I've got a head of steam now.

More Seattle.Fooling around near Uncle Wally's.

Nice shot of downtown from a little park in Fremont.And Megan's hubby Chris was nice enough to take me to a Seattle Mariner's ballgame. They lost, but it was a lot of fun.

Technical difficulties?

We'll try again. I have a little time to do this right now. It's 30 degrees outside today, and I am not going to spend it all on the computer. But like I said, I have the time now. Just another series of pics from Seattle.

This is so dumb!!!! I have been posting on here for so long and I am ready to delete the account. I just hate posting pics on here. It's never easy. You'll have to crank your head sideways to see one of the pics. That one is from a drive Megan took us on one afternoon to Alki. It's a beach where all kinds of people bring their families and dogs. It's nice there, and a view of Seattle we wouldn't have found from the bus.

The hat is one that I looked forward to buying for a long time. These Brixton hats are not easily found in Canada. So I found a few shops in Seattle that sold them. Wrote the addresses and went hunting. My family knows what a drag it is to go hat shopping with Tom. Turns out it was on sale. I paid under $20.

The cupcakes were a special treat from Meg also. What a nice idea..... I shoud open a gourmet cupcake shop in Edmonton. Right in my parking lot. A specialty cupcake market....... hmmm.

More Seattle

Here's a little more from Seattle.

Farley got more love than anydog I have ever seen. Spoiled rotten.Birthday party with Murray the bartender. Let's say Dev got to be pretty good friends with him by the end of the night.Zig Zag cafe. Thanks for the left Caroline.

Ta Da! Welcome to the Pike Street Market.

Anyone want some fresh seafood?

Seattle Part I

First of all, Happy Birthday mom. Just getting toward the end of the pictures. Only a week and a half after I got home. Or more like two weeks. This is the Seattle leg of the journey.

First thing we did when we arrived was have a cocktail with Hal. What a crazy place he has.

Devyn having a swig of her gin gin mule. It was delicious drink!

Dev had to use the bathroom quite badly by the time we arrived. It is behind that bookcase just to the left of the tv. His place used to be a real garage. It's beautiful.There I am in the sun on Hal's patio. Notice the pool down below. It's so nice in Fremont where Uncle Wally lives.

And Uncle Wal's dog is pretty cool too. There's Farley when Megan first brought him over. We were lucky enough to set up shop at my Unc's condo. Too bad he was in Croatia though. Thanks.

More Seaside and the coast.

Just a few more quick ones of the coast. Tsunami zone!

Another self-portrait. We were able to find one game of the Stanley Cup Finals in Seaside. Had supper and watched the game. But I've already forgotten who won. Doesn't matter much in June does it?

Some more nationalism. Or maybe it was a little Canadiana flowing over the border. I'm not sure which one.This guy tried to make a sales pitch to us at the waterfront. Wyndam something or other. Sounded like a time-share thing where they would give $50 for listening to the pitch. But he soon figured that he wasn't going to find buyers in us and decided to have fun with us. Partying at the ocean.

Part IV Seaside

Seaside, Oregon was only 20 miles west - southwest of Astoria. Not quite as nice, but we stayed in a nice place, two seconds from the ocean. It was still cold, but nice to be there.

The funny thing about the hotel was the roof was covered by seagulls. And the resulting mess was astonishing.

Freedom Kids was about he only thing I saw on the while trip that made me think of the supposed Patriotism. That part of the US is not at all like the stereotypical American from Texas or the "South". The pacific northwest is not too different from home.We get to the ocean and we can run out and dip our hands in. Dev's first thought is to grab a giant stick and chase me around. I think we were pent up in the car for too long at that point.

Part III Astoria

Once we left Portland the trips in the car became much shorter and we spent the days wandering around the coast, slowly making our way toward Seattle.

It was very very cold. The wind, and rain. It wasn't pleasant, but a lovely little town. Nicer than Seaside I think. Only twenty miles apart, but Astoria wasn't quite as tourist-y.

Devyn at one of the docks along the warf.

One of the highlight was when we spotted a seal. I admit he startled me, and by the time we dug out the camera it was too late. However we was hiding under the docks here.

And then we saw that load of logs on a barge being towed by the little tugboat. Funny, it's an everyday thing if you live by the water, but a neat sight if you live in land-locked Edmonton.

Part II

From Cour D'Alene we went straight west toward the coast. A wonderful ride along the Columbia River.

As we pulled into Portland we decided it was warm enought to try and camp. The only site we found was a parking lot with no fire or anything. Not what I had in mind. So we traced our way to another cheap motel. It wasn't the most comfortable place we stayed but it was next to a bread factory which made it smell really nice. Portland was really pretty actually. Not the best for driving with all the bridges though.

Here we are having a little fun down by the river.

And some more fun being tourists. We were trying to take our self-portrait above and someone was kind enough to help us do it below.

This was a little restaurant/brewery we visited on a sunny afternoon just as everyone was getting off work. A nice afternoon lunch while those who weren't on vacation went about their business.

The first leg of our journey

Sorry it's a bit delayed, but between trying to get the pics printed off, and planning for Craig and Jen's wedding, and the first week back at work I am having trouble getting this done.

Here's part one: There were some major floods going on in Southern Alberta. We were at Waterton on the first night. Horrible weather, cold, and the Road to the Sun was closed again. So it was a brief stay.

The next day we crossed the border. We were there at 8:30 eagerly waiting. There wasn't another vehicle to be seen. A little stressful crossing with one lady grilling me and a guy searching the trunk. He felt sorry for us with a car full of camping gear and didn't bother to look too closely.

Waterton National Park is on the Cdn side, and Glacier Park on the Montana side. The rolling hills were amazing. I thought I could have some fun in Montana.

Here's a nervous Tom pretending we are staying in a nice hotel. I am thinking this was the one in Cour D'Alene, Idaho. The motel only cost $45 I think, but they must've been the host accommodations for a dog show. I say countless dogs there. I think perhaps Devyn was more comfortable in the dives than I was. They stunk, the beds were terrible, and the pillows way to thin. Beginning to sound a bit like my mom I think. A good thing of course.

And outside the doggy daycare we found our first big photo op. And a Walgreen's across the street. We bought white cheddar flavoured Cheetos. The delicious hard ones. Rather disappointing really. Tasted just like the orange ones. But yeah, back to the picture. How cool?

Holidays

I am back!!!! Hopefully that means there will be lots of posting going on here. Trouble is, I dread posting the million pics we took. I had a tremendous time though, and it will be fun going through all the pics. Hopefully many of them will make it this far.
Edmonton to Wateron National park the first day. Then to Cour D'Alene, Idaho. To Portland, and then Seaside/Astoria. A quick zip up to Seattle to see the cousins for the weekend, and then to Van to do some more visiting. On Thurs I drove all the way from VanCity to Hinton and finished the route yesterday. Now it looks like a bomb went off as I sort through everything that we brought with us. Some of it used, some not.
So there's a rough skeleton of our trip, 2500 miles and change. I will now try to figure out how to post this stuff. Maybe I day-by-day breakdown with some pics, or sections of our trip..... keep posted while I am posting.

Happy Birthday Dev

Well, this has been such a busy week. Now it's finally slowed a bit and I am enjoying an afternoon of coffee and catching up on some stuff I've been meaning to do .... like post on the blog.

Dev turned 23 on Monday and we had mother's day the night before. We went out for Greek food for her birthday and then we tried to get out for a bike ride on her new bike.

Pretty sweet ride hey?

And then yesterday David Beckham was in town. He was playing a match against the Vancouver Whitecaps in Edmonton. That was a lot of fun.

Here are the troops heading from my place to the LRT for the game. Mike and his wife Heather in the back, and Mike Rennick in the middle. Kevin needs no introduction. Everyone knows Kevin.

And there's one shot of Becks. We had really good seats and the game was a lot of fun. The camera flashes were hilarious everytime he touched the ball.

End of an era.

So the last two fish had to be flushed over the weekend. I don't know what it is, but that was not a good experiment. Better take it down and start over. They say the fish won't last very long anyway, but it's too bad. The life expectancy is somewhere around 4 days to 4 months if I can recall correctly. I did have one of those Cardinal Tetra's in the past that lasted me 4 years! Must have been the oldest tetra in history!
There is a good note in all of this though. I don't have to ask Kev to come over when I am on holidays in a couple weeks to feed my fish *evil smile*
The other topic of the day is today was officially the first day I wore shorts to work this spring. Perhaps even the first time in my brief postal career that I've worn them. It's a lot easier to get around without the big coat and thermal underwear and gloves .... etc. I was even sweating as I walked around in the sun this afternoon. A nice Monday, and only two more until vacation!

This is how it works

So I had to renew my vehicle registration the other week. I get a notice in the mail and they say I can renew online. Perfect, I won't have to leave my place and stand in line at the dreaded registry.
This is weeks ago and I get confirmation and the new pink registration card and think nothing of it. But then I realize I need the stickers for my plates. Where the hell are those? And when are they going to mail me the new ones for '09?
Today my plates expired so I got on the horn and asked someone where the stickers are. The lady told me to pop into a registry. Ahhhhhhhhhh, but this defeats the whole purpose of renewing online. The Internet is supposed to make our lives easier.
I was not too happy, but in the end there is a registry in my parking lot and there was NO LINE! Amazing in itself. So I got it all taken care of in a matter of minutes, but why is nothing ever easy? I'll give one more example. I want to buy something online already. I needed a case for my mp3 player. It's not an ipod so you simply can't find anything in a store. So I go to the Creative website and find the case on sale for $10. By the time I got to the "check-out" they inform me it will cost $40 to ship it here. Yeah, right! So I went to Future Shop and found one on a discount table for ten bucks without the shipping!
Maybe things will get easier, but every time I try to do something on the computer it takes me an extra four or five tries before it works. I've often thought it's the operator and not the machine. Now I am not so sure.

Easy Week

I've said before that I have the best job ever. This week I was on a Part-Time walk and finished early every day. I even had time for a haircut. I love going to get a haircut, but I don't really think it should cost me $29. I go to a nice salon to see a nice girl who seems to cut my hair nicely. Same place as my mom goes, but I can't go every time. Maybe go to Supercuts once and then to Vaso once.
Anyway, she wasn't shy with the clippers. I told her my hair was left a little too long last time, so she made sure I wouldn't leave saying the same thing. Oh well. She soaks my hair, shampoo's and conditions. Gives me a crazy head massage while conditioning and then cuts. After she rinses again and then "styles". I never look as silly as I do when I leave the barber. But we'll just call it my summer 'do.
Perhaps I will go do something today that gives me reason to take a picture. Then I will have something to blog about.
I should also share with my loyal readers that grandma made a wonderful batch of soup and homemade bread. Lucky I made it in time for supper - Thanks gran!

Jury Duty

The whole seniority thing at work makes me wonder sometimes, but I can see it's advantages too. I had to pick my holidays in two rounds. Everyone picks their days based on seniority, but everyone still gets a fair crack. So I was only a few months in and I picked my holidays. A two-week block from May 25th to June 7th. Perfect. For the last five months or so me and Devyn have been stuffing money into a peanut butter jar. We've done quite well, and I think we could pay for much of our camping trip through the mountains and down to Seattle.
Anyway, Dev was summoned to jury duty on the 29th of May. Ahhhh. I am sure we can get it sorted out, but what if? I know they'll be reasonable about it, but it gives you a little scare. I guess it's safe never to get too comfortable.

It's because of my mom!

I was looking back at the previous post and think there's something wrong with the title. Taken off life support...... Sounds like I just watched Bob and Doug McKenzie in Strange Brew. *Take off eh?* (Which is a film I think is quite hilarious) Taken off of life support, perhaps? I'll tell you it drives Devyn nuts if I accidentally correct her grammar. It pisses people off, but how can I possibly be any different? As they say, I come by it honestly. Thanks mom.

But there must be a point to this right? NOPE! None at all. Just thought I should get on here again because I was laughing at myself a few minutes ago. I made supper tonight. I had an assortment of treats including, 2 scrambled eggs, two hot dogs, and a pile of cucumber and green pepper. And a beer. Delicious. Thanks for taking the time to read this. I shall go find something else to do.

Taken off life support

Another one is gone down the pipes. From the original 8 fish, one of the Cardinal Tetra's had his/her tail eaten off and was thus sent to a better place. He/she was trying to hide behind the Egyptian head I have in the tank and it was just too sad. The area where the tail had been chewed had this cloudy little jelly-like thing around it so I decided he had to be put out of his/her misery.
It's looking pretty good for the tank being empty by the time I leave for holidays in late May! I don't know if I want to arrange for Kevin to come over every couple of days to feed two little fish. Like I said before though, the first tetra I ever had lasted four years. Maybe one of these is a fighter. I think the life expectancy is more like four days.
It's my last weekday off today, and I don't really know where the time went. I had a delicious day yesterday going out for lunch and getting my grocery shopping done. Checked out a new camping store which was rather disappointing, but I wasn't working. This weekend should be very nice so I will try to ram as much fun into it as possible, and get back to work on Monday. Should be interesting to see how out-of-shape I can become in one week.

Lots of fun

Had such a good time. I drove out on Monday and stayed two nights. Rode on Tuesday. There was NO ONE in Jasper. I had the whole hill to myself. When we walked around town we could've blown a cannon down main street and not hit anyone. What a treat compared to going in peak season. I just love days off in the middle of the week! And that pool was nice too!





Devyn sitting by the giant totem pole in the lobby. Swanky treatment at that place.

















Here are the grain theives caught in the act. The car must've been full of grain and there were about twenty elk sniffing around.