SLAG SUMMER TOUR: Part V (Vancouver)

We got to Vancouver just before sunrise, and pulled over on the side of the road. It was a haggard moment, and some of us fell asleep next to the sidewalk.

After that, we headed to Main street, and got some good strong coffee. Some of the crew skated the Antisocial ramp while others hit up street spots. It was at Antisocial that we ran into Nugget, who took us to Leeside, a sick DIY spot. After skating there awhile we headed to Hastings. By then it was drizzling. The park is already covered in graffiti and super slick. Most everyone fell really hard within the first few minutes, so we decided to call it quits.

That evening the whole crew sat down for a big dinner at Foundation, an epic vegetarian restaurant down the street from Antisocial.

The next morning we assisted with a girls skate camp at Bonzer skatepark. Kristin elevated a sprained ankle while some of the other girls demoed tricks. By the afternoon we were driving back to Seattle/Portland. We wished we had more time in Vancouver but we had to get back in time to return our rental van. The smokers talked eagerly about how cheap cigarettes are in the US. Not only are the cigarettes a lot more expensive in Canada, but the boxes are basically an ad campaign that remind you what smoking does to your health, or gives you the steps on how to quit. I guess that makes sense in a country where the government pays for your health care. On the drive back Nugget got shotgun and blew out some eardrums with extreme DJing. Thanks for the good times!

SLAG SUMMER TOUR: Part IV

After driving all day and most of the night, we arrived at Calgary in the wee hours of the morning. We were all sleep deprived and grateful to crash at Beth's parents house. Kristina attacked the grand piano filling the house with a sweet melody and said something about only wanting to play music the next day because her scabs were hurting too much to skate. This led us to wonder why her skin was always ripping off in huge chunks. We concluded she must have thin skin. Chrissie went outside to play on a backyard play structure and ate it pretty hard on a saggy zip line.

Driving through the Canadian Rockies (Banff) was a real treat. The mountains represented something you would see in Patagonia and the glacial rivers had that sky blue Gatorade tint never before seen by many of us. We came to a rest-stop with a giant newly paved parking lot and some boulders and jersey blocks propped around the periphery. The place was empty and we spent over two hours sessioning the boulders until the sunset. It was one of the best moments on the trip.

After the rest-stop sess we hit the road for another all night drive. One time we stopped for gas and an identical van pulled up between us and the mini-mart. One by one, as the girls returned from buying snacks and using the bathroom, they kept climbing into the wrong van. Once coming to their senses, they would realized that the mom and her kids were not the right company, and hop out apologetically. The poor family didn't move their vehicle until the fifth person accidentally flung open their doors, unfortunately yelling "What up bitches." Oops.

SLAG SUMMER TOUR: Part III (Winnipeg competition)

During the competition, Kristen silenced the roaring crowds by making some glorious attempts to kickflip the stairs. This resulted in a snapped deck and some battle wounds. Overall she killed it and went home with over a grand in first place prize money. Kristina smacked her melon boardsliding the hand rail, only to pull it off on her next run. Esther and Chrissie pulled off some difficult tricks and Moira managed to film the whole thing before killing the bowl jam. Everyone on the SLAG team who entered placed and we had an epic time skating and chilling with the Canadian shralpers (including some of the notorious Skirtboarders).

The event was the 'chicks flip out' competition put on by the Rugged Riders and held at the Plaza at the Forks. The park is huge, and the street course is the biggest I've seen. Its also got an epic bowl. Rugged Riders hooked us up with free rooms right next to the park at a swanky hotel. Thanks guys! There's a market next door with a large variety food. SLAG put on a couple skate clinics which were a huge success. We had some middle aged women who were so stoked on learning how to skateboard that they started hitting up the plaza early in the morning before work.

Yeah Winnipeg, hope to see you next year!

SLAG SUMMER TOUR: Part II (The Bible Thumpers)

Yeah, thats what I said, bible thumpers, and a whole lot of them, congregated on a hill above the skate park, with a megaphone, telling us we were all going to hell. It was a borderline riot, but skaters outnumbered religious fanatics, and the boards being flung around seemed more threatening then the signage.

Everyone was getting rilled up, slinging insults up and down the hill and making false charges. There was some chanting 666 and mooning going on down at the skatepark. One of the SLAG girls started the mooning. There was a boy pointing at her naked butt saying over and over, "I have no idea who that girl is but she is my hero." Kristina ran up the hill before we could stop her and climbed a pole to immitate the crusifix, I won't mention what happened next.

We sold a lot of paraphinalia that day at the dike west skatepark in Fargo North Dakota: pins, stickers, shirts. Everyone was thrilled with Skate Like A Girl and as we packed up in a hurry to avoid any further trouble. We had skaters running up to the van as we were pulling away, asking us not to leave, or to come back soon as possible. Who knows, maybe if we didn't have that comp in Winnipeg we would have stayed a little while longer.

SLAG SUMMER TOUR: Part I

And so it begins, an inside look into the Winnipeg tour: The following words are from Kristin Ebeling:

12:24pm August 6th

Currently sittin shotty in the van somewhere in Montana. After leaving Nancy's humble abode in Seattle around midnight, and a very long morning of driving through Washington and Idaho, we made it to Missoula, MT. We emerged from the van with stiff legs and sleepy eyes. Knowing time was of the essence, everyone grabbed their shred sled and made it over to the park. Ahhhh Grindline.... Jesse got hyped on a steep drop-in, and Beth made it over the stairs with perfection as Erica cruised the tranny with ease. Esther got down with a lil pivot fakie on the volcano and Kristina got some steezy front tails on the brick bank. Yours truely made out with a blunt fakie on a skinny bowlside quarter. Moira filmed the goods but missed Beth scorpioning onto the long rail after sticking on a boardslide (I was too scared to even try it, so props to her). Other than that, no major injuries. Everyone killed it. After some freshening up in the bathroom we pilled in the van. Billings, MT or bust!

9:27pm August 6th

So we made it to Billings, MT after a few pit stops for cigarettes, food, energy drinks, and to relieve ourselves of the human burden that is urination. Most of us got at least an hour of sleep on the way and folks were in high spirits as we rolled up to the park. Jesse lightly mentions she cracked her jam here a few years back. Buzzkill? This news didn't turn anyone away, not even Jesse. With the crew fearlessly shralping, Moira and Audrey worked hard to document our maneuvers. Chrissie got down with her favorite trick, switch front shove, off the kicker. Yours truely trey flipped and switch flipped the same obstacle. The local boys had mad beef with us beezys showing them up at their local park and vocalized their frustrations. The heckling got pretty bad, and Chrissie let em have it. With the boys mouths now glued, we got back to business. Kristina got lipsleezy on the rail out the bank and Esther molested the gnarly lil quarter with a standup backside 5-0 to fakes. After getting really sketched out by 2 local dads fighting in the parking lot and 10 yr. olds talking about the scarcity of jobs for drop outs, we asked for the check. We left with a small tip...middle finger to all the lil turds from Billings and thumbs up to our lil bud from Wyoming. Later!

August 7th 1:32pm

So we rolled into Bizmark, ND after a wonderful sleep under Montana's stars. After gettin some gas, coffee and directions, we made it to the skatepark. Nope, this was not a Grindline park, of which we had become accustomed to thus far on our adventure. We doubtfully dragged our feet out of the van, I think mainly because we wanted to at least stretch our legs. The crusty banks and makeshift boxes didn't look the least bit appealing at first but we started skating anyways. Moira was out with her old school super 8 and everyone got a clip or two. So many tricks went down on the nope-ing quarter including a lipslide and front smith by Canada's pride, Beth, backtail by our Australian import, Esther, and as usual, crazy old school shit by Erica that I don't want to embaress myself in attempting to name, a mean 5050 by Jesse, and back-d christopher reeves by me. The session moved to the hubba, where Kristina and I made everyone see double with some 5050's, then to the gap over the bank, where 4 of us got down on a kickflip. Woo, then we skated the bank to curb which easily became our fav part of the park. By now everyone was stoked we didn't write off Montana's ugly step-sister of a skatepark. After cat baths in a nearby faucet, we are back on the road to Fargo-ya! So fuck you Grindline, we don't need your buttery lovin under our feet to have fun. In crust we trust! <3

4:24pm (still on Seattle time) August 7th

Just shralped a bench at a rest stop in ND. We got some board slides and some grinds. Beth got wicked with a frontside 180 switch 5050 frontside 180 out. WHAT! WHAT! Rest stop skate or die.

Portland, OR

By the time I reached Portland my car was smelling pretty bad and popping out of 5th gear a lot.

Portland has a lot of sweet skateparks, including, of course, the famous Burnside.

There’s also fun street skating and you can get wired on Stumptown Coffee while you’re here.

We tabled for SLAG PDX at a skate jam put on by a local shop. They hauled a bunch of ramps into the parking lot and everyone busted out their moves. Not too many girls showed up to skate this time around but it was still fun and I got a poster for doing a bunch of dork tricks on the quarter pipe.