July 2009 Archives

Not wanting to waste a single summer weekend, so spare are they in Edmonton, I have been spending many weekends getting out of the city into new locales and limited warm weather activities. I spent this most recent past weekend in Red Deer where I went paintballing for the afternoon. IT was fun, but I was covered with some fairly nasty welts, sunburn, and slick sheen of sweat from crawling around in the woods for 3½ hours. In end, we wound up diving into the massive lake in the picture above for a dip to cool (and rinse) off before going to get some dinner. I think the groom was fairly glad to be done after having been made to complete a gauntlet lined with paintball guns for his bachelor party.

It’s been relatively cool in Edmonton for the month of July so far, which has been kind of pleasant. The combination of humidity and warm temperatures makes a sustained run quite a bit more difficult. I’ll take it over -30° C that we often get here, but it does take some getting used to. The great upside is that running through neighborhoods at this time of year grants access to wonderful smoky BBQ aromas wafting out of various houses and apartments.

It’s also festival season in Edmonton, and I have been trying to make it to some of those, though being out of town on the weekends makes it more difficult. Still, I went to the Taste of Edmonton a few days ago and enjoyed it. Many restaurants in Edmonton set up shop in Churchill Square and make signature menu items available with live music. There’s usually pretty good selection, and it’s not that far from where I work.  I almost always make to Heritage Days too, which is this coming weekend, but I am hoping to go camping so I am not sure if I’ll make it this year. Either way, I am sure I’ll get to enjoy the sun and the time off.

After spending the weekend down in Glacier National Park, I am decidedly sore but contented. I have made many trips to the Rockies over the year, and weather is never an element one can plan for; I have certainly seen it go both ways. I am very grateful to say that for this particular trip, the weather was excellent. We had a bit of rain, but not until we were driving back up after finishing our weekend. Thankfully, the rest of the trip was graced with sunny clear skies and and pleasant temperatures.

My roommate and I made good use of our good fortune by leaving no stone of the park unturned over our short three day excursion. We did numerous hiking trails, the longest being our first, up to the top of the Apgar Lookout where it was surprisingly well vegetated. In fact, there were a bit too many flies for comfort. Thankfully, there is a radio tower maintenance building with a deck accessible to the public that we were able to escape to — that and a very healthy portion of DEET. We also took the trail out to Hidden Lake located at the top of Logan Pass. The trail might have been a bit easier had half of it not been covered with a very well beat down and slightly melted snow-pack. Climbing uphill on especially slippery snow was quite a challenge after previously doing an 1860 feet climb. The view back at the lake is stunning, however, with the lookout high above a massive valley with a snow-touched lake.

It is the first time that I have been out camping in the mountains for a couple of years, Thankfully, my skills at building a suitable camp fire have not degraded much over the years. I got two roaring pyramids on my first attempts, which we enjoyed well into the night. Cooking ‘attempts’ actually went shockingly well. My roommate pulled off a very nicely cooked salmon fillet in what was a very dark campground. Fortunately for me, he didn't want to have all of it.

I am now contemplating what will hopefully be a deep sleep, followed by another full week at the office.

When out running, I often like to pick out a different route to head out on to keep the sense of adventure and discovery higher. I figure it also doesn’t hurt the sense of accomplishment when you get out in a new area. It’s a good reward to oneself when the further you run, the more you can open up in the way of new areas previously uncharted. I have learned much about the neighborhood that I live in simply by running through various areas of it. On Monday, I was running by the Alberta Provincial museum, and wondered if I would find anything by running around it. As is turns out, it’s rather nicely groomed, and there is access near the rear to the river valley trail system. After shooting the picture above, I ran down a rather steep hill and found a paved path running alongside the North Saskatchewan river. It’s gorgeous down there, and you could honestly believe while down there that you were no longer in the middle of a metropolitan city at all. Needless to say, I’ll be running a bit more down there now as I try to tease out where all of the different paths lead.

It has been a tumultuous year thus far in many ways. From large scale American structural changes, to more personal changes, life feels like it’s racing past. I have watched with no small amount of concern as western debt levels rise to rather alarming percentages of GDP, and I can’t help but wonder when the hammer is going to drop. Nevertheless, I am trying to proceed with my plans, which includes paying back my rather large student debt. Slowly, but surely, I am making progress in that area. I figure if the country has to be in debt, I might well do my best to set a good example. Heh.

One of the local theatres by me is running a summer promotion that involves cheap tickets, something always worth getting excited about, so I am going to catch some escapist summer blockbuster. After all, that’s what summer promises best — escape!