Rafting Rivers

As good Albertan hosts, we trekked Jesse and Beatrice out to Golden, British Columbia to raft on the Kicking Horse River -- We had a blast smashing through Class IV rapids and I kept up my tradition of jumping into the nearly freezing water. brrrr.. and look who was spying on us.


Last time J & B were here, Lake Louise was frozen solid...so we had to show them that it does have spectacular turquoise water .. here 'tis...


and after a delicious dinner in Canmore, we still had daylight for photos on the way back... this is Three Sisters Mountain

and a long day's drive is done....

Stampede, Sun and Salsa

Our visiting Houston friend, Beatrice, captured this shot of the Army helicopter doing a fly-over at the Calgary Stampede, the "Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth" Every night, along with the Canadian National anthem, The Stampede Band plays the U.S. National Anthem as a tribute to the number of Americans who partipate and/or attend the 10-day event. If you didn't wear western attire to work the whole week, shame on you!

Have you had a beer-rita? If you've come to one of our Annual 4th of July Parties, you have. If you missed it this year...mark it down for next year. But you have to pace yourself or....well.. we did have a blow-up bed on hand if we had unexpected stay-overs. There's more party photos but most of them ...well...no comment. ok..here's one..

Here's a little vignette from the Sun and Salsa Fest this Sunday. Our church's dunk tank, (Who Would Jesus Dunk)was a huge hit with kids and the people who think they are still kids until the dunk tank split open - ruh roh! Our friend Lee and a few others sent Charlie into the tank a time or two.

and then...OOPS!

Back for more...ooooh that's cold!

after being the "victim" in the dunk tank for more than his share of turns, we're suspicious that our minister, John, called in the "divine intervention??" that split the tank. 'fess up John!

Now we're off this weekend on a road trip to the Okanagan wineries, Vancouver, Victoria Island, and Seattle. Stay tuned.

Hiking, Hillary, and Hot Spots

Whatever happened to sleeping in on the weekends?? We got up at o'dark 30 on Saturday to help set up a Stampede Pancake Breakfast outside Ten Thousand Villages and then ...whoosh...were on the road by 9am with our neighbors, Catherine and Marty, for a hike along the Bow Falls/HooDoo trail.. (google Hoo Doos.)

and then back to Calgary, after a deelish dinner in mountain movie-town Canmore, to catch the sunset outside our window.
So we'll sleep in on Sunday? no! We got up AGAIN at o'dark 30 on Sunday (there ARE people up at that hour!) to go cheer on our "daughter-on-loan" HRH HPH, aka Hillary, as she smoked! the 1/2 marathon. Way to go Hillary! We all walked to church afterwards which was a mistake as hard-working H should have gone straight home for R&R...Rehydration and Rest. OOOh I hope we get to keep our job as surrogate parents after this error.

But what about Hot Spots? My USFS brother, Alan, has been out firespotting in California. Can you see the smoke in the background? They're getting cooler temps out there which should help, but I don't like it when I hear a fire has jumped a fire line like in Big Sur. Stay safe there, brodder!

Peaks and Valleys

It's Canada Day aka The Long Weekend. Can't really compare to the 4th of July, but since it fell on a Tuesday, Hiking Henry decided to take Monday off so we could take a leisurely alpine hike at our local ski hill. Here's how it works: Drive a few scenic kilometers up to said mountain, pay a pricey privilege to take rickety school bus UP the ski-OUT aka Dusty Construction Road loaded with Dusty Construction Vehicles building new ski lodge, and then hike what should be a 3 hour tour at a run since the last bus down (aforementioned school transport) leaves top of said mountain at o'nearly right now, but the reward was ...well... see below.

Such a jolly holiday watching snow melt.

Hiking Hank only had tennis shoes aka "runners" on, but I was smart enough to have real boots..which could use a wee bit more waterproofing. But we were eyewitnesses to beginning of wild rushing glacial runoff downstream. I was thinking perhaps the ski runs wouldn't look so intimidating without all the snow.. ..um... well, Take THAT you black diamonds..I'll be back in the winter..just you wait!

Oh yeah...I did say it was Canada Day.. so we went over for the free concert, vendors selling useless junk but oh-ho! looky..something useful...only in the True North Strong and Free - wool hats in July!

Now..on to the 4th and Stampede! Stay tuned