The Kids and Kahlie

Hanes Valley

Originally uploaded by The Kids and Kahlie

A buddy and I hiked Hanes Valley a couple of weeks ago. What a treat! Leaving from Lynn Headwaters, we hiked up to Grouse Mountain via this ‘back route’. The trip was incredibly scenic once we got to the scree slope. The climb was a fine workout too. I’ve posted several pictures in this flickr album and you can see the map of the second half of our route.

New York New York, Las Vegas (HDR)

Originally uploaded by The Kids and Kahlie

I was fascinated by Las Vegas. While Mariela attended her conference, the kids and I saw the typical ’strip’ Las Vegas and experienced a good deal of Vegas off-the-strip. Highlights included running the strip at 6a, when the temperature was a mere 82F. At that time, the streets were cleaned, people staggered back to wherever they slept, and traffic was light. We enjoyed being mistaken for locals in a shoe store. Parts of Vegas reminded us of Albuquerque. Sure, Vegas was hotter. But, both Vegas and Albuquerque are sprawling, one story (mostly) desert cities unconstrained by geographical impediments to growth. The Hoover Dam, Lake Mead, and Red Rock Canyon are all incredibly beautiful. I was envious of the large number of runners and cyclists at Red Rock Canyon enjoying long rides on nearly empty highways.

I suppose the biggest revelation was the orderliness of Las Vegas. For a place that purports to be wild and crazy — you can gamble, drink and smoke just about anywhere — the tourists and locals were incredibly polite and helpful. It struck me that people regulate themselves nicely and easily in Vegas despite the lack of formalized rules. This all made me wonder if Vancouver really needs to regulate everything we do. We are the ‘no fun city’ afterall. Perhaps Vegas reminds us that the norms of civil behavior are enough in most circumstances.

Black Bear in Iskut

Originally uploaded by TFM.

This morning, while coming back from the Seymour Hatchery along the Seymour Trailway, I encountered a black bear on the trail. The bear popped out of the bush at Clear Creek, at the 8.5km mark. Thankfully, I was on a bicycle!

If you were a library mouse outside of the library in Edgemont this morning, you would have heard the following exchange. If you, as a library mouse, were endowed with ESP, you’d have picked up even more.

[Scene: Tad returning 4 books, 2 dvds, and 3 videos to the library. The materials are falling out of my hands. The library is still closed. A man, presumably waiting for the library to open, approaches.]

Man: You need some help. [Proceeds to open the after-hours drop slot.]
Tad: Thanks.
Man, noticing the videos: You still have a VCR?

[Tad thinking: where is this going? Should I confirm my apparent lack of techno-savvy or try and put this guy in his place, rhetorically of course.]

Tad, feeling superior: I have 2 VCRs, in fact.
Man: Wow. You don’t have one of those dvd recorders?

[Tad thinking: how do I respond to this without being nasty? And, who is this guy again?]

Tad: It’s not that important to me.

[Tad returns to the car and drives away.]

Beyond Robson has had a good response to its call for suggestions regarding the best $5 (or cheaper) breakfast in Vancouver.

I was out for a run on a couple of favourite trails this week. I got a close up view of the wind damage in places other than Stanley Park. Along MacKay Creek, south of Highway 1, there are broken and bent trees strewn all along the valley floor. As the running trail rises and falls on the sides of the valley, I noticed a number of view points which were unavailable in the past.

In the Seymour Demonstration Forest, broken trees line the trailway and the forested trails in significant numbers. in one 500m stretch of trailway, at least 30 trees had fallen. Crews have been working to cut up the trees.

The wind storm was truly remarkable and the mess it created is equally stunning. I find myself more in awe of the force of the wind than sad about the fallen trees.

One of the consequences of our crazy winter is an unusually large number of potholes. The roads here are a mess. And, these are big potholes, wheel sucking, tire blowing, rim denting holes.

Gavin Roars

Originally uploaded by Thomas Miguel.

At the risk of upsetting our winter-loving family and friends in parts east, here are the pictures of the ski days Gavin and I shared at Whistler and Blackcomb last week. On New Year’s Day, we skied in a blizzard at Whistler. We stuck mostly to Harmony Bowl (Boomer Bowl) and played in deep, new snow every run.

We went to Blackcomb on January 3. There, we learned that the top part of Blackcomb had not opened the day before because of high winds and snow. And, we learned that in the previous 48 hours, 99cm of snow had fallen on the mountain. We spent the day skiing the deepest snow I have ever seen.

Yard Cleanup

Originally uploaded by Thomas Miguel.

We are just about back to normal around here. There’s one log to cut up and some debris to haul. It’s drizzling and snowing (sort of) at our elevation today. I suspect it is snowing in Edgemont Village, or a little further up the mountain.

Cold, Redux

Originally uploaded by TFM.

I am back from frosty Whitehorse. Man, it was cold … perhaps the coldest two days I have ever experienced. The warmest reading on the car thermometer was -28C; coldest was -40. The sun rose at 9:20a and set around 4p. I knew it was cold because everywhere I went the locals were complaining about the temperatures!

But Whitehorse is quite pretty. The mountains are subtle, but significant, on the skyline. The northern forest is much as I remember it from Iskut. And, the food was great. I ate at ‘the best Mexican north of 60′ one night, and found two great sandwich shops. The coffee was excellent too. Fair trade and organic beans were common. They were roasted locally.

And, as you can see from the pictures, old pieces of gold rush history are everywhere.