A Holiday Blog

Happy Holidays peeps! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday with their families, and are looking forward to a new year. I thought I would take advantage of this little break and do up a little holiday update for my followers.

I have had a most wonderful holiday with my family and friends and am most certainly not looking forward to going back to work! I was awfully sick and felt like 10lbs of shit in a 5lb bag for the week before Christmas but once I got home and got under the care of Dr. Mom all that started to get cleared up. There is no match for the TLC of Dr. Mom! I had caught a cold from the infested little germ bags I take care of this time of year, which quickly escalated into a raging virus, sinus infection and ear infection. After going to the Dr. on Wednesday he gave me some antibiotics and sent me on my way. Well by Friday I still couldn't breathe through my nose, I was deaf in my right ear and I still felt like bag of crap. So Saturday when my mom picked me up she knew I was in need of some motherly love. She took me home, fixed me up and I have been on the road to recovery ever since.

Despite the the illness I went out for an awesome light tour with the lovely Borgel family Friday evening. We did this last year and it was one of my highlights of the season! Darin is a crack navigator and knows all the sweet spots for looking at lights all around the HRM. We started our tour with hot chocolates in hand, and Christmas music on the stereo in Dartmouth. We have come to the conclusion that it is the middle class families that decorate the most. Just because you are rich doesn't mean you take time to decorate your obscenely large mansion, or even hire someone to do it for you. The low income families, well they have bigger fish to fry then Santa on the lawn. So it is the middle class suburbs you need to hit if you want a good light tour. We looped around cul-de-sacs and drove up and down side streets, faces glued to the window to see the sparkling lights. The houses and trees looked most festive with the recent fallen snow. We saw a lot of slightly decorated houses. A few things in the window, a strand of lights on the gutters, etc. I like seeing the beautifully done houses just like anyone else. The houses that take care with the placing of their lights, the carefully hung wreaths and spot lights that warm the cockles of your heart when you see the perfect little house. But what I live for is the real tacky, Griswold's type landing zones with a great big Wal-Mart special inflated on the lawn. I love me some tacky Christmas lights! I also love critiquing the lights with my fellow onlookers. I think we should go public with our critiques, and start naming names. Maybe start an annual publication of who's hot and who's not. A few of the comments from this year include; "It looks like they didn't know what to do with the lights, so they just threw them everywhere." "That house looks like some sort of Bordello in Vegas!" "I love the old style lights that let off enough heat to melt the snow on top of them......and burn your house down." Next year I am bringing a recorder in the car with us and I will transcribe our notes for the general public. The two winners of my favourite tacky Christmas lights goes to a house in Dartmouth, well a half a duplex, with inflatable figures as tall as the house. And my favs house in Fairview with the music lights and many animated features. The house in Dartmouth looked hilarious with the two big figures and multitude of lights filling their half of the house. It looked doubly as funny because the other half of the house was barely decorated while their neighbors looked like Christmas threw up on the lawn. Can you imagine being their neighbours?? Haha! The house in Fairview is my all time favs, and winner second year in a row. This house is no stranger to the decorating. They have lights often timed to music they play, presents that open and shut, and angel that moves her lighted arms, a waving Santa and so much more! Each house only has a small square footage to decorate but boy oh boy to they make the best of it! In all seriousness tho, as tacky and hilarious as these houses are to look at, that took some serious time and effort from the home owners. I say good on them for delighting the hearts, and senses of the passerby. We all love Christmas lights on a crisp evening! Thanks again to the Borgels for taking me on the tour, I smell and annual tradtion starting :)

Then Saturday morning my Ma came and picked me up and took me down to the farm for some good rest and relaxation. I spent Christmas eve there and on Christmas day we packed the car full and headed down to Bedford to my sisters for Christmas dinner and opening presents with the boys. It was very nice to have the whole family together for Christmas. Because of Marcus' visitation with his father and they way they divide holidays he wouldn't be coming back to the house until after 6 on Christmas day. I must say Jackson did extremely well and only opened one present from Santa and waited to open the rest of his gifts until Marcus was home. Not an easy feat for a 4 year old, but he did so well. As soon as Marcus walked in the door Jackson ran and gave him a hug and then made a B-line for the tree and grabbed the biggest box with his name on it. The boys were vibrating with excitement, and now it was time to open presents. I think it is so funny how different the boys are. Marcus has always been very anticlimactic and not easily excitable. So when he opened a gift he really liked you heard, "Oh awesome, that's really cool." Where as when Jackson opened a piggy bank he was yelling and throwing paper saying, "THIS IS THE BEST CHRISTMAS I EVER HAD!!" So very different! They were very grateful and excited about all the gifts they got, and I am sure it will be a great couple of weeks playing with all the new stuff they got. After presents we snapped a few family pictures, and a few silly ones too. I think the silly represents our family. Through tough times and good our family tries to not take things to seriously, and have a sense of humor about us. I am so thankful to be able to have the relationship I do with my family despite and ups or downs we may have faced. After all the Christmas events we headed back to the farm where I spent the following two days relaxing and spending time with my parents.

Now I am back in the city, and getting ready to head back to work and I am satisfied and happy with my holiday.

Before I go I wanted to write about my travel to do list. I recently posted about this on facebook, but I thought I would put it on here too. You see before I was leaving for the summer the lovely gals at PPCCC made me the best going present I have ever had. Since they knew I would be traveling to NZ they all got together and made me a list of things to do while I am there. They are written on a card and placed in a photo album for me to take with me. I fully intend on completing as much of this as humanly possible, and would love for anyone who wishes to contribute to do so. Once I am away I will start ticking things off the list, and you can bet there will be blogging and photos to accompany these. So put your thinking caps on and let me know if you would like to add to this list. At a later date I will be posting the whole list for people to see, but I am open to suggestions before that.



Anyway, Happy Holidays and all the best in the new year!!

An Amazing Day!

Well sir! This group of days off have been my most amazing to date. I have done some pretty friggin cool stuff since I have been here, and have some more in the works but this day was by far one of the most amazing experiences I have had.

On Sunday Zaza gave me drive home and we devised a plan to go rafting on the bow river with Michelle. Well Michelle met us at home and then we went down to the river to blow up the raft. Once we got down there she realized that she didn't have the plugs for the raft to keep the air in. So.....we can't really go rafting on a deflated raft so we packed it up, a little disappointed and went to get something to eat instead. We went to a place in Kensington called Sams and it was really good food. Then we called it an early night because I had a very exciting Monday to attend to.

So Amy, my cousin, works for STARS. They run the air ambulance for the province of Alberta, and soon other provinces as well. The deal there is that when you work a statutory holiday you can apply for a family flight where you and two family members can go up in the helicopter. As some of you may remember I was scheduled to do this a few weeks ago but got rained out. This Monday they were forecasting sunny skies and no wind. I was super stoked for this! Monday I got up bright and early, had a shower and got ready to go. A little after 8 we headed down to the airport for our family flight! We went in, we met the pilot and signed our lives away before we went in the hanger. We were then given helmets with mics on them and led into the hanger, where they keep the helicopter. James, our pilot opened the door and

sitting on a wooden platform was a bright red helicopter. It was super cool to have a look around inside. James went over some safety stuff with us, like what to do in case of emergency etc. Then we stood on the platform while they towed it out to the tarmac. We put our helmets on and took a quick picture before it was time to get in. Amy, being the super awesome cousin she is let me sit up front with the pilot. So we got in our seats, strapped ourselves in and James readied us for take off. He showed me all the dials and gauges, and what the start up process looked like. The headset helmet was cool, and voice activated, so whenever I talked everyone in the helicopter could hear me. I could hear everyone, except Amy. I think there was something wrong with her mic because she was apparently talking to me and I couldn't hear her, and I also couldn't see her because she was in the back and I was in the front. Then it was time for take off! James switched the switches, turned the knobs, pulled the levers and we started to lift straight up from the platform. It was so cool! Then he did a little ballet move where he spun around before he finally took off. I really thought it was going to be a bit more rough, but it was a super smooth ride for the most part. We started out over the city, and it was just so amazing to see the city below us. We glided over suburbia and then over Nose Hill park. Then James said, "Okay, you can fly now." I was nervous and said no he could do it. Then

he took his hands and feet away from the controls and said, "Well my hands and feet are off so what are you going to do." Then I actually flew the helicopter! Obviously with instruction from the professional, but I steered it to the left and flew it towards the Canada Olympic Park. It was so amazing! I can't believe I actually flew a helicopter!! Then we went over the hospitals, swung by downtown, over heritage park and then turned around and headed back. On our way downtown he was telling me about how they can hover in the air just like when we took off. Then he did it. He stopped the helicopter in mid air and we watched down below as the rest of the world went by. Talk about freakin cool! Going by downtown was super awesome because we were so close to the same height of the buildings. It was so much different then being in an airplane. I took a bunch of  pictures and just sat with an ear to ear smile as we went along. The flight was about 20 mins or so and then we were back at the hanger. I thanked James, the pilot, and Bruce, the medic, very much for taking us up. Also a big thank you for Amy for hooking up the whole family flight deal. What an amazing experience! I am so happy I was able to do that. That is something I will definitely never forget!

Amy and I had a whole day planned. We were going to sail the skies in the morning and then go to Calaway Park for the rest of the day. That is the "amusement" park here in Calgary. So after a quick stop at the house we headed for Calaway Park. We went in the gates and walked around a bit before we both had the same feeling. The feeling that this park sucks and there is nothing amusing about it. Upper Clements park in Digby is about 5x better then this place. It was small, and all the rides seemed to be for small children. I felt embarrassed going on the rides, like I was some overgrown girl child or

something. We were going to go on the bumper cars until they told us that we all had to move in a clockwise circle. WTF! When does the bumping happen if you are just driving in circles like idiots!? So we got something to eat, walked around a bit and got the hell outta there. We spent the rest of the day at Costco and Value Village, which I feel was much more entertaining then Calaway Park would have been.

The rest of my time off I spent drinking beer in the sunshine and genuinely enjoying life :) Back to camp in the morning!                                                                                                   

This week at camp

This week at camp was nothing short of eventful that is for sure. You know I was so worried about last weeks family camp because of their preceding reputation and turns out they were just fine. This week however was a whole other story. The days of the week were pretty good, nothing major to talk about. Usual camp stuffs, carnival, grand council, the usual for the week Then Friday came, and it was time for family camp.

As per usual they rolled in at 5 and started the registration. The checked in, got some sleeping bags and then a slushie before hopping on the wagon for a ride down to their tipis. I was working slushies this weekend so I spent a few hours alone in the slushie hut passing out sugary beverages. I went on break from 7 - 8 and then headed back up to the hall to serve snack for the evening. After snack we had to go to our assigned sections and make sure the families are settling in alright and have everything they need. I came out of the hall and down the path by tipi town and in the middle of the wide open lake I see two girls smoking. Well for starters smoking is not allowed unless in the designated smoking area. So I stood and watched them for a few minutes. I could see that they were passing it back and forth and each time they inhaled they would hold it in for a few seconds before exhaling. Now I don't know one person that smokes a cigarette like that. I know lots of people that smoke silly cigarettes like that tho. So it was clear that these young girls were smoking pot, and we have a hard fast rule about any kind of drugs or alcohol. The rule is, if we see you with it, you're gone. At the time I didn't have a radio so I yelled up the hill to Lemongrass that was on her way down, to let me use her radio. As soon as I yelled that the girls in the canoe heard me and looked our way and put their hand down by their feet. Lemongrass came over and gave me her radio to radio our manager and Dragonfly came over to see what was going on. As soon as these girls saw the three of us standing there in our staff shirts they started bookin it for the dock. Zaza told me to go to the boathouse and meet them there, so I took off and the race was on to see who would make it to the dock first. Diana our director, who also works family camps with us, was on the other side of the lake already and also had a vehicle with her so Zaza radioed her and told her to head to the boathouse. As I rounded the lake in a near sprint I saw across the water that Diana had made it to the dock, so I could slow my pace a bit thank god. Diana was standing on the dock with her feet about shoulder width apart and her hands on her hips and had her fiery gaze locked onto the delinquent teens. The girls in the canoe also noticed that Diana had made it to the dock before me as I watched them both look up and when they saw her they dropped their paddles for a few seconds. I chuckled to myself over that one, it was pretty obvious that they were caught so they slowly made their way back into the dock to meet Diana. Now I don't know if any of you have been stoned as a teenager, but I will tell you that no one wants to talk to the cops when they are stoned and 16. Although we didn't have the cops we did have Diana, who when she wants to be can be quite intimidating and is the director of the camp. So they girls were not too keen on talking to her and hid on the back dock behind the boathouse. Diana talked to their leader and told her they had to leave right away no exceptions. So about 3 hours into family camp we had our first bust of the season and these girls were sent packin. I thought they were rather silly because our camp is surrounded by woods! If they had of hid behind a tree like a normal person I probably wouldn't have caught them, but since they were sitting in a canoe in the wide open lake it was a pretty easy bust! Just call me Morreeeny the crime dog.

The rest of the weekend was filled to the brim with needy demanding families. This makes for a super long weekend and it is very tiring to deal with. We all kinds of crazy people from the mother who needed a pair of socks for her 14 year old son because he wouldn't get out of the car without socks. To a crazy hypochondriac mother. The woman with the 14 year old son was just down right silly. She said she picked him up from cadet camp and brought him to our camp for family camp. He had forgotten his shoes and all he had was his cadet boots and he wore through his socks. So she needed us to get her socks so her son would get out of the car. I am pretty sure if that was my mother I would have been left in the car and she would have walked away. I am sure he would have come down to the tipi after a bit anyway. So we got that straighten away and they were settled for a bit, but not surprisingly were a needy family for the rest of the weekend.

tipi, she is hurt and we are afraid to move her." My immediate thought was oh shit this lady is unconscious, something was broken that we had a serious situation on our hands. I immediately radioed Diana told her what I knew and told her to meet me at the tipi, and she said she was on her way. I ran over to the tipi to where the woman was. Once I got over there I saw this woman laying flat on her back staring up at the small crowd of people that were around her. I went over and bent down. I asked if she hit her head "No" "Do you know where you are?" "Yes I am at (insert camp name here)" "Can you tell me what happened?" "Yes, I was coming out of my tipi when I tripped and fell and banged my knee." "Okay, is your neck hurt?" "No" "Is your back hurt?" "No." Then my internal voice said, "Then what the fuck am I doing here, GET UP!" What the hell lady! So you fell and banged your knee, get up and shut up! I helped her up and sat her in a chair and had a look. She had just scraped her knee and there was not a single drop of blood to be seen. Diana arrived and I filled her in, and then I left because I had better shit to do. Diana gave her an ice pack and sent her on her way. Later that afternoon before dinner she wanted to know who was going to transport her to the hall for dinner. I felt like saying, you and your two little feet and your heart beat lady. I refrained and told her that we were unable to provide her with transport to the hall and that dinner is served from 5-6 and it was now 4:45pm. She asked if someone could bring her dinner to her. I replied no not unless you want a cougar in your bed, and then you couldn't run from it because of your knee. Her concern was that she wouldn't make it before dinner was finished being served if she had to walk all that way. I assured her I would talk to the kitchen and tell them to save some dinner if she wasn't there by 6, and I left before I cursed at her. Surprise surprise she made it to dinner before it was even being served. I could tell by the size of her gunt that this lady was not about to miss dinner! Her whining was continuous until she said she was going to go home. I thanked Allah and told her it was too bad, but hoped she felt better soon. See-ya! But you know as frustrating as she was I must have been doing my job well because she went and talked to Diana and said that I was so helpful and she really thought I was great.

This family camp we also blacklisted a family because the father was kicking the horses. Yep you read that right, the father a grown man was acting like a sadistic toddler and got his whole family blacklisted from the camp. WTF! This was a super frustrating family camp and boy was I glad on Sunday when it was the start of my days off!

On My Days Off....

So along with another week of camp I had another set of days off. I have really been getting out and about on my days off and trying to experience the most of Calgary as I can. (With lots of help from Amy and Kev). To start this time off Amy came out to the ranch to have the grand tour and go for a swim in the lake with me. I have started swimming everyday at the lake, because I figure why not! After an afternoon dip in the lake we headed home to Calgary. Amy told me that we would be going to Japanese Village for dinner. I was excited because we don't have an abundance of cultural foods at home in the east coast, and it would be great to try some while I am here.

Our Chef

The Japanese Village was great food and a great atmosphere. The grills were right at the table so you watched the chefs prepare your dinner. When we walked in the room was a buzz with laughter, applause, chefs talking and the sizzle of the grill. We were shown to our table, and before long the chef came out to prepare our dinner. Our chef made excellent food but unfortunately wasn't as outgoing as some of the other ones around us. We think he may have been an apprentice or something because behind us they were having 'happy fun time hour' and our table was a bit dudsville. However it was cool to see him slicing and dicing the food, and he did a cool candle thing with an onion. We at our delicious dinner, and as we were finishing our dessert a guy came over and asked us if we wanted a little magic show. Who says no to magic?

The Magician

So this guy started with a card trick. He flipped through a blue backed deck and told Amy to tell him when to stop. When he stopped he turned over the card (a 9 of hearts) and gave it to me and got me to write my initial on it. Then he pulled out a red backed deck and found the 9 of hearts in that deck. He put the blue backed card with my initials on it on the table and told Kevin to put his hand over it flat on the table. He took the red backed 9 of hearts and moved it around a and did a little something something, and then told Kev to lift his hand. There was indeed a red backed card under Kevin's hand now, and the magician was holding a blue backed one. He flipped over the red card and my initials were now on that one!!! It was very impressive! It might not sound like it in text but it was awesome to see.
For his next trick he said he needed a 5 dollar bill that could be ripped. So a different guy at our table gave him a 5 dollar bill. The magician ripped a corner off the bill and handed it back to the guy and told him to keep the 18 cents. Then he folded up the bill and did a little something and then when he unfolded the bill it was a whole bill again. That was very cool, but not the end of the trick. Out of his bag he got a coffee cup and a butter knife. Then he did a few tricks where folded up the bill again and put it under the coffee cup, and then it would be in his hand. He did a few tricks where he made it look like he was dropping the folded bill through the coffee cup. Then for what I thought was the grand finale he dropped the bill through the coffee cup, when it landed he put the cup down over it, and when he pulled up the cup there was a lime under the cup. A LIME! His sleeves were rolled up, how in the hell do you palm a LIME! Then I looked at Kevin and said, "If the 5 dollar bill is inside that lime I'm going to loose it." No sooner did I say that and he stabbed the butter knife into the lime and pried it open, and inside there it was, the folded 5 dollar bill! I exclaimed, "OH MY GAWWD!" I was super impressed with that. Then before he left he signed the back of the card for me and gave it to me. It was pretty amazing! So good food, and a good show!

On Monday Amy was working so I headed over to a trendy little spot in Calgary called Kensington. It is known for having trendy little shops and cafes, so I went to check it out. It is a cute little area with lots of little shops and designer stores. I looked around a bit, debated going and getting the other side of my nose pierced (it is something I have been thinking about for a while) but ultimately decided to wait until camp was done. I bought a very cool leather bracelet, and ate lunch there before heading home. I spent the rest of my days off just relaxing, reading, napping you know all the good stuff. Now I am finishing this, packing up and heading back to camp for the week. I will let you know how it goes when I get back.

Much Love to my Fans ;) xoxox

Another Week of Camp

I had a good week this week, and even a good family camp. This week at camp I had a day that was very humbling. Part of my job is hosting groups from a variety of organizations that come out for the day. We have several regulars that come several times a week as well as several groups that this year will be their first time at the camp. The children I deal with are much higher needs then the children that come for week long camps, and often come with high ratios and lots of aids. I had an especially special group this past Thursday. One of those moments where it truly makes you appreciate life a little more. My group showed up Thursday morning in a wheelchair accessible bus, ready to rock and roll. I usually chat with the leaders of the group about what their organization does, what services they offer etc. After talking to the leader for a few minutes she told me that the children they had there today were all in palliative care, and in the end stages of their diseases. For those of you who don't know what that means, it means that all the children (except the siblings) that I had there that day were dying, and probably didn't have much time left. Three of the five children had feeling tubes, and machinery that came with them. They were all in wheelchairs, and various stages of alertness. Only one could sit up on his own and respond with noises when spoken to. Some of them laid back, and could almost not open their eyes. At first when I found out I was taken back, and pretty sad thinking that these children won't be returning next year and what a cruel world we live in that these sweet children were dying. Then I realized that this day could possibly be the funnest day for the rest of their lives. They were going to have experiences today that would be fun, freeing and memorable! And I was the one they were going to remember helped them do that. That made me more excited to for the day, determined to show these kids a fabulous time. They went on a wheelchair accessible wagon ride, ride on the pontoon boat around the lake and each of them got the opportunity to ride a horse. Even tho most of them were non verbal I could tell by the looks on their faces, and the noises they were making that each and every child in that group was having the time of their lives! One of them got to drive the boat, and I though for sure his face would break because his smile was so big. The staff and family that came with the group were so grateful and pleased with their experience at the camp, they all thanked me profusely, and I in turn thanked them. They gave me a gift that day that I will never forget. Even tho we only had a few hours together I will remember each of those children for the rest of my life, and I am so thankful I was the one that got to share that day with them. For those of you who get caught up in the trivial negativity of life please try to remember that we are extremely fortunate no mater what bumps in the road we experience.

So after a heartfelt week, really loving what I do it was time for family camp! I was kind of nervous about this weekends family camp and trying to get myself ready for it. I was warned ahead of time that the group we had coming was notorious for being rude, demanding, disrespectful, stealing, and possibly drugs and alcohol. So I went into the weekend amped and ready for anything they wanted to throw at me. Friday evening they all arrived and they started to get settled in their tipis. About 2 hours into the evening a very wonderful and nice family came up to me and told me they didn't have any sleep mats in their tipi. This was strange and annoying, because I know that we make sure to have 10 mats in every tipi before the families come. I was supposed to be going on break, but I headed down to take care of this. The family that said they had no mats were in deer tipi, and this tipi is right next to eagle. I don't know why, but on my way down to the tipi I thought that maybe eagle had taken the mats into their tipi. So I approached them and said, "Hey guys, I am just looking for some extra sleep mats. Do you have any extra mats in your tipi?" They said, "No, we don't have any extra." I then asked, "How many people are sleeping in your tipi this weekend?" "Seven." To which I replied, "Well there are ten mats in every tipi, so you have at least 3 extra mats. I am going to go ahead and go and get those now." I opened the flap and low and behold they had about 25 mats in there. They had built themselves double beds, three mats high. I informed them that they had left their neighbours without any mats and I was going to go ahead and take the mats back, and proceeded to start ripping their beds apart. I thought to myself 'Gawd! Two hours into it and these guys are starting with the shit already!' However it turns out the weekend went pretty well . There were a lot of  great families there, and I was glad I got to meet a lot of them. There were a handful of families that lived up to the reputation, but there is a handful of frustrating families in every family camp. I did however, end up  missing a pair of sunglasses, but that was my only property causality of the weekend. The best part of this weekend, was no cougar!

Sunday after we cleaned up the camp we had some team building time, which involved a swim in the lake. It was a great way to end a weekend of work. Then Amy came out to pick me up and I was able to give her the tour of camp and we went for another swim in the lake. I was super happy that she got to see the camp I work at. Then I headed back to Calgary to enjoy some much deserved time off.

Days off

So after a busy week at camp I headed back to Calgary on some well earned time off. I was super excited for these days off because I had a helicopter ride over Calgary booked with Amy (That actually never happened because of bad weather, but we are hoping to rebook). We also had a trip to the Calgary zoo planned as well, which I was pretty stoked about.

So Monday after Amy was off she slept for 2 hours and then she got up to go to the zoo. She is a pretty big champ for walking around the zoo all day on a few hours of sleep! The zoo was good! It was a beautiful day, 26 degrees and sunny.  We walked around the zoo and looked at the animals, and I got to see the giraffes. For those who don't know me well giraffes are my favorite animals! They even had a baby giraffe. We tried to catch a talk about the tigers, but the doofus running it started talking about hippos. I think he may have been confused. We spent a few hours at the zoo hanging out seeing the animal exhibits and then headed home. On the way out I took a picture with the metal moose to represent my moose cabin ladies!

After heading home we just relaxed a bit at home and watched some TV, and Kev headed to his evening class. Then Amy asked me if I had ever been to Peter's? I had never heard of it so we decided to go there and get something to eat. Peters is a old style drive in restaurant that is apparently quite famous here in Calgary and has an extensive milkshake menu. When we got there we decided to just get a large fry and split it between the three of us. When Amy ordered this the guy said, "Do you know how big the large is?" Amy told him that we were splitting it between the three of us and even then he just shrugged his shoulders and said,, "ok." When we got our food we soon realized why he had warned us. The fries came in their own bag! It was like a large lunch bag full of fries! That with a few cheeseburgers and three milkshakes was a recipe for a food baby! The food was great and cheap! I was impressed and hopefully we will go back there sometime before I leave.

The helicopter ride for Tuesday didn't happen because of the wind and rain, but we are hoping that in the morning the weather will be clearer and we will be able to go. I will keep you updated!

Never a Dull Moment a Camp

Hey guys! I know last week I slacked off, but not to worry this weeks is going to be chock full of adventure! Last week nothing real major happened it was a semi regular week at camp besides a kid pooping on the floor of the hall during carnival, and two adult women lighting fireworks off in the parking lot during family camp. So the only thing with this weeks entry is no pictures :( (The other ones in here are from Google). I know, I know I am sad about it too, but if you keep on reading I guarantee a good read!

This week started great! My daygroup on Wednesday were really good, everything went smoothly and away they went. Carnival was good, the slushie machine had a bit of a fit at an inopportune time, but no one shit on the floor. Thursday was good too. Had a good daygroup, things went well, grand council went well and we made some sweeeet Reese's smores for our weekly staff fire. Then came Friday..........this was the beginning of a series of unfortunate events.

Friday started off a little dreary with some light rain as the week long campers packed up their stuff. We jammed them all into the hall and I helped the arriving families find their children and soon enough they were on their way. After the campers were sent off I had a daygroup for the day before starting prep for family camp. The daygroup that I had was a group that I am very familiar with, we host different groups from their organization several times a week. They showed up a little early and not worried about rain at all. They had a great attitude and came equipped with rain jackets, and before long we were up on the sports field playing kick-ball in the light rain. After lunch they began their scheduled activities which included horses and a pontoon boat ride. Their group split into two and I was going to be driving the pontoon for the afternoon for both groups. The rain started to pick up a bit while the first group was having their pontoon ride, but it was still manageable. The rain picked up to a steady rain when the groups switched, but they were okay with it, so I went with it. The second group got on the pontoon and the rain got harder and harder each minute. Only a few of the kids got a turn to drive the boat when all of a sudden there was a bolt of lightning in the sky and a huge clap of thunder right above the boat. The rain was coming down in sheets and the air around the boat looked white from the hard rain. The one thing about the pontoon is that you can't drive it in the thunder and lighting because it is a metal boat sitting on the water. It might as well be a written invitation for lightning to strike! So I had the lovely job of docking the boat in the pouring smashing rain! This proved to be a bit difficult, but before long I got it tied up and everyone was unloaded. We all got soaked to our skivvies walking up to the hall for them to wait for the bus. Soon enough they were on their way and I was able to take a break and get changed into dry clothes.

Friday evening we had family campers arrive for the weekend, and I was assigned 3 LIT's to shadow me for the weekend. LIT stands for leaders in training, so they are teens learning how to be counselors. I was lucky, and my LIT's were great, and did well all weekend. Saturday was a pretty good day. The weather had cleared, the sun was out and we had a good group of family campers on site this weekend. I worked canoes and pontoon with my LIT's all day and enjoyed the sunshine. Then after dinner we have campfire for the families and a marshmallow roast. Lemongrass and I were manning the marshmallow roast and Dragonfly and Diesel were on their break. Previously Diesel had said she was going to go for a run on her break because it was such a nice evening. We didn't really think anything of it until around 6:30pm over the radio came, " (Huffing and puffing) Code brown (huff/puff) on the ropes course (huff/puff) really close encounter!" So for those of you who don't know, a code brown means a large animal sighting (a cougar or a bear). My first thought was, "Oh fuck, I have a family from my section that told me they were going for a walk after dinner!" So Zaza and Diana took off to go make sure everything and everyone was okay and to scare this thing off. So here is how the code brown went. Diesel went for a run on her break and once she got to the edge of camp she sat down on a rock in the sun for a few minutes. After she caught her breath she got up and started running again,

and only after a min or so, (for whatever reason) she glanced behind her. Only to see a cougar chasing her, and gaining speed in order to leap on her back. She whipped around and stopped and the cougar skidded to a stop about 3 feet away from her! She said that she didn't really know what to do so she started walking slowly backward and speaking to it in a stern voice as if it was a mean dog she had just encountered. The cougar kept going to her side, trying to get her to turn her back to him, but she didn't. There were no families around and she couldn't see people that were close so she just kept walking backward into camp. The further she got into camp the more the cougar backed off a bit (more people noises traveling across the lake) until finally it slunk into the bushes. Diesel took this as her opportunity to run, and she turned and booked it as fast as she could to the cabin, then grabbed the radio and called the code brown. Diesel deserves a round of applause for her calm collected response to a effing scary situation! Good for her to be able to keep it together and get outta there before it grabbed her!

The next part of my evening involved going to each family and telling them that a cougar had come into camp and that they were no longer allowed off camp, their children must be in eyesight at all times, and if they didn't listen to us the first time and had food in their tipi they absolutely needed to take it up to the hall right now. Of course people get freaked when you mention a cougar is around so this put a lot of the families on edge, and it was important that we stayed calm and professional to set the tone for the crowd. I did however tell the LIT's that if they pissed me off I was going to put some hamburger in their pillows! That shut them up :). Although the cougar was indeed lurking around at night time we didn't have any other incidents, and the family campers left the next morning without a hitch.

On Sunday we had a company BBQ to host. So here's the deal. The camp I work for is a non profit organization but is privately funded by a corporation here in Calgary. This multi billion dollar corporation donates a few million dollars a year for the camp to run and be free for all who come. So a couple times through the summer they have their corporate BBQ's at our ranch and the families of

the people that work there get to come out and do whatever the fuck they want. I mean if you give me around 4 mil a year I will let you go just about anything you want too. So at 11 we had close to 300 people come on out for a BBQ and some ranch activities. I was manning the pontoon boat for this event. So I take families out, let the kids have a spin of the wheel and take them back in again. This one time I had about 15 people on the pontoon and was just heading out on a run with these families. As I rounded the corner around the island I see a canoe flipped over, a young woman slumped over the canoe and a man that I can tell is conscious holding her up on the canoe. I tell the families on the boat that we have to make a pit stop and help these people and everyone was cool with it. I aimed the boat straight for them and put it on full throttle, then popped it into neutral so we would just drift up to them. As we got closer I could see that the woman was conscious but spitting out some water and was very shaken up. When we were about 5-6feet from them I asked the man if he could swim to the boat. To which he replied, "No, neither of us know how to swim." So I told him that we were drifting and the possibility that we would drift right over him, if he didn't grab the boat, was there. I instructed him that once we got to them I was going to grab her and pull her on the boat and he was to grab the boat so we didn't go over top of him. We coasted up to them and one of the dads of the families I was pontooning came and helped me. We reached down and grabbed her life jacket and hauled her backwards up on the floor of the boat. The man grabbed the pontoon and then we helped him up. My first concern was to make sure she was breathing and okay. The man said, " Her purse, her purse was in the water." I told him it was probably on the bottom of the lake by now, and there wasn't much I could do about it. He kept going on about her damn purse! After I made sure she was okay I went to grab the canoe and tow it back to shore. When I flipped the canoe over low and behold, there was the damn purse! It got trapped under the canoe. I grabbed the purse to hand it back to her and when I did a little black pouch (containing a camera) fell out and plopped into the water and sank to the bottom of the lake. I handed the bag back to her and said, "Here's your purse........minus one camera. But hey, it's a small price to pay." I tied the canoe on the back of the pontoon, radioed Diana to come have a look at this girl, and headed back towards the dock. On the way back one of the women that was on the pontoon asked what had happened. The man said, "Well that was our first time in a canoe....." Then I stopped listening because I was thinking, are you SERIOUS!? So neither of you can swim, and you have never been in a canoe before and you thought it was a great idea to head out in a canoe unassisted!? Sounds like an accident waiting to happen.......oh wait! And accident did happen!! People are dumb! They are lucky I came along in the pontoon because apparently she had gotten trapped under the canoe and panicked and that is why she took on some water. Idiots!

Lets just say I was glad to start my days off at 3pm and proceeded to come home and have a few beers! Like I said, never a dull moment at camp.

Yeehaw, Goin to the Stampede Ya'll!

So I went to my first ever Stampede! The Calgary Stampede is something that I have always wanted to go to, so I was super pumped that I got to go finally. The week before when I was off Michelle and I went out to the Sally-Ann and got some cheap stampede gear. I got a a snazzy plaid shirt, and cowboy hat for the event. I gotta say I felt a bit silly putting it on, just because it is definitely not something that I would normally wear. I even grew up on a farm and never even owned a cowboy hat until now. However when I got to the Stampede I soon realized that I fit right in! I have never seen so much plaid and cowboy hats in one spot! I saw 'cowboys' of all kinds! Asian, African Canadian, Caucasian, Native, young, old, you name it! I went with my camp manager Jamie and her boyfriend JP, so I had some experienced locals to help guide me through the chaos that is stampede.

We parked and took the C-train to the stampede. This was my first time on the C-train and way easier then trying to drive down to the stampede! As soon as we walked in the front gates it was a sea of lights, sounds, and smells. There was food vendor upon food vendor as far as the eye could see mixed in with midway rides and tons of people. Before I went I was recommended to try several foods while I was there. Apparently at Stampede they deep fry everything that doesn't move fast enough! Deep frying and food on a stick were everywhere. There were signs for all things deep fried, and before I had been told to try the deep fried Oreos. So the first vendor we saw with them we stopped to get some. There were 5 in total in the basket and covered in chocolate sauce and powdered sugar. I took a bite and they were soft and delicious! We all agreed that they were deep fried goodness, and we had no troubles polishing off the others. From there we walked around the midway and Jamie and JP decided to go on the Mega Drop. It was one of those rides where you are strapped in and it goes to the top then drops down really fast. I am not a fan of my stomach in my throat so I took pictures from the sidelines. There is so much to see on the Stampede grounds that I felt like my head was on a swivel. We went and bought tickets to the Chuck Wagon Races in the grandstand and explored a bit more before the show started. We toured through the agriculture building and lots of other places before it was time to head to the grandstand for the races.

I was pretty excited that I actually got to go to an event and not just walk around the stampede grounds. The grandstand was packed and it was a sea of cowboy hats. We bought cheap tickets, but were able to walk down to the standing area and it was super close to the finish line. The chuck wagons were great! Teams of four horses pulling a wagon with two drivers compete in several heats. The part where they race around the barrels confused me a bit, and it was so fast that I don't think I even had time to understand it before they were off and around the track. However when they rounded the last corner and headed towards the finish line the energy of the crowd sky rocketed! It was very exciting and the races were so close with only seconds between teams! We watched the heats, got some food and I really enjoyed the experience. Right before the last heat the dark clouds rolled in and it came a down pour like no other. The rain was coming down hard, and just then you thought it couldn't possibly rain any harder it would! We decided that sitting in the rain for the show coming on after the races was not the most enjoyable idea we had, so we left and started to make our way to the BMO building. Along the way we saw a sign for deep fried Pop-tarts, which was something Jamie was told to try, so of course we had to try one. JP went up to the counter and laid out his $5 bill and said, "I'd like a heart attack please" The woman said, "You'd like a pop-tart?" Ans with that we had a deep fried strawberry pop-tart to try. It was okay, but definitely no competition for the Oreos!

 In the BMO building there is a huge market type thing with a plethora of products to choose from. Most of them are like infomercial type products and the people are doing their spiels about how great whatever it is they are trying to sell. We walked around there for a bit, and they decided to call it a day and head home on the C-train. I am super glad I was able to finally go to the Stampede, and a big thanks to Jamie and JP for being my tour guide. Who knows maybe I will be back someday and do it again!

Boy Does My Ass Hurt From That Karma Bite!

Today's lesson is not to tempt the fates! Last week I got a bit cocky and felt the need to brag about what an easy job I had this summer. If you recall I went into great detail about the 'easiness' of being a facilitator at camp. Well a lady by the name of Karma must also subscribe to my blog along with all of you wonderful people. This week tells a different story! Although it wasn't all bad and we had some good times it was not as cushy as week one.

First with the good. Wednesday was carnival day for the campers, and it was a lot of fun. We put on an event for all the kids with games, face painting, popcorn, slushies, etc. The staff dress up in the most ridiculous costumes and help out for the evening. I made enough popcorn for 200+ people in old fashioned popcorn machines and then helped out with the Slurpee serving. It was a lot of fun! Thursday was Grand Council, which is a very ceremonial tradition at this camp, and it was great to be a part of. Also on Thursday we got a bag of marshmallows for our cabin and got off early for the evening. That was a lot of fun. At Moose cabin we hosted a social campfire in the pit in front of our cabin. This was the first (of many to come) opportunity we had as staff to get together and relax and joke around. We roasted marshmallows and had a few good laughs. We decided to make our Thursday night campfire a weekly thing for resource and operations staff from the other cabins. We also started a little friendly competition. It was decided that among the three cabins we are going to have a cabin decorating competition. You may have seen the picture of the cabin I posted on facebook, and the other cabins look the same. The rules for said competition are that we decorate the outside of our cabin in which ever way we want. Our budget to complete the whole thing is $10 per cabin, and we can also bring stuff from home. The losers of this are required to bring the treats for Thursday night campfire as well as they get pied in the face by the winners. So I am putting out a call to all my followers on here. Give me some ideas! If you have an idea to help the Moose girls win this thing (our stiffest competition is the newfie boys in Deer cabin) please inbox me your ideas on facebook, and I will gladly post pictures of me whipping a pie into Steve's face!

Now, onto the title of this entry. I suppose the first issue was the four teenage campers that decided to go crazy. Without going into too much detail I will say that on Thursday shit hit the fan and the managers we otherwise occupied babysitting. So the resource staff had to fill in for the Grand Council ceremony, which was fun but it also meant the managers we stressed from the situation at hand. So after that got squared away we were relaxing in front of Moose Cabin with some other staff. The campers were all getting ready for bed around 9:30pm and we were just chatting at the picnic table. Then we hear two 13yr old girls arguing beside the bathroom. One was going all Maury Povich on the other and the manager who was with us had to go and intervene. Everyone went to bed a little tired from the days events. I went to bed fine, but then around 3:00am I was woken up by what I can only describe as the Apocalypse going on outside. The windows of the cabin we rattling, the rain was slapping against the side, the walls were shaking and the whole cabin was rocking. I thought the cabin was going to be ripped from the ground, or at least the roof ripped off. My first thought was thank god I am not in a tipi right now, and then I thought perhaps the 4 girls causing all the trouble were indeed the four horsemen! Somehow I was able to fall back asleep during that and had a broken sleep until Friday morning.

Friday morning is when all the week long campers leave and in the evening is when the Family campers come. When we woke up the bad weather was gone a side from a bit of wind and the air was a bit cooler then it had been. The week long campers went home with their parents and the counsellors prepared to go home. I had a fabulous daygroup for most of the day and then got ready for family camp. As the day progressed the wind got stronger and stronger. By the time the family campers got there the wind was whipping through the valley with gusts up to 75kmph. As you all know the camp accommodations consist of about 30 tipis. Wind and tipis don't really hang out that well. So just as the families started to arrive the tipis started to come unpegged and the canvas started to fly up. We registered all the families and directed them to their tipis. After everyone was registered Diesel and I had to spend almost two hours with hammers banging the rebar tipi pegs back into the rocky ground. This was exhausting and difficult. Most of the land there is rock, so it isn't the easiest to pound rebar into. The vibrations of the metal hammer on the metal rebar against the rock made for a painful hand by the end. All the families were on edge, and wanted their tipis fixed first. We had to pull down the canvas and try to hold it down while we hammered away in some cases. The family in bobcat tipi had to be moved because the back of the tipi caved in. We moved them to Bluejay, which then was blown sideways by the wind, so we had to move them again. There was a little boy and his mom in Bat tipi, and the boy was a nervous wreck. He was scared to death that he was going to die inside that tipi. We put his poles in, pegged the tipi down the best we could and finally got him assured that everything was going to be okay. We started to walk away from their tipi and from behind us we heard a big crack and looked to see a huge tree topple over across the road ripping the roots from the ground not far from Bat tipi. The little boy came running out of his tipi yelling "The tree! The tree!" and pointing at the fallen tree. It was a long exhausting night and I fell into bed around midnight and passed out. The next day the wind had subsided a bit, but we still blowing pretty steady. We had to cancel the pontoon rides for the morning due to the wind, but there were other activities for them to do. The day with the families wasn't too bad, the mood got better with the weather and by the evening the wind had settled and most of the families were in a better mood. I, however, had started to break out in a rash all over my back. From what, I have no idea. I do know that by Sunday morning it had spread over my arms, legs, back and stomach. So far Benedryl seems to be holding it at bay.

Aside from locusts I think we were plagued with everything else, and needless to say that by noon on Sunday I was more then ready to be off!

First Family Camp of the Summer

My fellow facilitator, Diesel, and I working hard!

Well after a few days off to recoup from the super busy training week it was back to work to host our first family camp of the season. The camp I am working for not on takes week long campers all summer long, and day groups but on weekends we host family camps. This is when families have the opportunity to come out together and stay for two nights on the ranch. As a facilitator it is part of my job to facilitate these along with the other 3 facilitators and my manager. Since this was my first time with the family camps I didn't really know what to expect. Turns out it might be the best part of my summer :) The family camps are so relaxed! I had found with the day groups it is non-stop go go go until they leave, but with the family camps it is much different.

On Friday evening the families arrived and checked in at the hall. From there they got their things together and hopped on a wagon with me and we delivered them to their teepees for the weekend. For me this consisted of sitting on the back of the wagon for an hour riding around the camp dropping of families. We gave them time to get settled and get their beds together before it was time for a snack at the hall. The families made themselves comfortable and set up their teepees. We had about 20-25 families on site, so we weren't full but a good amount of people. After setting up the snack the families helped themselves while we hung out in the hall. After snack we walked around speaking with families and making sure they had everything they needed. We handed out fire starters and offered assistance where needed. Then, it was time for bed.

Saturday was such nice weather these families really lucked in. After breakfast Zaza (I can't remember if I told you before or not, but we all have camp names so none of the names I use are these peoples real names) and I filled up the water jugs for around the camp and delivered them to where they needed to be. Around 10am I led 3 families on a nature walk around the property for 40 mins, and by the time I was done that it was time for my break. I had break until 12, and then hung out for lunch till 1pm. I was stationed for the pontoon boat for the afternoon so I headed down to the boat house. On the weekends we don't have a regimented schedule like day groups. We have people stationed at different activities all day and if the families want to go to them they are welcome to swing by. So on this afternoon I hung out in the sun on the dock with my toes in the water from 1pm-3pm because they all took a pontoon ride in the morning, and they were off doing other things. Around 3 some people showed up for a ride and I did that until 4 when the pontoon had to be docked. I tied up the boat and hung out with Lemon Grass who was manning the canoes till dinner at 5pm. We went up for dinner from 5-6pm then I had break from 6-7pm. After break I had to go to the family campfire and marshmallow roast and hung out there while a sweet little Spanish boy roasted me marshmallows. After a while we traded campfire off to Dragon Fly and went to set up evening snack in the hall. The rest of my evening after snack consisted of making rounds helping families with teepees and hanging out until 10:30pm when we do our rounds and tell everyone it is quite time.

All day there had been a very small group of about 5-6 teenagers that were acting like jerk balls. I am sure all of you know how teenagers can be.....well these guys were no exception. So all day they were causing minor aggravation just by pestering to go swimming where they weren't allowed, smoking out of the area, leaving materials around and not putting them away etc. You know, regular teenager disrespect stuffs. So by night time my tolerance for said teens was pretty low. At quite time I had to make my rounds to my section and on my way I passed the teens on the steps of Gabs Place. I nicely told them that it was indeed quite time and that they didn't need to go back to their teepees but they had to be quite because people were trying to sleep. They said okay, and I kept walking. As I was crossing the bridge to my section I could still hear them horsing around and knew that I would have to speak to them again on my way back. I went to my section and did my rounds and headed back the way I came to pass in my radio and get ready for bed myself. The teenagers had seemed to quite down and had moved to the edge of the woods. I myself thought it was a dumb idea to be hanging out in the woods when there are cougars and bears in there, but I figured they could learn that lesson on their own! So I was going to leave them alone and head back. Then just as I passed their group I saw one of the girls duck into one of the empty teepees by herself and then she was loudly making sex noises and they were all hooting and laughing again. That was enough! I turned on my heal and b-lined for them, and since it was dark and they were preteepees. I also informed them that if I had to come back I would be escorting them to their teepees myself. I must have made an impact because they all simply responded with a "Yes ma'am" One boy thought he would get smart and said, "Yes Colonel" I just looked him straight in the eye and nodded my head as if to say, "That's right!" I left them with the knowledge that J-Mo was in town! And headed back to the managers cabin to pass in my radio. Upon returning Zaza, my manager, alerted me that we had 3 missing campers. I replied "Are they teenagers?" Indeed they were, so I just said, "They are over there shitting their pants, I am done for the night" and sat down. I wasn't wrong the 'missing campers' were the teens I had just spoke to, and they were found in less then 2 mins. Bed time!

Sunday the families leave in the morning. Breakfast is between 8-9 and after that they leave. They are responsible for cleaning  up their area and packing everything up. We just have to wait until they leave and then straighten up the camp for the week long campers. At breakfast we were all joking around and hanging out, then LJ went to get more breakfast. As he was crossing the hall full of families and children, over the radio came, "Code Brown (large dangerous animal on site) there is a cougar on the sports field!" LJ grabbed his radio, turned down the volume and quickly walked into the kitchen to avoid panic. We started our rounds to tidy the camp and we saw the operations staff coming back across the playground with airhorns so they must have gone up to scare it off. I hear it was just a young one, which means 2 things. 1: Where there is a baby there is a mama, and 2: that brings our cougar count up to 3 in the area. Next time the teenagers fuck around I am going to quietly slip some hamburger from the kitchen into their pillows!

Zaza and Dragon Fly

After we cleaned up we were all feeling the heat so our manager said our next task was to change into our swim suits and join her in the lake! I love my job! So we all took turns jumping off the dock and paddling around for a bit. After that, I was off until Wednesday! Pretty sure this summer is going to be awesome!!!



Summer Camp, Week 1:Training

So for those of you who don't know, I took a position as a day group facilitator in a summer camp here in Alberta. I started training on Saturday, and had a day off today to get rested up for the weekend. So I thought I would tell you all about how it is going so far. The camp I am working for is a camp that offers summer camps and day groups to children with special needs that come from under priviledged families, and youth at risk.

The camp itself is such a beautiful peace of property right in the middle of nothing but the nature that surrounds it. There are about 30 teepees, 6 cabins, two large buildings, about 30 horses, 12 canoes, a pontoon boat, a covered bridge, a low ropes course, hiking trails, 2 sports fields, a lake, and a large island placed on 255 acres of beauitful country side. The mornings have been so beautiful and peaceful, I am sure that will change when there are 200+ kids on site, but just as beautiful :) There is lots of wildlife around including some Canadian geese, a few ducks, a beaver, lots of deer roaming around, red winged black birds, bears (at least one mother and 2 cubs), and 2 cougars. Although in the first week I did not see any bears or cougars, lets hope we keep it that way.

It has been one busy 5 days that is for sure! All of the staff have been pulling pretty long days, we start our day at 7am and don't end until around 11pm. It will be a different schedule once the camp is in full swing, but the training was pretty jam packed. Our days went a little like this; Wake up, we all meet at the flagpole to sing the national anthem, line up for breakfast, eat in the hall, and then they day in broken into team building games, workshops, etc. and lunch and dinner in there too. I have to say tho, despite the long days I am so much looking forward to the summer there. I am in love with what they are doing out there with kids at risk, I am in love with the property, the people and just about everything about it! All the staff have camp names so none of us have real names. My camp name is   J-Mo. I have had an easy time making friends, and all the girls in my cabin have gotten pretty close.



I have to go back to work tomorrow to run a family camp on the weekend. On the weekend families living in poverty have the opportunity to come out all together and stay two nights at the camp and enjoy our facilities. Families that might have not otherwise had the chance to go camping all together. As a facilitator me and the other facilitators host the families each weekend. So after the weekend, and I have a few more days off I will write more.

Overnighter With Amy

I can't believe how fast the time is going! I start work tomorrow at the camp for 2 months, and honestly I think it is going to blow by! I guess it is true what they say, time flys when you're having fun! And boy have I been having fun since I got to Alberta.

Yesterday Amy and I went on a last minute overnighter around southern Alberta. Our first stop was the Frank Slide. This was a really interesting historic site, and just for you here is a little history lesson.  Frank, Alberta was a coal mining town in the Crowsnest Pass, Alberta. On April 29, 1903, at 4:10 a.m., 90 million tonnes (30 million cubic metres) of limestone crashed from the east face of Turtle Mountain and covered approximately three square kilometres of the valley floor. The slab of rock that broke free was approximately 650 m high, 900 m wide and 150 m thick. It took out houses and rural buildings and killing about 90 people. After the slide the remaining community dug out the railway and the road and left everything else, so all is still buried under the mounds of boulders. It was amazing seeing all the rock where the town used to be. We walked around the path and visited the interpretive centre, where Amy got herself a hot Frank Slide hoodie :). I climbed up some rocks and on the way down ripped half my toe off on a rock :(. It was raining when we got there but very quickly the sun came out and it got hot again. We decided to eat our picnic lunch at the slide before heading out to Lethbridge for the night.

On our way to Lethbridge we passed through Pincher Creek, where they have an actual wind farm. They have big white wind turbines (windmills) everywhere! It was only an hour or so drive up to Lethbridge from Frank Slide and we arrived at our hotel before long. After checking in we decided to check out the visitor information booth for some tips of things to do in Lethbridge. So we go in, and Amy asks the pimply faced kid behind the desk, "So, what is there to do in Lethbridge?" To which he replies, "Oh.....ahh.....(sucks the air through his teeth) well......most everything closes at 6, but umm.......the mall's open." It is never a good sign if the tourist information guy doesn't even think there is anything to do. So Amy started putting the questions to him about the area and we got a map to Indian Battle Park, and Henderson Lake. With map in hand and a few pamphlets we start off for Indian Battle Park, which was conveniently located beside Fort Whoop-Up. Apparently Fort Whoop-Up packs up all the whoop at 6 too so we couldn't go there, but we were able to walk around a bit in the battle park. It is a really nice big park with public picnic spots, a playground, walking paths, and a great view of the very tall train bridge. As soon as we got out of the car we were immediately attacked by swarms mosquitoes big enough to leave teeth marks. We didn't let those stop us! We climbed the stairs for the view of the train bridge and over looking the battle park. It was really nice, the sun was low in the sky and besides the bugs it was such a beautiful evening.

We got in the car and headed to Henderson Lake. To our surprise they were gearing up for the dragon boat festival and there were lots of boats practicing for the next days events. We sat on the grass in the setting sun and watched the rowers stroke to the beat of the drum. After a while we headed back to the hotel for dinner and cocktails. The restaurant was great and had a signature 'rum bar'......hello! We took turns ordering drinks and never ordered the same thing twice, at dinner, and then headed for the hot tub for a while. The hot tub and pool was empty so we had it all to ourselves to relax after a long day of awesome. We had a few cocktails in our room before hitting the hay and resting up for the next day when we were going to Head-smashed-in Buffalo Jump before heading home.

This morning we got up, had a huge delish breakfast and headed out towards Head-smashed-in Buffalo Jump. The drive there seemed liked we were driving down a long road to nowhere, but alas at the end there was a little driveway for the museum. The museum there is beautiful, and really well done. You also gain access to the cliff top look off of the kill site. This site is where the natives would drive herds of buffalo off the cliff and smash their heads in killing them for food for the tribes. This was used for hundreds of years to feed bands of natives. The museum also explains how the natives used every single piece of the buffalo for several uses. We spent about an hour in the interpretive centre and walked around the paths. Then it was time to race back to Calgary for Amy to get ready for her night shift. The Alberta highways put me right to sleep, thank goodness Amy is used to them :).

I got back to the house and packed up my stuff for camp and am ready to embark on this next journey for the summer. I have a busy summer of camp work and adventure ahead, which means good stories for you all!

Camping In Banff

Upon my arrival in Calgary I was met by my cousin Amy. She picked me up at the bus station, and we were going to get prepared to go camping the next day. I knew we were going to go camping, but I didn't know where. When she picked me up she told me that we were going to go camping in Banff. Yay! Last time I was out this way I hadn't made it up to the mountains so I was super stoked for this camping trip!! Friday night Amy told me about how one whole area all the trails, campgrounds etc were closed due to all the bears.....eep! But like she said, the good side of that is I might get to see a bear! So,  Saturday morning Michelle met us at the house, we packed up all the stuff, and headed out for the mountains!

Approaching the mountains was just a beautiful sight! With all the cooler weather they had been having out here there was still lots and lots of snow on top of the majestic peaks. It was very cool to be driving down winding roads amongst the huge mountains. We got to our campsite, and our goal was to get everything set up and then go sight seeing. Upon our check in the girl warned us that there had recently been two cougar sightings (and I am not talking about the female middle aged leopard print wearing ones either) at the campsite so to keep a clean site, and don't walk on the trails after dark. Great! So not only an excess of bears, but cougars too! But on the plus side, maybe I would be able to get a picture of a cougar! We set up the tent, got some firewood, organized our gear (leaving anything with a scent inside the car) and headed out to look at some things in Banff.

Our first stop was the Bow River and the Banff Hoo Doos, which was really close to our camp site. The river had a lot of water in it, and Amy and Michelle said that it is the highest they have seen it since they have lived here. In spots that were at other times gravel were all covered in water, and the river was definitely moving fast! There was a few look out points to get a look at the Hoo Doos, and it was just so beautiful everywhere we went. Looking at beautiful mother nature with the majestic mountains as the background. The Hoo Doos were cool, but since I had just been to Drumheller I had seen lots of amazing Hoo Doos there. I was more in love with the scenery around. We continued on after the Hoo Doos to downtown Banff. I was kind of expecting a very Mahone Bay feel to downtown Banff, but I was wrong. There is every name brand store you could ever imagine. It is nice and definitely nestled in an amazing spot at the base of the mountains but it was a smidge snooty. There was a weekend long bicycle race being held in Banff and there were lots and lots of people around. We walked through the town and stopped at some shops and things, so I could see around, but didn't stay too long before heading back up into the mountains for the sights that mother nature had to offer rather then Louis Vuitton.

From downtown Banff we headed out to Bow falls. On our way we had to drive by the Banff Springs hotel. It was very beautiful! It was a huge castle like building smack dab in the middle of the mountains. The Bow falls were gushing with water with a loud roar. It was truly amazing the volume of water rushing over those falls. It really gives you an appreciation for the power mother nature holds when you see things like that. After some admiration of the falls, and some picture taking we headed back to the campsite for some dinner and to get our bathing suits for the hotsprings. On our way back we saw some elk in the few trees by the golf course. These guys were just young but still pretty big. They were so close, but unlike some other tourists, I didn't dare try to get much closer. People sometimes forget that they are wild animals and if he decides to run at you with his huge antlers you are pretty much screwed! We saw one really big guy in a patch of grass with huge antlers, and like I said, Michelle and I kept our distance while taking pictures.

We got back to camp and lit a fire and got some of the food out. Thanks to my cousin Amy we ate like kings at our campsite. Earlier we had turkey breast sandwiches (not processed meat) for lunch and for dinner we had chicken quesadillas. Over the course of our camping trip we also had blue corn chip campfire nachos, coconut marshmellow smores, sausage egg hash brown scramble, and turkey breast with cranberry sauce sandwiches. I will never go camping the same again! So we ate up our quesadillas and grabbed our suits for the Banff hot springs. It was raining off and on lightly through the day, but we were going to get wet in the springs anyway. We went down to the hot springs pool, and it was so warm! It was 39 degrees Celsius! It was like a giant hot tub in the mountains. It was so nice and relaxing to sit in there. We stayed for about an hour hanging out and letting any stress (which wasn't much for me) melt away. It was lovely! We drove back to the campsite and settled down for the night. Making some nachos and drinks around the fire and laughing together. It was a tiring day but so much fun, and so worth it! We went to bed just after midnight because we had more sightseeing to do the next day.

The next morning we got up not too early, but not too late, packed up all our stuff and had a delish scramble for breakfast before heading out for the day. We left the campground and headed up to the infamous Lake Louise for some pictures and sightseeing. It really was a beautiful sight when we got there. Crystal clear glacier water with the snow topped mountains right behind the lake. It was breath taking. We took some pictures and looked around a bit before heading to Lake Moraine which wasn't far from Lake Louise. It was a very beautiful lake too, but it had a much closer view of the mountains. The tall sky scraping mountains shot up behind the crystal lake and the reflection shone in the still water. It was so nice. We stayed for a bit and then hit the scenic route home to Calgary.

It is hard to explain the views of Banff in text or even photos. It is so beautiful and awe inspiring that all you can do is stare really. It is so interesting to see the rock layers of the mountains, the lakes, rivers, waterfalls etc. knowing that mother nature created it all. Wow! I had so much fun with Michelle and Amy. We shared lots of laughs, took a lot of pictures (never did see a bear or a cougar), ate good food, saw lots of sights and tired ourselves out. Definitely something I will remember forever!! Thanks Ames xox