Goodbye

I'm home from Edmonton. It was an amazing experience, one I wouldn't trade for the world. Now I'm back in the full swing of things and back to my old blogosphere at www.lauraadventure.blogspot.com, so visit me there.

-Laur

Almost the End

I'm back in Edmonton, and I'm happy to be here. I slept in a quiet, comfortable room in a quiet, comfortable bed, and showered in a clean, well-lit bathroom. It may sound like I'm complaining about the conditions at the Samesun Backpackers Lodge in Vancouver, but really I can sum up my experiences in Vancouver in one simple word: fantastic.
Right now I have so much to do and take care of that I don't have time to write a really great travel post on my VanCity adventures, so instead I'll tell you this:

- I took over a thousand pictures during my 9-day stay
- I cycled around Stanley Park on a rented bike
- I ran into Robin Williams in the bike shop as I was returning said rental bike
- I revelled in the splendour of 3 different professional gardens
- I cooed to a 2.5 month old baby beluga whale, regardless of how ridiculous I sounded
- I ate won ton soup with noodles and bbq pork at a legendary Chinatown restaurant
- I went out for all-u-can-eat sushi and diner-style milkshakes with an old friend and 2 new ones
- I gave a loonie to a homeless guy who held the door for me at 7-Eleven
- I saw the Vancouver skyline from 350 feet above the city in the sun and after dark
- I wouldn't have done a single thing differently


-Laur

Farewell Vancouver Island...

Until we meet again.

I'll be leaving the island on the 12:55 ferry from Departure Bay, and while I'm sad to go because this place is so amazing, I'm very excited to hit VanCity and see what it's all about.

Yesterday Jim made 17 jars of dill pickles from scratch while I did various things around the house and took Maggie on a walk; after lunch we headed to Parksville where we saw some fantastic sand castles, and then got back in the car and took Maggie to Little Qualicum Falls. It was AMAZING there, so gorgeous and rain-foresty, and even though it was raining it was warm and gorgeous. On our way back from the Falls we stopped in Coombs again to see the goats on the roof and look around a bit; I found a thank-you tee shirt for Reta with some illustrated Cathedral Grove trees on the front, and conversed with the lady who owned the fudge shop, who was originally from Hamilton.
In the evening after dinner Reta and I went 2 doors down to Doreen and Howard's house; they're two older people who have been friends to Jim and Reta since they arrived on the island. They have two cats, Pumpkin who was abused in her first home and rarely greets guests, and Holly who is deliciously tubby and pure black, not to mention very cuddly. We had a chat and some tea with Doreen, who is delightfully British, and then came back to the house. It rained pretty hard so it was cool and not so cheerful, but it was good to experience both ends of Vancouver Island weather instead of being duped into thinking that it's gorgeous and sunny there all the time.
Now I'm waiting for my clothes to dry, and soon we'll head out the door and I'll be gone from this place until the next time I have enough money to visit.
Such experiences!!

-Laur

Tofino Rollercoaster

I LOVE THIS PLACE!
Yesterday Jim and Maggie and I drove to Tofino, which is a resort town on the other side of the island. We left at 9:45 and arrived at 3...it's a 2+ hour drive. We stopped 4 times in between, once in Coombs at a shop and restaurant that boasted goats on the roof; once at Sproat Lake Provincial Park to stretch Maggie's legs and see some awesome petroglyphs; once at some crazy rocks we found that people were climbing all over; and lastly at Long Beach in Pacific Rim National Park. When we finally got to Tofino we only stayed long enough to eat an excellent ice cream cone and wander around for a while, taking in some local sights and asking about whale watching tours.
On the way back we stopped in Cathedral Grove, an area of the rain forest that boasts Red cedar trees that are over 300 years old. By the time we got home we were exhausted, but it was an excellent day.

Highlights of the day:
- jumping around on rocks that had been shaped by the flow of water over thousands of years
- walking down a mysterious and dramatic Long Beach with my shoes and socks off
- watching Maggie chase sandpipers on said mysterious beach
- Moose Tracks ice cream cone in Tofino
- standing inside a 300+ year old cedar tree in Cathedral Grove
- taking a picture of a young black bear from 2.5 feet away, window OPEN
- the Pacific Ocean
- golden retrievers

Lowlights:
- carsickness

Almost 6 more days to go and I haven't even hit Vancouver yet. MADNESS.

-Laur

Tremendous...exhilarating...super, natural British Columbia

If I had words to describe to you the profound and unbelievable beauty of Lantzville, Vancouver Island, British Columbia...I wouldn't even write them. I would show you through a series of lovingly taken photos, which are currently trapped within the confines of my camera.

Spectacular.


-Laur

So soon...

The Muamar family returned from Egypt on Wednesday, and on Thursday morning Rachael was kind enough to have us over for tea to celebrate their return.
Shireen managed to get even more gorgeous while they were away. It astounds me. I couldn't catch Hanna, as she was too fast for me. She's also gorgeous, and I think she had a good time.
This picture is on the way home from my WEM adventure with Nicole. We were both tired and a bit sore from crashing through the waves for 2 hours, but it was definitely worth it.

An update:

My possible accomodation plans in Vancouver fell through so I've booked 4 nights at the SameSun Backpacker Lodge in downtown Vancouver, at 1018 Granville Street near Nelson. It's in a co-ed dorm, but the price was right and I could get all 4 nights there without a fuss.

I've never done anything like this before, but seeing as I'm staying with Uncle Jim, a world-class budget traveler, for 4 days before I head back to VanCity, I know I'll get lots of awesome tips and tricks to help make my stay famous.

I should be asleep right now but I'm just too excited! When I couldn't buzz around anymore I watched the extended version of Cameron Crowe's Almost Famous, a DVD I wisely brought with me. It helped calm me down, and now at 1:30 am, I'm ready for sleep. In 5.5 hours I'm going to get up, shower, vacuum the basement, pack some lunch and snacks into my trusty red MEC backpack, and head to the airport. My boarding pass is printed, my bag is full to bursting, and I am so excited for the adventure that awaits me.

I'll blog, possibly with photos, if I can. Otherwise, talk to y'all on the 24th :D

-Laur

Musk-rat?

Nicole and I went to the Servus Heritage Festival in Hawrelak Park a few weeks ago and we had a blast. One of the most fun moments was chilling by the river and feeding Honey Bunches of Oats to overeager ducks AND dun dun duuuuun...a muskrat. Why is it called a muskrat? We didn't smell anything musky when it came near us. It looked more like a beaver with the wrong tail. And it was a fast swimmer; I wasn't fast enough to whip out my camera and take a picture of it swimming across the river with a mouth full of a river grass for its nest. Very cute.
Then in front of the Scandinavian pavillion there were these trolls. If I were a child, like the one in the picture, I would be running for my life from those warty giants. As a 21 year old woman I almost ran screaming. I got close enough to take this picture, get a few explanations about the trolls' presence at the fest, and then booked it back to the Vietnam pavillion for some DELICIOUS beef skewer and hot pork spring rolls.
I love this face. Honestly. Already missing you, babe.
Here I am, in all my squinty glory, picking rhubarb in the backyard. It was HOT that week. I loved every second of it.

I'm just taking a break from packing because tomorrow night I have to clean the bathroom and vacuum in order to be ready for Friday morning. SO EXCITED!

-Laur

No sleep

So it's 12:25 am, I've got a summer cold, and I can't sleep. I burned a CD of pictures for Keerti so I can finally give them to her and beg forgiveness for putting it off so long, and then I surfed around the web for a while, and now I'm blogging.
I'm obsessing, actually, about my current living non-arrangements for while I'm in Vancouver. The Nanaimo part is easy because Uncle Jim is there, but VanCity? Not so much. It's starting to get to me, this not-knowing business. Sometimes I like to fool myself into thinking that I'm a spontaneous, exciting woman, but I have to tell you, it's not happening. I need to know how everything works and if the plan is up to date or not. The plan is stalled. I'm anxious. Good times.
Meanwhile, my departure date is getting closer and closer, and I have everything planned right up to how I'm getting back to Vancouver from Nanaimo. That can be solved by buying a Greyhound ticket, but if y'all haven't been living under a rock lately, the Greyhound has recently collected a few no-so-legendy urban tales. About beheadings and dismemberments. I'm not a silly girl, but that kind of thing shakes me up a little bit. I guess I just won't sleep on the bus.
On a lighter note, Rebecca, Sami, Hannah and Shireen get back from Egypt on Wednesday! I'm so glad I get to see them before I leave. Gramma and I are invited to tea at Rachael's house on Thursday morning so we can hear of adventures and the like. I can't wait!
I also have to report that I spent a lovely evening with my manager at the floral department, Connie, on Friday. We went to her new house on her acreage in Sherwood Park and had iced tea on the back deck, and then we went for sushi and a movie at South Common. We saw Mamma Mia and ate too much popcorn. It was fantastic. I'm really going to miss her.
Okay, time for another go at this sleep thing!

-Laur

GORGEOUS!

So check this out! Built-in webcam! WOOHOO! I adore this computer.

Trepidation

Wow, I am getting SO BAD AT THIS! I really don't mean to leave so long between posts, but I'm so darn busy all the time, and dun dun duuuuuun...my laptop is giving me some serious trouble. It seems about time to get a new one. Oh boy.
So in the last 10 days I have...seen the Dark Knight with Uncle Jim, gone shopping with Auntie Brenda, played with three cats who were not mine (boohoo, miss my babies) at Leslie's house, gone to Calgary to see Janie, driven Auntie Bren to the airport while trying not to be insanely jealous of the fact that she was going to the cottage when she got to Toronto, gone to Heritage Fest with Nicole Nicole Nicoleeeee and last but not lease, booked my flight to Vancouver!
Now comes the tricky part: I have no where to stay in Vancouver. At least no where free. Hmmm. I'm going to Nanaimo first to kind of put off not having a place to stay in Vancouver, but I don't even leave until the 15th so I really need to get my act together and make some sort of plan. Does anyone have any ideas? Keep in mind I'm on a budget and I really don't want this trip to cost as much as, let's say, Cancun for 7 days.
When I get back from BC I'll have about a day to turn around, pack my stuff up and get ready to go home on the 26th. I simply cannot believe how fast this summer has flown by. It seems like only yesterday I was walking into Safeway and interviewing for my job in the floral department. In a few short days I will have been working there for 3 months.
Oh the stories I'll tell when I'm back in T.O.

Hope everyone there is having a delightful Caribana weekend. It's frickin' cold over here.

-Laur

Photojourney: Fort Edmonton Park with Keerti

This isn't how I meant to start off this post, but HOW HILARIOUS IS THIS PICTURE??? This child would stop at nothing, even if it meant climbing over a pile of cow pies, to get this chicken. And the chicken was so blah about it; it didn't squawk or peck or anything. Funniest thing I've seen in weeks. Her mother was laughing so hard she couldn't do anything about it. Then her cousin joined in and all hell broke loose.
These kids from the YMCA camp were harassing some turkeys in the street. I knew their counsellor, so I went over and gave them a hard time about it. The turkeys could have cared less. They're so stupid, it's almost sad.
Okay, now that I've thoroughly confused you, I went to Fort Edmonton Park with my friend Keerti Takhar today. She's from Punjab in India, and even though she's been living in Edmonton for 11 months now, she hadn't been to the Fort yet. We had an amazing time, and these pictures are photographic evidence of said good times.

Keerti on an accidental bridge we found outside of the park.
Me on the accidental bridge.
Deer antlers over the doorway in the 1846 Fort.
Kegs of Jamaican rum. Those settlers really knew how to throw a party.
Keerti touching some gorgeous Clydesdale horses with much trepidation.

Good times.

-Laur

Photojourney: Erica Kay Bell

Festival City

Last Wednesday we were lucky enough to receive a phone call from my mom's cousin Linda Adam and her husband Bill. Linda is from the Kidd family, my Grampa's sister's lot. She's a riot and so is Bill, so it was nice to have them come and see everyone while they were here. They were visiting from Calgary, kind of roaming around the Edmonton-Mayerthorpe area and chilling with friends and such. When I go to Calgary on the 30th, hopefully I'll get to see them again. They have a 12-year-old daughter named C/Katherine who was at camp when they came to visit, and I would like to see her again.

On Friday night we headed down to Churchill Square for the Taste of Edmonton festival. Restaurants from all over the city set up booths and serve 2 selections from their restaurant for a set number of tickets. Among the deliciousness we sampled: bacon-wrapped scallops, seafood paella, beef curry, salmon teryaki, garlic dry ribs, lobster and crab rotini, Vietnamese spring rolls, chocoloate peanut butter chunk, and the MacDonald Hotel's scones with saskatoon berry compote, shown above.

We also had a bit to drink, illustrated above.

On Sunday we had Dale, Syrell, Carson, Amanda and Erica over for brunch. Erica is getting big so fast and she's TOO CUTE.

-Laur

Just another Saturday

Mom asked me to update my blog because she was getting sick of the Peter Pan reference. Sorry for the delay! Here are some pictures from my adventure of last Saturday. I can't believe it's almost Thursday already! Bryna reminded me on the phone yesterday that I'll be home really soon. Pretty amazing.
The picture above is of Edmonton's University LRT station. I was SO EXCITED to take Edmonton's subway! It's way cleaner than the TTC, but lacks the certain "je ne sais quoi" (AKA character) of the Yonge/University line.

On Saturday morning I jumped on the 30 bus and took it to Southgate, transferred onto the 6 and took it to the U of A campus, then got on the LRT at University station and rode to Churchill Station. The above picture is basically the sight that met me when I came up the stairs from underground. I was at the annual Edmonton Street Performer's Festival, 10 days of fabulous performances, great food, games and fun in the heart of Edmonton's downtown. There's no admission; in true "pass the hat" tradition, you donate what you can to the performers you like. I came armed with a bunch on toonies, and wound up giving them all away.

Two words: YUMM and O! Contortionists and strongmen. GOOD GOD!

These guys were the bomb. They practice a form of performance art, kind of setting up tableaux scenes wherever the mood strikes them, and that day they decided to go fishing in the wading pool/fountain. All the kids in the pool thought they were a riot. So did I.

After the festival I wandered around downtown, got myself fantastically lost in the basement of a mall, and then found my way to the biggest, most gorgeous library I've ever seen besides the Toronto Reference Library. Then I hopped back on the LRT and went to the University again to wander around their campus. All I can say is in terms of gorgeous buildings, green spaces and student community centres, York's got NOTHING on U of A. Neither does U of T or Rye High for that matter. Amazing.

Upon returning to Southgate Terminal I kind of flipped a mental coin and decided to wander down Whyte Ave instead of going home; there was an art walk on, and I wanted to see it. I wound up powering past everyone instead, and walked from 109th street to 99th street before turning back and catching the bus back to Southgate. I mosied in the door at around 7 pm, and using Google Pedometer figured that I'd walked about 11 km, give or take.

My calf muscles screamed for the next 2 days. Totally worth it.

-Laur

Peter Pan and 2 Months

I'm sorry, faithful readers, that I haven't posted in quite a while. Things have not been so good here in E-town lately and I haven't had the heart to write anything.
After the La Senza debacle I fell into a slump that I'm still having trouble pulling out of. I've been here 2 months officially and you know what? I really miss you guys. I miss you so much. If I was living on my own, answering to no one but myself and keeping the hours and pastimes that I wish to keep, I think I would be going out with new friends a lot more than I am. As it is, I have a few friends and only one that I socialize with outside of work (NICOLE, I ADORE YOU, nearest and dearest to my heart <3 ) and the isolation I'm experiencing as a result is not something I'm used to.
I've been getting a lot more hours at the flower shop, and while I'm tired at the end of the day, my bank account likes the attention and I'll continue to work hard as to keep it fat and happy. 40 hours a week is a stability that I enjoy some aspects of, and I'll keep doing it right up until I leave for BC (more on that as details emerge).
I had a scare a few days ago, though, when I got home from work and my Gran told me she had fallen off her bed onto her left hip. She was walking, but I wanted to take her to the hospital immediately. She didn't, and I don't think does yet, have any idea how horrible last October was when we got that fateful email from her neighbour telling us she had fallen in her condo park and shattered her right elbow, and was in the hospital awaiting major orthopedic surgery. I took her to the doctor the next morning and x-rays showed that her hip wasn't broken, but she's in quite a bit of pain and is using a cane her neighbour gave to her to get around the house.
Now that the situation has leveled out a bit, I've come to two realizations: one is that my gramma won't be able to live by herself for much longer. I give it 2, maybe 3 years tops. Driving is uncomfortable for her because of her newly repaired elbow, and her arthritis bothers her a lot too. Soon the two levels of her house will be too much for her. That makes me sad, because unless she comes to Toronto, I don't know where she'd go.
The second realization is that I never want to get old. I'm Peter Pan. I never want to grow up.

It's raining right now, a blessed relief from the pressing dry heat we've been having for almost a week now. I'm going to bed. Tomorrow, hopefully, will be a better day. I might even be persuaded to review the movie Wall-E, which I saw a few days ago.

-Laur

My deepening love of nature...

I manage to accomplish a lot on my days off. I guess it comes from having so many things to do and so little time to do them in. This morning I slept in (whoops, sorry YMCA) and woke when I heard the telephone ring. A little later the doorbell rang and who walked in other than my cousin Joanne and her dad, my fantastic, wonderful Uncle Bob. They were here from Mayerthorpe County for a few doctor's appointments for Uncle Bob and between injections and bone scans they came for a cup of coffee and a cookie. That was the beginning of my day.
When Joanne and Bob left, Gramma and I got organized and headed out to Fort Edmonton Park to spend the afternoon. When we got there, however, there were 21 different school groups screaming and running around the park, and we were pretty turned off. So we walked down the path to the Jon Janzen Nature Reserve, where we wandered around for a few minutes before setting off down one of their fabulous hiking trails.
We did the short loop, thinking that once the school groups started heading out around 2 we'd go into the park and explore until it closed. The short loop was pretty great, and we had a great time exploring it.
This was one of the biggest birch trees I had ever seen.
Until we saw this one, which was thicker than Gramma!

This is the marker for 1905 street; for those of you who don't know how Fort Edmonton Park works, the basic idea is that the actual Fort structure is the real thing, relocated from its original resting place as the beginning of the city of Edmonton. Then there are 3 historical "streets": 1885 street, 1905 street and 1920 street, all constructed with real and simulated buildings from each of those time periods to illustrate what Edmonton was like in its pioneer stages.
This is the train you can take all the way around the park. We usually take it to the fort and then walk the rest of the streets back to the entrance in a big loop.
1905 street in all it's pre-war glory.
The horse stables on 1905 street. The park probably has more than 25 horses and a collection of cows, pigs, sheep, goats and fowl. The horses and ponies are used for rides, pulling wagons, and other such things. And they're cared for very well, which Gramma and I always appreciate.
The entrance to Fort Edmonton Park. The Fort is definitely in my top 5 places in Edmonton, right up there with Scona Market, West Edmonton Mall, Sproule Farm and the river valley. Gramma was saying to me this evening that other women may think she's crazy and ask her why we don't just go shopping together instead of hiking around in the heat and mosquitos, but she wouldn't have it any other way. I agree whole-heartedly.

On an unrelated note, La Senza is fine, but only just. I like Safeway, I like Penningtons, but I'll merely tolerate La Senza until it's time for me to quit. Just another name to add to my resume, I guess.

-Laur

Developments...

Last night Gramma and I went on an adventure after dinner. We drove to Snow Valley ski hill and headed down the Whitemud Ravine Nature Reserve trail to hike around and check out the sights. There were wild roses everywhere, and to tell you the truth, they made me even more confident in my decision to tattoo one on my shoulder. Look at how gorgeous that is! And not scary or brash at all.

We came to this bridge first after passing the maitnence shed and a HUGE mulch mountain (what do you say to that, Mom? I have a mulch mountain too!) and on either side of this bridge there was a small river or creek or whatever and it was SO GORGEOUS.

See the gorgeousness?

We came to another bridge later on, but it wasn't to cross the creek. This landslide had happened a while back and the parks people built a tremendous bridge and retaining wall to shield runners and hikers from danger. Look at the sky. It was such a gorgeous day.

Today Gramma and I have some shopping to do. I would say it's my day off, but I picked up another job yesterday at La Senza Southgate. Never, EVER thought I'd work at La Senza. It should be an interesting experience. I probably won't have any free time from now on, but the green must come, so work I shall.
Ta ta for now,

-Laur

Photo Journey #2: Whyte Ave and Scona Market

They're not in order, but they'll do.

-Laur