Linda & Andrew

Hollywood

2011-05-08T12:56:00.000+01:00

Aspiration - noun, a strong desire, longing, aim or ambition...

I'd always wanted to see this sign and I genuinely believed that being in Hollywood would be something really magical. Linda had warned me on numerous occasions that it, Hollywood, could perhaps come as something of a disappointment to me. She has been before and was worried that I'd be left a little deflated having seen the sign and then realised that it was the most attractive and interesting thing about Hollywood.

It was a serious thrill to see the sign in the flesh and the drive up Beechwood Drive amongst all of the mansions and the closed gates and blinds was 'hair on the back of the neck' arousing stuff and measured with the relief of no longer being on the crazy Interstate 10 getting there, parking and walking up to the sign viewing area was a beautiful moment. Imagining ALL the people who'd stood there before me to admire it. How many of them would I have crossed paths with in the past and how many of them have stood there shoulder to shoulder with tourists like me wearing disguises so they don't get harassed?

Alas the weather wasn't brilliant so the vista over LA couldn't really be appreciated and wasn't really worth photographing on this day. However, it was still very impressive and I am so pleased that we got there and saw the sign and managed to take time to contemplate what it was all about!

We were only there for one night as a via point on our trip up the West coast and after the sign, of course, we had to see Hollywood Boulevard. I have to say that I'm delighted to have been there but I won't be in a hurry to go back. It's thrilling to see all the stars on the pavements and the familiar sights but it was so oppressive and claustrophobic. I felt that I had to hold to everything twice as tightly as ever before and within seconds I was sick to the back teeth of people asking me for money and shoving cards and papers in my face. Worst of all there was a demonstration taking place by a group of Muslim extremists outside of a US Army clothing (fashion) store and that was starting to get rather uneasy. Perhaps we just visited on the wrong day / night?

Unperturbed, we cautiously set off in the opposite direction along the Walk of Fame and I was soon distracted by all the stars on the pavement and the images of who had knelt down there to unveil that star and this star and despite the constant mither from beggars, street sellers and con-artists I really enjoyed the experience. .

It's a great moment to come across the stars of one's heroes and I was truly spoiled with so many. The Grauman's Chinese Theatre was wonderful to see and seeing all the imprints of hands and shoes, feet and signatures in the pavement outside is such an evocative experience. Lots of "Wow!!" moments like Marilyn Monroe, Jonny Depp, Helen Mirren, Shirley Temple, John Wayne, Jane Russell, so many more but I thought I'd share this below one with you as it made us laugh!!

"Nice one Trig"

Once used to the crowds and with our Middle Eastern chums dispersed it became a little easier to negotiate the walk and ignore every other human being on the street. The next star always made one of us stop and 'oh wow' and the time passed in a flash. Get it... Flash...

Some stars more than other made us stop and this one at 7021 Hollywood Boulevard particularly made me smile and contemplate. What must it all have been like back then?

Couldn't resist a pose with this one having just seen his amazing Las Vegas show with Sarah and Katie before they flew home.

Another tick on life's list.

So... We'd seen the sign and we'd seen the walk of fame. We'd seen the Capitol Records building and we'd escaped with our lives from the melee of one of the most famous streets in the world. However, there was more... Not as glamorous in anyway and nowhere near as busy but for me, a small boy in a big world, it was about to get far more exciting!! I like to read autobiographies and particularly those of risen and fallen rock stars. Nearly all of them at some time mention 'nipping down to Sunset (Boulevard) and picking up a new (or old) guitar'. There are a cluster of massive music shops on Sunset Boulevard all with history and all with references to who shops there and who has shopped there. Guitar Centre even has it's own Wall of Fame outside and the pavement is made up from hand prints of famous guitarists. Inside was even better with great walls full of gear and 'special' rooms at the back and downstairs with some of the most amazing guitar collections I've ever seen. I could get quite boring about this (if I haven't already) so I'll skip on....

This one is for the boys!

So after all that excitement, we checked in to our hotel for the night at Anaheim and jumped in to a taxi to Downtown Disney. Well... Why not?! We had a very pleasant potter around, of course, browsed in the Disney Store, and then settled in for some good ole' Southern Fried chicken and corn bread and lashings of wheat beer at one of my favourite places... The House Of Blues!

Palm Springs

2011-05-04T21:42:00.001+01:00

Good grief!! It's May already and I haven't finished writing up our adventures from California back in January... Where was I up to? Oh yes, we'd left Hoover Dam and headed off across the Mojave Desert towards Palm Springs.

Our hotel, Villa Royale, in Palm Springs was a very welcome sight after such a long drive across the desert. It was still decorated for Christmas, sorry, "The Holidays" which added to the charm of this fascinating place.

A wonderfully romantic hotel, it's formerly the home of an eccentric movie producer and the fantastic Europa restaurant is housed within what used to be the main living room. The bedrooms are each unique villas and the whole estate sprawls over 3 acres while somehow, managing to feel very intimate. The manager, Jack, had us howling with laughter as soon as we met him when we innocently asked if we needed to follow any particular dress code for dinner. He looked Linda up and down and declared "Well... I would say NO Daisy Dukes and you should be just fine!"

The food matched the accommodation for being very high quality and quite unique. Nestled among the palms and the mountains it was just beautiful with pools, fountains, Hummingbirds and citrus fruit trees all around the grounds.

The next morning we decided to head up the mountain on the largest rotating cable car in the world, the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway. Starting from the desert floor of the Coachella Valley we rose up (and turned) more than 8500 feet to the alpine forest of the San Jacinto Peak where there were lots of families sledging and snow boarding in the sunshine. The view was spectacular and we could see for miles over Chino Canyon in the beautiful clear skies. We saw Stellars Jay birds and large American Squirrels at the top and really enjoyed the stunning freshness. The tram ride is about 12 minutes and passes the sheerest mountain face in North America along the way.

Back down in the town I finally got my hands on a gorgeous chocolate and caramel malt drink in Ruby's Diner on Palm Canyon Drive. A classic 1940's diner with beautiful cherry red leather seating and chrome everything else! We sat outside and watched the world go by wondering who was hiding under that baseball cap and behind those shades? The locals are quite an odd bunch really and the evidence of plastic surgery is really quite amazing.

This is Sonny Bono. He's something of a local hero having been Mayor and founded various festivals that are still celebrated every week, month and year around the area.

I'd heard about Palm Springs since my Parents visited in the 1970's and as we watched the pristine classic cars driving past I observed that they were more than likely the very same cars that my Mum and Dad had seen themselves 30 odd years ago.

We decided to go off and try to find Elvis's former home and having popped the address into the satnav we soon found it amongst all the mansions of Chino Canyon. We stopped the car and got out to take a couple of pictures and as we ventured up to the locked gates to peer through a lady came out and shouted to us. We expected to be told to 'bugger off' but were amazed when she invited us in to have a look around! Not just a quick look around, we got a full tour and were told about every room, every rose in the garden, the light fittings, the history, the owners over the years, the battles about the contents, the rights, who he'd slept with there, how much he paid for it (she even showed us a copy of the sale deeds signed by Elvis and Priscilla), and and and... She really was VERY generous with her time, her knowledge of Elvis and the house, and she even took my camera off me and took pictures of us sitting in each room and around the pool. She and her husband are massive Elvis fans and hope to turn the house into a tourist attraction if they get permission (from Elvis's people) and funding to do it all with. It was SUCH a special treat!! Uh huh!!

When Elvis died, he owned only two properties. Graceland and this one!

Linda and I relaxing in The King's living room

The Lady who owns the house explained every detail about the house and the garden.

The fountain that Elvis gave to his wife on their first wedding anniversary is in need of some repair. Linda was given three of the original glass 'penny' tiles as a keepsake.

No wonder he likes to come here and get away from it all!!

We really couldn't quite believe what was happening to us here!

It's now or never...

Yes Linda!! Elvis's bare butt HAS been here!!

So after ALL that... The fun didn't stop there and we dined at the Blue Coyote which we'd targeted from our research before the trip. What a fabulous Mexican restaurant and a brilliant, brilliant atmosphere topped off by this fantastic guitarist / singer.

A brief but really special visit to Palm Springs and I hope to go back again one day.

Hoover Dam

2011-03-14T23:03:00.000Z

So having left Sarah and Katie at the departure gate we hung around the airport for a couple of hours to make sure that they were going to set off on time and without any delays, especially as the weather had turned again over on the East coast and they were scheduled to change flights in Philadelphia later that day and they'd only just opened up the airport again after more snow. The airport has a great exhibition about Las Vegas aviation which kept us entertained until we decided that it was safe for us to set off towards Palm Springs.

We headed for the Hoover Dam as it would only take us an hour, we could keep an eye on the flight via the phone and if we needed to get back to Vegas for any reason we could do so.

Hoover Dam was fantastic! I'd flown over it in my one and only ever helicopter flight during my trip to Vegas a few years ago but to see it up close was breathtaking. The route was very pleasant with superb views over Lake Mead as we approached. Lake Mead is the largest reservoir in the United States and is formed out of the Colorado River which is restrained from its natural course by Hoover Dam.

After passing through security check points where they actually inspected the inside of the car we parked up and strolled down to the dam. The first thing to see is the monuments plaza where statues proudly salute to the people who built it. We're still in the state of Nevada at this time... more of that in a moment. The statues honour the 96 people who died during construction as well as the designers, labourers, architects, politicians and engineers who made it all possible. These 30 foot bronze winged monuments compare the achievement to the Egyptian Pyramids and are dedicated to the combination of intellect and physical strength that built the dam. The floor of the plaza surrounding this monument bears reference to the seven states which are provided with water and electricity by the dam. There are many monuments here and one could spend many hours just reading all the dedications and visiting the museums and the tour of the workings inside.

The one fact I couldn't quite get my head around is that the concrete, all 2.5 million cubic meters of it, is so thick that despite its age, 75 years, it hasn't yet set completely in some places!

We were blessed with a fabulous sunny day and it made the dam, the lake and all the surroundings look all the more impressive.

Where Linda is bravely looking over here we could see many baseball caps, hats and sunglasses way below where people had leaned over a little too far... 176.4 feet of very scary! The dam took 5 years to complete at a cost of $49 million which at first doesn't seem too outrageous until one realises that it was started in 1931. It's 45 feet wide at the top where the road crosses over its 1244 feet length and at the base, it's 660 ft wide!

Looking out from where Linda is stood we could see the new bridge. The four lane Hoover Dam Bypass was commissioned after 911 when the authorities became increasingly concerned that the dam was a terrorist target risk. The bridge opened up late in 2010 and now many types of vehicles are not allowed to travel over the dam directly.

Very impressive!!

Linda noticed her Grandfather's namesake (Herbert Clarke), honoured on this plaque as we walked across the dam from Nevada in to Arizona and into a different time zone.

The clock on Arizona side tower is an hour ahead of the one on the Nevada side. We walked 1244 feet from Nevada to Arizona and arrived an hour later! Aside from the engineering magnificence of the dam the place is really quite beautiful and the lovely blues and greens of Lake Mead and the Colorado River neatly sandwiched the rusty reds and browns of the desert between the water and the clear blue skies.

We strolled back across the state line and , of course, into the gift shop. It really is stunning in so many ways and I'm glad we made the stop on our way to Palm Springs. Just as we headed back to the car we saw one more memorial to the workers' mascot. Found as a puppy the dog lived among the workers until he was killed by the truck under which he was sleeping. The construction workers laid him to rest and this plaque marks his grave just next to the memorial plaza. Poor dog!!

After leaving the dam we stopped for lunch, outside in the glorious sunshine, in Boulder City which wouldn't exist at all if it wasn't for the magnificent Hoover Dam.

Bright Light City…

2011-03-07T23:53:00.001Z

We arrived in Las Vegas just in time to see the Christmas decorations hanging up in the MASSIVE vestibule of our hotel, MGM Grand. The hotels are, in lots of ways, very difficult to describe really; they are just SO enormous and so opulent that it’s easy to forget when wandering around their vast corridors, cavernous casinos, numerous restaurants, cafes, theatres (plural), zoos, shopping malls (yes, malls.. plural), streets, rail stations, pools, gardens, canals, fun fairs, and stuff that I’ve no doubt yet to encounter, that one hasn’t actually left the building. Think BIG… then think B-I-G-G-E-R!

After checking in and ‘wow’ing at the size of the place, the number of floors, lifts, wings and the size of the rooms and all the neon lights and everything else, our first port of call was the Rain Forest Cafe (inside the hotel) where I spotted these fantastic bar stools as I queued up for our place and the girls all shopped around in the Rain Forest Cafe shop. Well… why not?

After dinner we ventured out briefly onto The Strip (Las Vegas Boulevard), and ‘OMG’ed a bit more at the lights and the sights of Sin City. The night sky was perfectly black and provided the ideal backdrop to the living display of affluence and over-indulgence. I’d been to Vegas once previously, just over three years ago on business (oh yes! I was working!!) and I didn’t get to see much of it so I was always keen to return as a visitor. Linda had been several times before but for Sarah and Katie it was the smack in the face they’d been told to expect. They found it all a bit overpowering at first and were much happier when we retired for the evening back to the hotel. Sarah loved the room and LOVED the view out of the windows with all the lights and the occasional streak of a helicopter whizzing by. So much so, that she and Katie decided to pull up their chairs, turn off the lights and let it all soak in! They even slept with the curtains drawn so that they could see it all at first light.

Next morning they had a bit of a lie in and a Starbucks breakfast before exploring the MGM while Linda and I headed downtown to take care of the official business… Getting our wedding licence!!

It was quite an experience really! Outside of the courthouse Linda saw yet another sign about her destiny. The street that the courthouse is on corners at LEWIS and on the subject of corners, there were many very strange people hanging around! Bums, ticket touts, limousine touts, hotel touts, touting touts and it took a while for it to sink in that, of course, we were outside of the courthouse. Doh! Anyway.. inside also had some very interesting types trying to get licences but it was well worth the comedy value as we listened to them argue their case and we read some of the interesting rules signage about their right to refuse marriage licences to anyone who appeared to be too intoxicated. We’d already registered online and taken care of the ‘business’ side so our appointment only took a few minutes and the lady who looked after us couldn’t have been any nicer! So… that was it! We had our licence, we were in the right place, at the right time, with the correct paperwork and we were now allowed to go ahead and get married… How very exciting!

When we got back to the hotel at lunchtime Sarah and Katie had covered quite a lot of ground in and around the hotel and even up the strip. After their sleep and in the daylight they’d relaxed and then they got really excited about being in Vegas. They dragged us to see the Lion Enclosure which is, of course, inside the hotel!

The MGM has a 5,300 square foot glass enclosure housing several lions that allow one to view the beasts in a "natural" environment complete with trees, waterfalls, rocks, etc. As well as the walls being glass there is a glass walkway which allowed us to see these stunning animals from above, below, and all around us. Needless to say, the glass walkway leads through to another retail opportunity! There were two babies being entertained by their keepers and one of them chewed away quite happily on the guy’s fingers and thumbs! We think that this guy has the best job in the world. These young cubs are also available to have one’s photograph taken with, and LOTS of Japanese people did exactly that.

As always with our holidays we like to spring the odd surprise on the Girls. This was no exception. For our second evening out we suggested going up the strip to see Ceasars Palace. Inside they have, amongst a million other things, a Planet Hollywood restaurant and we’d booked a table.. for six people!

As we waited for our table time we stood and watched a display of one of the many fabulous animated statues and just as it finished, we bumped into Auntie Janet and Uncle Eamonn. Linda’s sister Janet and her partner Eamonn live in Alberta Canada and they’d decided to take a holiday around California, Arizona, and Nevada. They just jumped in the truck, popped over the border and drove down… like you do… in three days! It was really lovely to catch up with them both and especially so for Sarah and Katie as they had no idea that they would be there with us for the wedding. We only found out ourselves at Christmas time :-)

Our Wedding!

We’d had a great night with Janet and Eamonn and then we woke up on our big day. Starbucks breakfasts fetched by me from one of their four (or five) cafes in our hotel went down very well and we set about the business of getting ready. All three of my ladies looked amazing and Katie was bursting with pride! Not because we were getting married. Oh no… because she finally got to wear her new boots!

It was a lovely sunny morning and the excitement of getting ready was fantastic. Our limousine was booked and confirmed and we stepped out into the January sunshine and watched eagerly as limo after limo turned up. Ours was about 400 feet long in brilliant white. The driver was charming and made the trip very special for us all as we cruised up the strip and through downtown Las Vegas towards the chapel. Along the way we had the opportunity to see many more of the hotels, casinos, attractions, tattoo shops, ‘check’ cashing offices, massage parlours, tattoo shops, strip clubs and also some tattoo shops.

We drove right by the Las Vegas Hilton where The King of Rock ‘n’ Roll used to ply his trade and we had a really great view up at the Stratosphere tower which looked impressive and imposing against the clear blue sky and which I’d been crazy (and possibly a little under the influence… I know, I know.. and I am ashamed!), enough to ascend and ride on the lunatic fairground rides on top of the 1000 foot tower when I’d been over there previously… working. (I was!!)

We arrived at the Graceland Wedding Chapel in plenty of time and enjoyed the pictures of the famous people who’d also been married there. Jon Bon Jovi, Roger Glover, Billy Ray Cyrus, Jay Leno and The Thompson Twins. The chapel is very sweet inside and the ceremony was entertaining and just what we wanted. Emotional, fun, official, relaxed, just right! Did I mention fun? and entertaining? Oh yes.. Elvis was in the building!!

He walked Linda down the isle, he sang to us and he made us all smile madly as we said “I do” and tried not to cry. It was of course a very special moment for us and precious to have Sarah and Katie there with us looking all grown up! It was just what Linda and I had always promised each other that we would do when we got married. Right from when we met we’d said that we would only ever get married in Vegas… by Elvis…. and so we did!

After the wedding ceremony we set off in the limousine feeling quite relieved and very pleased with ourselves. We headed for the magnificent Venetian hotel.A stroll around St. Mark’s Square, a lovely Italian lunch and then a romantic gondola ride on the canals of Venice which are, of course, inside the hotel.

Our Gondolier was a fabulous raconteur and a beautiful singer. He serenaded us all the way and his magnificent tenor timbres made it all very special indeed.

We were even treated to a beautiful sunset over the mountains as we returned to the MGM to change for the evening. Great day so far!

We spent the evening at the second most famous street in Las Vegas, Freemont Street.

In the heart of the downtown area Freemont Street is home to some of the original and most famous casinos and hotels. The street itself is covered by what is arguably the largest TV screen in the world; The Space Frame. 12 million LED ‘modules’ capable of 16 million colour combinations, eight robotic mirrors, 180 strobes, per block. Oh yes, and a 550,000 watt pa system. There are people whizzing down the street over your head on zip wires, bands playing and people dressed up as every imaginable character from Elvis (of course) to Darth Vadar.

As we strolled around, walking off that evening’s visit to Tony Roma’s rib joint, we were treated to some of the shows where the entire screen works as one and the sound system belts out hourly themes including The Doors and Queen. Stiff neck? Nope! It really is quite amazing and it’s no wonder that it attracts around 20 million visitors every year.

The following day we took in some more of the sunshine, some more of the strip, the hotels and the incredible architecture. The new 17 million square feet City Centre hotel complex. The Miracle Mile and Planet Hollywood with Paris in the background (oh yes… the Paris hotel has it’s own Eiffel Tower, Champs Elysees, Arc De Triomph, etc. Ceasars Palace…

I could go on…

We asked Sarah and Katie what they really wanted to do on their last day. They wanted to see Madam Tussauds. They had a chat with Brad and Angelina

Eva finally got to meet the subject of her lust

Katie got a few tips from Jon Bon Jovi

and Linda and Sarah took care of business in the Oval Office.

It was a fantastic exhibition and the settings and scenes were so detailed and so clever. We spent hours in there and I could go on all day with who we saw :-) After a stunning lunch with Janet and Eamonn inside Ceasars Palace it was time to say goodbye as they set off on their way back north. This was very sad but it had been so nice to spend a bit of time with them. We called into a couple of more retail outlets including Toby Keith’s ‘I Love This Bar and Grill’ then, knackered, we took the monorail back to the MGM Grand.

We had one more surprise planned for our lovely girls before we had to drop them off at the airport the next morning and let them travel back alone from one side of the world to the other (God!! It was awful and we felt like we’d abandoned them!! Of course they had a great time travelling back without us and it was valuable experience for them… anyway, more of that later).

We had tickets to see David Copperfield that night and it was a truly fitting way to end the second chapter our holiday. All I can say is that it really was… magic!!

Calico Ghost Town

2011-02-22T14:55:00.001Z

We left San Diego on Sunday 02nd January and headed for Las Vegas by road. A very long road… A very long, very straight and very boring road… through the Mojave Desert. Very long… and very boring… Sorry Interstate 15 but I really would appreciate the occasional turn next time. Left, or right, I don’t mind… but 134 miles in a straight line, on one stretch, with nothing to see other than the occasional cactus and the back end of another 18 wheeler is enough to drive a boy mad!

Anyway….

So, after a few hours of driving we decided to take a break and Linda directed us to Calico Ghost town for a stroll and, hopefully, a bite.

Calico is an old silver mining town built on the side of King Mountain in San Bernadino County and dates back to 1881 where it boomed during the American silver rush. Within less than 25 years it had been completely abandoned with its oldest resident, Miss Lucy Bell Lane, passing away in her 60’s. Over 500 mines were active at its peak and more than 1200 residents lived among the saloon bars, brothels, gambling houses and, of course, churches.

It’s an interesting place and really feels like going back in time to the wild west that we’ve all seen in films and on TV.

Easy to imagine horses tied up outside the buildings, boots and spurs clopping and clinking along the wooden boardwalks and the sound of a slightly detuned piano playing behind the crack of occasional gunfire and dynamite explosions.

The site lay empty for many years until the Knotts Berry Farm company bought it in the 1950’s, restored it as originally as they could from old documents and photographs and gave it back to the county as a historic monument.

It’s only about a third of it’s original size but all the right ingredients are there like the fire house, the blacksmiths shop, saddlery and the explosives store.

There’s even an undertaker with an original horse drawn hearse. Behind the main street there's a railway ride on the Calico & Odessa Railroad.

During the warmer months the town is full of actors dressed up in period clothing and all of the shops, shacks and buildings are open and busy. They do re-enactments of gun fights and even a Civil War display during many festivals in the town.

Camp grounds are available too! If you’re not afraid of rattlesnakes and coyotes… and vultures...

The old school is used during education days and stands slightly removed from the high street looking very sweet indeed! If you ever happen to be passing by and in need of a break from the endless miles of I15 straightness I would highly recommend a visit to Calico. I’d love to go back in the summer and witness some of the celebratory historical enactments.

I’d never been out in the middle of the desert before and crikey it was so…. freezing!! We couldn’t believe just how cold it was and the breeze made it even more unbearable.

It wasn’t all bad though. Before returning to the car and the I15 we called into the old miners cafe for lunch and as well as that old detuned piano they had waitresses dressed up in period costume, buckets of peanuts on the tables of which it is encouraged to discard the shells onto the floor!

and good old fashioned vittles just like Granny used ter make. Corn bread, ham hock, all served up in miners tin cups :-)

San Diego

2011-02-06T16:07:00.001Z

Our much anticipated Christmas and New Year holiday to the United States got under way, despite many threats, on Wednesday 29th December 2010. Sarah had been really ill with Tonsillitis and Glandular Fever, Linda had a sore throat and a nasty cough, the UK had ground to a virtual halt with the worst winter snow and ice conditions since our generation were young enough to think that it was all very exciting and of no inconvenience whatsoever and even our destination state, California, you know… where it never rains, was drowning under their worst ever rain storms and watching their houses get washed away and their roads crumble whilst the rest of America closed its airports and itself down because there was just too much snow!

We arrived in San Diego after two very good but long flights tired, grumpy and with that gritty unwashed feeling that is the last thing one needs for the inevitable battle with the car rental company trying to convince us that the car we’d booked was way too small for the four of us and our luggage and, of course, that the only way to avoid a visit from the horrid gods of dammed hard luck was to up our insurance ten fold. We resisted well and battled through it and needless to say the car that we’d booked was easily big enough for five plus much luggage and despite our gritty tiredness we’d managed to keep tight hold of our dollars and our more than adequate insurance.

We checked into our hotel and grabbed a much needed beer and a bite before we eventually collapsed into bed. Ah yes… the beds. It had been three years since we last went to the US with the Girls and we’d been somewhat short-sighted in booking a twin room for us all to share. They used to seem plenty big enough but all of a sudden, those three years had caught up and we were now four full sized adults trying to share what now felt like a small space. It wasn’t a good first night so the next morning, as soon as I was upright, I thankfully managed to book the adjacent room and the increased comfort made for a really great stay!

Just outside our apartments we were thrilled to see Humming Birds flitting about and despite being so close to them, the above shot was about the best I got when this one sat still for three and a half picoseconds.

Our one and only venture into downtown San Diego was to see the Gaslamp Quarter on New Years Eve and it wasn’t really the best plan. It was dark, cold and seedy and perhaps just because it was Jan 31st it seemed to be completely overrun with unsavoury characters on every corner, in every doorway, at every garbage can and along every pavement. It just had an uncomfortable, dark feeling about it so we had a brief stroll around, took a few photos and then headed back to the hotel with a bunch of snacks for our wild Hogmanay party :-) Perhaps another day and another time we’ll have a better look around. You can make your own mind up about the next pic… One of many interesting sights around this quarter of San Diego.

The main destination for us in San Diego was the zoo in Balboa Park. Opened in 1915 it is renowned as one of the very best in the world and it really did turn out to be that way! Over 4000 animals with everything imaginable provided. It was a full day out and we were blessed with beautiful clear blue sunny skies all day. It was a bit chilly at times but not quite as cold as the locals made it out to be in their thermals, boots, woolies and duck down pants. We started early with breakfast at the zoo and I overheard the following conversation between a guy and his young son in the ‘rest’ room. “Ok.. you done yet? Good, well jump off, turn around and spread your legs so I can clean you up and then I’m gonna have to have words with your Mama ‘cos I don’t know what the god-damned she’s been feeding you!”

Some parts of the zoo were quietly comfortable to look around and to stand and watch the animals and considering that the schools were off it never really got too stressful. Some exhibits were obviously very very popular and at times it did get a wee bit mad. The Polar Bears were one of the maddest bits with hundreds of Mexicans, Chinese and Japanese people all climbing over each other and trading their children in exchange for a clearer view. We arrived there just as they were feeding and despite the crowds it was a rare moment of wonder to see these massive beasts up close and personal.

The Lions too were very popular and the way the enclosures are set up makes it easy for the more patient public to get stunning views and witness some of the magic that these magnificent animals possess.

Top of my list was the Panda. I’d always wanted to see a live Panda and after around 30 mins of queuing my wish came true. Wow!! What an absolute treat!! There were three Pandas in the enclosure on that day and this gorgeous youngster sat posing for us just as we got our turn. They are just as lovely as I’d always imagined and I genuinely felt privileged and moved to see them.

Another first for me, and the Girls, was seeing the Pacific Ocean. This was looking out from the Seaport Village towards Coronado and the bridge in the background is 2.1 miles long, rises to 200 feet and turns through 80 degrees half way over. Quite a sight!

Linda thought I’d arranged an early surprise wedding present as we walked out of the car park!

The Seaport Village is a shopping and dining complex and was met very enthusiastically by Sarah and Katie… and Linda… and ok, even I made a purchase or two.

It’s a charming place and it is full of ‘old’ style Mexican buildings which nestle below the modern imposition of the San Diego downtown district.

As well as the shops and eateries there are street entertainers around every corner… Balloon shapers, musicians, magicians, mimes. It’s a lovely place. Just behind us on the picture above was the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier which is still in active service. Also just around the corner is the USS Midway which is now a museum and was gearing up for a massive New Year’s party.

The village is full of beautiful flowers and stunning cacti which were looking pretty good for mid-winter.

This beautiful carousel was hand carved in 1895 by Charles Looff, one of the 50 or so that he made by hand in his lifetime.

On a day like this, there can be no better way to have a look around San Diego than this!

Have you ever seen Aunt Josephine’s house on Lemony Snicket – A series of Unfortunate Events? Sarah and Katie saw the resemblance here:-

On our last day in San Diego we did a bit more shopping and headed up the coast to see the sunset over La Jolla.

La Jolla (La Hoya) is a beautiful, affluent seaside area just like Southport which is to the North of San Deigo.

We parked right between this famous (for weddings etc) sunset scene to our left and this fantastic sculpture atop the San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art to out right.

Down at the beaches we were treated to a whole load of seals which were swimming, posing, fighting and playing in the surf, on the ricks and even up on the beaches right in front of us. They kept us well entertained as we waited for the sun to set.

Despite the sheer beauty of this place Sarah and Katie encountered a life-changing trauma as they used the only available public convenience, a portaloo, which had been provided just by the stone pier. Let’s just say that it wasn’t exactly clean and fresh and that I don’t think either of them will ever want to go to the Glastonbury festival now!!

The sunset was genuinely special. Sarah and Katie were really struck by just how beautiful it was and we all agreed that we are very lucky indeed to have encountered such peaceful and precious moments.

So that was it for San Deigo. Great food. Great company. Fantastic scenery. Great shops. Lovely weather. Fabulous animals. Beautiful sunsets. Simples!

Nice Beaver!

2010-07-04T19:35:00.016+01:00

At the end of a glorious 30 mile drive from Jasper we came to Maligne Lake. Fed and drained by the Maligne (Wicked) River it reaches depths of over 300 feet and at over 14 miles long it is, during the summer months at least, very popular with tourists taking boat trips, kayaking, swimming and diving.

On the day we visited this April however, there was no sailing or swimming or anything and the boat house was very much closed! We had the place pretty much to ourselves and I couldn't resist a short, timid stroll as it's often been said that I couldn't walk on water! Usually by people who inwardly like the thought of me falling in of course. I didn't venture out too far as it was starting to show some signs of thinning out, a bit like my hair, but I did it... I walked on water!

It was a stunning late April day and Janet and Eamonn made the most of this opportunity to catch a few well deserved rays and just a few Z's. Indeed, when I took this picture they had both been snoring for nearly two hours. No doubt still traumatised from our wild adventures around Patricia lake the day before! (we got lost!! and we got quite scared when we saw fresh Moose poo... and Cougar poo... and Bear poo!... in the woods... how did we know so much about poo? We were walking in the woods... and you need to know)

Back along the beautiful Maligne Lake road towards Jasper is Medicine Lake which during the summer months fills with bright blue rock flour filled melt water from the mountains and then empties away again in the winter. This has for years haunted the natives as they believed it was magical powers that filled and emptied the lake. It is still somewhat unknown exactly how big and complex the underground system of drainage is although scientific experiments have shown that it feeds many different lakes and rivers. It was of course empty during our visit and having been once before, during the summer, I can understand why it freaked out the locals!

Where we were stood in this picture we could hear the water draining away just behind us... Much like a gurgling bath tub. Stunning views all around us, typical of Jasper National Park.

After eating in Jasper town that evening we caught the sunset over beautiful Lac Beauvert which lovingly hugs the Jasper Park Lodge hotel. This is way better than watching any TV! The scenery changes constantly as the light dies down over the mountains and bounces itself around off the trees and the water. The only sound being Canada Geese deciding that it was time for bed. Shortly after taking this picture below we were in near darkness.

North from our guest house in Hinton we called in to try and find the 'Beaver Boardwalk'. Our hosts had recommended this as a really good evening wildlife spotting opportunity. We were concerned when we eventually found it and got out of the car to this sign....

The boardwalk is a wooden pathway through the woods and wetlands of Hinton which is over a mile long. Built entirely by volunteers to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Hinton pulp mill 'West Fraser', who supplied all of the materials. It's a lovely walk and we picked the perfect evening with everything being so very still and quiet. Needless to say because it was so still and quiet, we could 'hear' a cougar... around every corner. It didn't take us too long to come face to face with wild beavers but it did take the kindness of a local guy who was out walking his dog to notice us wandering around haplessly with our cameras and looking lost. He pointed us in the direction that he'd just come from.

Up close and personal with nature once again we were truly mesmerised by the way in which these beautiful little creatures went about their business of chewing... squeaking to each other... chewing a bit more... swimming off and coming back with more twigs... squeaking more and chewing even more.... Fabulous!

They we really enchanting to watch and just far enough away from us that we didn't disturb them. We were also getting up close and personal with nature in other ways, mosquitoes! in April!

We stood in awe of their habitat and wondered how such small beasts could be responsible for constructing such a vast and complicated series of waterways. Like a miniature Miami housing and marina complex with dams, ponds, lanes, and buildings, they've adapted their environment very much to suit themselves and we couldn't help but wonder about the logic of building a wooden walkway around this place. Wood... Beavers... Hhmmmm... We supposed that there were enough trees to keep them busy for a good few years yet. This small hump is about 70 feet wide by 20 feet above the water!!

We thoroughly enjoyed our evening encounter with a true Canadian symbol and most enjoyable of all was to see how dexterous they are with their front paws and to hear how chatty they are with each other. Very sociable chaps indeed!

As if we hadn't been spoiled enough with wildlife encounters, on the way back to the house in pitch dark, we spotted a young Moose at the side of the road. Nice to see and a really fabulous way to finish of our latest Rocky Mountain adventure.

Nature in motion

2010-06-07T09:21:00.005+01:00

Linda and I had a lovely afternoon at Mere Sands Wood yesterday. It's less than two miles from home and one of our regular strolls. Sarah was hard at work and Katie was hard at shopping so we made the tough choice between doing our well overdue household chores, or going out to play! We're SO glad we did. As usual it was really peaceful there and along the way we saw this stunning dragonfly (Northern Emerald I think?) coming into the world for its second life and warming up its wings in the sunshine. You may need to click on the pictures to see better detail.

Lower down the stem of the flower was the discarded exoskeleton of the dragonfly nymph which had emerged from its underwater home only moments earlier.

He/She was a bit of a poser and kept me entertained for ages....

Meanwhile... Linda saw a very distinctive flash of blue move over the pond and we were lucky enough to sit and watch a Kingfisher perched for some time, before he dived in for a bite to eat. We were quite a distance away but with the binoculars it made a fantastic show. Again, if you click on the pics they show much better.

It was definitely one of those "It's really good being me!" Sundays :-)

Heading for the hills

2010-06-05T21:30:00.009+01:00

We're quite probably in love with the Rockies and we needed our fix this year just as we have done on previous trips so Linda and Janet had booked for us to stay in a beautiful guest house just outside of Hinton, at Folding Mountain which is about 40 mins North East of Jasper. Saturday morning we packed up the truck and headed out for the hills in 'Lily', Eamonn and Janets HUGE Ford monster truck or should I say, SUV. As usual the scenery was dreary and the traffic was frustrating and stressful.

Our first stop off was at the Cinnamon Spoon cafe in Bragg Creek at the foothills of the mountains where we stocked up on coffee and snacks. This is a popular filming location and was even used in the BBC series Dinosapien. Our next stop was at one of Eamonn's favourite places, Two Jack Lake.

A popular camping site in Banff National Park the area teams with wildlife. We spotted a couple of Columbian Ground Squirrels who had already woken up from their hibernation. They hibernate for up to 8 months a year from as early as late July, so during their brief awake periods, they never stop eating! The males come out of hibernation first and the females carry on slumbering for another week or two. Hhmmm... sounds familiar!

These lovely little creatures live in colonies so I don't doubt that by the time we reached Banff town for our next coffee and cake, there were many more about. I knelt down for a while with my camera poised and for a change, my patience was rewarded with this curious little guy... gorgeous!

We also spotted a Chipmunk... alas, he then spotted us and disappeared.

We called into Banff just briefly for refreshment and then set off up the Icefields Parkway. It was a beautiful, sunny, fresh morning and then within seconds, my flabber was gasted as we ran into a complete white-out snow storm. I couldn't believe it. It's a good job we had a couple of relaxed Canadians (well.. nearly) to look after us because just for a few moments... I thought our time had come.

Thankfully after a few miles more the snow went just as quickly as it had arrived and so we pulled in for our lunch. We had nothing short of a feast with us including what was left of Linda's birthday cake and no sooner had we pulled up in a fabulous location by the side of the road. mountains, frozen lake, than we were joined by this guy who perched on the bonnet of the car and shouted at us through the window.

As we neared Jasper we started to see more wildlife and it makes such a change being a passenger and being able to look out at it all. There were many White-Tailed Deer looking very cute...

...and of course many well behaved Big-Horn Sheep who adhere to the road signs.

After checking in at our guest house and listening to our hostess for what seemed like hours... bless her, she was only trying to be helpful but surely my body language eventually screamed out "shut the f*** up!! We have stuff to do and we're only here for a few days!!" Anyway.. she kindly recommended somewhere good and local to eat. We had a VERY interesting evening in Hinton at a Greek restaurant where there had just been a local wedding. The food was superb. The unofficial entertainment was fascinating. Why... for example, would you have a stuffed cat on the dinner table in front of the bride? I kid you not!! A stuffed cat was the centre-piece on the wedding table. As for the wedding party... It was like the Jerry Springer Show and the Jeremy Kyle Show all rolled in to one. Best of all was when they all left, drunk as you like, and all climbed into their pick up trucks. The bride even climbed in twice... because she was so blotto that she fell in one door and right out of the other onto the pavement!

We relaxed back at the guest house with a couple of nice glasses and watched the mountains go to sleep. Next morning, this is what we woke up to!

Worth two in the bush? I think so!

2010-05-31T11:16:00.020+01:00

Our recent trip to Canada didn't exactly start out very well... After months of preparation and planning we fell victim to the now infamous dust cloud from the Icelandic volcano, Eyjafjallajökull. I must confess that up until this incident made the headlines, I thought that Eyjafjallajökull was a striker for Chelsea!

Our main objective was to get there in time for Linda's birthday as what she particularly wanted to do to mark this 'significant' milestone was to eat at her favourite restaurant in Longview with her 'baby' sister Janet. This below is what no sleep for 3 days, 10 hours in an empty, closed airport and no hope of flying does to the happy traveller...

Anyway... enough of all that! We eventually made it in time... just!

Our first big trip out was to Fish Creek Provincial Park near Calgary. It's a stunning place and stretching to over 11 miles from East to West it's one of the largest urban parks in North America. There are miles of cycling paths, walking trails, masses of trees, ponds, creeks and an abundance of wildlife, some of which we managed to get quite close to...

Linda and Janet had much catching up to do which gave me time to take about 4 million pictures.

Oh yeah... the wildlife I mentioned... Our anxiousness to get there was due to this -

Janet and Eamonn had been here several times already and told us about the smaller birds of the parks being hungry enough to take food out of their hands. They discovered this when one pinched a crumb from Janet's sandwich and then came back for more. Janet got busy right away with this Red-Breasted Nuthatch. Then the birthday girl joined in.

It was such a thrill to get so close and such a privilege to feel how delicate these little chaps were on our fingers and each time we moved along a few hundred yards we were greeted by more...

At one particular corner they were almost queing up and as one took off, another one landed. They only ever stayed for a matter of seconds but it was enough to enjoy the magic.

The most common visitor to our hands were the Black-Capped Chickadees, similar in size, appearance and song to some of the larger Tits that we get back at home.

It's amazing how much seed they can get in their tiny beaks!

I love this next shot! "Here I am... My turn! My turn!..."

Linda's favourite was this White-Breasted Nuthatch. He was something of an acrobat and when not feeding from our hands he was climbing up tree trunks or hanging upside down from a branch. They nest in holes in the trees and deter predators like squirrels and snakes by smearing insects around the entrance.

We saw a good number of these around the park and this one in particular appeared to be following Janet for while.

He was quite a poser!

As we strolled around we saw other locals too, I tried MANY times to get a good photograph of a 'Gopher', or to give this one his proper name, a Richardson's Ground Squirrel. Alas, they are very VERY shy and kept running away from me.

We went back to the park for a second visit during our holiday and although there was still some snow on the ground, the sun shone for us most of the way around and the inhabitants didn't disappoint us.

While Linda and Janet went about feeding the birds I went off to see what else I could spot... I followed this lovely little Downy Woodpecker for ages and eventually managed to get close enough for this.

This is a North American Robin, you wouldn't want this fellow pinching the top of your milk though, he's about the size of a Mistle Thrush.

The most bizzare sight greeted us around one corner, a Canada Goose had built it's nest on top of an old tree stump. This was about 12 feet in the air and looked so strange.

Janet's little pal stealing a whole nut.

We walked over towards the Bow River and yet more Nuthatches appeared.

After we'd spoken SO much about the fact that we'd never seen a goose up a tree before and how unusual it was etc, we saw this...
Yes! Another Canada Goose, up a tree! Somehow it just seemed wrong to us! It looked SO odd for a web-footed bird the size of a small car to be sitting on a branch.

It really is a lovely park and we only just scratched the surface of it. Janet and Eamonn have seen Mule Deer in there and Great Horned Owls and there are apparently beavers, muskrats, coyote and garter snakes seen regularly according to the information boards. Oh... and the occasional cougar!

The picture above sums up our visits for me. It was a special experience and several hours of pure tranquility and undisturbed peace that'l I'll always treasure.

I'll close this note with a couple of further shots of the real stars of this park for you to enjoy!

Yes!! I got him :-)

Scotland - Summer 09

2009-09-03T20:35:00.030+01:00

Our summer holiday this year was much anticipated and we headed off for a couple of weeks on the west coast of one of THE most beautiful countries in the world, Scotland! Our main location for the first week being Tobermory on the enchanting Isle of Mull.

There's something very exciting and very calming about driving North. All too often I have to turn right when I reach the M6 motorway and drive down to London or Coventry, St. Albans or across to Leeds and Sheffield and for years I've noticed that when I head North, I feel like a five year old on the back seat of my parent's Morris Oxford heading for a day out in the country. The sight of the green hills as we cross from Lancashire into Cumbria brings out the explorer in me and I couldn't wait to get to our destination for the first night, The famous old Drovers Inn just north of Loch Lomond. We stopped in Biggar for lunch having made a great early start and carried on through Glasgow and Paisley, over the Erskine Bridge and along the stunningly beautiful banks of Loch Lomond to our destination where we had a really great evening. A couple of drinks, some nice food including Haggis for me, and we all slept in Rob Roy's room where everything creaked and cracked even when we were asleep. Next morning we woke up to sunshine over the hills and the waterfalls, then we drove across to Oban where we eagerly awaited the arrival of our ferry to Mull.

Maybe it's a boy thing, but we got there very early and while the girls went off rooting around the shops in Oban I 'played' with my camera around the harbour and watched the Jellyfish in the water. The weather was fantastic and we had lunch on the harbour wall just before we sailed.

Right across from where Linda is sitting there was a fresh seafood market and I had to do all I could to resist her temptation to stock up the already crushing car with fish, fish and more fish.

As the boat left Oban we pottered around on the decks watching the scenery change and the gulls float along with us. Perhaps they too were off on a holiday adventure?

After 10 mins or so Sarah and Katie went inside to read and left Linda and I to look out for seals, whales, dolphins, yachts, castles, ships and lighthouses.

Well we did see some yachts.. and another ship...

and a lighthouse. This is Lismore lighthouse which protects shipping in the Sound of Mull. Built in 1833 by Robert Stevenson it can be seen for up to 19 miles as it flashes every 10 seconds. Right nearby is Lady's Rock which was the place where Maclean of Duart decided to tie up and maroon his wife in 1527 in an attempt to murder her, and as he announced her death to the Earl of Argyll (her father), he had no idea that she had already been rescued by some local fishermen until she appeared alive and well in front of him. Shortly afterwards, Maclean suffered a violent death himself!

As we arrived on Mull at Craignure it was only a short 30 min drive up to Tobermory where we checked into our cottage for the week. Then followed the customary wander around the village and the harbour to see what we could see. All I could hear in my mind for days was 'wow!' We had a couple of pints of the local brew, well I did, and fish and chips outside of the pub on the harbour. Watching the people go by and happy to be there on our holiday at last! :-)

We decided that our first full day on the island was to be a very relaxing one with no driving (Hoorrayyy!). Sarah and Katie decided that they really wanted to bake cakes, so they did! Very nice they were too. Linda and I did a bit of fishing on the harbour in Tobermory and ate our lunch at the end of this lovely little pier watching the boats come and go and looking back at the beautifully coloured houses along Main Street. We did catch one fish. Not sure what it was but it was about 10 inches long and it felt like a shark when I tried to land it. Honest! Linda has it on video!

After our day of fishing and baking (don't ask me...), we'd booked ahead for a special dinner in the 'best restaurant on Mull', The Highland Cottage. What a treat, and only a short walk away from the cottage past all of the wonderful scenery like this lot behind Linda...

The experience was first class. From the very moment we stepped into the door until the very slow walk home. We were taken to the lounge for drinks and canapes whilst we took our time to read and discuss the menu, 5 course dinner is standard. It sits amongst the town's conservation area and it feels very personal to dine here in such a homely setting. The food was out of this world and we all left feeling a little bit plumper than when we'd arrived.

Tuesday was our trip out to the Treshnish Islands. We drove out early to Ulva Ferry and as we pulled up we were treated to our first sighting of a White Tailed Sea Eagle. At a distance though so we didn't photograph it, but it put on quite a display for us as we waited for our boat.

Ulva Ferry is a gorgeous, remote little place when one actually has to physically change a slider on a simple painted sign from white to red in order to attract the ferry man from the opposite side of the loch. Fascinating to watch this slick operation in progress as walkers and day trippers arrived and called for his services over to Ulva. As we stood waiting for our trip we watched a seal playing in the harbour and many more of the Lion's Mane jellyfish dancing around in the water like we'd seen in Tobermory.

As we sailed out of the loch into open sea the skipper paused to allow us to photograph this colony of Grey Seals. There were dozens of them with recent pups too and they bobbed up and down in the water as we watched them play. I'm sure they were laughing at us all on top of the cabin desperate to take pictures and yet holding on for dear life as the boat rocked about on the swell. Further out to sea we paused again as the skipper has spotted an eight metre Basking Shark. It was truly special to see this creature in the wild and so up close. Alas the sea was a bit too choppy by now to take any photographs, we actually couldn't stand up but still it was such a treat to watch the fins go by us as we stayed in the same place, being well and truly thrown around, for around 10 mins until the beast was gone.

After around 90 mins of sailing we arrived at Lunga. Hamish Haswell-Smith describes Lunga in The Scottish Islands (2004) as 'a green jewel in a peacock sea'. We could instantly see why. What a beautiful, stunningly remote piece of land. There were Atlantic Seals all around the shores and an amazing aerobatic and aquatic display of Razorbills, Manx Shearwaters, Storm Petrels, Guillemots, Kittiwakes, Great Northern Divers, Gannets, Terns and more as we alighted onto the somewhat 'rickety' jetty that was our only passageway from the rocking boat, to the rocky shore.

We had a couple of hours ashore on Lunga and it was such a privilege to sit atop the grassy cliffs watching and listening to the sea and the wind as we sat and ate out picnic in the sunshine. Yes... sunshine. We were so lucky with the weather all week on (and off) Mull. Coats and jumpers were needed of course due to the breeze but still, it was shining upon us. What we'd come to see were these little chaps.

The island is a breeding ground for Puffins and they make their burrows in tops of the sandy cliffs. We sat no more than two or three feet away from them at times as they constantly peeked in and out of their nests in the ground and flew off and came back with beak-fulls of fresh fish. They are majestic, beautiful birds and yet also somewhat comical as they twist their heads right and left before waddling two and fro. Lunga is a designated 'site of specific scientific interest' because of its abundant plant life and bird life. This really was the most peaceful, idyllic place that I'd ever sat for a couple of hours and I could have stayed there for weeks. Such a treat and such a special moment for us all to share watching the Puffins and trying to get that, or rather, THIS special shot.

We left Lunga after a stressful (for the ladies of the party) walk back across the rocky, slippery shore to the rocky, slippery pontoon to which our boat, 'Hoy Lass', was tied.

Our next destination was Staffa which is a stunning island made from columns of basalt and which time and tide has worn away to form fabulous acoustic caves, Fingals Cave being the most spectacular and famous for its influence on the composer Mendelssohn. Alas, by this time the sea was just too rough to land and somehow, I managed to get just this one decent shot out of the window with one hand as I held poor Katie's hair out of the way with the other as she was very, very sea sick. Aside from that small trauma it was a truly magical day that I will always treasure and we all really enjoyed the spectacle and the uniqueness of it all.

Tuesday we headed down to the south of the island to see Grasspoint and Duart Castle. No boats! Along the way we spotted and took advantage of this superb honesty box. The contents of which were just a bit special.

Grasspoint was breathtaking. It was once the main ferry port for Mull being the closest accessible piece of land to the mainland and now it just boasts a couple of isolated holiday cottages and an abundance of wildlife. Rabbits, Deer, Seals, Eagles and many species of bird make it a popular location for walkers and wildlife watchers. We had to park the car about half a mile away and walk down a very basic lane to get there and the views and the tranquility and freshness of the air were a lovely reward. It was a very windy day and there were lots of big sailing boats going past us as we took in the scene. Our evening meal that day was something to behold! Linda and I ordered the house speciality which was a platter of local seafood. When we saw the chef fussing over this HUGE preparation of food we assumed, wrongly, that this was the display for the refrigerator window, then she carried it to our table! When I took this picture it was already half eaten and we were just 'resting'. Brown crab claws, whole velvet crabs, oysters, and hidden beneath the langoustines are squat lobsters, dozens of them and they are one of the tastiest things I've ever eaten.

The next day we'd secretly arranged for Katie to go trekking at Killiechronan and she had a lovely time riding Becky, the oldest (25!) and fastest horse in the pack. We'd stashed her boots and jodpurs in the car before we left and needless to say, she didn't mind a bit! They all rode off into the forest towards the hills and we went off just a short distance away to sit and relax by the water for a couple of hours.

This view is what we had to put up with whilst Katie was out riding. We sat alone on the shores of Loch na Keal with rare disturbances by the sound of an occasional car or a buzzard. Blissful!

We returned to the same spot a couple of hours later to eat lunch when Katie had finished her trek and she excitedly recounted every detail of the adventure to us. After lunch we set off around the coast towards Calgary to show the girls the beautiful sands. We stopped for several distractions along the way including this sleepy old chap who was doing a bit of sunbathing.

The next distratcion was Eas Fors. This spectacular waterfall was visible from the boat when we left Ulva Ferry earlier in the week and it was well worth making the stop for.

The picture of the girls above is near the first part of the falls and the pools which are naturally cut into the rocks.
From here the water moves out towards the coast under a lovely old stone bridge...

and then after swirling around in some more pools it dissapears over the cliffs into the loch below. The small gap in the rocks next to Linda and Katie is the head of a really spectacular drop which sees the water fall for hundreds of feet into the loch below.

It was a really sensational place with amazing views and sounds.

So it's the last week of July and we're on the beach. Ok we need our fleeces on, but it's beautifully sunny and it's not exactly crowded. The sun is in the sky oh why oh why would we wanna be anywhere else?

It was warm enough for a paddle which we all did walking the length of the bay in both directions as Buzzards circled overhead and screeched to each other.

We even had time to sit in the sand and let our feet dry. What you can't see in the picture is that behind me, there was an almighty rain storm out at sea by this time and we timed it to absolute perfection as we got back into the car and managed to get out of the car park before the heavens opened. We drove over the hills through even more striking countryside to Dervaig and had a very good meal in the oldest inn on Mull, The Bellachroy, which has stood and served for over 400 years.

After we left Dervaig the rain had gone away again so we took a detour to see what 'Croig' was all about. Everywhere on the island there was mention of Croig crabs and Croig lobster. It was very much worth the visit. Nothing there except a house, a few boats, a slipway for the fishing boats and a couple of wrecks but it is a wonderfully peaceful and alluring place. So silent, so pretty and the sun was blistering as we sat in this little cove. The water is perfectly clear.

Just away from the slipway, which had some large orange sacks of fresh shellfish stacked up on it, was this wreck of a fishing boat which I found irresistable to photograph. I took far too many shots (as I always do) but this below is exactly what I had in mind when I saw the setting.

Thursday we headed to the south of the island again, as far south as we could go down to Fionnphort. This is the port opposite the sacred isle of Iona and it's very busy with tourists, coachloads of them. As well as the tourism it's a busy (poulation 70!) little fishing port too with a speciality for crab and lobster. The views out to Iona are very special.

The water here is an amazing blue sapphire colour, the sun shone on us again and there was a lovely warm breeze. There are sheep grazing all around, between the cars, in people's gardens and on the beach.

Looking out over the pink granite rocks to the sea it was hard to believe that we were not somewhere much further away from home. What a fabulous part of the world we live in!

Whilst we were down on the Ross of Mull we also called into Bunnessan to have lunch and see the cottage where Linda and I are going back to in October. In the only pub around we had a delightful lunch looking out at the Oystercatchers among the seaweed covered rocks and Sarah fell in love with Winston, a rather big Chow Chow. We found our cottage for October just about 5 mins from the pub and looking out over the loch and then just at the back of it, Katie spotted this young Golden Eagle perched up on a telegraph post. He was good enough to pose for us before diving off after something he'd seen that looked tasty. Stunning bird! We can't wait to go back.

Linda did some very useful research and planning for this trip and still on the same day out to the south we took a detour to see Laggan Sands and Moy Castle. One has to be very determined to see this place. VERY determined. It took a good hour down a very narrow though beautiful dirt track 'road' until we eventually arrived at Lochbuie and parked up the car amid breathtaking surroundings and one of the most amazing vistas you could imagine. The determination needs to carry on now but on foot. After 10 mins of walking we came across Moy Castle. Sadly it was surrounded by scaffold but that's good news as the Lottery funding has been granted to make it safe and to preserve it for future genrations to enjoy. Built in the 15th century by Hector MacLean, brother of the aforementioned Maclean of Duart, it was abandoned in 1752 when the new house was built just behind it. This is the view that the house enjoys!

A further walk of around 20-30 mins through the castle grounds and around the bay took us to Laggan Sands. Officially the 9th best beach in the UK for spotting wildlife. There were eagles above us screeching to each other as they searched for supper, there were deer on the hillsides around us and although we didn't see any, there are seals and dolphins to be seen in this natural harbour. As you can see, we had to fight for space on the beach again! The only company we had at all on this gorgeous beach were some washed up jellyfish!!

On the journey back to Tobermory we were treated to a fantastic display above the trees by six Buzzards.

They played and rehearsed their arial manoeuvres right above our heads for about 15 mins and they were so vocal the whole time as they circled and dived, climbed and soared before they dispersed. Incredible to watch all of this so up close and so very personal as we were the only people around for many many miles. They didn't seem to mind at all that we were stood watching them.

On Friday the girls wanted to have a restful day and once again, bake some cakes. Linda and I went out for a stroll along the cliffs to see the Tobermory Lighthouse. A stroll that turned into a major trek through mud, shrubs, mud, fearns, mud, rocks, bracken, mud, at times we were literally walking along ridges with 100+ feet drop offs to one side and the sea crashing below us onto the rocks. Did I mention the mud?

The walk was worth it and the views and the freshness of the air was fantastic but the walk back was even more challenging as we had to climb up a hillside towards the golf course, via a stream. This picture of Linda shows real strength in the face of adversity. The smile is faked for the camera. She was actually SO grumpy all the way up. Just because it was wet and muddy and steep and she couldn't see over the foliage. SO grumpy! Just because a slug had found it's way into the conservatory and slimed all over Linda's jeans which she'd washed the previous day. I mean SLIMED! You've never seen so much slime in your life! Just because her legs were hurting.... and just because I was loving it! :-)

This view above is what I had to put up with when I played golf at Tobermory. Shocking isn't it!
This is the 3rd green looking out towards Calve Island which our cottage is named after. We had one last fabulous meal booked for the Friday night in the Waters Edge / Tobermory Hotel and for the first time all week, we got well and truly soaked on the climb back up to the cottage. This is what wet looks like. We all had waterproofs on and still we got soaked on our 10 min walk.

As we left Mull we all reflected on a wonderful week and looked forward to the next adventure waiting for us back on the main land. I love these little ferries... they only hold about 8 cars and they're just such a part of the unique romance of the Inner Hebrides.

Our first stop on the mainland was Ardnamurchan Point which is the most westerly point on the British mainland. It was quite a trek to get here but it was worth every bit of the effort. It's a wild and comfortless bumpy and rock-strewn place and the sky was dark grey just to add to the feeling of obscurity. At the same time it feels so fresh and so powerful to stand there as the waves crash around you from all sides. The traffic control was the last several hundred metres around the cliff to the car park. It was fascinating to see as we hadn't seen any traffic lights for over a week and we wouldn't see any again for about sixty miles.

So if you stepped off here and went in a straight line, the next land you would hit would be somewhere in Nova Scotia.

The lighthouse was built by the Stevenson family in 1849 with stone quarried on Mull. Apparently it has an 'Egyptian' influence... There was thankfully a very warm and welcoming tea room made from one of the keepers cottages and whilst we were there, there were some people who were mad enough to be abseiling down the side of the tower to raise money for the MacMillan Cancer charity and a brave young band of Scottish pipers. It all added to the excitement of the visit which we thought would be 10 mins and a few pictures and actually lasted for about two hours. Great place!

So at this point in time, this was the most westerly couple on the British mainland :-)

Our apartment in Glencoe was very nice and situated on the shores of Loch Leven. Just a few minutes walk from the village of Glencoe and just 20 mins drive to Fort William which is where we saw our next set of traffic lights.

On Sunday we headed out west to see the Morar and Mallaig Highland Games. It was a small but faultless event lasting all afternoon. From start to finish there were traditional dancing competitions going on and the constant wailing of hundreds of bag pipes being practiced in every corner, under every tree as they warmed up and down for their turn in front of the judges. Add to that the complete pipe bands marching around the arena and the constant announcements for the next field event within the arena and on the tracks. It was a brilliant day, so much to see and so much to laugh about as the many 'public' contestants failed time after time to throw things, carry things and run fast enough without falling over. Then there were the 'special' shoes that had to be worn by the most serious contestants for certain events... in throwing the hammer, they had daggers fastened to the front of each shoe!

Some of you may recognise the Clan Chieftain who was on duty meeting and greeting his people.

We eagerly awaited ALL afternoon for the finale of the 'heavy' events, the caber tossing.

These poles were huge and you could see the strain on the competitors faces and legs as they tried to steady themselves, then tried to move forwards with some momentum before the final lift and hurl of the big stick. There were four main competitors for all of the heavy events, shot putt, throwing weights, hammers, etc and of course the caber. Not one of them managed to actually toss the thing over and when you consider that this chap below is a former world champion (he's American by the way) it shows how hard it must actually be.

After the excitement of the games we drove a short distance up the coast to Mallaig which is a lovely little port town. The 'Harry Potter' steam train, The Jacobite, terminated here from it's regular journey from Fort William. The ferries sail from here to the Isle of Skye.

We didn't stay long but it was a pretty little place and seemed to have quite a lot going on. It's a working port but it still has that attractive remoteness and cleanliness of the highlands about it.

We decided to take the (even more) scenic route home along the winding coast and I'm SO glad that we did. We couldn't believe the number of little coves along the way which made us stop and go "Wow!!". Look at the colours of this water and the sand, it's hard to believe that we're still in the UK at times.

We hadn't planned for the games being so interesting so we ended up just grabbing fish and chips on the way home as it was too late to find a restaurant. We sat eating them on the pier car park at Fort William and watched loads of lads and dads fishing for their supper, they were catching plenty. Just by where we sat on the way out that morning Linda spotted three Dolphins in the water but by the time we'd stopped and turned around, parked up and got the cameras out they were nowhere to be seen.

When we got back to Glencoe we had to put up with this scene outside of the house. I just couldn't stop looking at it but eventually a nice well earned glass of something was thrust into my hand. I think we all fell asleep within seconds of 'having a little sit down'.

We spent Monday having a good root about. The Girls had a lie in and Linda and I went into Glencoe village to see the Folk Museum. It was a miserable rainy day so most of our trekking that day was done in the car. We went to see Port Appin which is another very remote and very 'Wow, look at that' place just north of Loch Creran as it meets the sea. It's really 'just' the other side of the Sound of Mull from Duart Castle and on the end of the strip of land called Lismore, is the lighthouse that we saw earlier from the ferry and from Grasspoint. We could see Lady's Rock again but from the other side now. This romantic scene is Castle Stalker which is shrouded by the mountains of Morvern and sits on its own island in the waters of Loch Laich. Built in 1495 by Duncan Stewart it was taken by the Campbells in 1620, recaptured in 1685, abandoned in the 1700's and eventually ruined and roofless by 1830. It is now privately owned having been restored since the 1960's. Looks like quite a nice place to live doesn't it..

The end of our holiday was a couple of nights in Glasgow and the shock of being in the city was quite something. So many buildings and people and cars and... well.. there was stuff everywhere. Thankfully our apartment was first class and rose well above the melee below of prostitues, drunks, drug users and lap dancing bars and gave us a great view over the river. Here we all are, knackered and looking forward to dinner at TGI Fridays... Mmmmm.. Burgers!

We quickly got over the shock of being amongst crowds again and the weather continued to bless us. We had a day of shopping, Sarah and Katie in Next, Accesorize, Claires and all that, Linda and I in Guitar Guitar ;-)

We loved it in the city and it provided a very fitting end to our wonderful holiday. We'd secretly booked to see Annie at the Theatre Royal on our last night away and it was a truly fantastic show and we all enjoyed it immensly.

We had one final stop on the way home, Gretna Green. Just for lunch!

A Hunka Hunka Jalfrezi

2009-06-25T20:21:00.006+01:00

A couple of months ago Linda and I were eating at the Bangla Fusion restaurant in Much Hoole when she spotted a poster on the wall advertising a curiously titled "Elvis and Curry Night". She declared an interest of course and before we'd finished our Poppadoms she'd handed over the cash for four tickets to this event as "it will make a perfect Father's Day present" for her Dad, Geoff, who likes curry and LOVES Elvis.

The idea of the evening was to enjoy a wonderful meal and then sit and relax to drink whilst being entertained by Lancashire's very own 'The Duke as Elvis'. Here he is :-

The food was excellent and so was the welcome and the atmosphere as it always is at this place and the wine was going down very well too.

Right from the start this guy had the crowd singing along, waving our arms and smiling and drinking more and more.

Eventually this turned into dancing..

and... well... enough said!

Hazel was the first out of the blocks when The Duke set his sights on our table and as the rest of the crowd sat restrained and hoped not to be picked upon, up she got to dance with the main man...

She cut quite a move on the floor I can tell you!

Back in the safety (for Elvis that is!) of her seat the levels of participation from around the table ere destined to continue and to develop.

Geoff was not going to be left out and started to sing along. No really!! He DID actually sing along...

I'd had one or two nice cold pints of Stella by now to a) alleviate the heat of the day and b) alleviate the heat of the curry and so there was no way that I was going to be a wall flower..

Two verses in and Elvis realised his mistake... Those of you that know me well won't be surprised that the mixture of beer and music soon got a hold of me... Uh Huh!

Still... Geoff wasn't going to take this competition lying down! Sitting down, yes!

As they didn't have a 'Vegas' suit big enough to fit me I had to make do with fancy lights...

It was a great evening! We really enjoyed the meal and the wine (and beer) and the show was first class. A true entertainer that got the audience involved from the first beat to the last.

Thank You Very Much!

Dashing Through The Snow

2009-02-15T18:06:00.007Z

Boxing day was glorious! The sun was shining in the beautiful blue sky and the mountains surrounding Lake Louise looked different. They were clearer, with not even a hint of coverage and they seemed to be more three dimensional than on previous days. It was really cold again but we decided to go dashing through the snow... on a two-horse open sleigh.

Mutt and Mouse were our power engines for the morning. The poor things had frozen eyelashes.

Once again people skated around the ice castle and we heard the rumble of an avalanche in the distance.

We just had time to catch a few rays of sunshine and pet the horses before we set off. Eamonn tried to sell Mouse a house, here he is touting his business card, you just can't stop him! :-)

We each had extra blankets over our legs and set off along the ice path, crunching around the tight corners as our two horsepower carriage sped through the snow and pines.

The driver/guide was quite a character. His moustache and beard were frozen solid and his cheeks all ruddy and outdoor-lived-in. He explained to us that the horses were winter workers and spent the summer months in meadows recuperating.

As we got out of the sunshine the temperature dropped to Oh-Christ-Below-Zero and even through the blankets, fleece pants and two layer gloves, we started to freeze. My own moustache and beard froze up and I couldn't control my camera properly for more than one shot at a time as it just hurt too much.

Our spirits kept up though as it was such a special treat to be out there at Christmas, in the snow, being pulled along by horses, with our now double blankets.

At the end of the lake the view back to the hotel was simply stunning and the horses took us out onto the frozen lake to turn around for the return journey.

We paused a while to rest Mutt and Mouse and the driver told us tales about his life... In front of us was the most fantastic frozen waterfall, like a blue crystal poking out of the rocks.

Soon it was time to head back and get some warming hot chocolate, a bun, and a fancy!

We spent some time in the afternoon up Sulphur Mountain above Banff. We'd missed out on that trip last summer due to lack of time and an overambitious itinerary.

A short and exciting trip up the gondola cable car to the 360 degree station platform at 7,486 ft above sea level revealed THE most sensational views I've seen for... well.. probably for ever!

Outside the temperature was without a doubt the coldest we'd experienced and due to our various colds and flu, and the over indulgence from the night before, and us not being exactly fit between us the cold and thin air made it quite hard to breath at times. However, the vista was truly amazing and I wouldn't have missed it for a warm Gluhwein and a bowl of chili. Another set of spiral stairs take you up the the 360 degree roof terrace where there are markers for directions and distances to all the major cities of the world and commemorating the area's designation as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

After a lovely trip back from the Rockies to Okotoks we had a couple of relaxing days back at Janet and Eamonn's house. On my final morning, which was VERY sad... They took us out to High River where we saw a Bald Eagle, experienced the intrigue of Peavey Mart and showed us around some of the housing that's available in the area. It was snowing and just as we decided that we should head off for lunch and then drop me off at the airport, we saw these beautiful creatures hiding behind a hedge off the side of the road.

We managed to wait long enough for them to peek out at us and then cross the road in front of us.

What a very special way to end a VERY special Christmas Holiday! I loved every second of it and I wouldn't hesitate to do it all again. Not sure the others were so keen tho ;-)

May your days be merry and bright...

2009-02-08T09:18:00.014Z

We were lucky enough about four years ago to have a snow fall on Christmas Day, we were partying at my brothers house in Rainhill at the time and the excitement was prodigious with snowball fights and hastily made sledges from bin liners, wheelie bins, car bonnets, small pets, small children, satellite dishes, cake tin lids, you name it. The children quite enjoyed it too!

But it's been many years since I woke up on Christmas morning to a beautiful scene of fresh white snow like this...

This is the view that we were so blessed with over Christmas... It was still cold as I may have mentioned before but what a treat it was to wake up and look out of the window

As we awoke we rang The Girls who were back in the UK having almost had the entirety of their Christmas day. They were very excited and were having a really great day. Then we rang our parents as we took turns in the bathroom and got ready for our breakfast. Boy... WHAT a breakfast! We had the first of our Christmas day banquets in Poppies Bistro, I've never seen so much choice, so much quality, and so many greedy b*stards going up for helping after helping. It's Christmas Day for Christ's sake! Calm down!! It's not like you're going to starve is it!? Anyway... the scene outside was beautiful.

Children and their parents walking in the snow, skating around the ice castle, dogs with little Thinsulate boots on, yes... really!, horse drawn sleighs, and such a wonderful atmosphere of "Merry Christmas" and "Happy Holidays!", it was completely and utterly wonderful.

Janet and Eamonn had more magic up their sleeves for us and we set off for a Christmas Day walk in the snow, to Johnston Canyon. We drove along the Bow Valley Parkway and every time I looked out of the truck window I just had to take another picture. This one below is a frozen river that had babbled along so blue and so energetically during the summer. It was amazing to see it so white and so still.

The walk up Johnston Canyon started with our second Christmas Day banquet, Janet's sausage rolls!! Delicious!

Named after a lucky prospector who discovered gold whilst panning in the (now named Johnston) creek which is a tributary of the Bow River. The walk is very exciting and takes one up through the beautiful canyon via a set of paths which have been enhanced to accommodate all of the walkers and climbers in all seasons.

There are amazing views all along the paths of the frozen water cascades, waterfalls and the breathtaking displays of crystals and hints of Athabasca 'blue' within the pure white snow.

We were so fortunate on this day that the sun was shining, this added so much life and allurement to the displays before us as it shone through the trees and inside the icicles and behind the frozen falls.

Then every so often there's a striking display of frozen blue which looks so out of place. Everything is so peppermint white and then out of nowhere you see a frozen blue spray as if somebody has spilled a pot of ink.

The scale of the place is stunning. It stops you in your tracks when you realise that the entire canyon has been formed by this now pathetic trickle of a creek which doesn't even have the strength to peep though its winter blanket.

Linda was so stunned by the beauty of the canyon that she decided to have a closer look. She still hasn't forgiven me for taking this photograph when she fell on her bum, rather than helping her up. Well... The way I see it is; It's Christmas day, your away from home, it's snowing, you have a camera around your neck, and some dozy bird falls on her ass... in the snow... right in front of you. What do you do? Opportunity - A favorable or advantageous circumstance or combination of circumstances. Chivalry - the rules and customs of medieval knighthood. Which would you choose?

As we reached the bottom of the main falls the noise was huge! We could see the water gushing down behind the ice and then bursting out into the pools at the bottom.

Once again the colours and the ever changing ice formations were truly breathtaking.

We left the canyon and headed for Banff where we were treated to the magical sight of several hundred Elk resting on the frozen waters of the Vermillion Lakes. Resting at least until several over enthusiastic people walked across the frozen waters to get a closer look, and scare them all off. We had our third Christmas day banquet in Starbucks, Banff. Well... a nice warm drink anyway :-)

As the evening drew in Eamonn took us for a drive around the Minnewanka loop and we had a close up encounter with an Elk or two of our own.

How weird was it to see the pier on the lake all frozen in! That (above) is where we caught the boat from last summer :-)

As we stopped to admire Two Jack Lake we were treated to the most dazzling sunset.

It was like our very own Northern Lights display. My pictures don't do justice to how special and how romantic this 10 minute period really was! It looked as though the mountains were on fire and the rocks were radiating heat. The ice was melting just enough to give off some steam and then freezing again as if it hadn't changed. The whole occasion was so special that I couldn't take my eyes off it for a second.

It was like one of those moving pictures that one can buy from the Sunday supplements! but VERY real! And then it was gone....

We raced back to the Chateau Lake Louise where we had our final banquet of Christmas Day. A truly special event that we'd booked for in advance, in a true banqueting hall (although we did have a private room just off the main hall) with every possible type of food you could imagine. Between us all we ate FAR too much and I had three foods that I'd never eaten before including rabbit, goose, and bear.

Calm down!! I was joking about the bear! :-)

Walking In A Winter Wonderland

2009-02-05T08:00:00.000Z

This is a Chinook! Pronounced as Shinnuck or if you come from Prescot, Tyinn-Yuke.

We were treated to a perfectly clear vision of this natural phenomenon on the morning of Christmas Eve as we headed out towards the Rocky Mountains. Sometimes known locally in Alberta as a 'Snow Eater' this is a warming wind which can raise the air temperature by as much as 30 degrees for anything from a couple of hours to a couple of days. We noticed an increase from what had been around -23 to about -10. It looks amazing as if there is a glass bowl or bubble above the mountains which prevents the clouds from falling any lower. They can shift as much as 10 to 12 inches of snow in a day... In A Dayyyy!!!!

The closer we got to the mountains the more incredible the snow was and the winds started to play tricks on our eyes. The sky was pure blue, the mountains pure white and the roads were alive with a dancing carpet of snow which changed shape and direction by the second. Another second later and it was perfectly clear again. We started to see double after a while.

We arrived at Lake Louise just in time to see Santa arrive with presents for all the children which was very nice, very appropriate and added to the magic of the moment. Although it has to be said that he was FAR too thin to be the real Santa! I suppose that can be forgiven as it was Christmas Eve, himself would have been a bit busy...

The setting was nothing less than spectacular and it was smiles all around as we stood in front of the lake where we had taken pictures of blue water and canoes just months ago. Today there were skaters and an ice sculpture and we even went for a walk... On The Lake!

It was one of those moments where you think that you could die at any moment. You know, you realise that you are standing on some frozen water and even though there are people skating around you and horses dragging sleighs around you, that slightest little slip and the unease takes over your entire mind and you start to walk as though there are two hairs on your bum tied together and your already hanging on desperately to the (invisible) sides as you expect the ice to give way beneath you and plunge you to your icy death!

Or was that just me?

After our (somewhat-pathetic-penguin-like-shuffle) stroll on the lake we walked in a true winter wonderland.

The woods around the lake were dusted continually with the softest, whitest, prettiest snow I've ever seen and the trees looked beautiful as they glistened happily from every angle.

Of course some people just can't enough snow and despite the -Christknowshowcolditwas temperatures and the fine mist of falling snow, they have to create their own storm!

Everyone knows one!

Eamonn was VERY mean about Janet's new hat and said that she wouldn't look out of place just over the Cuckoo's nest.

We attended the General Manager's reception in the early evening which was a lovely event. Fabulous beers, wines, egg-nog with and without alcohol and stunning canapes were abundant and one of the managers took the time out to speak to us as he "really likes Australians!" (Eamonn talks funny you see...)

It was a lovely event in a truly lovely setting and at least three of us got a little tipsy ahead of what was to be a wonderfully warming Christmas Eve meal, at the Salt Lik steakhouse, Banff.

Buddy Marvellous!

2009-02-02T19:11:00.004Z

We had a genuinely brilliant night out on Saturday watching 'Buddy - The Buddy Holly Story' at The Lowry in Salford Quays, Manchester. Linda and I bought the tickets last year as Christmas gifts and the evening had been eagerly anticipated. We took along Sarah and Katie, Linda's parents Geoff and Hazel and My parents Geoff and Eileen and we started off the event with a lovely meal in the adjacent Pizzeria. My Dad and I did the driving and we were so lucky with the traffic as Manchester United were hosting Everton in a re-arranged match! After the meal which was enjoyed by everyone we were treated to another feast of foot-tapping and hand-clapping right from the opening scene. The cast were truly superb and re-created the whole story and the sounds and scenery with a first class performance. If you'd have asked me beforehand how many Buddy Holly songs I knew I would probably have struggled to name 5, but as the show progressed I was amazed at how many I knew! All of them I think!! The band were marvellous and the extra performances of Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper added to the musical genius and the comedy of the event which told the tale of how the music so tragically died exactly 50 years ago tomorrow, 03-FEB-59.

But Baby It's Cold Outside...

2009-01-18T16:02:00.009Z

Linda and I were lucky enough to spend Christmas back in Alberta, Linda for 2 weeks and poor old me just for 10 days... Imagine for a moment the most cold that you've ever been... now imagine being even colder than that... no... colder still... try to imagine spending an hour locked inside a butcher's deep freeze... with no clothes on... when you've just stepped out of the bath, and your heating isn't working... and you've no dry towels... You still have NO idea how cold this place can be!

No it's not a pair of hooligans about to rob the local 7-eleven, and it's not a pair of deeply religious ladies from the middle east either... this is Janet and Linda going out for a 10 minute stroll. 10 minutes, that's all and they have to disguise themselves as the Michelin Man and Sir Ranulf Fiennes. All of this, 4 layers of everything, just so that they don't get frostbite and lose patches of skin, parts of digits or even entire limbs on the way to fetch a loaf of bread, frozen bread of course. This is no exaggeration... It's medical fact that at or below zero degrees, the blood vessels in the extremities of the body start to constrict. This helps the body to maintain it's core temperature and is like an inbuilt defence mechanism against extreme cold. The body wishes to protect the vital organs inside and so it sacrifices the bits furthest away from the heart. At or below zero, remember that's what I said... This picture was taken at -26. Yes, -26! In the glorious Alberta sunshine!

That wasn't the coldest we felt or witnessed from inside the cuddly warmth of Janet and Eamonn's home. We saw -33 one night and the windchill apparently made it effectively -42. We didn't feel that one for ourselves, we just peered out of the window, and then into the bottom of a warming glass and plate of something delicious, and hot . On average, it took us all about 20 minutes to get dressed with thermal base layers, fleece layers, woollen layers, outer layers ranging from goose down to sheepskin, two layers of gloves, hats made from Moose Ox, scarves made from cashmere, socks thicker than the cast of Emmerdale in a particularly poor episode and boots that wouldn't look out of place on the moon. Still... with all of this, one couldn't protect ones eyes.... cheeks... lips... and within minutes, seconds even, you could start to see ice crystals forming on each others eye lashes and you could feel the sharpness of the air inside your nose and throat, so unnatural compared to the rest of your hot-water-tank like lagged body, that it felt as though someone or something was forcing you to inhale and swallow cold steel, very cold steel.

Still... It was SO pretty! The fresh dusting of powder snow glistened in the sunlight every time we turned a corner or rolled another step. No, I do mean rolled... it isn't actually possible to walk wearing that many clothes so you just have to kind of roll from side to side until you get a slight forward momentum, like one of those amazingly obese Americans that feature in all the latest round of reality TV shows. The snow is gorgeous! I smiled to myself and sometimes completely overtly every time it crunched under our feet with every step we took, and the sight of the Rocky Mountains in the distance looked somehow unreal against the pure white foreground and the beautiful powder blue sky. This photograph below is Linda and I, or was it me and my Sherpa, Tense-ing?, in front of the Beach House in Crystal Shores. The lake is completely frozen now and the residents spend hours and hours every day clearing snow from the ice, spraying water onto the exposed ice, and polishing the new ice layer to enable the children to play hockey for, oohhh... 10 minutes maybe. Maybe 12 minutes at the weekends... The best sign I saw which was in the middle of a 5 foot snow drift, just inside the gate to the now completely frozen snow covered lake, read "Danger! No Swimming. No Life Guard On Duty!".

The place looks so different in the snow, to me it is far more beautiful with its white coat on and somehow it has a great deal more dimension and far more colours and different shades and shadows. Only a few months ago we strolled around here in our shorts and sandals drinking copious amounts of water to stay cool. Now we shovel snow from the drive, a many times a week chore for poor old Eamonn, but for me... I'm on holiday, and PLAYING in the snow with a great big spade! It's like being 5 years old again :-)

Linda and I decided to go out for a short walk up towards the golf club which in the summer would take perhaps 15 mins. It took us more like 30 mins and we didn't get that far as it was just too cold and genuinely worrying at one point as we took off our gloves to take pictures of an icy overhang, and within no more than 90 seconds had to put them back on, and head back home where Janet and Eamonn very kindly didn't say "We told you so!" although there were one or two raised eyebrows and bitten lips.

We did get the pictures we wanted and here's one of them, but we didn't actually go out again unnecessarily until the temperature got to around, oooohh a balmy -17.

Eamonn chauffeured us about every day and along the way we saw many cars abandoned in the road and on the verges. This scene below is very common as well as very comical and we speculated that these vehicles hadn't been used for a day or two, but no more than that.

The town of Okotoks looks stunning in the snow, it kind of suits it even though it's not up in the hills and isn't a skiing resort. A wonderful place of comfort for us was the 'Tea and Time' tea rooms, a splendid little cafe where you can get every possible flavour of tea, and the most spectacular home cooked food. The soup and scones were a particular delight. As you can see from the next picture, it was particularly tricky to park outside as is usual in these parts and we had to walk perhaps 16 feet from the truck to the front door of the cafe. We were all starving by the time we got there after our hike.

This is the gang all warmed up and full of fresh mushroom soup and a Scottish Breakfast variety of tea. See... No hats!

I scared everyone one morning by announcing that as it was only -17 that I was going out for a walk to take some pictures. I wrapped myself up like a baby and headed out saying that I'd be back in about two hours. They however all heard me say that I'd be back in well under ONE hour and when I eventually arrived back they were just about to call for the Search and Rescue.
Ignorant of this panic I was happily wandering about Okotoks marvelling at the sheer beauty of the place and I noticed that after the first 20 mins I got used to the cold and as long as I breathed in through my nose, it didn't hurt anymore. I also noticed that my moustache, beard, scarf and collars were completely frozen up which amused me. Either that or I started to lose my mind in the cold?

The picture above is of the Sheep River. In the summer every time we passed by here there were people swimming and playing in this river. Amazing to see it now with foot prints all over it, some human and some not so.... Maddest of all is that you can still hear the water rushing by underneath and where it occasionally breaks through the surface, it causes steam clouds to bellow up. Fascinating! I didn't brave it out onto the ice... not with all the added weight of my clothes and cameras ;-)

This is a lovely little track which runs parallel with the Sheep River and the sun played all sorts of wonderful tricks with the light as it peered through the frozen branches, bounced off the powdery snow and burned through the icicles. It was very romantic and really awe-inspiring to wander along this path with no other noises than my foot falls.

The trees kept catching our eyes for all the time we were out and about and my solo walk was no exception. Every tree stands out against the sky and there was absolutely no wind to disturb the scene.
This scene is just around the corner from Janet and Eamonn's near to the Fire Station.

The highlight of this walk was coming across a sparrow roost in a road just behind the Tea and Time building. There were several hundred of these little birds huddled together in one tree to keep warm as they settled in for the night ahead. My presence didn't disturb them at all and even when I pointed my lens at them, they gave no more than a slightly irked flutter between them. The noise of them all chirping was lovely. I stood and watched them for a while, all communicating with one another and jostling for the best positions. I only moved on when I started to feel the cold through my arctic outfit. At this point I realised how and why people and animals die from cold. I started to imagine how tough life must be for people who live on the streets and tried hard to imagine, without success, just how they could possibly survive. Then as I walked up the hill back to Crystal Shores and a lovely warm home and welcome I thought to myself just how lucky I am not to have that knowledge.

Katie thinks that this picture should be our family Christmas card for next year :-)

I'll write more soon. Next will be the Rockies... Our fascinating and breath-taking trip up to Lake Louise for Christmas Eve - Boxing Day.

Is it time to order the stairlift?

2009-01-09T17:54:00.004Z

I think I'm getting old.... I was in the shower earlier today and started to get very concerned when I couldn't see properly! I didn't know what was going on or how or why this sudden strange sensation of partial blindness had come over me.... then I bent down to pick up my bottle of Head and Shoulders (other shampoos are available) and my glasses fell off!! Is it me?

GobSmacked!!

2008-12-14T11:51:00.004Z

In the English dictionary this is described as one being utterly astonished...

I think Katie demonstrated just how true that is last night when we had her early birthday. As Linda and I are away for Katie's birthday this year we had our celebration time with Katie last night. A lovely meal out at The Peacock in Ormskirk, our favourite Chinese eatery. The Celebration Banquet was more than appropriate and way more than we needed or could possibly eat!

With the timing of Christmas (a good excuse to show our tree above...) in mind we booked this a couple of months ago, not realising at the time that it clashed with the final of the X-Factor on TV, which we've all been following avidly this year.

Not wishing to miss out on either Katie's meal, or the TV programme, we bravely set the Sky+ box to record the show and turned off our mobile phones, computers and any device which could possibly give the result away before we managed to watch it ourselves as if live.

We arrived home in complete ignorance of the result which we would all be pleased with later on. Meanwhile, we gave Katie her birthday cards and presents from ourselves, Grandma and Grandpa, Auntie Janet and Uncle Eamonn, Auntie Sue and Uncle Jonathan and Hannah and Joe.

Earlier this year Katie had hinted that she would like to update her Sims game for the PC. She told us that she would like Sims2 and upon pushing her a little in later conversations she also named one or two additional games which add-on to this.

What she didn't expect was to end up with the entire series!! Between us all, we have managed to get hold of the whole Sims2 games world and Katie couldn't quite believe her eyes as she opened one after another after another of them!! It's always nice to surprise someone, especially when they think that they know what to expect! :-)

Ssshhhh..... Don't tell Katie... but she still has one or two more to come from her Nanny and Grandad!

Lovely xxx

Oh What A Beautiful Morning...

2008-12-14T10:52:00.003Z

In West Lancashire!

There aren't many advantages to having to get up at 07:30 on a Sunday morning to take one's eldest daughter to work... but seeing how beautiful the world can be at this time of day is certainly a big one!This morning at -1 degrees and with a thick fog over Burscough I took Sarah to Southport for her pre-Christmas extended working day. I thought that the fog may look nice over the coast and that as the tide was in yesterday... I could expect it to be less barren than usual. I wasn't disappointed. With the moon still in the sky to my right as I looked out to the pier and the sun just creeping over my left shoulder from behind.

The Marine Lake in Southport looked golden and the birds were in full chorus as the sun started to burn away at the early morning mist.

Up at Marshside on the way home the sight was so peaceful, the mist slightly thickening again as I headed away from the coast and back towards Burscough.

Not a bad start to a Sunday after all!

If I could turn back time...

2008-12-03T13:45:00.006Z

Our last trip out during our summer vacation to Alberta was to Heritage Park in Calgary. here are the Girls stood by the windmill near to the entrance.

Heritage Park is a living museum. The largest of its kind in Canada it reminded me of the fabulous living village museum of Iron Bridge back here in the UK.

Above were some school children enjoying a day out and in full traditional costume enjoying their traditional lunch on the lawn.

This is a truly romantic place and you can't help but feel yourself transported back in time as you stroll along the 1910 village with its dusty roads and vintage cars and horse-drawn carriages, its 1880 wooden walkways and the barriers where you can tie up your horse just like John Wayne did in all those movies. Inside all the buildings are totally authentic from a hospital to an ice-cream parlour and drug store. The guides are dressed up fully as period characters and are so helpful and informative that again it just transports you back to those days...

This is a first class exhibition of what life would have been like one or two century's ago. Below is Katie getting 'dealt with' by the Bank Teller as he produced her certificate of dealing. He was very entertaining...

This is me going back to my roots in the Blacksmiths and Wheelwrights shop. My paternal Great Grandfather was actually a Wheelwright in Shropshire.

Katie introduces Sarah to her new Friend.

Here are two very tired girls on a big day out! We all started to feel jaded in the heat and so we went for a ride on the steam boat. Janet and Katie found some shade whilst we waited for our boarding call.

The trip around the park on the steam paddle boat was very refreshing. It cooled us all down and gave our tired legs a much needed rest.

Everybody say sleep!

The heat started to get to Eamonn and at one time he began to show signs of stress... He'd just finished a 'rap' rhyme and was last seen spinning on his back when I took this one.

We also had a trip on the steam train (anything for a sit down!) around the park which was another occasion to sit back and imagine what it must have been like. Everything is so carefully detailed in Heritage Park, just to make sure that one has the opportunity to indulge in the past and fire up the imagination. It's just like on the old western films that we've all seen. the sights, sounds and everything, along with the added features of smells and touch...

One last treat was a whizz on the Caterpillar. The four girls climbed aboard and took a trip back in time to Southport or Blackpool or Margate 20-40 years ago. As the ride started to speed up the covers came over and the screams started. Eam and I stayed at the side to take pictures... and mind the bags... and stuff!

As the evening came closer and the park started to close we started the debate about where to have dinner that night.

Once again we'd had a truly magical day out and this was just another fantastic chapter in our wonderful trip to Alberta in the summer of 2008. So many new experiences, so many new sights, sounds, tastes, smells and sensations.. So much new knowledge and so many enhancements and supporting evidence to already ingrained facts from our own childhood. I hope that my musings, ramblings and photographs have been interesting to you. It's such a pleasure to be able to share our adventures and wonderful memories with you.

We all had a truly fabulous time and I can't wait to go back again!

xxx

Buffalo and other things that fly

2008-12-03T13:36:00.009Z

One can't walk or drive too far in Alberta without seeing another large raptor, either on a telegraph pole, a street light, a fence post (baseball caps permitting) or a hay bale. There are Osprey, Bald Eagle, Golden Eagles and many more hawks and Harriers all over the place. This is one of the ones that we saw the most, a Northern Harrier.

We saw this one along the road towards Head Smashed In when we went out to visit the Buffalo Jump. All along the drive across the prairies towards Fort MacLeod we saw hundreds of these magnificent creatures.

They are stunning birds and I'm sure that they all seemed to know that I was coming along and quite clearly communicated with each other across the miles as every time we approached one and I dared to switch on the camera, the buggers flew off!

Also along the road to Head Smashed In we saw these Red Deer flying across the road and then quite literally flying over the fences at the side of the road. To give you some idea, I would say that these fences are about 5 feet high!

It was great to see and during the space of around 24 seconds we saw 6 animals leap over into the field.

The Buffalo Jump is an exhibition of how the First Nation people used to lure the animals to their death over a cliff so that they could then butcher them for meat and for their hides. Here's Katie feeling sorry for the one that got away.

In days gone by these Buffalo were so abundant that a herd could take literally days to pass you by. Long before guns existed, the tribes used to very cleverly spend weeks planning a route, marking it out with trees and stones, and then dress up like wolves to quite literally scare the massive hoards of beasts over the cliff which was at the end of their Buffalo Drive. The momentum of the crowds of animals running at over 50kmh would carry many of them over the edge of the cliff and they would smash to the ground and die. When the melee had died down, the people below would butcher their prize and have food for the winter and skins and hides to make clothes, shoes and ti pis.

So just behind this lovely picture of Janet and Eamonn is the cliff. At the bottom of the cliff the archaeologists found thousands and thousands of bones and tools that had been used over thousands of years for this gruesome but fascinating practise.

The exhibition itself is really well developed and tells you in no uncertain terms what happened here and how. Not for the faint hearted!

On the day we visited there was an exhibition of First Nations Drumming and Dancing. This was wonderful to see. The colours and the noises were so entrancing and the explanation of each dance and each chant were fascinating.

It was such a hot day, we were all dying of heat exhaustion in our shorts and vests, in the shade, and these people were dancing and chanting dressed up in full tribal traditional dress.

This guy below looked very familiar to me.... and I couldn't think why... He even came over during lunch and asked me to have a look at his computer!

The finale was the dance of the rings. Whilst dancing around and chanting this guy made acrobatic moves with his collection of rings and each turn and flick of his hands and feet (and head!) made another spectacular display as the rings intertwined. At the end of the dance he was wearing 15 rings..

After the exhibition and the dancing display we took a stroll around the bottom of the cliffs at the jump site. We also had a peek into a ti pi.

This is a Hoary Marmot. He was about 15-18 inches long and just soaking up the sun above the dancers.

The only live buffalo we saw were on the way home. This heard being just outside of Head Smashed In. What a fitting end to this superb historical and engaging visit.

In the afternoon we took a trip out to see Frank Slide. I'll let the picture below tell the story...

You can see the mountain behind Linda seems to be missing something. The side of this mountain just collapsed and slid down the hill towards the sleeping folk in the town of Frank. Linda stood next to this boulder to give an idea of scale.

the tranquility of the place is eerie and beautiful. One can only imagine the noise it would have made that night. As far as the eye can see there are rocks and boulders which have just been left as a memorial to those who died.

It's a good Job that this is only a picture show and not a video. You can't imagine the language out of this lot as they emerged from our gentle walk around the mountain at Frank Slide!

:-)

T' Rex and the City

2008-11-29T08:37:00.017Z

We visited the city of Calgary back in the summer (yes... I'm still writing about it and we're going back in less than 3 weeks!) towards the end of our trip, which was kind of odd having been surrounded by mountains and plains for so long. The buildings seemed somewhat impersonal and cold. The city overall though was really worth seeing. Here we ALL are standing above the 'Stampede Grounds' and the 'Saddle Dome' events arenas with the cityscape in the background.

The city has a lot of sculptures some of which are surprising in where they are placed. There's a huge iron horse made from out of tractor parts which is on a street corner and takes up that much room on the pavement that one has to manoeuvre around it, there's a stone statue of two businessmen greeting each other apropos of nothing else within its own vicinity. The streets at that time of year were teeming with flower baskets.

As it was a Sunday, most places were reasonably quiet. One thing that fascinated me about Calgary were these bridges. They are called Plus 15s. There are around 60 of these bridges covering 10 miles around the city. They are called "+15"' as they are mostly around 15 feet above street level although some are actually +30 and +45. What they are, is the world's most extensive pedestrian walkway system which enables safe passage between buildings and streets without the need to negotiate the traffic, or the weather. They connect hotels, shopping arcades, offices, and they even have their own by-laws to stop such things as people sleeping in them during the winter. Fascinating!

The tower, ("Calgary Tower" renamed from "Husky Tower"), at over 600 feet is visible from all over the city and from up there you can see all over the city. It was built in 1968 and once construction had started, they couldn't stop it as the concrete had to be built up to each level just at the right moment before the lower one had set. Until it was completed, it was always at least partially like a very large blancmange! During the winter Olympics in 1988 they installed a gas burner on the very top and the tower served as the official Olympic Flame. The torch has burned on sevaral occasions since then during public celebrations and the local ice hockey team is named after it, The Calgary Flames.

Up in the deck there is an 11m glass observation platform which stands high up above 9th Street. The angel on your left shoulder tells you that it's perfectly safe and that of course they wouldn't encourage you to stand on it and walk on it if it wasn't so. However... the demon on your right shoulder tells you that you are about to die, the glass will crack and/or fall out, you will plummet to the ground and squash into the tarmac like a jelly and it therefore makes you quite dizzy and it turns your stomach over and over when you first step on to it with much much trepidation, holding onto the sides for dear life itself and almost not daring to look down, just in case you fall!!

This sign didn't help much....

So Eamonn and I decided that we ought to test it out, so we both got on the platform at the same time. I wasn't scared.... honest! What you can't tell from the photograph is that Eam has just composed himself after a mad frenzy of Burpees whilst pointing at me and laughing like a rabid hyena, and that Janet and Linda are having to hold me up, 'cos I actually... I'd just passed out.

We had another day out which would prove to be nothing less, than FASCINATING! Janet and Eamonn took us out..... to The Badlands! No sign of Bruce tho... What you see below is a Sod House. A 'Soddy'.... a small house, or rather a dwelling, made out of turf. These were built out of cuts of grassy turf by the early pioneers as cheap, temporary homes as they built railways and villages. We stumbled upon this example in a somewhat off-beat little village called Beisecker on our trip to Drumheller in the Badlands.

As small as it is, Beiseker has a museum. Dedicated to the CPR railway it is located in the old CPR Train Station at the west end of main street and gives one some idea of the lives of the early settlers of that area. Local volunteers built the Soddy and look after the museum. We were a bit mean really, as one enthusiastic young curator tried to get us to visit the museum, but after helping ourselves to his sod house and the caboose, we carried on to our target for the day...

The Royal Tyrrell Museum.

Now I know that I can be prone to over-enthuse about something that floats my boat, but..., I sincerely mean what I'm about to say in my next sentence...

The Royal Tyrrell Museum, is...., THE BEST EXHIBITION OF ANYTHING... IN THE WORLD!!!

Set right in the heart of the badlands just a little northwest of Drumheller, this museum is unbelievable!

You drive in through Drumheller and it is SO cheezy with its dinosaur themed everything on every corner, that you can be forgiven for being filled with dread. BUT... As you walk through the amazing displays and incredible exhibits, you realise that you are actually privileged to be among a snapshot of millions of years of our Earth's history. So many actual bones and skeletons, captured and restored, preserved and displayed for our education. Below for example is an ACTUAL jaw bone from a Tyrannosaurus Rex and believe me, it is HUGE!

As well a being a superb exhibition facility, this is a working laboratory and throughout you are treated to displays and demonstrations of how they dig up these fragile pieces of our past, and how they preserve and present them. We were there for hours... I could have stayed in there for days!

As well as the internal exhibitions there is a wonderful walk outside through the very places in which the bones are found, still to this day. You can't help but stop and wonder at how so many millions of years ago, these ridiculously massive creatures used to go about their business just like we do now. I urge you , if you are ever lucky enough to have time in Alberta. to visit this place!

After our Jurassic experience we called in at Rosedale to see the suspension bridge over the Red Deer River. Located just outside Drumheller, the 177m bridge was originally built to enable miners from the community of Rosedale to get to work at the Star Mine.

Now it serves as a tourist attraction and there are strict guidelines about using it. No more than 8 people at a time to cross it and absolutely NO BOUNCING on the bridge. Now it's not often that I feel like a big wuss.. but when I saw these two purposefully bouncing towards me... I nearly soiled myself...

Our last visit on this superb historical day out was to see the Hoodoos.

These eerie formations are formed by wind and water. The sedimentary rocks are eroded over thousands of years and the layers that are left exposed form mushroom like statues in the barren landscape. The First Nation people believe that they have spiritual powers and they worry that eventually, when the time and weather takes its toll that there will be nothing left.

It is a fascinating place to be, as near as one can imagine to being on the surface of the moon.

Katie, Eamonn and I climbed up to the top and left the others about half way up as their legs were too short to fit in between the narrow passages.

What a fantastic day out we had in the Badlands.. It summed up for me what the absolute pleasure, and absolute privilege of travelling is and I'm so grateful to have been given this opportunity by our thoughtful and insightful hosts! I think we all learned something!

Rocky Mountain High

2008-11-16T12:50:00.014Z

Now he walks in quiet solitude the forests and the streams,
Seeking grace in every step he takes,
His sight has turned inside himself to try and understand,
The serenity of a clear blue mountain lake.

I think I know what Mr. Denver meant when he wrote this. I'm not a religious person but I couldn't help myself from thinking about the whole creation thing, and just how beautiful our world really is when we were in the peace and tranquility of the stunning Rocky Mountains.

Every corner turned was a new feast for all of our senses and every road we took provided us with another unique adventure. This really was our very own Rocky Mountain High.

As far as I'm concerned you can never tire of looking at lakes and mountains. They are so awe inspiring. When you start to consider how long they've been there, how big they are, the effect they have on the weather, the science behind how they came to be there and how they've changed over millions of years. But most of all for me at least, how beautiful they are!

So looking at mountains from ground level and from a distance is wonderful enough but we couldn't resist the temptation to get a closer look and to see the world from the mountains' point of view.

This is the Jasper Tramway. The longest and highest guided aerial tramway in Canada. From up at the top we could see the town of Jasper way below, six mountain ranges, glacial fed lakes with that beautiful blue colour, the one in the centre of the picture below is Lake Beauvert at the Jasper Park Lodge, the railways and the huge long freight trains and the Athabasca River.

The ride up was around 15 minutes and all the way up to 2277 meters (7472 ft) we had a guide explaining what we could see, the weather, and the history and mechanics of the cable car system. We had a wait of around 2 hours at the base station so we took that time to return Sarah back to the log cabin as the sight of the gondola swaying had unfortunately turned her stomach over.
Katie however is a more rugged explorer and couldn't wait to get up high and see 'stuff'.

At the corner of the Athabasca river in the picture below I've painted on a blue dot. This is to show you where our log cabin is situated. Bear in mind that I'd zoomed in considerably to get this picture and you can imagine how high up we were. Sarah by this time was in there, reading Peter Kay and eating chicken soup :-)

Linda had taken along a packet of short bread biscuits. Not just because she's a nutter, but because she wanted to enter a competition about eating these biscuits in exotic places. After this photo shoot and a very big lung-full of the freshest air you can imagine, we had a mountain top lunch. Chili Dogs and Chocolate milk! Very nice....

While we were in Banff we booked a treat for Katie. An afternoon riding session from the Warner Stables.

It was such a beautiful afternoon and Katie along with several other people was taken into the paddock to be assigned her horse for the ride.

No helmets or boots, or chaps, or body armour required, just sign the waiver and choose your horse. Fantastic really, it was nice and exciting just to watch them set it all up and in the backdrop of the mountains it was real wild west stuff with chuck wagons, dawgs, checked shirts and big hats!

The instructor asked Katie if she'd ridden before and then told her forget everything she knew. "We do things differently out here, you'll be ridin' western style, both reins in your left hand".

As you can see from above, Katie was completely stressed out by this...

The steed is named Millet and they very quickly became great Friends. The horses we so incredibly well trained, you can't imagine how calm they all were in the coral with all these strangers around them and clicking cameras etc.

So they set off for what would be 2 hours of strolling and trotting up the mountains, through shallow streams and pine forests.

Apparently is was "the best ride EVER!!!"

The town of Banff is very pretty. Set amongst the mountains and we stayed here for 3 nights. Lots of shops for skiing, walking, climbing and lots of superb restaurants.

While Katie was off being a cowgirl we had a walk around Banff....

Looked at the Banff Springs Hotel and it's fabulous golf course; how much would I like to play here!

Later that evening we did more of the getting up high thing with a trip up Mount Norquay. The view from even half way up was amazing, this was looking out over the town of Banff towards what I think is Cascade Mountain?

Norquay is a busy ski resort for a lot of the year and we could see the runs and lifts among the trees at the top. We also spent a good hour or so watching these little chaps go about their business.

These are Columbian Ground Squirrels, also known as Prairie Dogs, or to give them their proper Canadian name, "Grounn skwurrlls"

They are magical. They appear from their holes in the ground and seem to take it in turn to watch out for things... such as bears and birds of prey of which there are many around here... They forage for a living and eat a varied diet including seeds, fruit, insects, bulbs, roots and stems, they eat as much and as often as possible as they are hibernating creatures too. Very entertaining and very cute!

The Rocky Mountains are a truly wonderful and special place on Earth. Very beautiful, very peaceful, and very rewarding for those who dare to adventure. And Katie did!

The Office

2008-11-10T09:37:00.011Z

This is my new home office.

I thought I'd share the story with you of how it came to be for several reasons...

I'm extremely proud of it! In fact I feel like a new parent, it makes me smile every time I look at it :-)
I should have done it years ago. For the last couple of years when working at home I've either worked in the kitchen, sitting at the dining table which is 99.999% of the time piled high with 'stuff', or else I've worked in the conservatory, which with the general weather in Burscough for 11.75 months of the year, has the rain/hail battering down on to the plastic roof and has singularly resulted in my considerable loss of hearing, my reduced sanity, and many abandoned conference calls.
Ok... I may have been a little obsessed with this project for the last month... perhaps
Everyone thinks I'm mad... and this is why...

Yep! It's a shed.

I took delivery of the new shed and immediately started by putting 2x2 runners on the floor. This was to allow for insulating and 'floating' the floor for comfort, stability and warmth.

Next I laid rockwool insulation on the floor, I just happened to have a few rolls spare in the loft.

When the floor was done I had to use the floor boarding temporarily to allow me to insulate the walls. Seems a little back to front but the purpose for doing it this way was to be able to lay a single vapour barrier covering the floor in one piece and halfway up the walls.

With the walls mostly done, it was time to lay the polythene vapour/moisture barrier. This allows the shed and insulation to breath on the 'cold side' and prevents any moisture from seeping inwards to the inner lining. I can't tell you how hot this particular job was!

Now I could lay the floor properly and this would be helpful for the rest of the fit out. The boards are 12mm ply wood, glued and screwed to the battens I laid at the start.

Insulating the ceiling was by far the toughest job. Again, I ideally wanted a single membrane which would drape down the walls and meet the opposite sheet coming up from the floor. For the sake of fastening it all up, I had to work across the roof struts rather than in between and then overlay the polythene as I did each piece.

Once that was done it became a lot less taxing and a little cooler.

Katie helped me with the plasterboard on the ceiling, she held the pieces in place whilst I hammered them into place.

I added extra 'glazing'. With some 3mm plastic sheeting. Sealed the existing windows on both sides, and the new glazing with silicone and then put in a frame to make it all neat.

Linda kindly kept me fed and watered throughout!

During the plaster boarding, it became apparent that nothing was exactly straight. Ok... it's a shed after all! At this point, I ceased to be a perfectionist.

The plasterboard was sealed with caulk and the flooring and windows etc sealed with silicone to allow for any movement.

I put the wiring in before boarding out, taking careful note about the path of the cables.

The opening window had a slight leak so I fitted a weather board over it and sealed it with silicone. That fixed it. I also fitted a deadlock before boarding the inside of the door, which I did with 6mm ply wood rather than plasterboard.

The finishing touches to the door, floor and windows was some architrave. I did this for aesthetic purposes so that it looked better and so that no plasterboard edges were visible at all.

For added security, I put steel lugs in the hinge side of the door/frame and a window lock.

When all of that was finished it was time to paint. Linda suggested some 'Light Space' paint which reflects twice as much light as normal paint. It works!

The dark blue finishes it all off nicely.

Next was somewhere to work. I looked at desks and my major concern was the legs. In such a tight space, I needed a work surface with no legs in the way and I wanted make the most of the available space. I built a frame out of 2x2 timber and braced it in the corner. The wood was fastened right through the plasterboard in to the 3x2 timbers of the shed itself.
I used 18mm MDF sheets as the desktop, fastened together with dowels and screwed to the batons from above and the brackets from underneath. The result is a very strong desk :-)

I took the edges off all around and sanded the joint down to ensure an even work surface. I used a primer and 'Paint and Grain' to finish the look. 3 coats of satin varnish ensured a permanent finish for me. Finally, I cut 80mm holes in the desktop and fitted cabling grommets and an under desk cable tray to keep it all safe and tidy.

Finally... the electrician came and terminated my electrical work to ensure that it is all safe and sound. Katie and I found a blind in the sale at Focus, the carpet tiles are down, I've got some plants, a DAB radio, a mains fed wireless doorbell extension, a mains fed Ethernet network extension, a bluetooth speakerphone, an oil filled radiator on a thermostat and timer, some family pictures, a coffee and my sandwich.... what more could I need?

Home Sweet Home :-)

Trains and Boats and Plains

2008-11-09T09:21:00.011Z

You know that all-excited feeling that you get when you arrive somewhere for the first time, and you feel the heat on your back or the cold on your face, you smell the different air and you lie awake in bed as your body and mind adjust and you listen to the strange sounds such as the sea, the wind, the birds, or the traffic, or the gun shots. Well... on our first night in Canada all I heard all bloody night long were train hooters. It was so exciting at first hearing that whistle blow but after several hours of it combined with our jet-lag, it became a little tiresome :-) I loved it really and I'd give anything right now to hear those horns as I sit here in Burscough, in the rain, again.

All throughout our journey up through the Rockies we encountered these wonderful freight trains again and again. We could drive along side them for an hour until they disappeared into a mountain and then we'd see him again as he emerged some miles later. They are so long! I've tried to find out just how long but facts out there are few and far between. I know that they can take up tp 15 mins to pass you by at a level crossing as we sat or stood and watched many. I believe that they can be as much as 2km long and when you consider that they are mostly double stacked, that's a very big train indeed. This one above was just leaving Jasper station and the driver gave us a wave as we stood and filmed him go by.

Our first boat adventure took place right behind Janet and Eamonn's house in Okotoks. This is the community lake and beach, yes... beach! Complete with a beach house which all of the residents can share. One can help oneself to pedalos and kayaks, so we did just that.

It was such hard work! Great fun though :-) Katie and I were pedalling like mad while Linda sat with her toes in the water and soaked up the sun. These pictures are taken with a disposable, waterproof camera and then scanned so the quality is not that good, but enough to enjoy the moments on the water.

We took this shot of the house from the lake and I've painted in a bright yellow sun so you can spot which one is theirs.

The houses surrounding the lake all have their own signature, be it a pier, a boat, an inflatable or even a private beach. It's a lovely facility and this would be the first of a couple of visits during our stay.

Another boat trip was on the beautiful Lake Minnewanka (pronounced Minner Wonker). The name means Water Of The Spirits and all along our tour the guide explained the legends that gave it that name. The lake is 17 miles long and has been made wider and deeper on several occasions with dams being added. There are even abandoned villages beneath the waves and divers come from all over the world to sit on the infamous toilet and cistern which still stands many meters below.

This was a lovely trip which took around 2 hours. The scenery is magnificent with everything from bare rocks to luscious pine trees. Wildlife can be spotted all along and we were lucky enough to see this chap sitting up in a lakeside tree.

Did you know that Canada actually has more Bald Eagles than America? and that America has more Canada Geese than Canada! Is it me?

After the cruise we drove back along part of the Minnewanka loop and we saw some Bighorn Sheep. We encountered these cheeky little beasts many times during our holiday but this was by far the closest.

The sheep graze on grasses and browse shrubs all over the mountains and plains and they lick salt and minerals from the rocks, at what are called Salt Licks.

I say cheeky because they just stand in front of your car and refuse to move and if it's been raining or snowing they'll surround the car and lick from it too! The Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep is the provincial mammal of Alberta.

Our next boating adventure was one of the most exhilarating and beautiful experiences I've ever had. Our Athabasca River rafting trip!

We'd booked this before we left the UK and I'm so glad we did. It was a gloriously hot and sunny day and we were picked up at the Jasper Park Lodge hotel in an old school bus. During the trip to the starting point we saw Coyote, Gopher and Elk.

The mountains and the river look stunning from the road of course but from the water, they take on a whole new perspective and seem to have more symmetry about them, you can see the shapes of the mountains and the trees as they have been carved out by the ice and water and winds.

The raft holds 24 people and the guides were complete nuts! Taking every possible opportunity to scare us, and to soak us.

This water is 4 degrees and under the hot sun, when you get a bucket full in your lap or over your head or down your shorts you know about it!

The guy behind Linda got soaked within the first 2 mins as a wave came aboard and went in the back of his shorts, as he put it, "Oh my Goard!! Straight down the freakin shoot!"

The ride was filled with every possible emotion. It was thrilling as it bounced along the river, it was scary as it spun around in the rapids,
it was peaceful as it bobbed along in the sunshine,
it was tiring as it took around 2 hours and we had to keep hold of the ropes and bend inwards over the really choppy bits and as we screamed and winced,
it was very funny with our guides trying to out-do each other and raconteuring all the way about bears, big cats, big birds, dumb tourists, dumber tour operators, and more...
it was educational as they explained rock formations and tree patterns, it was absolutely fantastic!! Somehow... and I'm not quite sure how.... it was also very relaxing :-)

We saw Osprey along the way too and then right at the very end as we arrived at the destination site they took this super photograph as a memento of the day.

Ice Ice Babies...

2008-10-27T09:06:00.003Z

So there we were in our tee shirts and shorts, sunglasses on, sitting on the porch of our log cabin in Jasper National Park enjoying the evening sounds and views and a glass of something... when she who knows stuff declared that we'd need to wrap up warm for the next day. “Wrap up warm!?”... “I'm on the verge of taking off me shirt and it's 10 o'clock at night... I'm radiating heat from me cheeks that you could fry an egg on! Wrap up warm!!??....”

Of course She was right... because we were going here

No visit to Alberta would be complete without visiting the Columbia Ice Field, that's what everyone who knows stuff told me, and no trip to the Columbia Icefield would be complete without getting ones picture taken in front of the wheel of the ice bus. So, let's do that first....

These things are huge! 66 (that's taller than Linda!) x 43 inches of Goodyear that's hardly inflated.

and not wanting to be left out, here I am doing a very good impression of Mr. Benn, just as he was about to change into one of his adventure outfits having left his house at 52 Festive Road. Those of you as old as me will know what I'm talking about ;-)

“As if by magic... the Shopkeeper appeared...” No? Oh well...

Back to the ice then.

We left the warmth of our log cabin and log fire and sunshine in Jasper and I confess to wondering why on earth I was trussed up like Sir Ranulph. Then, as we approached our destination, the clouds came down, it rained like we were back in Burscough on a Saturday and Oh My God... was it cold! Then as we got out of the car the hail started and I wished now that I was wearing a welders mask to protect my eyes as it came in sideways, no really... sideways!

We checked in having already booked our tickets from back home. Then there was time to look at the gift shop where I confess... the first thing that I did was buy myself a hat. A very thick and very warm hat! The bear above would have lost at least one of his arse cheeks if I hadn't been able to get a hat I can tell you. Did I mention that it was cold?

The ride up was exciting and very interesting. The bus drivers/guides were good raconteurs and explained everything from the weather to the gearing ratios of the buses.

Here's our babies looking a bit chilly up on the glacier.

The water up there is possibly the freshest water that one could ever get. The ice is constantly melting and this little trickle here, is actually the start of the Athabasca River. A lot of people actually knelt down, took off their gloves, and put in a bottle or a cup to try it. As much as I would have loved to taste the freshness, they must be mad!!

did I mention that it was cold?

Some individuals did provide good entertainment as they slid around in their leather soled sandals and chattered in their shirts and one even stepped into the stream as he tried to cross it. He was later seen in the restaurant dipping his foot into a bowl of soup to thaw it out... so he could have it sewn back on... Here is that stream. Sadly Linda couldn't cross because it was too wide.

What we can see here is the 'toe' of the Athabasca Glacier which is just one of the feeds from the Columbia Icefield. The “Icefield” is the largest sub-polar body of ice in the whole of North America covering 325 square kilometres. In places, the ice can be up to 365 metres (that's 1200 feet for most of us) deep.

It's incredible to stand on this moving surface and consider to oneself that it's equivalent to standing on a snow ball, that's as tall as the Eiffel Tower. The surrounding views as the cloud lifted were stunning.

This was the first Ice Explorer from the 1950's. Although there were some pictures of early tourists going by horse and cart.

and at the first base station there is this exibit from later in the last century.

The current fleet.

It was a fantastic experience, VERY educational and thought provoking and afterwards we fled back to Sunwapta for a very welcome bowl of the local stew. It was SO COLD!!

Water Water Everywhere

2008-10-06T10:24:00.022+01:00

It is my belief that I was very lucky as a child. My parents always took us away for fabulous holidays and days out near to water. By the sea on Anglesey where we had family on my Dad's side, down to a river such as the Ribble in Ribchester where we had family on Mum's side, or a lake such as Pickmere, and on and around the canals of Cheshire, Shropshire and Lancashire. We even spent many years on boats from inflatables to canal narrowboats. So ever since being a young boy I've loved being by the water, looking at water, listening to water, be it the sea with howling winds that steal your breath away and crashing waves like at the roughest coast in Cornwall, or throwing and skimming pebbles into the ocean at Molfre which entertained me for hours when I was young (and still does!), or walking along the canal towpath or around a lake or in fact anything to do with water.

One day I hope to live somewhere that I can draw back the curtains, and see water (no, not the rain in Burscough!). I just love it! And that's just as well... because in Canada, there's loads of it!!

The first thing one notices about the water in the Rocky Mountains is the colour. It's an amazing colour caused by glacial erosion. You know... suspensions of Rock Flour... where the glacial ice moves and rubs against the rocks in the mountains, and as it melts it takes some of the sediment with it downstream and it gets so concentrated that only certain light colours are capable of
reflecting through it... I knew you'd understand.

It really is awesome to see and at times you can be forgiven for thinking for a moment that it just can't be real or that there must be something wrong with it. Well... there isn't! It's some of the most natural, freshest, cleanest, coldest and life sustaining water on the planet, and it stops you in your tracks.

The Athabasca river originates as a trickle at the toe of the Athabasca Glacier in the Columbia Ice Field (more of that in the next blog). From there it winds its way across more than 700 miles crossing plains, falling through rocks and forming gorges, channelling into lakes and out again, and gathering tributaries and momentum, and power.

One afternoon we visited Sunwapta Falls falls which have a total drop of about 18 metres and they're very impressive. Sunwapta is a native word meaning turbulent water and I can see why.

Sunwapta also has a great restaurant where we had a bowl of the local Chilli and made one or two purchases from the gift shop.

Athabasca Falls drop more than 23 meters and the noise is fabulous. You get the cold spray from time to time in your face and it's such a naturally refreshing sensation.

There is a gorge you can walk through which in previous years was in fact a water channel, carved over thousands of years by the force of the river.

As you come out of the other side of the channel it's hard to believe that this is the same place, only a few feet away and yet it's all so calm and so quiet. You can still see the power from the turbulent water coming out from the gorge on the right but it's completely silent and all rather
beautiful.

Some of the calmer waters we saw were Waterfowl Lake...

and Honeymoon lake which is wonderfully romantic.

Lake Edith was a quiet spot where we saw a Coyote. It's a small lake with residential dwellings around it and we came accross this cencus marker in the ground.

The Dominion Land Survey is effectively a grid system which is used to identify townships in Canada. This marker would be one corner of a square mile which would be used for agricultural and other purposes in identifying boundaries.

Sarah and Katie wanted a closer look.

You can see from the outfits that despite the sunshine, it was a little bit crisp on that day.

Pyramid lake is one of the most peaceful places that I have ever been to. It sits up in the mountains above Jasper town, in the shadow of Pyramid Mountain. We'd been for dinner one night at The Pines restaurant on the lake, I'd eaten Elk! I know! How could I? But hey... it was delicious :-)

Then we had a stroll to walk off a little of the excess that we'd consumed and we were fortunate enough to witness the sun setting over Mount Edith Cavell as we strolled quietly around Pyramid Island, watching the fish jumping. It was so calm that evening, there was barely a ripple on the lake. The water is around half a square mile in the shape of a kidney dish.

It has a sister lake called Patricia about a mile and a half lower down the mountain towards the town. These two and Edith are some of the waters in which swimming is recommended.

The girls really enjoyed the walk and the sunset and remembered that our bus driver from the raft trip (later post!) had told us that he'd been up to Edith Cavell the previous night and had witnessed an avalanche. We watched for a while in the distance but nothing moved... thankfully.

Maligne Canyon was by far my favourite water experience. What you can't tell from this picture is that the water has dug its way down through 50m of rock. SO at this point, one could hear the water but barely see it.

The noise was unbelievable, like a jet engine, or a Motorhead concert, SO loud that it's disturbing and yet so fascinating that I just couldn't move away, I just wanted to stay and listen and watch the water gushing through the narrow openings in the rock and watch it swirl around in the whirlpools that it forms.

Maligne (mah-leen) is from a French word meaning sick or malicious. That's because the early
French / Canadian fur traders considered the whole Maligne river system and the 'Medicine' lake to be a little odd, or even evil... The river enters Maligne lake in great torrents and in great volumes.

However, it never appears to go anywhere else, there is no obvious 'exits' from the lake. Then in the summer, Medicine Lake actually disappears completely and doesn't come back until the autumn. Now I'm not talking about a small pond here, this is a HUGE great lake which just goes, and nobody to this day understands exactly where, how, or why.

Katie suddenly found the urge to pray at Maligne Lake and we couldn't explain that either...

The Maligne Valley is riddled by the most extensive "karst" system in the world. A karst system is a geological formation of caves above and below ground level. Scientists have tried for years to trace the Maligne karst system but failed or been stumped. They experimented with tracing dyes. But it has taken anywhere from half a day to a week for the water to make the trip from Medicine Lake to Maligne Canyon, a distance of about ten miles. Sometimes, the dyes didn't show up at all! Even more bizarre, in some experiments, the dyes turned up in Lac Beauvert which is just by Jasper Park Lodge and in other lakes around the area... Wierd!!

Peyto Lake was named after Ebenezer William Peyto, an early trail guide and trapper in the Banff area.

The colour of the lake set amongst the mountains is so startling, Turquoise, that it is very often featured in art, postcards, books, films, etc... It truly is a wonder and I could happily stand for weeks on end and not tire of looking at it.

The walk up there is challenging, but beautiful with many wild flowers, chipmunks, butterflies and dragonflies.

I asked Linda to take a nice shot of us with the lake in the background... Oh well, nice picture anyway!

And this is Beauvert.

We had a lovely walk around the shores of Lac Beauvert which coincidentally is also the route of the golf course at the Jasper Park Lodge.

Fabulous wildlife along the way in close up and then an excellent meal in the JPL hotel.

Linda even had her first ever Bellini :-)

Then there is Lake Louise...

Lake Louise is favourite for many people and was named after the Princess Louise Caroline Albert, the fourth daughter of our very own Queen Victoria. Princess Louise married Sir John Campbell who was the Governor General of Canada from 1878 to 1883.

This is a very impressive place both in terms of natural beauty and the stunning hotel, Chateau Lake Louise which has seen many important guests over the years from British royalty, to
American Presidents, to Geoff and Hazel Clarke who just happen to be there at the very moment I am writing this!

The locals (below) were very friendly to us and we thoroughly enjoyed our afternoon here en route to Banff.