Still here...........

Well I'm still here in Stony Plain and Edmonton and it's getting cold here now!! Down to -2 tonight. And no Northern Lights sightings yet either! But the big consolation is that the autumn leaves are absolutely stunning. Golden leaves everywhere you look and even some reds to add a bit of variety.

I've been spending the last 2 weeks doing all sorts of activities, the highlights of which have been hanging out with my niece and 2 nephews, ice skating, visiting with family and friends and seeing how much all their kids have grown, checking out the Krispy Kreme donuts in Calgary, going to a couple of movies and indulging in the best movie popcorn around, going to an Edmonton Oilers/Vancouver Canucks hockey game, and spending a few days in Calgary with some good friends. Highlights in Calgary included cycling on just about every trail through Fish Creek Provincial Park (armed with bear spray just in case, as a bear had been sighted recently in the park and not only that, a bear had wandered into the emergency room of one of the local hospitals!), cycling to the Calgary Farmer's Market with my friend Lisa and scoring free elk burgers from one proprietor along with free veggies from a generous Hutterite man, and picking up a Frenchman at the Simon's Pie stand (that was Lisa's handiwork, not mine), and an amazing day trip to Banff. The absolute highlight of the day was a 5hr hike to Lake Bourgeau and back, just went of Banff. Unbeknownst to Lisa and I it had snowed that morning and so by the time we got to the upper part of the hike we were crunching our way through at least 8cm of snow! So beautiful. And the lake scene at the top was just stunning. After our arrival back in the township of Banff where the entire main street is dug up (and has been so all summer long) to replace pipes, we consumed a delicious Thai meal and topped it all off with a soak in the Cave and Basin Hot Springs before heading back to Calgary.

So in about 36hrs I head off to Vancouver and Vancouver Island to see more friends and maybe some relatives too. The time has gone by soooooooo fast this week as it always does during my last week here and of course tomorrow I will be frantically packing. I had a trial pack of sorts today (yes, I can be semi-organized at times) and I can already see there are going to be a few weight issues. (Uh huh, that'd be with both me AND my bags!) And this is before I have even added in all my favourite consumables to take back to Aus, such as creamy peanut butter m&m's, Kraft caramels, tootsie rolls, nibs, and countless different kinds of chocolate bars.............................

Ciao for now.