Another July weekend, another awesome trip to Cadomin. In addition to Erin’s family Abril and Geoff also came up with us. We drove up Friday evening after work.

On Saturday we went to the Cardinal Divide. We brought a lunch and had it before setting off on our journey. We were looking for a geocache a few kilometers away. There was a trail in the general direction and we headed off. The weather was a little cloudy and unsettled. It was decent hiking weather, not too hot and not too cool for the most part. It would get windy and rainy at times. It was also sunny at time. The trail eventually started to go away from the GPS coordinates so we went off trail towards our cache. The terrain was now a little more hilly. Spongy in some places, hard in others. We could see a large hill that seemed to be where the cache would be. As we headed towards the hill we had to go around parts that were more difficult. Eventually we got to a point where we had to make a decision turn around and head back as time was getting short or go for it. Jake and Laurie offered to go back and get the car and we would go for the cache and then head for the road at the bottom of the hill. Going up the hill was more difficult as we had to cross a stream, avoid some snow patches, avoid scree and find a path to the top. We persevered and made it to the top! However the cache was not there it was lower down in an area full of scree. Matt and Erin went to look for it. They found the spot where it should have been but there was no cache there 🙁 Now it was time to go down to the road. Abril, Geoff and I were at the top so we went down to meet Erin and Matt get out of the scree. When we got there they weren’t there so we thought they must be further down and went to look for them. Still no luck! We sent Geoff up to see if they were up a bit on the other side. Nothing. He went up higher and eventually found Erin. Matt was missing now though. They eventually found each other and Geoff took them to us where we headed down together, a little later then planned. When we reached the bottom we could hear Erin’s parents and called back to them but couldn’t see them through the trees. We heard them drive away. We jumped over a stream we had been following down and got to the road. Shortly we saw them coming to get us and drove back to the cabin with them.

On Sunday we went to Jasper. On the way to the town we saw some mountain goats on the side of a cliff. It is amazing how they can just move around on the ledges. They were pretty scruffy looking not having much hair. We had lunch at a nice picnic table by the river. After lunch we went to to Athabasca Falls. It was quite nice there. The water was higher than normal. I hadn’t seen it before so I couldn’t compare it. I got some good pictures there. After losing Matt for a bit at the falls we headed to Mount Edith Cavell and Angel Glacier. It had changed quite a bit. There was a landslide when another part of the glacier fell into the lake. You aren’t even supposed to go to the lake anymore.

See the photos below Continue reading July Long Weekend 2013 →

I went to visit Erin the week after Easter (because it was much cheaper) and it was a better weekend. The weather in Toronto was OK while I was there. Certainly better than the snow I had as I was leaving Edmonton.

When I arrived in Toronto, Erin was there to greet me and we went to pick up a car rental. Picking up the car was smooth enough except when I was trying to leave the parking lot, I went the wrong way and had to turn around to get out. I did my first driving on Toronto’s freeways and managed to survive. There was just one scary incident with a car kind of passing us, half in my lane and half off the edge. It was late at night so there wasn’t too much traffic.

We decided to rent a car so we could go to near Kitchener and see Jamey and Jen on their farm on Saturday. We had a nice visit. I took some pictures of their kids and they have grown a lot since we saw them a year ago. Driving there and back was ok, nothing too scary but it is way busier than Alberta highways. We returned the car back to the airport and took transit back to Erin’s place. The subway was going under some repairs so we had a little detour on buses but we caught the connections well and it didn’t take too long.

On Sunday we went for a little walk around Erin’s neighbourhood and then to her Uncle’s for supper.

On Monday we went to High Park for a walk, took some pictures at the mini-zoo which is still there for now. We had a decent meal at a vegetarian/flexitarian restaurant where it is buffet style and you pay based on the weight of your food.

Tuesday was my final day and we walked along Bloor, Erin got some gifts for a friend. We were going to have Korean for supper but it started to pour and so we decided the chicken place near her was a better idea. My flight back was smooth enough and I managed to remember where I parked my car and make it back home for a late night before work the next day.

Click below to see pictures of the trip Continue reading Toronto April 2013 →

I went to Calgary for Easter to see my family and the pets. I took some pictures of mostly the pets.
See the pictures below. Continue reading Easter →

Over Christmas Erin and I had wanted to go to Star Wars Identities because it was in Edmonton. We decided that early on New Year’s Day would be a good time to go and it was. It was not that busy until near the end when we had spent a long time going through everything. It was quite neat and I recommend any one who is into Star Wars to see it.

There is a lot of information about all the props, costumes, etc. There are neat concept art and ideas that they had but changed later like Luke was going to be a female! There is a science aspect to it about what influences people to be the way they are and uses Star Wars characters as examples.

As you go through you build your own identity. Here is mine http://sw-id.com/50e338e225926

Here is Erin’s: http://www.starwarsidentities.com/hero/en-ca/50e338f298be3

Click below to see my pictures Continue reading Star Wars Identities →

After Christmas on a cold sunny day we went to the zoo. Our main goal was to see the Penguins, Tigers and Hippos.
We were successful in all accounts. The penguins weren’t busy because it was so cold and we could stay there as long as we wanted.
The tigers were running and walking around and let us get some pictures. Once we got cold we went indoors and our lens all fogged up!
The hippos were eating and swimming once done. I guess they don’t have to wait!
I got some quite good pictures I was happy with the results.

Click below to see the pics Continue reading Calgary Zoo Winter Time →

On the last weekend in August I went backpacking with Erin and her dad. We drove up to Cadomin Friday night. Dealt with a leaky tire Saturday morning then went to Jasper.
We got to the trail-head around 11am. It is 12 km to the Jacques lake campground and has a slight elevation gain but not very much. We had perfect weather – it was nice and sunny but not too hot. There was not too many bugs so that was a plus!

My backpack seemed to work pretty good. I rented it from MEC for the weekend. My shoulders were quite sore by the end of the trip but not too sore.

It was a nice hike. The beginning of the trail is an old fire trail so it is a little wider. There were gravel washes in multiples from previous storms that we had to walk over. It made things a little more interesting. After about 4 kms it turned into a single track trail through trees and next to lakes. For most of the trip there is either a lake or creek next to you. There are many nice views of the mountains and the water. It took us about 4.5 hours to get to the camp including stopping for lunch and snacks.

It was a nice campground. We were the only ones there and some of the sites hadn’t been used for awhile. We got a nice site. After we had set up camp we went for a little walk to a ranger station next to the lake. On the way to the ranger station we saw a moose in the water. It was pretty neat and didn’t really care that we were there. Each day we saw about 6 people on the trail. Most of them went to the campground and back in a day.

After a nice long sleep we got up and noticed that there were two moose eating in the picnic area! The sun wasn’t yet over the mountains so it wasn’t too bright out side yet. Jake tried to scare them away using a bear banger. First he launched a flare by mistake and they didn’t really move. He then used a bear banger and they moved a little bit more but still not really and they went back to eating. The bear banger was a bit like a firework going off. Eventually the moose moved far enough away and we could get to our food that was hanging and start a fire.

It was quite cool in the morning so we wanted a fire to help us warm up. It probably went down to around zero at night. I was warm in sleeping bag but once I was out of it, I quickly got cold!

After breakfast and packing the tent up we again left around 11. This time it took 4 hours and a bit. We were a little faster.

Both ways we saw some fairly fresh tracks that looked like maybe a wolf was hunting a deer or something. The tracks were pretty neat.

We got back in the car and we were on our way back. All in all it was a good introduction to my first real backpacking trip

We took Erin’s camera as it is more weatherproof and not so heavy! Erin took most of the pictures. I took some and Jake took some. Some pictures turned out quite well! Other ones not as much but it is hard to tell if you got a good one or not.

The pictures are below Continue reading Jacques Lake Backpacking trip →