cool it down

Spent the hot weekend putting together a book of our Canada trip pictures, a great way to cool off by looking at all that snow!







I know, it's been 2 years and I probably don't remember the names of most of these places, but better late than never, right?

Since we took over 1000 pictures, it takes a lot of time to sort and crop and pick and choose. Blurb has lots of travel books featured, so getting lots of ideas about format, style, etc. A project!

inuksuk

I discovered this on the first day of vacation in a gift shop, and was intrigued by the story and symbol. We saw them everywhere. All the gift shops had them, constructed of everything from river rocks to wood to expensive jade.

Inuksuks are stone figures created by the first inhabitants of the Canadian north, the Inuit. The Inuit have lived in the areas now called Canada, Alaska, and Greenland for thousands of years and inuksuk can be found in all these regions.

Inuksuit (plural) have been used by the Inuit people as guides and markers for special places in the Arctic, marking trails, caches of food, nearby people, or the migration routes of caribou.

Depending on who I asked, the stacked rocks could mean anything from safe passage to good luck.

We even made our own little stack on top of Sulphur Mountain to mark our trip there.

home decor

Most of our home decor consists of not art, but posters of places we have been, and handcrafted wooden pieces by the resident carpenter/woodcrafter in the family.

And of course trophies from our many hunting expeditions, check out these two fine specimens we bagged while out hunting in Canada... (in the gift shops):





It has been hard coming down off my Rocky Mountain High back to reality. Hard to get back into a routine, I actually had to cook a couple of meals, bummer, vacation is definitely over!

souvenirs

On our first day in Banff National Park, we rode the gondola, and in the gift shop high atop Sulphur Mountain, we found these beautiful wooden pieces.

I pointed them out to Buddy, and then I started looking at everything else. By the time I had made my way through the entire shop, I came back to where he was standing, still looking at these two. He was admiring the craftsmanship, the time it took to do the cutting and sanding, and most of all the cheap price - $59 each. As Buddy has done this type of wood work in the past, he knows what goes into it and, as he said, he would not even start to make one for that price. In a matter of minutes, he had decided to get them, decided where they would look good at home, on our living room mantle.

On shopping, Buddy sees something he wants and gets it, it's that simple. On the other hand, I see something I like and have to think about it, at least overnight, and if I still want it, then I go back and get it. This same gift shop is where I first saw what I eventually wanted to take home as a memento of our trip, but of course, it took me the rest of the week before I would actually buy one to take home!

back home again

hey, it's good to be back home again...

It is good to be back to our own home, bed, etc. Well, except for going back to work, and the bills to pay, and the mountain of laundry...

Canadian Rockies Vacation photo album here

Rocky Mountain High

Atop Whistler's Mountain via Jasper Tram

Jasper, Alberta townsite, see the tram station on top of that mountain?

As far north as we went, the town of Jasper, Alberta. Lots of beautiful views, lots of trains, a neat town to visit.

train of thought

Jasper, Alberta train

Canadian Pacific train

coming 'round the bend

racing the Rocky Mountaineer passenger train

to the lookout for this photo op



We have seen more trains during this trip than I have seen in my entire lifetime! The lonesome train whistles echoing through the valleys seems very appropriate in this wild land.

vacation economics

On our first night of vacation we spent two of our newly acquired Canadian twenty dollar bills on a hamburgers and fries. Initiation into Vacation Economics 101. We promptly found a local Walmart and stocked up for our road trip into the national park. We got a cooler, drinks, bread, peanut butter, jelly, chips, cookies. This sounds like a Jeff Foxworthy bit, you might be a redneck if your first stop on vacation is The WalMart!

But it was worth it - groceries etc. around $30 - the view, priceless.

home away from home

Baker Creek rushes by our cabin.

Happy 35th anniversary from the nice folks here.

Elk grazing in the front yard.


Our favorite accomodation so far, Baker Creek Chalets. Very nice folks, anniversary gifts, good food, fireplace, balcony looking out over the creek. So far we have seen an elk grazing in the front yard and a big black bear out back. Nice and peaceful here, hate to leave.

oh well...

Moraine Lake - the picture that brought us here - BUT this is how it looks now:


Oh well...

postcards from Banff

Having a great time, wish you were here!