Return from Hiatus?

It has been two years since my last post. I wanted to test things out again before I started posting photos, etc. over the summer. Not much to say for now - preparations are in order!

Wow

It has been, what, two years since I last wrote anything? And it was after my trip across the country with Shea? Wow.

I'm not really expecting anyone to see this. But it feels good to just write something down. Maybe I will write more often. Maybe not. Who knows.

Derk

More pics

The work week is finally over and I am sitting in a coffee shop on WiFi, so I can actually post a few more photos, particularly since I just went through every single one (over 3,000 for both coasts).


"Scenic" Banff


Waterfall, Yoho National Park


Takkakaw Falls. I missed this the last time through here. Good thing, too, there were some godawful hills along this route.


Vertical bedding. Tilted, warped, etc. There was a so called "natural bridge" just upstream of here, but it really was just a crack in the rock that the river was coming through and wasn't all that impressive.

More pics to come.

My First Pang...

So it has been a little over a week since we got back from our two month journey across this great land of ours and I have been buried up to my eyeballs in work. However, this morning, I was crunching some numbers for a report and suddenly the image of Kenora and Lake of the Woods came to my mind and I felt a pang so strong that I had to stop what I was doing for a second. In that instant, I missed being out on the road, being free to go wherever and seeing the beauty this country has to offer. But then it all came crashing back in. Oh well.

I can't explain why Kenora. It just happened.

More pics....


Beautiful Moraine Lake near Lake Louise. Don't fall for the hype - this is the place to see.



Hike up a mountain above the snow line. So this is what cold looks like.



At the end of the rainbow is....

Work and Weirdness

I am up to my eyeballs in work. In fact, I just put down the laptop and am taking about 15 minutes to relax before bed. So here are a couple of things.

When I got home, there was some registered mail I needed to pick up. It turned out to be an Activa Men's Sports watch that I had won in the Heart and Stroke Lottery. Fun stuff. After checking it out online, it looks like the model I was sent is worth about 30 bucks and isn't available any more. Oh well. Beggars can't be choosers. :) It might make a good gift, but who knows.

Our downstairs neighbour came up for a visit with his dog, who the cats watched warily, but got along fine with. He gave us an update on the murder that happened two buildings down while we were away. The stalker person who was in the neighbourhood in the weeks prior turned out to probably have not been the culprit, since he was seen around in the days after the murder and further investigation showed that he was a peeping tom (i.e. had previous criminal history). He was from Kitchener of all places. So it looks like the killing was probably by someone known to the victim or the family.

Onto some more light fare... how about a couple of photos!


Mountain lake view. Not sure where this is yet, since I can't preview my pics on my computer for some insane reason.

Athabasca River

Me standing at the edge of the Athabasca glacier. I bet there is a lot of till around here.

Home Sweet Home

We spent the weekend in New Liskeard at the wedding of Randy and Andrea. It was a great ceremony and a fantastic party afterwards. Luckily, our hotel was right next to the reception hall so we made the 2 minute walk back (well, to tell you the truth, the bride and groom gave me a ride over. It was cold, after all).

This morning we got up fairly early, considering my condition (which wasn't all that bad, actually) and headed back home. We left at 1030 and arrived here shortly after 4pm. But that's not all - we unloaded and headed right back out for Waterloo for a reunion with our cats. Now we are at home unpacking, and I am downloading the photos on my ultra slow USB port. I only have 1800 photos or so from western Canada to sort through. If the batteries don't die, I will download a bunch at work, too, so that I can post a few (that's right, I said work).

I will try to post some on DDoD again now that I am back into the blogging thing.

Getting close to home

It is a beautiful sunny and windy Friday afternoon in New Liskeard. We are in town for the wedding of Randy and Andrea, which will mark the end of our long journey across Canada. Sunday will mark the final drive home, including a side trip to pick up the cats.

The last week has been mostly driving. We visited Drumheller and the badlands - the Royal Tyrrell Museum is definitely worth the entrance fee. It is reasonably priced compared to the many other places we have visited on our trip. I hope you like dinosaurs and fossils, though. ;)

We also tried to stop at an old coal mine which was a "National Historical Site". Apparently, there are National Historical Sites that are not affiliated with Parks Canada's National Historical Sites, which we have a year's pass for. Too bad. We balked at the entrance fee and moved on.

We hustled across the prairies, camping for the night outside of Moosomin Saskatchewan. Of course, on the day the stock market dropped, an oncoming dump truck dropped a rock onto my windshield, leaving a rose shaped crack, which will probably increase the amount of tune up work required to Gabby once the trip is over. I was very angry that day.

We passed through Winnipeg, stopping to visit Chris on our way through. We spent a night in Kenora, having a nice meal. The driving continued, stopping in Dryden and again in Nipigon, where we spent another chilly night (below freezing again). Frost rimmed the tent in the morning, but we stayed cozy with our new sleeping bag acquired in Penticton. After Nipigon was Kirkland Lake, and we arrived in New Liskeard this afternoon after a brief rainshower.

The wind is whipping up the water on the lake pretty well. Luckily, the reception hall is less than a five minute walk from our hotel.

This will probably be my last blog entry for this trip. I will download all the photos once I get home (I am counting zero USB ports on this computer) and post them at leisure.