Family , Fun and America // Maryland, USA

Last month my family and I took our annual 9 hour road trip down to Bowie, Maryland to visit family and friends for American Thanksgiving.

Usually we spend 2 or 3 days and then hustle back home for work and school, but this time we decided to spend 4 days, and you could feel the difference. since we spent a longer time, we were able to relax a lot more and had more time with friends and family.

Because of all the extra time we had, all us kids decided we wanted to go out, so we headed to Skate Zone in Crofton, MD. Skate Zone is an indoor roller skating rink. It was my first time going to a roller skating rink, and I would have to say Skate Zone had everything I envisioned, there was an arcade if you decided you didn't want to skate and there was food and music playing to that you could dance too.

Shanese skating and doing way better then me

Being a Canadian you would think I would know how to skate, since we are known for being the best hockey players in the world,but to be honest, I've never been ice skating before, let alone put on a pair of skates. Even though roller blades and ice skates are different, I've never been skating period, so this was an interesting first experience. 

Let me say, skating is not something that you can just pick up on the first try, well not for me, and I won't promise I won't try it again, but practice certainly means perfect, and I need all I can get.

To see more pictures,

 make sure to check out the Instagram @youngblackventure

Scenic Caves// Eco-Tourism

Two Tuesdays ago my Niche Tourism class took a trip to Scenic Caves to learn about Eco-Tourism and how it effects the environment and also to see that you can have fun with nature.

Scenic Caves is in Collingwood, Ontario, about a 2 hour drive from Toronto.

On our tour at Scenic Caves we did a Cave Hike, a 1000' escarpment Zipline, and a Treetop Walk and also checked out their Suspension Bridge.

Once we arrived we were split into 3 groups and were given our harnesses and ropes and started our trek up a mountain, which led us to a foggy but beautiful view of Blue Mountain, Collingwood.

A beautiful view of Collingwood, and rock Ekarenniodi

From the view you can see the rock called Ekarenniodi, which is in the Village of the Souls. The Putun People (Native Canadians) believed that the rock led to the underworld, because of how deep the hole inside the rock goes down.

It was, and still is a sacred symbol and is respected at scenic Caves.

After seeing this beautiful view, we continued our tour and walked through the caves.

Our Cave Walk then led us to our first Zipline which is 1000 ft tall. If you never been Ziplining, then you need to add it to your bucket list. It is an experience and a good way to overcome your fear of heights.

Luckily enough I was successfully able to pull out my phone and capture a video of myself Ziplining.

Once we were done with our first Zipline, we walked over to Southern Ontario's longest suspension footbridge, being 126 meters long. 

The bridge is 300 meter's above Georgian Bay, and on a good day you can see 10,000 square kilometers of the surrounding area. The bridge is probably one of the strongest bridges in the world, because it doesn't have a max capacity.

Our last activity we did at Scenic Caves, was the Treetop Forest Canopy Walk.

The Treetop Walk, is really what it is. We walked from tree to tree 300 ft in the air.

With the the help of our harnesses to keep us secured to the line, we made our way through 16 different trees until we reached our only way down, which was Ziplining down a 300 ft Zipline.

Myself in my harness on the Treetop Forest Canopy Walk

If You ever get a chance to head out to Collingwood, Ontario, make sure to make a stop at Scenic Caves and take a tour and venture through their land, I promise it will be worth the time.

To see more pictures,

 make sure to check out the Instagram @youngblackventure

OVO Fest 2014// OutKast Day 1

As many of you might know the first weekend in August in Toronto is the busiest and I would say BEST weekend in the city because so much is happening.

Some of the major festivals that were happening are:

• VELD Music Festival
• OVO Fest
• Scotiabank Toronto Caribbean Carnival aka Caibana
• Taste of the Danforth 

Unfortunately I was only able to to go one of these events and that was Day 1 of OVO Fest.

For those of you that do not know what OVO Fest is, it is an annual 2-Day music festival that is held in Toronto at the Molson Amphitheater hosted by the oh so talented, Toronto born and raised artist Drake.

OVO  Fest (OVO means Octobers Very Own) has been happening 4 years in a row now, and has brought tremendous amount of tourist and visitors to the city of Toronto.

Beautiful scenery of Toronto

In previous years artist like Jay Z, Kanye West, Frank Ocean, Rick Ross and more artists have preformed at OVO Fest for the people of Toronto.

The tickets for OVO Fest, I would say are reasonably priced if you buy them they day they get released or around that time. I got ticket to the lawn section, which aren't as bad as they sound, you could see everything perfectly from there. plus everyone either brought blankets to sit on or just sat on the grass chillin' until the performances started.

YG Opened up for OutKast rapping his hottest hits like Bickin Back Being Bool, My N***a, and my guilty pleasure Toot it and Boot it. he sent a positive vibe through the crowd and got everyone excited and pumped up about OutKast.

OutKast performance was one of the best performances I've seen. From the start it was crazy energy until the end. Andre 3000 aka 3 Stacks came out with his legendary blond wig and a black jumpsuit, while Big Boi was decked out in his usual. They preformed all their greatest songs like: B.O.B, Roses, Prototype, and Int'l Players Anthem.

All in all, next year I will surly make sure I buy the 2-Day tickets for OVO and If your just going to be in Toronto just for the weekend, it surly is worth the while to go.

Of course I couldn't leave without getting an OVO Fest T-shirt and an OutKast one

To see more pictures,

 make sure to check out the Instagram @youngblackventure

NXNE Festival // Volunteer

As some of you may know, there is a festival held annually every June in Toronto, Canada called NXNE, which  is a Music, Film, Interactive, Art and Comedy Festival.

You may have heard of the festival held every year in Houston, Texas called SXSW which is the same thing as NXNE, but held in Canada.

NXNE has been happening in Toronto since 1995, and has been getting bigger and bigger every year while bringing many artist to the city of Toronto. Some artist that have performed at NXNE are: Ludacris, A$AP Ferg, Danny Brown, Run The Jewel, and Spoon, just to name a few. The festival brings about 13,000 people from outside of the GTA (Greater Toronto Area) to Downtown Toronto to come and see performances or conferences.

Krazy Drayz

This year I was able to sign up as a Volunteer at the Festival and was placed at one of their bigger venues. Younge-Dundas Square is the heart of Toronto and is where NXNE keeps their free performances for the city to watch, which usually holds well-known performers from around the world.

As a volunteer I was selling merchandise and interacting with the guest who attended. I would recommend everyone to volunteer at music festivals, you get to meet the coolest people who you wouldn't meet on an everyday basis and you also get to discover bands and artists who you never knew about before.

You also get to see some cool Toronto native merchandise and clothing.

Merchandise from Aloha and other artists

 PLUS, a bonus for volunteering and going to music festivals is you never know who you'll run into. You guys remember ASTRO from America's Got talent..? well he preformed at NXNE at YDS and guess who got a picture with him?... ME!

Me and Astro

To see more pictures,

 make sure to check out the Instagram @youngblackventure