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Hello Everyone, 

Here is a slightly different style piece, based on a recent experience. 

Wes

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"Holy shit! There it is." I've been driving around one of the steeper sections of Nelson, B.C. when I catch sight of a building I've seen many times on YouTube, but never in person. South Nelson Elementary is not an architecturally impressive structure. It looks like any other squat, rectangular two story primary school. But this one is special to me. On this adventure, I've been fortunate to see and visit great and beautiful places. Mountains and canyons, deserts and old growth forests. But sometimes, it is the little places that hold me in awe. The first time I had this experience was in Big Bear, California. I was standing in front of a large white house, with a two car garage. It was fairly nondescript, except that it housed the training gym of my favourite boxer (Gannady Golovkin). I had seen this house in the background of many videos documenting his preparations for a big fight. It was exciting to me to be there in person. Great and beautiful places command attention. Their draw is obvious - sweeping vistas or towering forests. But just as a small, otherwise regular object can hold great meaning to someone because of who it reminds them of, small and otherwise regular places can do the same. The late, great J.P. Auclair was a pioneer of mountain sports, and his Street Segment video from 2011 set the standard for creativity and excellence in action sport film. He died in 2014, but last year the same film company that produced that amazing segment produced a tribute video in the same style, with a skier moving through a steep section of a mountain town. Incredibly, it is as creative and enthralling as the original, and both easily sit atop my favourite short films of all time. If you haven't seen them, do yourself a favour and go look them up on the biggest screen you can. But wear a helmet, because they are apt to blow your mind. That tribute film ends with an incredible scene, at South Nelson Elementary.