Talk about culture shock! After the sensory assault that was Las Vegas, a couple of hours on the road took us to a much different kind of sensation at Zion National Park in southwestern Utah (photo above is taken from the main lodge area).
These wild turkeys charged us, but thankfully did not hurt us
This is our first destination in a tour of the “Canyonlands” of the American southwest. While the weather started off overcast and soon turned to rain, we still managed to hike a few miles up and get a feel for the immense scale of the canyons in Zion. It started off easy (see the photo below), but soon became much more difficult.
The climb begins!
Once the rain began, the visibility got worse and worse…and so did the strength of my batteries! It didn’t make for my finest series of photographs, but it was awesome even with the ever-present mist. You can get an idea of the scale by looking at the size of the trees in some of the “rock face photos”.
This tranquil pool ends in a sheer cliff…don’t get too close!
The sheer walls of rock reminded me a bit of the Italian Dolomites in places, or possibly the North Face of the Eiger. It was also a bit like ski touring, where you have to pay your dues climbing up the mountain…and you then get rewarded by skiing down the thrilling terrain. As with skiing, the hiking was much easier going down than going up. However, with the intense red earth (all over my hiking boots at the moment), the experience at Zion was completely different.
One of the immense stone faces near the “Upper Emerald Pools”
Tomorrow will be even more of an adventure. The weather is supposed to be clearer, and we are hiking up a canyon for several hours. But not just a path alongside the river! No, the canyon is too narrow for that. Instead, we will be hiking up the river itself, wearing special neoprene hiking gear. Considering how cold it is here now (around zero degrees in the evening), we are certainly going to putting this special equipment to the test!
The cliffs get crazier as you climb higher…no camera can capture it all, especially with the mist!
Stay tuned to see how this all works out. The camera batteries have been replaced and I look forward to capturing some more of the splendour!
This is my first time in Las Vegas. I’m just using it as a jumping off point for my express tour of the “canyonlands” in Utah and Arizona, but I’m here long enough to form some impressions.
Part of the “Fremont Street Experience”, in downtown Las Vegas
My flight arrived in the late evening, so the bus ride in from the airport was an extravaganza of activity and lights. I had to walk 4 blocks from my bus stop to my hotel (the Golden Nugget, in downtown Las Vegas). Ever try navigating Fremont Street at 11:00 p.m. on a Saturday night with a suitcase and a backpack? It’s complete sensory overload: there are concerts, buskers, rapid-fire light shows on the “roof” over Fremont Street, people ziplining overhead, people in various stages of exuberance and/or intoxication…I was glad to make it to the hotel unscathed!
The “Heart Attack Grill”, that apparently serves free meals to those over 350 pounds
There are definitely some interesting things here (particularly some of the entertainment), but I already find myself rebelling against certain aspects of the place. For breakfast, I went to a vegan restaurant away from the main street. The atmosphere was peaceful, the food was very good, and it was hard to believe that this was the same city that seemed so overwhelming the night before.
My breakfast at the VegeNation vegan restaurant. Those aren’t scrambled eggs, of course.
Not all of my food adventures were successful. I saw a “Donut Bar” that looked really good, so I decided to return there a bit later when I had more of an appetite. Alas, it closes each day when it sells out of the day’s stock…and they sold the last one just as I returned. Things improved again when I ventured away from the main part of Fremont Street for lunch. I found a family-run Thai place that, among other things, served excellent Thai iced tea.
It’s licensed, so it really is a “Donut Bar”! Carson Street, Las Vegas.
Moving on down the list of Las Vegas cliches, it didn’t take long to find an express wedding chapel. This one started in 1940 and would be rather “traditional” (as these things go); I’m sure the newer ones have all kinds of unusual approaches.
Wedding Chapel on Las Vegas Boulevard
And then, there’s the gambling. I was actually a little saddened by what I saw. The number of slot machines is incomprehensible. Each hotel must have thousands of them. But many of the people playing them seemed bored and unhappy. They looked passively resigned to their fate. At least the players at the card tables seemed to be engaged in what they were doing.
A small part of a small casino in Las Vegas
I’m glad I had a chance to look around, but I don’t think this is a place that I’ll need to see again. To paraphrase Macbeth: it is definitely “full of sound and fury”, but it is up to each individual to decide if it is really “signifying nothing”. As for me, I’m glad to be heading for Utah in the morning. I’m really looking forward to some active travel in the midst of some stunning natural wonders.
I didn’t use quite as many vacation days as I was anticipating this summer, so I started looking into travel options for a late fall getaway of a week or so. Although I usually travel independently, I felt like entrusting some of the logistics to someone else this time: for a short trip, this would help ensure that my limited time was used effectively. As usual, my eventual destination was nowhere near what I had originally planned.
I began with looking at a return to Latin America, with Ecuador being at the top of the list. However, I began to waver because Ecuador seemed kind of far away for just a one -week trip. As it turns out, I’m glad I didn’t move ahead with those plans: there is currently significant civil unrest in Ecuador, and my preferred tour operator has apparently cancelled a number of tours there.
And then, inspiration hit. I was taking a look at some promotions, and found a number of tours that were 30% off the regular price. One of them caught my eye…it was in a part of the world that has been on my subconscious bucket list for ages but I somehow never got around to seeing.
This tour ticked all the boxes: it was for a small group only (maximum 16 participants), it was an active tour with a significant amount of walking, it was off-season (and therefore wouldn’t be too busy), it would have very comfortable weather, and it wasn’t too far from home. With it being 30% off, and finding some direct flights at an affordable price, I made a quick decision to go for it.
So, in a few short weeks, I will be going on a tour of the “Canyonlands” of Utah and Arizona! This includes the Grand Canyon, but also places such as Bryce Canyon National Park, Antelope Canyon, and Zion National Park. My flights are to Las Vegas, so I will also get at least a brief glimpse of the glitz and glamour there…again, for the very first time. And I also get to travel on a bit of the legendary Route 66!
I really enjoy doing long walks when I’m on holiday: it’s a great way to be “in the moment” and see things that you can’t when you’re on a bus all day. These destinations will be especially spectacular on foot, and I understand that we will be taking a trail that descends into the Grand Canyon.
I’m really excited about this trip. I’m sure it will be intense but exhilirating…and will make a great prelude to my winter ski trip. That ski trip will involve a country I’ve been to before, but never for skiing. Curious? Stay tuned to this blog!
(Today’s photos were all taken within one hour, on a walk around my sister-in-law’s place near Yarker, Ontario, Canada.)
I thought this post would be about my rapidly approaching “bucket list” adventure in November. However, I’m going to defer that again, in order to report on some recent sports-related travel.
The opening ceremony for the women’s event in Richmond Hill
I recently participated in the provincial lawn bowling championships in the men’s novice (less than 5 years of experience) singles category. As only 16 bowlers qualified, and there are well over 100 lawn bowling clubs in Ontario, it was an honour just to attend. Even better, my wife also qualified in the concurrent women’s competition!
The opening procession in the men’s event at Stouffville
This year’s event was held in Stouffville (see photo at top of this post) and Richmond Hill, just over 3 hours west of Kingston. We drove up on Friday to check out the facilities and get some practice on the greens where our sporting fates would be decided over the following two days. I knew quite a few of the competitors, so it was nice to catch up with them before the competition started.
Awaiting the start of the first game in Stouffville
The opening ceremonies on Saturday were very early. We were piped onto the greens by a bagpiper, and were welcomed by provincial and federal politicians. The early start is out of necessity, as we would have to play three games (plus any necessary tiebreakers) that day and each singles game can take 2-3 hours. Singles bowling really is a test of mental and physical stamina.
Delivering a bowl on Saturday morning
My Saturday in Stouffville went well, so I qualified to play in the playoff rounds in Richmond Hill on Sunday. Both clubs are located in the respective “downtown” cores: each one is a peaceful oasis in the middle of a rapidly growing urban area. Decades ago, I used to travel to Richmond Hill occasionally to play hockey, but the population has increased by a factor of nearly ten since then!
The umpires are called in to make a measurement
Of course, playing sports outdoors all day will work up an appetite, so we enjoyed a bountiful Hungarian meal at the Rhapsody restaurant near the Richmond Hill Club. There were also appealing Persian and Trinidadian options nearby.
Preparing for a critical bowl on Sunday afternoon in Richmond Hill
Sunday was an even greater test of endurance, especially when the heat cranked up in the afternoon. I played three further matches, with the second one lasting an incredible 3 hours and 20 minutes. With perhaps 30 minutes between matches, it was a very long day indeed. While curling is the sport that employs skills most similar to lawn bowling, I think the conditioning provided by soccer and hockey also came in handy during the heat of the tournament.
On our way to Stouffville, we found this great Dutch deli in Whitby, Ontario!
By the time the tournament was finally over, it was 7:00 p.m. and we still had to drive back to Kingston and get ready for work the next day. Going out for dinner would have made us even later. Fortunately, the incredibly kind tournament hosts set us up with some food for the long drive home. This is the sort of goodwill that is found so often in the sport: though we all do our best to win, there is also a strong sense that we are “all in this together”. We are both looking forward to visiting Richmond Hill and Stouffville again some day, and to seeing our fellow competitors at future events around the province.
Russ Howard gives some technical instruction at the Royal Kingston Curling Club
The very next weekend, I attended a curling clinic. It was hosted by Canadian curling legend Russ Howard. I learned all kinds of cool things about the game…as well as how incredibly skilled the national-level athletes must be in order to succeed. It was a nice way to transition from summer to winter sports.
Practicing our skills at the Russ Howard curling clinic
I will be staying close to home for the next month or so. I promise that the next post really will be about my upcoming trip!
(Special thanks to the tournament organizers, who graciously allowed me to use some photographs for this blog)
With a tournament cancelled this past weekend, we decided to go for a small local road trip. After a rescheduled birthday lunch in Napanee, our route took us through a number of small Lennox & Addington County communities to the slightly larger village of Tamworth.
This is where we had lunch in Napanee
Tamworth was in the local news recently because its last remaining bank branch had just closed. However, it is still well served by cafes and second-hand shops, so I enjoyed an unexpectedly large ice cream cone at the snack bar in the Black Cat Cafe. We saw somebody kitted up in authentic cowboy gear…but thought nothing of it at the time. As it turned out, this was a clever bit of foreshadowing.
The Tamworth Hotel (and Black Cat Cafe)
We then took the mysterious Mountain Road from Tamworth to the small village of Parham. Some maps don’t even show this road, while others show it as “unsurfaced”. Fortunately, it does exist and is now completely paved. The road goes through rocky and swampy country that is unsuitable for farming, and there were very few homes along the road. Little remained from the original settlements of the late 19th century. We felt much farther away from the city than we actually were.
Somewhere between Tamworth and Parham
Eventually, however, we arrived in Parham. I often passed through Parham on the way to childhood cottage vacations, but never spent any time here. Much to our surprise, the 127th annual Parham Fair was being held. We spontaneously decided to attend, having no idea what was on offer. While there weren’t any rides like at some larger fairs, the Parham Fair seemed to have largely retained its focus on agriculture.
The band at the Parham Fair
In the exhibit “Palace”, we saw many fine examples of crafts, cooking, and produce. There were prizes in categories such as the best pickling cucumbers. But there was another category that caught my eye: the “Freaky Vegetables” category. This was where people could submit “unusually formed” vegetables. The winner was a tomato that appear to be a fusion of two tomatoes (one green and one red) at totally different stages of development…and possibly were not even the same kind of tomato.
Entries in the “Freaky Vegetables” category at the Parham Fair (winner at bottom left)
We then settled in to watch the horse pull. Our verdict: horses are very big and very strong. Even though there were only two horses per entrant, and the combined weight limit for the horses was just over 3000 pounds, they had little trouble pulling loads well in excess of that. Just to be safe, I didn’t get too close…although I also didn’t want to trigger my horse allergy!
Feeding time before the big competition at the Parham Fair
The fair food was reasonably priced, and most of it was locally made. We heard part of the band’s set (appropriately, it was straight out country music), but unfortunately missed out on other events such as the demolition derby and the cattle show.
Horses in action at the Parham Fair
Before the unexpected visit to the fair, I had planned to write a lengthy post about some of the travel planning I’d been doing over the past few weeks. I’ll defer the details (and some of the photos from today’s trip) until my next post, but I can say that I will be having a “bucket list” international experience in November…and I am very excited about the European ski destination I have now chosen for the end of February.
This blog has been quiet for a few weeks, although I have certainly been putting in a lot of miles. I haven’t been travelling much for travel’s sake, but my sports activities have taken me to places like Oshawa, Cobourg, Belleville…and Dresden.
Dresden is a city of more than half a million people. It is the capital of the eastern German state of Saxony. And I did indeed visit “Dresden” recently, and I stayed in the “Saxony Motel” (see photo at top of this post). However, instead of a re-emerging city in the former East Germany, I was in an altogether different kind of Dresden.
The Dresden Lawn Bowling Club
6 hours west of Kingston is the small (population 2, 800) agricultural community of Dresden, Ontario, and I was there to participate in the provincial pairs lawn bowling championships . This was precisely the type of “random” travel experience I hoped would unfold this summer. I thought Dresden might be vaguely like Hanover (another Ontario town named after a German city). which I also visited more or less at random in 2015. However, Dresden was quite a bit smaller…and smelled a bit like tomato soup! I wasn’t just imagining this: there is a ketchup and vegetable canning factory right across the street from the lawn bowling club.
Sydenham Street in Dresden, Ontario
The heat was intense, so quite a bit of my time in Dresden (and in the nearby city of Chatham, where the Saxony Motel was located) was spent keeping cool and out of the sun. But I still enjoyed the slower place of life, and catching up with people I had met at previous tournaments. The side streets of Dresden were well-maintained and had plenty of Victorian red brick homes.
I hope that my summer will continue to offer experiences like this one, although slightly cooler temperatures would be nice! And even if I am not be travelling quite as far as in previous summers (Chile is not in the cards this year). I do have some fun plans simmering in the background. I will be heading overseas in the winter…and maybe even before then?
Everything
was in place for our trip to Montreal. The only thing we couldn’t control was
the weather…and, in this case, it definitely did not want to be controlled.
Montreal’s City Hall (with the flags of Canada, Quebec and Montreal)
I travel to Montreal from time to time, but I have done only one previous blog entry on the largest city in the province of Quebec. That trip didn’t go completely according to plan either, as I forgot my camera and took only a few iffy photos using an iPod. I remembered the camera this time; fortunately, I also remembered to bring an umbrella!
Downtown Montreal, on Boulevard René-Lévesque
However, the focus of this trip wasn’t on the usual touristic sights in Montreal. Yes, we wandered through Old Montreal once the weather cleared a bit, but we spent most of our time in various Montreal neighbourhoods that were a little more out of the way.
My main course at Fenêtre Sur Kaboul, in Montreal’s “Plateau” neighbourhood
Dinner on Friday was in an Afghan restaurant in the “Plateau-Mont-Royal” neighbourhood. My favourite Montreal record store was nearby, and we found some interesting grocery stores where we could stock up for Saturday’s breakfast. This particular area has a lot of students and a huge number of dining options.
A rainy day in downtown Verdun, Quebec
Saturday saw us visit Verdun for the very first time. We picked it almost at random. It’s only a few subway stops from downtown Montreal, but when we left the subway it was as if we had completely left the big city. It was kind of fun to feel like we were the only people who didn’t live there. As a bonus, we also had success at a clothing store that catered to tall people
Marché Jean-Talon, in Montreal’s Little Italy neighbourhood
We also visited the Marché Jean-Talon in Little Italy, after having lunch at the Breizh Café on boulevard Saint-Laurent. This was our first time at a crêperie since enjoying them nearly every day during last summer’s trip to Normandy and Brittany (“Breizh” is the Breton word for “Brittany”). We were very happy with our galettes and the cider from a local cidrerie was a perfect accompaniment. We felt a little nostalgic, and vowed that we would return to northern France again someday.
Tibetan Dumplings
The dodgy weather continued on Saturday night, so we stayed fairly close to our hotel and ate at a Tibetan restaurant near the bottom part of boulevard Saint-Laurent. It was OK, and certainly inexpensive, but not a highlight. My Tibetan meal in Luxembourg, for example, was far superior.
My lunch at Liv Salades, in Montreal’s Mile End neighbourhood
On Sunday, we had lunch in the “Mile End” neighbourhood. I think we had probably eaten too much rich food on the first two days, as we both had strong cravings for salad! As you can see from the salad photo above, they were huge and appealing…both visually and tastewise. “Mile End” is home to a number of important food sites (of course), such as St-Viateur Bagels and the Dieu du Ciel microbrewery.
Front of the horse and carriage line, in Old Montreal
So yes, there was a bit of a food emphasis on this trip. Our trips to Montreal usually work out this way, and it seems like Montrealers truly appreciate food. But we also tried something else on this trip for the first time: buying a weekend transit pass for the Metro and buses.
Narrow streets of Old Montreal
That was probably the best thing we could have done. In addition to saving a LOT of money (the cost per ride ended up being less than $1.00), we found ourselves in some truly unique neighbourhoods that we would never have walked to from our downtown hotel. It also made the rainy weather easier to handle: we could quickly get back to the hotel and dry off, unload our purchases (mostly food, naturally), and/or get more appropriate clothes. The pass was valid from late Friday afternoon until early Monday morning, and we will definitely consider it again for a future weekend trip.
In “real time”, I’ve been back from Alberta for almost two months. During that time, I was very busy with sports…lots of hockey and curling, with a couple of out-of-town bonspiels too. However, on April 13, we decided to visit Perth for Record Store Day!
We had lunch here
Perth is a community of about 6,000 people that seems to have resisted the commercial decline of many other small Ontario towns. It has a lot of unique small businesses, including the quirky barber shop below that doubles as a “Husband Day Care” and lists Elvis as one of its offerings.
An unusual barbershop in downtown Perth
Our main destination was a combination bookstore/record shop called “Backbeat”. I have always received good service there and I stop by from time to time whenever I’m in the area. They always have special events for Record Store Day and this year was no exception.
Backbeat Books and Music in Perth
After picking up some interesting music, we wandered the streets of Perth and found some other treats to take home…including Italian nougat (with chocolate), a nice Grapefruit Radler (from the Perth Brewery), and some tasty Basque-style cheese (made from raw ewe’s milk by the nearby Back Forty Artisan Cheese company). You don’t have to travel to a big city to enjoy these indulgences!
An oasis right in the middle of downtown Perth
Speaking of big cities, stay tuned for my report on what used to be Canada’s largest city…and is still a fun place to visit at any time of year.
Right before our first day of skiing, we visited the legendary Lake Louise (the village, the lake, and the hotel, but not the ski area…yet).
View of the lake, from Chateau Lake Louise
I’m sure every Canadian has seen multiple pictures of Lake Louise: the grand hotel overlooking the narrow mountain lake with snowy peaks in the background…it is an iconic Canadian sight.
Skating in front of the Chateau Lake Louise
And yet, it wasn’t exactly how I’d imagined it. I thought it would be at the bottom of a steep and narrow alpine valley. But that would be wrong: it is actually located some distance up from the broad valley floor, on a winding mountain road.
Only in Canada!
It actually reminds me quite a bit of St. Moritz, Switzerland…except that there is only one hotel (rather than hundreds) and it seems isolated even with hundreds of people enjoying the lake.
Hiking across Lake Louise
Anyway, it is definitely beautiful and there was plenty going on when we arrived. There was a fully operational ice bar, a huge number of ice sculptures, multiple hockey games in progress on the lake, cross-country skiers darting to and fro, and many others just walking on and around the lake. A horse-drawn sled was ferrying people around the coastal trail, while some fearless folks were climbing an ice waterfall.
A climber ascending the ice falls at Lake Louise
As we were just visiting and not actually staying at the hotel, we chose to walk the length of the lake (about 2 km) and back, taking in the views and the general good cheer about winter. It seemed like the right thing to do, given that the temperatures were more than cold enough for us to curse them. Of course, the happiest creature we saw was a very photogenic husky. Sadly, I didn’t take a picture!
Hiking alongside Lake Louise
Lake Louise (the lake, with the hotel) also turns out to be different from Lake Louise (the village) and Lake Louise (the ski area). The village is on the valley floor, a couple of kilometers down from the lake, on the Trans-Canada Highway. The ski area is even further from the lake, on the other side of the valley.
Ice bar at the Chateau Lake Louise
The verdict: yes, as you can see, it is definitely worth a visit. I’m sure I haven’t seen the last of this famous lake…and hopefully, I will get back here at least once in the warmer seasons, so I can see the lake’s (apparently) mesmerizing colours for myself.
After four chilly days on the alpine slopes, the temperature dropped even further. The overnight low was around -30’C. The visibility was iffy and there was also a cold wind. It would have been miserable on the lifts, even with Hotshots! We made an executive decision to skip our planned last day of downhill skiing and try an outdoor sport that keeps you a little warmer: cross-country skiing.
Me at the Nordic Centre “stadium”
Fortunately, I was in one of the best places in the country to do this: as I mentioned a few days ago, Canmore hosted the Olympic cross- country skiing and biathlon events at the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics. The facilities have been maintained and remain a competitive/training centre today. Instead of just visiting, however, this time I was actually going to ski!
Richard races to the finish line
I haven’t done cross-country skiing regularly for about 40 years. The equipment has changed enormously. But the basics are still the same and it is just a little easier to ski uphill with the new “skins” skis.
Skiing through the forest at the Canmore Nordic Centre
There was no way that we could have enjoyed skiing downhill today: the windchill was approaching -30’C, although the actual temperature was about -17’C at midday. While cross-country skiing was also cold initially, I warmed up after about 15 minutes of work. We decided to do a series of loops that didn’t take us too far from the base lodge, just in case . Eventually, the main concern was not getting too hot, as the moisture could really make you freeze when you got cold again later.
Richard overlooks the meadow
After a delicious lunch, we did another longer loop in the afternoon. The forest trails were beautiful but my favourite spot was a spectacular alpine meadow (see photo at the very top of this post), where you could really appreciate all of the mountains around us. The sun had graciously reappeared shortly after we started, and the wintry colours were intense.
Some of the many flags at the Canmore Nordic Centre (representing the countries that competed at the 1988 Winter Olympics)
I don’t say this often, but this was definitely a day where it was better to be off the slopes than on them. We ended up skiing more than 20 km and fully deserved the Mexican meal we enjoyed that evening. I certainly wasn’t expecting to drink horchata in Canmore, but there it was!
The Canmore Nordic Centre
We made the most of our last full day in Canmore, and we could only laugh the next morning when the temperature dropped to a totally ridiculous -36’C (again, without the windchill!) on the way to the airport.
