ennui. For millennials, the world of having a steady job with benefits and a roof over your head seems like an out-of-reach fantasy. It’s how many people in Western society grew up, and what they still ultimately aspire to.
N.B. There are some affiliate links in this post. I would get a commission if you happened to order these.
1: Drone The DJI Mini 3 Pro is small enough that you don’t need a licence in Canada and idiot-proof enough for me to use to shoot video.
2: JBL Endurance Dive Bluetooth Headphones I like this wrap-around form factor, and they are waterproof too!
3: GoPro Hero 10 For non-aerial and underwater videos.
4: HP Omen Gaming Laptop I already hate Dell, Acer, Toshiba and Lenovo, so if I was to spend money on something serious for gaming (if I ever found the time for it), maybe this one.
5: Chromebook On the other end of the computing spectrum are Chromebooks. I could use it just for writing, surfing and streaming. I guess I’d try ASUS since Samsung ones don’t seem to be available in Canada…
6: Smart Watch I’m not sure my Garmin Forerunner 910XT is cutting the mustard anymore. I would want something with better connectivity. Maybe the Fenix 6 Pro, but I’d be willing to consider Polar or Suunto as brands.
7: Kobo Sage A waterproof eReader that can also play audiobooks via Bluetooth, and act as a digital note-taking device
8: Moleskine Ellipse Smart Pen Speaking of note-taking, this pen works with a Moleskine paper notebook, and digitizes your notes and sketches as you draw.
9: Power Meter Pedals If I find myself getting into triathlon again, power is the performance metric of choice when cycling, but it is very expensive to add that capability to a bike.
10: Smart Swim Goggles Tracking laps swum is a pain, and performance metrics make for smarter training.
