Hostel Bear Canmore

July 22/09

Just a bit less than 10 days to go before we start home.

Sad news for us, a good friend Bob Reddick, passed away in his sleep back in May. This reaffirms why we are out and about. Other sad news is that we had to put our big malamute Cedar down last week.

She was failing badly, not eating and after 12 great years we decide it was time. Lots of sadness for us but she had an outstanding winter up here in Yukon. She got to ski or walk every day off leash ...

... to turn around for another pass, we just noticed them! The next stop was Emerald Lake, an absolutely stunning Glacial Lake, we had a paddle, it was dam freezing! The first of many glacial lakes to come, it was beautiful, completely still, the mountain behind shining in the sun, provided a perfect reflection in the blue water. The glacial lakes owe their stunning blue/green color to Rock Flour, Rock, grinded so fine by the glaciers, remains in ...

... think slowly, so I'm at least two hours deep now. The mountain view out the window has given way to the dark cover of night, and the sounds of dinner and dishes have passed and the staff have selected cable electronic music for the evening. Mellow and magical. I have precious little time left in my second hour. I will retire now to enjoy the beats and read the email I have no intention of responding to tonight. Lookin' forward to all that love...

... ripped clean off. I honeslty have no idea how or when this happened. The safe fix is to completely replace the chainset and cranks, but that would cost hundreds and hundreds. So, Devin at the bike shop (hey Devin) is seeing if he can fit a new chainring and bolt it on well enough. I am confident that he can, the thread on all four bolt holes is useable. A bit annoying (again) but (again) better than finding out in a few ...

... trips to the Grand Canyon and surrounding areas. Sat 21 June - Las Vegas to San Diego. From here we will look around San Diego and make our way up to LA and then on to San Francisco. Not sure the times in each place yet...I guess we will figure that out soon:) Max's brother, Spencer, has a friend in San Fran who may be showing us around a bit. Sun 29 June - San Francisco to Calgary (back "home") Wow wee, what a trip it is going to be. Now ...

... a lot more confident and coming down the slop at a reasonable speed and able to stop myself eventually. I need a lot more practice, but overall feeling much better about it. You never know, perhaps I will be purchasing a board of my own before long... When we got back to Banff I had a nice hot chocolate and went back to Chris and Max's house for some beer. We ended up playing a bit of poker (I am actually a bit of a gun hehe) and drinking...quite a bit! We ...

... day continues and the sun get's stronger. It's just kind of cool on days like this where you see the power of mother nature and you just feel so small compared to her and the vastness of the mountains all around you. Reminds me of that crazy day back in May where it was so cold that it started snowing some of the biggest snowflakes I've ever seen. No snow stuck on the grounds but the mountains around town were ...