I'm off to find some Canada Day celebrations tomorrow...no doubt I will find something to enjoy. I hope to get to some fireworks and hopefully capture a photo or two of the lights. (Fingers crossed)

The plan for this weekend has changed and while you were not in on the original plans which were to hang out in Edmonton you will be happy to hear the new agenda. I'm going camping. Surprise, surprise! Well, maybe not really a big surprise but it is true.

I made the reservations tonight. Two nights at a campground just outside of Waterton Lakes National Park and two nights at Writing on Stone Park. Oh the things I will see and do this weekend--you should be jealous.

The kitchen is currently in a state of chaos as I prepare for the weekend excursion. The dishes that did not get washed after the last trip are finally in the sink soaking. Now, don't get all yuck on me I wash them when I'm out camping but I usually do give them a more hearty clean at home in the sink between trips. The amount of food required for this trip is greater than some of my previous trips and I know that the freezing abilities of my cooler bags is not going to last the length of the trip so I see a trip to the grocery store before I return to Edmonton.

I hate to overpack on everything--food, clothes, other essentials and so I am doing the night before the day before the trip pre-packing. The food, utensils and other related cooking type things all go into an action packer. If they don't fit in the action packer--they don't come on the trip. Seriously. I have some of the food items in the freezer and am planning on some additional water freezing tomorrow. I know that once water is frozen it is frozen but for some reason in my mind the longer I leave it in the freezer the longer it will stay frozen outside of the freezer. No, please do not try and put reason into my logic. I beg you not to burst my bubble. Ignorance is bliss.

This could be the last road trip for a while....LOL. Yeah right, who am I kidding. The next road trip is scheduled for the weekend of the 23rd ish.

I have turned the volume on my tv up twice in the past half hour. The thunder keeps getting louder and is drowning out the show I am watching. This is the third or possibly fourth night in a row we have had a thunder and lightening storm. The days are hot and sunny, the evenings are loud and rainy. Not bad actually, but very noisy tonight.

I tried to get pictures of the lightening the other night but it doesn't come with enough consistency for me to photograph it and I spent about 15 minutes just taking picture after picture. I may try later tonight again when the sky is black but for now I am content to sit and listen to the rain pelt down around me.

The tv is now off and I'm sitting enjoying a book. I love the public library.

Survived another camping trip--but am down a couple pints of blood due to the mosquitos. Met up with my friend from Banff and I think we both had fun. Here's a few pics from the trip...

This is a picture of where we hiked on Wednesday morning...taken from the top of the hill. If you look closely you can see where the river is, just beyond the lighter flat green area in the center of the picture. We hiked to the river and back. The up part was pretty difficult--the very heavy rainfall from the night before turned a lot of the clay into mud. Getting a grip going up hill was um, interesting.

See the 3 deer? I did. They watched us for a few moments and then bounded down the hill in record time into the grass and then disappeared. Awesome!

I was hoping to catch a cactus in bloom but was unsuccessful...maybe next time.

Chicken of course came along for the trip. I thought I had a replacement bear--Bubba, but I think I am going to return him to Walmart as he is a bit too big for putting into my day pack.

Oldish farm tractor found on the side of the road after crossing the ferry.

The first night of the camping trip was a bit wet. Within a half hour of my arrival in Drumheller the sky opened and the rain, thunder and lightening began. And the rain came down hard. Like any good camper stuck in a rainstorm we went to Walmart. After wasting as much time as possible there and walking out into more rain we went for supper...and then the rain stopped. Yeah! The tent and everything inside it was...dry. Yep, no flooding issues. A nice fire was started and some marshmallows eaten. Mmmm, campfire marshmallows.

The hike Wednesday morning was great--about a 2 hour jaunt in total. Followed up with a ferry ride and then lunch back at the campground. We spent the afternoon wandering around downtown and getting laughed at by the locals--as you can see from the pics above we (I) may have been hamming it up a bit.

This is my new apartment...

Remember this?

No. Maybe this...

That was Drumnheller, August 2009. I'm headed back there at some point on Tuesday afternoon and staying until Thursday. Yeah! My friend Kim and I are finally able to sync our schedules and are going to meet up in Drumheller for a couple days of hiking and camping. Whoo hoo!

Have a great week...I know I will.

I'm back. The wedding was wonderful. Very simple but very elegant. And a very comfortable casual atmosphere by all...even the bride to be who got a spot on her white dress prior to the ceremony and shrugged and said 'it's white. I didn't expect to keep it clean." A tide to go pen was found and the dress was cleaned before the ceremony started but I loved her realistic attitude towards the whole thing.

It was an honor to have been invited and to be one of the people involved. Thanks Keith. And congrats to you and Elaine. They leave on Tuesday for thier honeymoon in Europe...yep, jealous about that trip!

No major plans yet for this week. Am trying to arrange a camping trip mid-week but no details as of yet.

Body Works was great too. Highly recommend it if you are ever in a city that is hosting the exhibit. I paid the extra $5 for the hand held audio files well worth the money. It provides further clarificaiton of the exhibits.

Had brunch today (Sunday) with my friend D. It is always great to see friends...and the waffles certainly didn't hurt.


Here comes the bride...

These flowers were found freshly watered in Olympic Park in downtown Calgary. VERY beautiful!

I have no idea why Alberta is obsessed with gophers, I know they are everywhere but...pink ones? With the exception of the pink gophers the rest are from the Gopher Museum in Torrington, Alberta. Well worth the $2 admission.

I'm off in the morning for Calgary--Friday. I even know what day it is this week, though I do find myself checking the calendar a few times a day to make sure. I am attending a wedding Saturday evening and hoping to catch up with a friend (or two) from my trip to India. Should be fun.

I am also hoping to attend an exhibit at the Telus Science Centre in Calgary...Body Works. If you haven't heard of it check out the link that I am going to post...but I warn you if biology was not your thing in school you may find this exhibit a little too graphic. You have been warned...

http://www.calgaryscience.ca/exhibits/exhibits/bodyworlds/

I know it is not for everyone but I have always been fascinated by how the body looks inside and how we are put together. Having lunch with the nurses when they talked shop never bothered me, I wanted to know more. :)

My favorite pink shirt has suddenly developed three tiny holes across the back. It seems odd that all three would suddenly appear at the same time and my theory is that the mosquitos in Cold Lake in their attempt to suck out my blood created the holes. Its a theory anyway. Maybe not a good one but I'm working on it.

A friend from PEI invited me to join an amateur photography group on Facebook. So I did. I don't join many groups on FB but this one seemed fun enough. Each week they pick a theme and people post pictures and then the other members vote on them and provide some constructive criticism. I posted a picture this week and the votes are quite favorable. There are no prizes but it is fun none the less.

Here is the picture I posted:

Have a great weekend!