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

On The Road Again

Thursday evening was my last night in Drayton Valley. It was nice, I made dinner for Des and we just hung out because on Friday morning I was leaving for Calgary on the greyhound. I came to Alberta 2 weeks before I was scheduled to start work at the camp so that I could have some time to visit and hang out with family and friends. My first stop was Drayton for a week, and then I planned on spending a week with my cousin Amy in Calgary. So Friday morning I set off from Drayton with all my gear in tow to catch the greyhound. A few days before I went and bought my ticket so that I just had to walk down to the Husky and hop on the bus. I made it to the Husky a few minutes early and took a load off to wait for the bus. When I was sitting there a little white bus pulled up and I payed no attention to it, seeing as it was a tiny bus and it didn't say Greyhound on the side. Then the gas station attendant came out and told me that was the bus I was waiting for. I gathered my stuff and headed over to the bus. When the driver opened the door I asked him if it was the Greyhound to Edmonton, and indeed it was.

It should be noted that Drayton Valley is located southwest of Edmonton and northwest of Calgary. So in order to take the greyhound I actually had to go up to Edmonton first, transfer, and then head back south to Calgary. This entailed a 6 1/2 hour bus travel to my destination, which is actually longer the flight from Halifax across the country!

So I hopped on the bus, gave the driver my ticket and got settled for the first leg up to Edmonton. My first impression of the driver was that he was a bit of a grump, he probably wouldn't talk to me much, and that I could just chill with my headphones in or maybe sleep for the 2 hours it takes to get to Edmonton. Boy was I wrong! The bus driver was actually very chatty, and in the end I felt maybe it was the best choice to stay alert during this leg. I was the only passenger on the bus and the bus driver didn't put me at ease. He started out chatting about general things, the weather, my travel, etc. Then he started to freak me out a bit. You know when you just get a bad feeling about someone? The heebs? This guy gave me a serial killer vibe. We passed a truck that he normally passes on his route and he was talking to me about he sees a lot of the same trucks and things on his route. He also told me about a woman he sees jogging on his route in great detail, and how she probably doesn't even know he sees her everyday. Then he turned his attention to me. He asked "So, is your family going to miss you while you are away?" I told him of course, I talk to my mother regularly, and lots of people know where I am........even right now. Then he said, "So you must not have time for a boyfriend with all that travel? Maybe a few one night stands, but no boyfriend. Haha" This time my hair cut came in handy, I just rubbed my buzz cut and said, "Oh no, I don't do that either." Then we had to make our first stop in a small town. I was already freaked out because of his demeanour and weird conversation up until now so when he turned off the highway I thought for a second that this might be it. I texted both Destiny, here in Alberta, and MC at home the type and number of bus I was on and where I was heading. I was on a small white First Canada bus # 3000 heading toward Edmonton from Drayton Valley. That way I figured if he did kill me, they would be more easily be able to figure out who did it, and when. I also discretely took my pocket knife out of my bag and put it in my pocket. I wouldn't be going down without a fight! We stopped at a sketchbag auto shop and he asked me if I would like to go in and use the bathroom or anything. I didn't care even if my back teeth were floating there was no way I was going to get off that bus. I politely declined and waited for him to get back. The Moreeeny luck was on my side because he got back in and we started off back towards the highway. Yes! Of course it didn't help that I was reminded that a few years ago there was a beheading on a greyhound bus in Alberta!! Some guy freaked out on the bus and killed another passenger. That was in the back of my head, but I tried not to think about it.

As we were driving down the highway to the next stop he was telling me a story about how a gunman in Edmonton took a shotgun into the Workers Comp building and shot some people. This story is understandable, I do know how exasperating these people can be, and this guy clearly had enough. However he then said that when his friends heard about the standoff happening they all started calling his house because they thought it was him. Great! So even your friends think you are a serial killer! The rest of the drive went by, I tried to stay alert and always agreed with what he was talking about as to not enrage him. When we pulled into the Edmonton Greyhound garage I was pretty thankful I made it without seeing the bad end of a gravel road somewhere. He told me to check with the ticket counter to see what time my bus for Calgary (that he wasn't driving) left. I said thanks, good luck and jumped off the bus.

I went to the ticket counter and asked them what time, and I had an hour to wait till the bus left. I sat down in the station and opened my computer to watch some stuff I downloaded to pass the time. I was just unraveling my headphones when the damn bus driver scared the crap out of me! He came up behind me and just said "So what time does it leave?" I thought that guy was gone! I nervously said when my bus left, and hoped to god he didn't sit down! He didn't, he just walked away. I waited the hour and boarded by bus to Calgary. I took the first seat next to the door in case of any beheadings I could make a quick escape, and made it to Calgary in one piece.

So there you have it, a weird and crazy situation, that because of the Moreeeny luck just turns out to be a good story!

Let the Adventure Begin!!

Hello! I am back! Well...back in the sense that I am writing again. I am not back, I am actually away and so let the blogging continue!! First I will tell you a little about my travel plans and what you can expect. I have struck out again in search of adventure and good times around the world, with my first stop being in Alberta for a few months. I will be spending the summer in Alberta working for a camp for kids with special needs that come from under privileged families. Then after the Labour Day weekend I will be taking off to New Zealand. I did bank in 2 weeks before I start work here in Alberta for hanging out with my friends and family. I don't start at the camp until the 25th.

So here is the story of my first couple days in Alberta, and without Moreeeny fail, it was interesting! I have also decided that the Moreeny's aren't actually cursed, as I once thought. We actually are extremely lucky! By this I mean although some crazy fucked up shit happens to our family, it always works out okay in the end. That is lucky! No one has ever died as a result of the weirdo shit that goes on. That is lucky! So it is no longer the Moreeeny curse, but the ass backward Moreeeny luck! My flight in was good. As good as flights can be I guess, and it is only 5 or so hours from Halifax so that isn't too bad. Although I was sitting there with an aching arse thinking, "How on earth did I do this for 16hrs?" I don't know what the answer to that is, but I do know that I have done it before and I can do it again in Sept. I arrived in Edmonton to meet my best friend Destiny at the airport and we made a good scene with a slow motion run and hug by the baggage claim. I was very excited to see her as it has been about 7 years since I saw her last. From the airport we drove to West Edmonton Mall to be mall rats for a bit. We had plans to meet up with a friend of Des' but not until later so we had some time to kill. We wandered around West Ed for a while and grabbed a bite to eat, then hung out under some trees listening to tunes. We had a cooler with some snacks and a bed in the back of the truck when we struck off to meet up with Greg, Destiny's friend.

We were to pick up Greg at his friends house in suburban Edmonton. Des doesn't know Edmonton that great, and well I am from Nova Scotia. However with my uber good navigating skills, and the help from Des' phone we were able to find the place with only one wrong turn. The key to a good navigator is not only being able to give good directions, but if they mess up, being able to get the driver back on track with little to no annoyance. I, am a GREAT navigator! So if I ever get to go on the Amazing Race, I will be taking applications for my partner ;). We picked up Greg and then were to meet some more people on Whyte Ave. for some Indian food, and we were debating going out. The navigation to Whyte Ave was a bit more hairy then trying to pick up Greg, but in the end we made it (thanks to me ;). We found a place to park, and we decided that we would probably end up going out for drinks after, which meant Des couldn't drive. We had made a bed in the back of the truck because we planned on camping out anyway, but I was slightly concerned about leaving my entire life neatly packed into a backpack for someone to run off with. So our great idea was to get a room at a hostel for the night because then I could lock my stuff up in a room for the night. This was a great idea.....in theory.

Lucky for us, right across the road was a hotel/bar. Living in Oz, I have seen these get ups all over and even stayed in them. It always worked out for the best. I mean when you are travelling you can't really expect the Ritz to be above a bar....ya know? So we walked in to inquire about a room. I guess the first warning sign would have been the sign that said "Cash only. Absolutely No Credit" and beside that there was a sign that said, "We are not responsible for lost or stolen items" I guess that is redflag one, et deux as to what kind of establishment this was. Actually I guess we should have been tipped off by the number of street people sitting, around outside before we even talked in. But for $45 how could we say no! We paid the man, got our key, and headed up to see our digs for the night. We walked up the stairs, waved hello to the hooker on the stairs as we passed and found room 28, our home for the night. I had the key, and was first to enter. It was a simple room. Two beds, a table, a sink and two windows. I immediately called dibs on the bed with the least amount of cigarette burns in the sheets, and smirked arrogantly like I won some sort of prize. Indeed I did win a prize because I don't know if that was a general cum stain or hooker spit on Des' bed, all I know is it wasn't on mine! I set my stuff down on the table and we ripped the bed apart looking for bedbugs. Thank god there were none! I guess we have some sort of standard after all! I then wondered if my stuff would be safer in the truck then here??? I went out tried the lock on the door and everything seemed to be up to par in that area. Even still we set up some booby traps with our stuff to see if anyone had been rooting around while we went to dinner. With the traps set, a short prayer, and chugged beer from the cooler we set off to enjoy some Indian food!

The Indian place we were going to was apparently known for having a extremely wide selection of beer. So this East Coast gal was able to enjoy a Keiths with my dinner, boo-ya! The food was great, and we all had enough. After we ate, drank and were merry we headed back to the room to check the booby traps before heading out for a few drinks. Upon arrival back to the room we were pleasantly surprised that none of our stuff had been tampered with. All of the carefully placed items were exactly where we left them. This put our mind at ease a bit, that at the very least our stuff was safe.

Destiny and Greg are more into metal music then I, but we were planning on going to a metal bar called Filthy Mcnasty's. I thought it was pretty fitting, considering the situation. We started off down Whyte Ave to enjoy some nightlife. As we were walking down the road we could hear an infectious sound in the street. As we got closer we noticed a small little band playing under an awning. They had such a great sound, that we stayed and danced in the rain for a bit on the sidewalk. We carried on down the road and came upon where we were going. It was a small bar, smelled of incense and was a sea of leather and long hair. I was extremely tired due to not sleeping for the week before I came coupled with jetlag, so I mainly chilled at a table. Des went out for a smoke and when she came in she showed why others think Canadians know everyone in Canada. This guy she met smoking turned out to be from East Hants and hung out in Canning sometimes! It is a small world afterall! After a few drinks we left and headed back to the room to catch some shut eye. I slept very little, and was sure to pull back all the sheets and not use any of them to cover up, just slept on top.

We were up bright and early and ready to get on the road because we were headed to Stettler to pick up Destiny's mom and then off to Drumheller for the day. We grabbed some coffee for the road and set off. We got to Drumheller around noon, and stopped and had something to eat before our long day of sight seeing. Drumheller is very cool! The landscape was amazing! I got to go to the top of the worlds largest dinosaur, visit the Hoo Doos, go to the museum, and look out over horse thief canyon. It was so good to spend some time with Debbie, it has been 9 years since I saw her and it was a great day! We had a lot of laughs, good food and just all around fun. After we dropped Deb off in Stettler it was a long 3 hour drive back to Drayton Valley. I was so tired it felt like I was drunk, and big props to Destiny for keeping it together and getting us home safely. We arrived home and I passed out in my bed, not waking up until late morning the next day.

The week so far has been pretty slow, but I am enjoying the down time.