Does going to Kelowna even count as a vacation when you live in Calgary? I’m serious.

I read all these blogs about people going everywhere and anywhere, staying months in exotic locals, eating interesting food, meeting people from all over. Me? I’m going to Kelowna. I’m trying really hard not to complain, Kelowna is beautiful, it will be relaxing, and the Rocky Mountains are an international destination. And I only have four days of vacation time for this birthday vacation. Being a student with a part time job, saying “I only have four days of vacation time” kills me inside, but it’s true. I’m trying desperately to grad by the end of 2009 which involves spring and summer courses, thus reduced fun time. Last summer I dicked off to Eastern Canada for a month, this summer I have four days!

I decided I couldn’t drop a few grand for a four day vacation. I just spent $1,600 or so on a crappy week in the Dominican Republic. And, it turns out air transportation companies don’t care how long you are staying for, the flights cost the same. It was hard, but I told myself it had to be within driving distance, and it had to be cheap. I simply could not justify flying to Venezuela for four days, as awesome as that would be. Even San Fransisco was out of budget.

On the bright side, I found a wicked deal on Expedia a suite in Summerland near Kelowna right on the lake front. I guess when it comes down to it a vacation is a vacation. Relaxing on the beach in Kelowna nestled in between giant mountains is probably just as nice as relaxing on the beach anywhere. It just doesn’t come with the travel cred.

Things I will get to cross off of The List include…

#308 Go to the Spotted Lake at Osoyoos

On one of the weekends I was in Guelph my host suggested we head up to Sauble Beach. I had no previous knowledge of this beach, but was quickly informed that it was one of the top five beaches in Canada and the top beach in Ontario. I had been itching to go to a beach for sometime, and if you’re going to do it at all you might as well do it right.

It was a long haul from Guelph, about a three hour drive in total out to Lake Huron. We went in a bit later in the day to avoid the glaring sun, getting there around three in the afternoon. From about a kilometer away we could see just how busy the beach was, and were a bit worried. We soon discovered that the main part of the beach is the busiest, but if you drive a bit down and are willing to walk a little bit to use the toilet or buy food, you can get a nice chunk of land for yourself. With 11km of sand beach, I can’t see it ever being crammed full of people outside of the main entrance.

The sand is just amazing at the beach, not white, but a good colour, and it extends out far into Lake Huron. The water is warm and seaweed free which is an absolute must on my list for a good beach. Over all it was just an amazing beach and I can’t wait to go back. I can definitely see why it is one of the top five beaches in Canada.

Well, it seems I have to book my third flight of the year out East. Crazy! Adam and I are going out to Toronto to see Journey, Heart and Cheap Trick! I love Journey, as can be seen here. I also really like Heart and Cheap Trick. I’m SO excited for this concert, and it means another trip out East this year, in September this time. I don’t mind, I love the East, as it has this wonderful thing called water. I’m also happy that Adam will be accompanying me

on this trip, I get to show him that the GTA doesn’t suck like he seems to think, and I can take him to Niagara Falls!!

I’m enjoying my trip to Vancouver so far. Tomorrow we’re taking the ferry over to Victoria and spending the day there. The best part is that we’re taking a water plane back to Vancouver to catch our flight back to Calgary! I just added this to my list, I know, but Adam booked the water plane as a surprise based on me saying “Oh! I’ve always wanted to fly in one of those!!” when I saw one flying over. So that’s one more thing off my list, two total for this four day trip. Very exciting!

It’s also my birthday tomorrow! 22 years old.

Alright, this is just ridiculously overdue. Two weeks and then some! My own laziness is what is to blame! I should have blogged about this so long ago, I’m just sad that it took me so long. There’s really no excuse, I haven’t been up to much lately, just sitting around not doing much of anything. Reading a lot to make up for the sad lack of reading that took place in April.

Anyways. The trip was excellent. I went with J, my friend who lives in Guelph whom I visited not too long ago. He was supposed to be coming in for work, but his work moved his schedule around a little, but he decided to come out anyways, and since he missed the mountains invited me to tag along. He was lucky enough to score a hotel in Banff (on a long weekend no less), so our trip to Banff (only a few hours outside of Calgary) wouldn’t have to be excessively short.

The drive still took a while and there was a considerable lineup to get into the National Park (plus a hefty fee, of course). But we were full of Annie’s breakfast and had some snacks we picked up from Superstore (a plug just for you J!). Our first stop along the way was some dinky lake just outside of the Park gates. I’m not sure what it is called, put there’s always lots of cars there, we we decided to pull over as well and take a gander. I love how it’s this gorgeous lake against the mountains, and that’s where they decided to stick a huge ugly factory. Wonderful! We took some pictures, realized the lake was fairly lame and it was all foreigners there who had no idea that the lake certainly was not representative of the actual splendor of the Rocky Mountains!

After the dinky lake, we decided we’d haul ass up to Lake Louise. I truly, honestly, and fully did not expect the lake to still be frozen. That was stupid, because why wouldn’t a mountain lake still be frozen in early May? It was sort of disappointing, really, it lacked all of it’s character colour and was just a cold white icy blob up against some mountains. We only were there for a bit, which was sad because of the amount of time it took to drive there and back, but the glare from all of the white iciness and all of the tourists were just a bit much to handle. Plus, all there is to do there is look at the lake and walk around, but you can’t do either of those when everything is still under snow and ice. Ah well.
We eventually made it back to Banff, where our hotel was. Though J had given me an ominous warning that we were to be staying at the Banff Voyager Inn that put me off a bit, I was pleasantly surprised by the hotel. It was basic, but it had something I have never experienced before: a balcony! Not only did it provide a nice cool place to sit (and drink hehe), it also allowed for some nice mountain views in the evening and the morning. There was lots of traffic going into the hotels around us, lots of tour groups unloaded and reloading at almost all hours of the day and night. Luckily I brought my ear plugs with me to drown out the noise of the tour groups and drunks during the night! That evening we had some dinner at Earl’s and did a bit of shopping in the downtown strip, but decided to retire to the room for a few drinks and 80s tunes.

The next morning we got up fairly late and checked out of the room with only a few minutes to spare. We stopped by some restaurant J wanted for breakfast, but the line was ridiculous and I wasn’t feeling up to eating much anyways. We ended up back in the downtown area at Tony Roma’s, where I had never been before. I only had the potato skins, but they were damn good! I was feeling a bit off that morning, but things started to look up when we saw a horse drawn carriage “for hire”. We went for it, how could we not? It was a slow tour of Banff, the downtown area, along the river, and back through some houses. Over all it was so amazing, I’ve never traveled that way before, even for a short stint. It was so much fun! We did a bit more shopping and touring, of course getting some fudge, which is something you must do while you are in Banff.

We left Banff and the National Park soon after, taking a quick detour to Bragg Creek, which like everything else was full of tourists and sort of boring. We headed back to Calgary, finishing our trip with some dinner. Overall it was a blast and I have to thank the J and Cal team for another awesome time! I crossed a few things off of my summer mini-list, too. As always, check out my photobucket account for all my pictures from the trip.

So, to kick start my summer here in Calgary, Keith and I took a mini-trip to the local Chinatown and Calgary’s downtown core. Certainly not a trip to China, but super fun nonetheless. We took transit there, because what’s a day in Calgary without smelly overpriced transportation? Upon our arrival downtown we of course took stupid pictures, because that’s how we roll! Then we wandered to Chinatown where we did some shopping.

Surprisingly I didn’t buy anything, which is abnormal for me to say the least. Keith went to a nice bakery and ended up getting a crap load of weird buns and tarts that I was unfamiliar with. We also spent some time in a Chinese candy store, where I marveled at all the foods I was never introduced to, such as dried kamquat. Since it was lunchtime and the entire trip did revolve around getting lunch, we ended up at our favourite downtown Vietnamese place. It was soooo good! Nom nom! I had what I always have when I eat Vietnamese, which is veggie spring rolls on rice vermicelli.

After lunch we wandered around some more, visiting shops and mini-malls. I guess I did end up buying some stuff at a bakery/cafe, which I was just delighted by. I so dearly enjoyed the process of getting it all and putting it on my tray! So much fun!!
After our adventures in pretty much every little Chinese mall we could find, we headed in the direction of the C-train, making quick stops to view the blemish construction is having on our city, into Art Central, and into McNally Robinson briefly. The rest of the day was spent hoping in vain that a bus would come to take us home, but seeing as how buses running on a schedule makes sense, Calgary Transit is unable to do that. Buses must run sporadically and be the least helpful they possibly can.

Regardless, my re-introduction to Calgary was fun, yet reminded me of why I desperately want to move the heck out of Calgary. Check out all the pictures from my adventures on my photobucket.

Alright, so I have some grand plans this summer, and there is even some talk of going to Atlantic City to see Foreigner! Woo! This is, of course, not enough for me (queue Adam inquiring “is anything ever enough for you?”). I have decided to make a summer mini-list, since I am in the habit of letting my summers slip away from me and going “oh I wish I had _____________” at the end of it. So here is my awesome list for summer activities. Check out my past mini-list for Southern Alberta (which is sadly uncompleted but ah well).

1. Go to Banff
2. Spend a weekend in the mountains
3. Go to Bragg Creek
4. Take a road trip out to B.C.
5. Go to Waterton Park (and get out of the car – ps I heart you Adam)
6. Go to Cochrane and get ice cream!
7. Visit Adam’s parents at Ghost Lake twice or more
8. Raft/float-y boat on the Bow
9. Walk in Carburn Park
10. Have a picnic
11. Eat special brownies with Gwen (omg hah – and bring my mom pffft)
12. Try deep fried cheesecake at Montana’s
13. Go to Edmonton
14. Drive along the Cowboy Trail

Nothing crossed off of the list this weekend, sadly. I did have a rockin’ good time though! We left Friday, but due to cloudy skies and some time constraints, we took our regular route, rather than the Cowboy Trail. It was super cloudy, and there were strange cloud formations going on over the hills and fields. I was disappointed, but we hoped to take it back to Lethbridge. We went right to Adam’s house for a big Easter dinner, turkey, potatoes, the works. It was quite fun, but it was served quite late, so I didn’t get any time to puzzle-around with Adam’s mom, Martha.

Saturday morning I woke up quite late, and started my day very, very slowly. I went for a walk with my parents in Carburn Park, which is this lovely inner city park that sits beside the Bow River. It was very scenic and there were a lot of animals. My parents had always talked about feeding the deer that hang around in the park, so I got to take part in that. I was a little freaked out at first, I’m not used to wild animals, but they are very timid and friendly, and just want to eat.

There were also chikadees that would actually sit on your hand and eat. They were super small and freaked me out. I’ve had bad experiences with birds, being attacked by these stupid starlings that hit people in the head as they walk. Stupid birds. Anyways, it took me a few tries to actually stand still for the little bird to grasp my finger with it’s teeny-weeny foot and take a seed. Too cute!
After the long walk, we made our way down a part of the park that was mostly washed away by the flooding in Calgary a couple years ago. The path was falling away rapidly, which made for an interesting walk. I saw a muskrat lodge, and an anthill though, so it was worth the precarious ledge.

Saturday evening was the *insert random metaphor* of the weekend. My mom and I left to meet Gwen, Ashley and Sarah at the Old Spaghetti Factory. Due to stupid downtown Calgary, it took a bit to get there, but we made it. The food was delicious! I love the all inclusiveness of it all! After a filling dinner we headed to the Vagina Monologues at the Martha Cohen Theatre. It was a different interpretation than I have seen before, but it was very good! I took a sneaky film of the end of my favourite monologue “The Woman Who Loved to Make Vaginas Happy”. Here is it, just for you!

After the play, we headed to Aussie Rules, but didn’t stay too long. We had a rocking good time though, and it was my mom’s first time there, as well as Ashley’s.

The rest of the weekend was pretty low key, dinner with the family and such things. I am back in Lethbridge after another cloudy, gloomy drive along the main road. The only excitement was Adam getting pulled over for not wearing his seatbelt. Woot. Lots to do in the next two weeks, before I head off for my whirlwind trip to Toronto/Guelph!

So a while back I made a mini-list about things I wanted to do in Southern Alberta before I move back to Calgary this April. My super awesome mom came to visit me this weekend, and helped me cross quite a few things off of the list! We of course got photo evidence of the whole shebang!

She got here Friday at around 10 and helped me finish my dishes like the doting mother she is, and then we went for lunch at the Red Dog Diner (we she enjoyed as much as I do!). Then we did some unexciting things like getting groceries. In the afternoon we went to the Galt Museum and Archives, which was so much fun! We had the whole place to ourselves, so we gallivanted around and did as we pleased. This included, making an awesome newspaper article in which I stated I would most remember “not learning Blackfoot”, as all of the Blackfoot sound recordings weren’t working. There were also awesome medieval dress up clothes that you could wear (meant for kids) but that didn’t stop me! We also played some stupid medieval game neither of us understood and I battled with a knight. After the excitement at the Galt museum, we went to find where these stupid giant tower things are by the river, but you can’t get to them. We found the road there, but it’s some business access road. I still don’t get it, why they have this ancient water tower and lookout deck but you can’t get to them. Odd!

The rest of the evening was pretty low key, we went to dinner at Montana’s with Adam and then went home bloated and watched Amnesia which wasn’t that entertaining for a show with Dennis Miller in it.

Saturday we got up early, had a delicious breakfast and headed out to do my recycling. We decided on a whim to go to Taber, as I had some things on my mini-list there. Taber is hilarious, it’s just such a little town/city with NOTHING going on at all. We saw the giant corn stalks and giant woman, and stopped at the library to ensure we’d found the giant woman and so I could use their gorgeously clean bathrooms. There were also Hutterites on the computers which my mom found funny. We saw about 100 churches and the best museum ever (which was closed) called “the Irrigation Impact Museum”. IMPACT Museum haha. I think everything except the Walmart and library was closed in that place.

Coming back from Taber we stopped at a place called Chin, thinking they had a sign we could get a picture by because it’s an awesome name for a place. They didn’t seem to have one,but they did have a giant garbage heap, I mean this thing was GIANT! It was also creepy, because it was on someone’s property and they have about 25-30 cars just crammed full of stuff, with trailers and stuff. It almost looked like a place tourists went to die… eep. And they also had a bunch of old PMQs as houses, which we found strange.

Once we got back to Lethbridge we stopped for lunch at Sam’s Donair and Hamburger for the best burger’s EVER. I want another one right now in fact. We got bloated and full, and then headed for Fort Whoop-Up. Well, we had a stop over at the wind gauge in Lethbridge on Scenic Drive. I don’t get it, but whatever. Historic point of interest or something.

Fort Whoop-Up was pretty fun, but a bit creepy. It’s only like 5 bucks a person too! You can sneak in really easily though, and most of then rooms only are accessible from one door, so you end up trapped in these smelly little rooms. There are some neat setups of western-esque rooms, with a bar, and lots of axes laying around randomly. Since no one else is there, it was sort of creepy. It was fun nonetheless. I tried roping fake cattle, got another picture with a buffalo, and saw how short people used to be. We bought candy and souvenirs, including $2 rabbit pelts (yes rabbits died so Fort Whoop-Up could make $2 a pop) for the cats at home to see if they would like them. I got a bear purse and a little white buffalo statue. After the Fort, we wandered down to the river and got some pictures, but it was too creepy for us there too, too many bushes and no one around.

Click here to see all of the pictures from the weekend

Alright, so I have been holding onto this stellar announcement for a few days now, mostly because my mother is going to cast her disapproving eye down on me and I wanted to be out of the city for that, but also because I wanted to feel better and be somewhat coherent. Holy deja-vu. That was weird. I guess I care too much about what my mother thinks about too many things. Good on one hand since my mother had impeccable judgment, bad on the other since she’s wholly against the concept of having fun (unless you count fun as giving yourself a heart attack laughing at weird medical jokes…then she’s ALL over it).

Anyways. Onto the big news! I am going to Ontario! April 5-7th. Okay, crazy I know. On so many levels. At the moment, reading this over, I am thinking “what is wrong with you! You’re insane!!!!”, but what is this blog/list but not an adventure to become out-of-my-mind-Hunter-S.-Thompson-crazy. Maybe scale it back a little from that, though having a bender like Mr. Thompson did in Fear and Loathing seems like a mighty fine idea as I stare down the two term papers I have coming up.

I am rambling today. Here is the story: I have friends, Cal and J, who live out in Guelph.

They moved there from Airdrie this past year, and I enjoy their company quite a lot. We talk quite a bit online, and they asked if I would come visit them in April after they move into what I from here on in will refer to as “their mansion”. Well, normally I do not take weekend trips across the country (normally I don’t take trips), fly by myself, or accept extravagent gifts from people, but I haven’t seen them in quite some time (okay, a very long time) and it’s a wicked trip out East, back to my water and my homeland! I’m very very very excited.

So there. I have a crazy weekend trip across the country planned. I will take solice in the fact Sarah recently took essentially the same trip and had a good time. This will also fulfill #316 on my list which is to fly somewhere on my own. I think a hefty dose of Valium will be in order.

Off to class!

Alright, so I have been living in Lethbridge since September and not done much in the way of exploring here. I have found some rockin’ food establishments and a good place to drink, but I don’t think I have experienced the full potential of Lethbridge.
So I am making a quick list of things I want to do before I move away in April
1. Go to the Red Dog Diner
2. Go down to the river
3. Spend a day hiking along the coulees
4. Go to the Japanese Garden
5. Walk around Henderson Lake
6. Go to Head-Smashed in Buffalo Jump
7. Go to Fort Whoop Up
8. Take a trip to Waterton Park
9. Visit the Galt Museum
10. Visit Picture Butte because of the name
11. Go to Taber and see the Giant Woman and Giant Corn Stalks
12. Go to Pincher Creek and see the Giant Pinchers
13. See the giant wind gauge in Lethbridge

So there’s my Mini-List