A concert I will always remember!

This past Wednesday 8/22.....I attended the Mumford and Sons concert and it was absolutely fantastic.

The energy, performance, and everything was awesome. I went with Brandon, Jenn, and Lauren. Simply amazing.


Here is a video made of the concert....as my friend brandon described it....at 3:20 is a truly transcendant moment.....It gives me chills every time I watch it. Simply Epic.

If you every have the chance to see Mumford & Sons go and do it.

Summer Travel Totals

Since my midsummer travel update I have traveled to Calgary, Canada; Vista, CA; Providence, RI; Hartford, CT; Boston, Mass; and Newport, RI.

My complete traveling totals are:

Driving: 5, 938 miles 

(This does not include my 20 min. commute to BYU campus/Provo which I have driven many times. It also does not included travel time to and from airports)

Flight Distance: 21, 485 miles

Flight Time: 39 hours 27 minutes



All-in-all I would say that is has been a very fun, busy, eventful, and memorable summer!

I will be blogging about all the events, food eaten, and experiences experienced during these travels.

Steak & Bungee Jumping

While I was in Canada it was required that I try a steak. The Alberta Beef is very famous and Canada gloats abouts the amazingness of their steak. We spent my first weekend in Edmonton. (approx 3 hours north of Calgary).

So at a steakhouse called the Moose Locker I order a filet mignon, truffle oil pasta, and green beans.

Rating: 2 out 5 Bald Heads 

The meal was rather disappointing. It was not even in my top 10 of steak eaten in my life. 

The next day we went to the West Edmonton Mall to go Bungee Jumping.

106 feet of falling. It is the highest indoor bungee in the world.

It was awesome, but I admit it was more intimidating than Skydiving.

One Less Dave Chalk....

This Past Monday (Aug. 6, 2012) I had the honor of attending the funeral of my grandfather. His name was David Chalk and I have the wonderful honor of being named after him. He was a Air Force Vet and therefore received the burial ceremony of a Military Hero. I also had the honor to be a pall bearer of such a wonderful man. Here are some pictures of the service.

Flag draped casket in horse drawn carriage to the burial ceremony 

My grandma receiving instruction of ceremony

21 gun salute!

During the funeral service my grandpa was repeatedly described as larger than life which he exactly was. In the program was a quote I will always keep with me. ..."when you are experiencing life and eating good food think of me..." So, from now on as I go on my foodie adventures I will think of my wonderful grandpa!

I will do my best to carry on his name! I am proud to be a DAVE CHALK. 

Burgers and Parades

The First Friday I was in Calgary was the Big Stampede Parade that kicks off the beginning of fun. We arose rather early in order to get decent seats. (Not super early like some of them crazy folk).  The Parade had a feeling similar to the Rose Parade in Pasadena, but not quite as big and extravagant. The parade lasted for about 3.5 hours.

Once the parade ended the three of us were very hungry. So my good buddy Sam took us to Boogie's burgers.

Here is a picture of what I ordered:

I ordered a single bacon cheeseburger, added with a slice of ham and swiss cheese, and topped off with two hot dogs sliced in half. It was a very hearty hamburger, but it was also super delicious. This meal was in the top three favorite meals I had throughout the entire three week trip in Canada.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Bald Heads

The only reason that it does not receive a 5 blad head rating is because the fries were so-so. They were just slightly above average and nothing to write home about.

Chik-fil-A killed my Travel Buddy

Okay that is a lie!

However, yesterday I had to say goodbye to my best summer traveling partner. Up to that point he had been with me everywhere this summer; Fiji, Texas, Canada, Chicago, Washington D.C., and Arizona to name a few.

But in order for me to sign my contract for my new job I had to say goodbye. It was a very bittersweet moment. 

Goodbye gross nastiest...You kept my face warm.

Until next summer.

Breakfast at Cora's

The second day in Airdrie (this is a suburb north of Calgary) we biked to Cora's for breakfast. It is a nice breakfast spot. It is one of those places that opens at 6 a.m. and is closed by 3 p.m. This means that breakfast is their specialty. I ordered the cinnamon raisin french toast breakfast. It came with two eggs, two strips of bacon, and a mound of fruit. They defiantly don't skimp on the amount of fruit they give you, unlike the breakfast chain IHOP and Denny's. The fruit is also fresh and does taste gross and mushy. 

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Bald Heads

The fruit was great, but everything else was just ordinary. I give it a 3.5 for the generous portion of fruit, and every item in the breakfast tasted fresh, homemade, and cooked to order. These characteristics raised the rating a half bald head or so.

Also, when we were leaving to pay a gentleman who looked like the General Manager walked up to me as I was waiting at the cash register. He had one of those weird, creepy, too happy smiles. He looked at me and asked if he could help me. (I would have thought standing at the cash register with my receipt would have been an obvious clue, but apparently not). Then I explained I needed to pay and he smile nodded and then walked pass me out of the restaurant. 

To add to the weirdness, after I paid we went to the dollar store to buy Canadian Candies that I could sample throughout the trip. After I walked into the dollar store I turn down the candy isle and BOOM...there is the same guy. He turned, saw me and gave me the same creepy smile and said Hello. (Just picture a creepy dude with his head tilted slightly). It was really weird and from that time forward I was nervous that he was going to be popping out of everywhere throughout the duration of my trip.

Canadian are weird. EH!