Fiction author Robin Brande talks about writing, reading, and other vital matters

Remember how I said in that interview with Jules and Eisha at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast that my favorite word is swag?

Got some.

Every year there’s this film festival in Canada called the Banff Mountain Film Festival. People submit films dealing with the outdoors and outdoor sports. Usually there’s a variety of travel docs, extreme skiing, white water kayaking, mountain climbing, crazed nutjobs doing things no human should do, etc.

The winning films get packaged and sent out to all seven continents as part of Banff’s World Tour. This year they showed not only in Crested Butte, where I’m staying right now, but also in Salt Lake City and Iceland and McMurdo Station in Antarctica. (And you can bet all 500 or so scientists trapped there in the cold showed up to be entertained. Wouldn’t you?) Check their schedule, because they might be coming to your town sometime in the next few weeks.

Besides the great action flicks, there’s another feature of the film festival that is central to the experience for many of us: the big prize giveaway at intermission. Great prizes, like backpacks and fancy fleece jackets and camp stoves and boots. One year my fifteen-year-old nephew won a two-night stay at a hotel up at Snowbird. Believe it or not, his mother made him trade that in for some ski goggles.

So anyway, I’ve had a pretty good run of swag wins at the BMFF over the years, and last night was no exception. I won a special dry bag for keeping gear unmoist while camping. It’s a cool prize, but I hope I don’t sound whiny or ungrateful if I say I really wish I had won one of the cool shirts they gave away this year. It was made by Patagonia (also known as Patagucci because their stuff is a little on the expensive side), and had the Banff Mountain Film Festival logo on the shoulder. Sweeeeet. But no one wanted to trade me one for my dry bag. Shocking.

In other brief news, Bear and I will be homeless tomorrow and perhaps without internet access, if you can imagine that. My husband will be in his avalanche course all day (me with my Wilderness First Reponder course, him with the avalanches–we’re kind of strange people), and the place we’re staying has a 10 AM check out that they’re actually enforcing since some other lucky couple with their dog will be arriving to take over the digs. So Bear and I will have to just wander the streets, drinking the world’s best coffee, searching for free wi-fi, generally amusing ourselves until the afternoon. Which means I can’t promise a lot of interaction with y’all past ten.

Speaking of the world’s best coffee, I was talking to the owner the other day, and it looks like I’ll be able to start offering that as some of my monthly giveaways–especially important during the summer months, when my chocolate supplier can’t really promise to get chocolate to you in any kind of solid form. What say you–will any of you coffee addicts love to win the blend known as Sledgehammer? Guaranteed to put hair on your chest. And who doesn’t want that?

I’m not the only person who thinks it’s the world’s best coffee. Some travel writer from Australia (I think) came out to Crested Butte to write about how great the skiing is, and ended up telling everyone that the skiing is fine, but the Camp 4 Coffee is what you should come here for. So there.

We’re leaving here tomorrow afternoon. Leaving the snow and the extreme pampering I’ve indulged in this week, going back to temperatures already in the upper 70s, maybe already 80s by now. A small adjustment. Yikes.

And my last thought for the wrap-up post is this: I am so totally in love with my dog. Love traveling with him, love hanging out with him, love watching him wallow in the snow and chase other cross-country skiers (I admit they weren’t nearly as amused by that as I was) and generally be a real dog. Love the husband, too, for many of the same reasons. It’s good to get away with the usual cast of characters, but with a different set of scenery in the background. Plus we all look better in fleece.

Let me know what you think about the coffee idea. I might even throw in their hat that says “Coffee makes you poop.” Talk about your swag!!!

Technorati Tags: Banff Mountain Film Festival, Camp 4 Coffee, Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast

Posted on Sunday, March 11th, 2007 at 5:10 am under Life, Movies & TV . Subscribe to responses: RSS 2.0 Comment Feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.