Corner Gas

Reg and I took a little detour off the #1 highway to see the set for the TV series Corner Gas. They do a lot of the filming for that show in an actual small town in the Saskatchewan, so a lot of the show is quite authentic. They have the Corner Gas gas station and The Ruby diner all as one building. The store part of the gas station is set up just like a small town gas station store, and they do all the inside and outside shots right there. Some of the inside shots (like inside the Ruby) are done at a sound stage in Regina, but most of it is taped on location in Roulou (Row-Low) Saskatchewan (about 1/2 hour south of Regina).

It was pretty cool. We could walk around the set (which is on the highway right on the corner of town). There is a map of town to show you where they tape various things in the show. For example the Dog River Police Station is actually an ice cream shop. They just put up a Police Station sign when they are using the outside for filming.

The other cool thing was that they were shooting some scenes for Episode 63 while we were visiting. For those who follow the show, they were filming at Oscar and Emma's house, which is an actual house on the other side of town. They renovated it for the owner so it would look the way the producers wanted it. They even fixed up the house next door in exchange for being allowed to use their bathroom on the days they are filming. So (not that anyone really cares) Episode 63 will consist of scenes where Oscar is doing some gardening and they will be apparently erecting a "city limits" sign at the edge of town.

We didn't get to see much. They block off roads and keep the public quite a distance away. We got brief and distant views of some of the cast but not much for the amount of time we spent there. We talked to one of the traffic security guys and that was pretty fun. Then we toured around to see some of the other locations they film at. I felt embarrassed as I took a picture of the curling rink. For crying out loud, it's just a small town rink! And yet I was taking a picture because it's been on Corner Gas. I roll my eyes at myself.

Roadtrip

Well as I write this, we are on our way to Winnipeg. Reg and I are doing a roadtrip from Abby to Winnipeg, with the possibility of going to New York City. Yes, I am aware that NYC is significantly farther than Winnipeg, but we both have the time. It will just be a matter of the will.

We stopped in Sundre to see Myron & Cyndi and helped Myron move their stuff and their van. From Sundre, AB we drove to Winnipeg, MB.
I'll try to keep this thing updated while on the road. I've got my lappy along so I can write while on the road. It is a bit of a challenge to try to always be documenting everything you do. We have the digital camera, the video camera, and the blog. It can become a hassle. Sometimes you just want to enjoy the moment. So you won't be filled in on everything, but you will get the jist of our trip.

Airshow

The province newspaper had a feature "100 things to do in BC before you die". I have already done about 16 of them, which I think is pretty good. But one of the things they neglected to mention was the famous Abbotsford International Airshow. I mean it's the only thing that puts Abbotsford on the map--well it's also the city with the 3rd highest crime rate per capita in Canada (Hooray!) But enough about infamy and onto fame...

As locals of Abbotsford, and the good Mennonites that we are, it seems a bit pricey to pay 25 bucks for the privilege of being on the grounds of our dinky little airport. So we decided on a different vantage point: The top of a grain elevator. After a very long climb up a very long ladder, we were at the top on this little metal platform. Just us and an auger motor which was thankfully off.

It was pretty cool to be on the top of the tallest thing in the sumas prairies. And we got some good views of the planes. Most went around us instead of over us, but 2 snowbirds flew right overhead so that was cool. Ah, a free airshow. My kind of show.

Fireworks

I've been doing a lot of things with Reg because he wants to do a lot of things before he goes to Thailand. Man, you'd think the guy was going to die on January 1st. Anyway, one of the things he wanted to do is watch Vancouver's Celebration of Light fireworks.

We watched all 4 nights and as usual it was very good. But since the show is world class, any other fireworks display that I watch now is just boring. I highly recommend to anyone to see the Celebration of Light as least once. Then again, if you want to enjoy little fireworks displays, you better stay away or you'll be spoiled forever.

(I didn't take any pictures of the fireworks because I took so many last year. If you want to see more than enough pictures of fireworks, see July/August pictures in 2005.)

Golden Ears

Well once again it has been a long time since I last blogged. But for the sake of documenting my life in chronological order, I will step a few weeks back in order to fill you in on a hike that Reg and I did. For the first time for both of us, we conquered Golden Ears mountain.

It is 12 km ONE WAY. I did not train for this trip and I was dreadfully out of shape, but I made it, albeit barely. Positives: Beautiful (although hazey) view of the entire Fraser Valley, good view of Pitt Lake, and a feeling of accomplishment. Negatives: Relentless black flies (even on top), and a terrible trail. I have never called a trail "stupid", but this was a stupid trail. It is 12 kilometers, and it didn't need to be. The first 3 km are completely flat! In another part the trail goes up really steep up the mountainside, only to go down again right away. What's with that? Then there were the rocks. It's like they built half the trail on an old creekbed, with big loose rocks--too small to step on but too big to ignore. Very hard to hike.

There is an "emergency" cabin at the foot of the glacier, about 1 km from the top. It sleeps 8...cozy people. And they had an outhouse. Pretty fancy for being way up in the mountains. The cabin was occupied that night so we tented, which was fine. It was the hottest weekend of the year (35C or so in the valley) so it was really nice, not really cold at all.

We summited in the morning and then headed back down. That was the first time hiking that I was actually concerned that I wouldn't make it down. My legs hadn't recovered from the hike up, and we didn't bring as much food as we should have, so I didn't have anything to get my strength back. We had some Gator Aid mix and I was so desperate for energy that I ate a couple of spoonfuls of raw powder. That might have been the energy I needed to get down. The trail is so steep that you can't go down any faster than you came up, because you have to be so careful of your footing. I was so exhausted and so thankful to see my car after that hike.
(The picture above on the right is of the cabin, the outhouse and our tent)

As a footnote, I would just like to say that I will never do that hike again, unless
a) they redo the trail so there are no creekbeds and
b) they make the trail half as long (and they can, they SO can).

Spam

Well the spammers have found me and are leaving comments on my entries. So I have turned on that security word verification thing.

One thing to note: If NOBODY bought things that spammers advertised, spam would disappear. So the fact that spam is getting more and more common means that some of you out there are buying things that are advertised through spam. So whoever you are please stop! You are encouraging uncaring jerks to keep making money though very annoying means. Please, for the good of all mankind, please make your purchases through legitimate businesses. Thanks!