Ember Updates

Better late than never. A brief update to the life of Jon for all the EMBER months.

SEPTEMBER
Returned from the New York roadtrip, and would do it all over again.
Hiked up to Chadsey Lake, first with P&B, then solo. It was so beautiful and peaceful, and I have no pictures to prove it.

OCTEMBER
Bushwacked quite literally for over 1/2 a kilometer with nothing but a GPS that was always cutting out because of the trees. But we made it. Our destination: Wye Lake.
Featured in this photo is yours truely, B and P.

NOVEMBER
Hot Sproings
Went to some hot springs with some friends and friends of friends. heh heh.
I'm way to lazy to be the 3rd person to write about it when Jess and Reg did such a good job of writing about it (more pics here).

Snow!
We gots the snow. 13 5/8" to be exact (I don't know what that is in millimeters, like a million). Didn't go to work for 3 days. Woohoo. Then again, I get paid by the hour (so doh!)

It was beautiful and poetic...
Abby had a little snow, its flakes were white as sheeps.
And everywhere Jon usually went, he couldn't because the streets
(were icey and Jon didn't have snow tires on his car).

More Snow!
A couple days after the first dumping we got 4 more inches, and there was much rejoicing.

DECEMBER

Jon made a new friend and updated his blog, and there was much rejoicing.

(bonus points to whoever knows the obscure rejoicing reference)

Hot Springs

Our final stop on the roadtrip was a visit to Lussier Hot Springs. They are outdoors, hot, and FREE. A nice ending to a long drive.

Ontario Tourism

We made sure we visited the most important Ontario tourist traps: Niagara Falls and the CN Tower.I was at the falls 10 years ago and I'm happy to report that they are still falling. Very beautiful. Reg and I paid the $11 to go in the tunnels behind the falls. For future reference, save your money. This is what you will see--not worth it. They give you a plastic poncho before you go down. I think the poncho cost $10 and the view from the tunnel was a dollar.
The CN Tower was nice I guess. We were up there during a storm and at night so visibility was not great. I walked on the glass floor. Man that's a weird feeling.

The Hello Deli

This was about as close to fame as we got. The Hello Deli is a tiny Deli in the same building as the Ed Sullivan Theater -- Home of the The Late Show with David Letterman. And Rupert from the Hello Deli often appears on the show. Anyway, Rupert was working the till the day we were there so we ate the Hello Deli and were served by Rupert. I thought that was cool. Reg didn't know who he was, but now he's going to watch Letterman more.

NYC Part 4 - The Sights

Times Square - Wow, that place is insane. And the PEOPLE. If you have ever seen on TV or in the movies the hoards of people on the sidewalks and thought "is it really that crowded?" For Times Square the answer is YES, even late at night. It is home to so many things including: Hard Rock Cafe and The flashiest McDonalds I've ever seen. Also...
My Dad caught me on the Earthcam - Check it out at http://www.earthcam.com/usa/newyork/timessquare
ABC Studios
Lots of street performers - These guys were really good.
and Naked Cowboy
Brooklyn Bridge - As seen from the Staten Island Ferry.
Central Park - SO BIG. The picture above is taken from the top of a castle in the park. Behind me is The Great Lawn, which holds 6 baseball diamonds. It is a blip in the map of central park.
Carnegie Hall - "Saw" it, but couldn't go in.
The Plaza - Reg tells me it appears in "Home Alone".
Inside CNN/Time Warner Building - Time Warner building is enormous and impressive. The tour was actually more lame than I expected it would be.
Radio City - We were there the day they were doing the MTV Video Music Awards, so there were a bunch of celebrities showing up. I think they were famous, I mean a whole crowd of screaming black girls can't be wrong.
Rockefeller Center - Just a bunch of buildings. Whatever.
Macy's - The largest department store in the world. It is a full New York City block, and 9 floors! Also the location for the film "Miracle on 34th Street".
The New York Public Library - Crazy! So elaborate I didn't see a single book until I got to the 3rd floor! It was more like a museum than a library. But it is a public library so at least it was free.
The Statue of Liberty/Staten Island Ferry - Also free (amazingly). It travels right past the Statue of Liberty. That's as close as I got (Reg visited Lady Liberty personally).
Ground Zero - That's a huge area right in the heart of the business district. It's amazing some of the surrounding buildings are still there. One skyscraper that was right beside the World Trade Center property was damaged and so they are currently deconstructing it, floor by floor.
The New York Stock Exchange - Lots of suits running around the outside of that place. Security is so tight around there that since 9/11 they have blocked off all the roads in that area.
The Cathedrals - My goodness it's like stepping into Europe. There are several big cathedrals downtown.
Madison Square Garden - We saw it, it's still there.
The United Nations Headquarters - That's a big place. I guess there's lots to do in order to keep so many countries united.
Empire State Building - Expensive but a good view of New York (for the record, the 86th floor is the main observation deck, and is really good. Don't bother paying the extra 14 bucks to go to the 102nd floor, it's not worth it)
Grand Central Terminal - Saw it. I can say I was there. That's about it.
New York Subways - Convenient, fast, frequent and functional. But wow, those terminals are hot.
Steaming Manholes - Apparently the city has central heating so many downtown buildings are heated by steam, carried through pipes underground. Some pipes have leaks, and thus the steaming manholes.

Whew, those were the main things. It was definitely an experience I will never forget. I highly recommend it.

NYC Part 3 - Getting Around

Being in New York, there is a level of fitness expected of you. The transit system is very good, but if something is less than 10 blocks, they will think you're weird to try to take transit. "It's not that far, it's only 10 blocks!" the city worker said to me (except we'd been walking for the last 2 hours). Lower Manhattan (everything South of Central Park) is considered the "downtown core" of New York City. That's where all the famous landmarks, buildings and businesses reside. But you could fit probably about 5 downtown Vancouvers into Lower Manhattan. It's Really Big. Thankfully the subway system is very extensive, fast and frequent. The wait is less than 5 minutes for a train.
Or you can take a taxi. I always wondered how people on TV would just raise their arm and get a taxi. Now I understand.

NYC Part 2 - The New York Attitude

New Yorkers have quite an attitude. It's kind of hard to explain. You can ask anyone directions for something and they'll give you an answer, it's just the way they do it that takes some getting used to. They like to keep things moving. They don't revel in conversational formalities. It seems like they want the conversation to be as short as possible, so they can get back to doing whatever it is they're doing. Everyone is on the move, always walking, listening to their iPods and talking on their wireless cell phones. Nobody waits for the walk sign, if there are no cars coming, they walk. If a car is coming and people are walking across, they just lay on the horn and speed on through.

NYC Part 1 - Driving

My first experience in New York City was navigating the highways to the JFK Airport (which is where we had decided to store our car). That was quite an experience, not for the faint of heart. Stopped in Bronxville (almost in the Bronx!) and got directions from some guy who was hanging around the gas station. He gives me 3 different sets of directions to get to Kennedy Airport. Well there's like 5 different highways you can take. Very confusing, so I went with the last set of directions which was the simplest. New Yorkers seem to be nice enough to give you directions, but whether they make sense is another story.
I've always heard about "The Projects" where the really poor people live. They are sort of a landmark of The Bronx, and I got to see them (I skipped visiting them).

New York State

New York state was very different from what I expected. Most of the state looks like BC! Trees and forest abound. Lots of small towns, lots of room. So different from New York City!

Another interesting note is that New York has several Tim Hortons. Our Canadian Coffeeshop is slipping into the States! Aaaaaaaah! What a world, what a world...

Ottawa & Montreal

Next stop was Ottawa Ontario. We had just enough time to tour the parlement buildings. Took the official tour and they even let you go up into the bell tower.
We found another use for Duck Tape: Holding the parlement buildings together! Several spots on the front of the building were patched with the handyman's secret weapon.
We have no pictures of Montreal, Quebec, we just drove through, so I've "been" to Montreal. I have experienced Montreal enough to know that it is a VERY big and the highways are insane.

Red Rock & Ontario

After Winnipeg we made a stop over to see Steve G. at Red Rock Bible Camp. That was fun. We hung out, relaxed and mountain biked. After that, it was into Ontario.

The road from Winnipeg to Ottawa is long and boring. The rolling hills are just high enough that you can never quite see over the trees. After a day of driving your reward is Thunder Bay, Ontario. Another day of driving and your reward is Sault Ste. Marie. Hoorah. (Well it's not all bad. I've discovered there are a lot of cute and friendly girls that work at fast food restaurants--I'm talking to you Sault Ste. Marie Arby's and Irving NY Tim Hortons ;-)

I've learned a couple of things about flying-by-the-seat-of-your-pants camping:
1. There are a lot of people that have houses at the end of gravel roads off desolate highways in the middle of nowhere.
2. Finding a good spot to camp is really hard to do at 2am when you can't drive or think anymore.
3. If you pull into a camp site late at night (or even early in the morning), and are honest about it, it will cost you about $25. A couple times I just wanted to leave because we didn't even use their facilities. But we registered the next morning because it is the right thing to do.

Fortunately we found some unused side roads and were able to have a peaceful sleep for free. That was nice.

Car-bed

I have built a bed into my Toyota Echo. It may sound crazy, but it has 6'4" of length! This was more of a challenge than a necessity. We have a tent, but if it's raining, it is so much nicer to be "indoors" than out in a wet tent. Incidentally, it was 10 summers ago that I went across Canada with Myron, and we slept in the back of his Honda Civic Stationwagon (yes, there was such a car). So this is kinda cool that 10 years later I am doing the same kind of thing.

Moving

We helped Myron & Cyndi move from Sundre AB back to Winnipeg MB. The girls flew and the guys drove. Reg, Myron and I each had a vehicle to drive. Just before we left, we heard a little bit of scratching in the back of the moving truck. When we opened up the back, two kittens popped out! They just about relocated to Winnipeg.

We bought Walkie Talkies so we could communicate without having to always pull over. (Technical note: we purchased Cobra brand FRS/GMRS 2-way handheld radios. They advertised as having a 16km range--ya right! We were lucky if we got 1/2 km! Granted it said 16km under ideal conditions such as good weather and unobstructed line of sight, but that's what we had! We were in the prairies in sunny weather for crying out loud. Anyway, for any future walkie talkie buyers, you have been warned.)

The great thing about the prairies is that when you get tired, you can just find a quiet gravel road and sleep. So that's what we did. I've always wanted to camp in the median on a divided highway (you know the ones between Surrey and Hope). Well I guess my dream kinda came true because we pitched our tent in the middle of a divided highway. I say "kinda" because it hardly felt like it. There was a whole mile between the two directions of traffic. It was a nice quiet camping spot, free and alone, just the way I like it.

It took us two days of driving to get us from Sundre to Winnipeg. We had to go the speed limit. Not because we couldn't afford a ticket, but because if Myron went over 100, the moving truck would start to shake. And Myron & Cyndi's van gets the shakes around 110. My car (or my foot) is built such that it always wants to go 120km/h on the highway, so it was a constant fight to keep the speed down. On the plus side, we got no tickets.

After arriving in Winnipeg, Reg and I became "two small guys with big hearts" as we moved all their stuff into storage lockers. On our way back we may end up moving all that stuff once more if they find a house.

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!

Long Beach

If you visit long beach on Canada Day, the parking is free. So we made the trip to the island to take advantage of the savings! Well, maybe we had other reasons as well. (Note the sentence that starts and ends with the word "well") . We were able to camp on the beach and it didn't rain at all! In fact it was about as good as it gets in terms of weather on the west coast.

Had a bear come through our camp. Of the 8 people in our group, Reg and I were the last ones to leave camp that morning. I was eating breakfast and was walking toward the food to get myself another strudel, when I looked up and saw the bear about 10-15 feet away! What do you do when you come face-to-face with a bear? I found out. I said "WOAH!!! Reg, there's a bear in our camp!"

What are you supposed to do next? I don't know, I never read that chapter. Apparently town-bears aren't phased by yelling and flailing arms. But clapping and thowing sticks seems to work...sort of. Two minutes later he came back through a different part of the bush. And THIS time I got my camera out.

We scared it off yet again with more sticks and clapping and that worked for a longer period of time. The thing about where we were camping is that we left our tents up. And even after we told the rest of the group about the bear, nobody was interested in checking on/taking down the tents. When we got back LATE that evening, the bear had taken down 2 of the 4 tents, looking for non-existant food. Fortunatelly, our tent was OK. But the others had to use a lot of duck tape to patch holes and mend broken tent poles. I can't believe we still slept there that night.

Long Beach was gorgeous, and the water was very cold. Peter brought a kite to fly, which was an excellent idea (I would have been SO bored otherwise). There was enough wind that we were able to attach bull kelp to the bottom of the kite. We made a tail about 20-25 feet long. This was a 2-string kite that you could control really well. We would whip that tail around and try to make it snap, or slap the ground with it. Good fun.

Peter & Bronwyn's dog Coda had to be kept on a leash, as per the sign and the park warden. But she never said the leash had to be attached to anything. So Coda ran free, dragging a leash behind her. Whatever.

The last night we stayed at Sproat lake. A nice place except for the 20 bucks a night. The water was relatively comfortable and the grounds were beautiful. A good place to go, the next time you want to camp around Port Alberni.

Floating down the canal

My oh-so-original title basically sums it up. At the end of June, Reg and I decided spontaneously to go to Penticton. More specifically, at 10:00pm Saturday night Reg mentioned his parents were in Penticton for the weekend and I asked him why we were sitting in Abbotsford! So ya, we arrived at 3:30am and stayed with Reg's relatives. Sunday afternoon we were floating down the canal.

It's a great thing to do in summer. I highly recommend it. If you provide your own floaty things and transportation then the ride is totally free. We each had an inner tube and we were both tied to the boat which carried all our worldly possessions. You need to be tied together or you will totally get separated. We were moving along at the pace of a fast walk (5.5km/hr). As to the state of Reg's undress, I'll let you decide.

Camping On Kenyon

Reg and I took advantage of a rare weekend when it wasn't supposed to rain. And it didn't rain so that was good. We camped on Kenyon Lake. It's one of my favourite places to camp, and judging by the amount of garbage thrown into the bush, I'm not the only one.

I got up in the morning, before the bugs had even woken up, and took a look at the lake. It was clear as glass. Not a trace of wind. The lake gave a perfect reflection of the mountains. All in all it was another successful camping trip--not to mention, fun.

Back to the Cave

At the end of May, shortly after I got back from Thailand, Reg and I went to visit our cave. It's still as beautiful as ever. And just as muddy. The entrance is eroding away, which is actually good because it means we don't get AS wet as we used to. On the downside, a lot of gravel seems to be building up on the lower (wet) end--the end we were hoping would eventually open up into more caves.

We both ventured down the hole that we once hoped was a lead to a new part of the cave. It still doesn't go anywhere but we like to check it out anyway. It is a tight squeeze with solid rock above you, rocky mud beneath you and rocks on either side of you. And it's at an angle so you have to inch your way back up to get out. There is one part which is REALLY tight. We jokingly called it the "birth canal". It's a good place to try out your claustrophobia. The picture doesn't do it justice.

And the last picture shows some of the flowstone. Ya it's a real cave with active stalagtites and flowstone. I still find it hard to believe that Reg and I were the first ones to ever see it.