>>> thank you.

I always speak very highly and warmly of Calgary, Alberta, and people often wonder why. "Where the heck is Calgary, and what's so great about it?" they ask. "Why are you so amped on some place in the middle of Canada?"

First off, I wish people wouldn't speak so disparagingly about Canada. This may be a broad generalization, but Canadians are very hospitable and genuinely nice people. Plus, they have little to no gun violence! What's not to love about that? And my friends in Seattle will, without a doubt, attest to the fact that the best sushi they've had was in Canada (Richmond Sushi in Vancouver BC, that's wassup). So stop hatin' on them cuz they dope (Step Up 2 reference, holler --- just for Neeks).

Anyway, Calgary is a very nice place that I have found to be pretty similar to Seattle except that there are a lot more "cowboys" here and they don't have freeways or carpool lanes, so it takes at least a half an hour to get anywhere. That's my only beef with the city, really. Their minimum wage is like $13/hour nowadays and I like the scene and the weather is okay (though I haven't been here during their typical snowy weather, so I can't really say...)

But the real reason that I love Calgary so much and am so drawn to this place is my family here, especially my 3rd (or 4th?) cousins. They are the warmest, most hilarious, raddest, cutest, most down-to-earth people in all of Canada and if they didn't live in Calgary, I'm not so sure my Calgary hype would be at this level. We all get along fabulously well and have a great time together, and 3 days was definitely not enough for proper cousin bonding. I am always sad to say goodbye to them, and this time its especially sad because Paco and Ricky and I didn't even get to say goodbye to them in person =(. I guess its okay because we'll be seeing them in Orlando, FL., for our Ate Ditas's wedding next April, but still. No hugs goodbye? I will be terribly sad on the 14-hr ride home today. =P

In case my dear Calgarians happen to be reading this, I want to thank them for being awesome as always, for organizing a wonderful family reunion, for driving us EVERYWHERE all weekend, for taking me and my brothers, as well as Alyssa and Cody, to all the (shopping) places they thought we'd like (and of course they were right), for being so funny and warm, and for all of the memories and laughs. I love you guys like crazy and will see you again soon!

I took over 500 pictures over the long weekend, all of which will be posted on Facebook within the next 24 hours (guaranteed!), so keep an eye out for that. I also have a couple more blog entries that haven't been posted yet because I haven't had time to edit or add pics, but those will be up very shortly.
Thank you again, fam, and congrats on another successful Origuel Family Reunion!

Now, about that 14-hour drive home...