Time Not Spent At Work

Fall is definitely here, and can I just say EGAD! Where the heck has the time gone!? This past weekend however, I was fortunate enough to squeeze in a couple more days of outside time - yeah!! On Saturday, I drove a chunk of the Icefields Parkway with a friend who has lived in Red Deer for years but has never seen the Columbia Icefields! Unfortunately, north of Saskatchewan Crossing, we ran into blizzard-like conditions and didn't get to see much of the glaciers... But to the south, the weather was a little better and we were able to zip into Bow Glacier Falls - what an awesome walk!

Athabasca Glacier

Bow Glacier Falls

Sunday was much nicer, temperature and sunshine-wise, and I dragged Toni and Vida up to the Barrier Lake Fire Lookout atop Yates Mountain in Kananaskis.

They started out as happy campers!



The climb to Prairie View Viewpoint.

Prairie View Viewpoint

Barrier Lake

Almost at the top!

Vida uses the summit outhouse!

Yates Mtn summit photo - nice work Vida & Toni!!



Almost back at the car.

The views were beautiful, and the day ended up being so clear that we could see the Calgary skyline from the fire lookout! What a gorgeous afternoon it was - thanks ladies, for joining me!

Well, if EnviroCan is to be believed, after today we are in for a fabulous week - I'm keeping my fingers crossed! It would be great to spend a few more days this season out enjoying the Rockies.

Cheers!

May I Introduce....

....Mr & Mrs J and Jody Mills!! Yeah!! Two of my favorite people on the planet got married on Saturday, and I was there to photograph the festivities!

It was a most fantastic day, it went off without a hitch (well, except for the bride and groom getting hitched of course!! ha ha!), and I am so happy for them! Congratulations you crazy kids!!

Check out a sneak peek of the wedding pics here!

Cheers!

Skippin' out....

For those of you who had to work today, please accept my deepest sympathy!! It was an unbelievably stellar day, and I was able to skip work and enjoy the sunshine and blue skies in the mountains. Darcie, Monique, Kirstin and I lollygagged part way around Emerald Lake and up into Emerald Basin - talk about a beauty hike! The scenery is very pretty, and now that summer is 'officially' over, we almost had the trail to ourselves.

Yes, Darcie is in a skirt and Chacos....

Emerald Basin

We hung out in the sun, ogled the peaks around the basin, and marvelled at our good fortune... it's the first week of September already yet it was a cloudless, +25C day! Yeah!

Ready, set...

JUMP!!

Thanks girls, for joining me today! It was awesome to see you and I'm excited to see you again in just four more sleeps!! Have a great week!

Lake Louise - early this morning.

Victoria's Reflection

Cheers!

Mosquito Creek Mischief...

Holy moly!! Folks, I have just returned from what may have been the most wickedly fun weekend on record!! And I didn't even have to leave Alberta for it! Hee hee! One of my best friends is getting married in two weeks, so we had her stagette this weekend at Mosquito Creek (north of Lake Louise). Picture it: fourteen women... three days... one Rocky Mountain hostel... Oh, my!

How are we all gonna fit??!

The real Mosquito Creek Hostel!

Suffice it to say, the majority of the events from the past 72 hours will not be discussed in this post... I'll leave it up to the bride-to-be to reveal as much as she dares! What I can tell you is, that I'm pretty certain all of us had a kick-ass time - there was hiking and drinking and campfires and dancing and socializing (not necessarily in that order!), and I met many fabulous new friends over the course of the multi-day party.

Jody - our Guide Bride!

Crowfoot Mtn and Glacier in the background.

On the way to Helen Lake.

Jump - jump - jump! Jump around!!

The only wildlife we saw all weekend.

Jody, Julie, Heather, Megan, Megan (yes, there were two!), Chelsea, Kendra, Maren, Monique, Darcie, Marian, Christine, Kirstin... you ladies ROCK! I can't wait to see you all again on the big day!!

Cheers!

Foiled Again!

Today I was supposed to meet my good friend Ruby and her two awesome kids, Haley and Erik, for a quick hike up to Baldy Pass (down in K-Country). I was soooo looking forward to it, since I haven't seen their smiling faces in quite some time! Well, unbeknownst to me, there is a place of a similar namesake out near Nordegg... and after hanging out at the trailhead along Hwy 40 for nearly an hour beyond our meeting time, I was able to get ahold of said hiking partners, only to find out that they were waiting for me... three hours from where I was waiting for them!! D'OH!!

Somehow our directions got mixed up, and Ruby and the kids went north, and I went south. We didn't ended up getting together after all. Booo! But, since I was already there, I thought I might as well zip up to Baldy Pass anyhow and check it out.

Just a few minutes below the pass, I caught up to some really nice ladies who were out from Calgary for the day. They very kindly invited me to join them, so I did, and I spent an enjoyable afternoon getting to know Loral, Helen and Monica.

Even though the day didn't turn out as planned, it still ended up pretty darn good! The weather was gorgeous and I met some really nice peeps. And Ruby, Haley and Erik... I still hope to catch up with you soon!

Cheers!

Aerial Views

I love being in an airplane, always have. Cruising along, miles above the earth, being able to see as far as what seems likes forever on a clear day... love it!!! I also love all the shapes and patterns that are visible from the air. Some of the most gorgeous, unique sights go completely unnoticed from most vantage points at ground level!

Flying is such a cool experience - to me it feels like I'm almost suspended in space... and I so look forward to getting on a plane again soon!!

Cheers!

Good People and Good Times!!

Sylvan Lake was the place to be today! I spent the day with friends at a cabin on the lake, and we had so much fun on the water!!

Peddling around.

Finding a quiet place to ski.

Toni rips it up!! Yeah!

I even gave it a whirl! This was like, the second time in about 25 years!

The day was beautiful, the company was fabulous, and I had such an awesome time! Thanks so much Karen, for inviting us out, and thank you Mark for taking us waterskiing - it was a blast!!

Cheers!

A little bit of outside time...

Today was one of those days where I spent more time driving to and from the trailhead, than I spent actually ON the trail. Oh well - I still got out for a bit of exercise and fresh air, so it's all good!!

View of the North Kananaskis Valley and Barrier Lake
from the ridge of Mt Baldy.

Randomness!

Not sure what's up for tomorrow... it is supposed to be another nice day, so as long as I get to be outside, I don't really care what I do! Yeah!

Cheers.

I saw Shamu!

This past weekend I made it into an extra-long one - I hopped a plane with my good friend Toni and headed for some Southern California sun and fun! The real excuse for traveling to San Diego was my baby sister... she and her husband spend a week every August in the Mission Bay area... so it was doubly awesome to get to hook up with her as well!!

It was a whirlwind tour, for sure. We hit SeaWorld (amazing!), the Gaslamp District (super cool), the San Diego Zoo (that place is HUGE!!), the USS Midway (fascinating), Old Town (historic), and of course a few malls here and there. The weather was perfect and I had a fantastic time! Talk about hard to come home...  **SIGH**

Here is an overview of my favorite things from SD:

SeaWorld!

Killer whale tricks!

Shamu puts on a darn good show!

This was an all-day affair...

Lunchtime!

So serious...

I had no idea hippos could stay under water so long!

Check out the gorgeous landscape!

Well, it's back to work for a few days, and then the plan is to get out for two or three days in the mountains. I just realized that it is dang near mid-August... oyy!! And I haven't even come close to getting to all the trails and peaks on my 'To Do' list yet. Guess I better get on it!!!

Cheers!