Visits and shopping

Yesterday and today seemed to be very busy. Kim and I had a mani-pedi (yes, Alison, really, me), James went to two Games Workshops. At the one in West Edmonton Mall he helped one of the players in a screaming contest.  We will get back to the store this weekend and perhaps James will be able to play in a game (Warhammer 40k). 

John drove us by the address that my grandmother lived at in the late 1930s. It looks like it is currently housing for women which may have been what is was back then. There is a hospital nearby where she may have been working or training, and it is near where the army barracks was located (maybe where she met my grandfather). 

Visited lots with John and Kim.  And Nikki, Joe and Meghan should be here this evening for more visits.  

Where is that light coming from and the Great White Hunter Dog

Well it has been a few days since I posted so you know that I was told I had to post.

Here is a picture of the participants in Christmas in July (taken with my camera but not by me).

We moved to Terrace and then onto Vanderhoof and Ft St James. We toured the old fort and the pictures below are James and Kathie practicing their hunting skills using native weapons of the 1800's (except the bow and arrow were fiberglas).

As you can see in the last picture of Stuart Lake from the fort the rain is still following us.

From Vanderhoof we drove to Jasper. The morning in Jasper the sun was shining and the inside of the trailer was quite bright thus part of the title of the post.

That morning I was getting ready to walk the dogs and was putting on my boots sitting in the doorway of the trailer. Kody my big dog came to see what I was doing. He was looking over my shoulder when a tree squirrel ran through our campsite. I did not see it, but Kody did, all I felt was a brush of something on my right shoulder, Kody had jumped over me and he was off chasing the squirrel until he treed it and then he was trying to figure out a way to climb the tree. He was strutting around like he had just treed a bear (thus the Great White Hunter Dog).

We have moved onto Edmonton to visit family and are looking to get some work done on the trailer. One tire is wearing unevenly (axle alignment?) and another has a crack in it so we might be here a little longer than we thought - it is a long weekend here.

Happy birthday one day removed

Ok I will start with describing last nights and this weeks site. The site we were in last night was a roomy pull through at, whistlers campground, a national park (jasper) campground. Unlike provincial parks this national park had full hookups, like provincial parks it was well forested, had a wonderful view of the mountains and a road that Bond would think was a good place for bartenders with his martini. The sit we are staying at this week has much nicer roads and is called glowing embers. It is really nice if a little packed with grassy sites and all the comforts of the mall down at the office and a dog walk area out back with the gate really close to our site which is nice.

Happy birthday to me, as some of you may know my parents always somehow manage to plan a long haul the day of my birthday and have my version of a celebration the next day. Instead of giving me a gift they give me straight cash and show me to the nearest bookstore and leave me there for a couple of hours. I know that most of my friends would call this torture but all would say it is the perfect gift for me. Some would say that it would be heaven for me, but others would say my heaven is Britan. If you don't get why Britan is my heaven you have to think of my taste in girls, you see I am much more attracted to the intellectual qualities of any woman than I am to her body but I am very much attracted to a girls voice, among singers I like altos but if you go for just the accent I am most attracted to the British, I don't know what it is but something about that accent just turns me on, with girls, not with guys. Sorry I started to ramble, I do that a lot even when talking.

Edmonton

We actually got some sunshine today. Now we have lightening scross the sky.

Once we arrived in Edmonton we went to Chapters so that James could get some birthday books. Then spent a nice evening visiting with John and Kim.

Happy Birthday to James

James is 18 today.  Legal age in Alberta, and we arrived in Alberta today.  The highway from Prince George to Jasper hasn't changed - there is still nothing in between the two and it is a fairly easy drive.

There is no cell coverage on the majority of the highway.  It is amazing that as you cross the border into Alberta, the phone pings and you have coverage - how do they do that?  I wonder how long they had to plan to decide where the cell towers needed to be to exclude BC.

Another interesting thing today was the gas prices.  In past years we have noted that Jasper is expensive for gas.  This year, it is 10 cents cheaper than in BC.  Carbon tax and HST definitely take their toll.

We took James to Earl's for a birthday dinner.  Unfortunately the seafood pasta had butter and he had a reaction.  Home to the trailer to have allergy medicine and lactaid (and some plain pasta cooked by mom).

Fort St James

We visited Fort St James today.  It is a national historic site.  For those of you who have visited Barkerville, it is similar but on a smaller scale.  However, that smaller scale works out quite well as you get an individual tour in each of the buildings that you go into.

In addition, we were able to practice old hunting skills using the bow and arrow and the atlatls (which is a spear thrower, sort of).

We also had lunch at their cafe which was excellent.  It is staffed by students at the College of New Caledonia and they did a very good job.

I got an A

The provincial exam marks are back and I got an A on my physics provincial. Not only that I got a high enough A to get me an A on the overall course.

Those who want a site description go to my first post of July "Yeah we started" because we are in the same site.

So I am spoiled

Those who know me know that I love bread. I practical live off of sandwiches. So after hearing this my auntie Sheila baked me some delicious buns, that we got to keep, while I was staying at auntie Sylvia's. I also like seafood, and I was shelling or shucking or cracking or whatever you call it when you take the shell off a crab all morning at Christmas in July, which we forgot to have for dinner. Noticing this my aunt Faye packaged some and sent it home with us. And while we were staying at auntie Judy's we had fruit salad with dinner, which we also got to keep. If you think I'm spoiled with all these people trying to make and buy me things I can eat with all my allergies read the title.

Bye to family for a couple of days

Spent last evening visiting with Aunt Judy. Lots of discussion about cameras and printers. Took all the dogs out for a walk. No rain but still not a lot of sun. As we passed the Seven Sisters today they were still covered in clouds. Paul says he has yet to see them uncovered. So he took a picture of the clouds. I don't think he will be able to photoshop them out though :-)

Just outside of Vanderhoof, spotted a beehive burner up and running. Darn. So far, no bad allergic reaction from James so hopefully the smoke is blowing the other way. Having a quiet evening around the campsite.

Family Galore

Ok so all the people who read this blog know that I have a huge family, yes? Well yesterday just proved it cause there were at least 50 people at Christmas in July and that was just the people who could make it out. Out of my moms six brothers only one shows up. Though I did meet some cool people, like Patrick who agrees with me that when you stop keeping track of the family relations and just call everyone cousins uncles and aunts it works out better. Or my cousin Jamie, who is the reason I don't let people cal me by that name, for one it would be confusing and for two she is a girl. Another is my uncle Earl, who is a meganerd like me, but he goes for online games, he was quite impressed that I had autism yet was so social, I thanked and told him the truth, that I had to train myself to be social. Uncle (of some sort) Earl was also impressed at my ability to look him in the eye, that is easy for me now even if I don't like to do it, I practiced by having staring contests with mirrors for years. One more new relative is my cousin Tyara, who probably doesn't like me right now. During the adult draw I got #47 the last number so I got the pick of the litter, up to the point that Tyara opened her present I was looking at/for stuff that mom wanted because there was nothing that I liked, once Tyara opened her present which is a beautiful blanket that I am lying under as I right this post, I kind of said sorry mom I want that blanket

Christmas in July

My family gets together for Christmas in July out at the lake.  The tree was decorated.

And even the inside of the outhouse had a Christmas theme.

The adult gift draw was cutthroat as usual with Dee walking away with the metalwork dog.  I managed to hang on to the solar lights though.

It was great fun and, once the rain stopped, a nice day at the lake.

The old home town

For those who keep track of this blog and those I met in Smithers I apologize for the late posting but I've been busy since then. The first day afterwards I spent 4 or 5 hours working on my iPad on the chemistry assignment that I had to do. The second day I was jamming (as in making jam) with my auntie Sylvia and waiting for my chem teacher to call so I could figure out how to write the equations so that I could get full marks, which is different than how my chem 11 teacher taught me. The third day my chem 12 teacher actually called and I spent most of the morning talking to him, mainly about chemistry but some about books that I should read, I was quite happy to meet another bookworm. And for all you people out there who think bookworm is another word for English major it isn't, just look at this post my grammar is appalling.

So days ago I went to Smithers and met a bunch of people who I had never seen before. They all knew who I was right off the bat because of my parents, and the fact that I met them when I was about 3 but who is going to remember random adults from back then. A few of the people were from the accounting company VanderGaag and Bakker, which if we (my family) had stayed in Smithers may have been VanderGaag, Bakker and Ross. Just before we met my mom's old colleges we saw one of my old friend's mother, and we agreed to see them by the end of the day, which was fine by me, I wanted to see them anyway. After that we went off to see my old daycare, and I got to see where I was left as a child while my parents went off to work. According to aunty Lisa, the person who runs the daycare, I followed Skeena around in daycare, according to my mom I followed Emily around in grade 1, so I guess I had a thing for redheads when I was that young.

Now onto my friends from way back when, Skeena and Sage, and their parents and little sister that I never knew (she was born just after I moved away). We (as in me, my parents, the three sisters and their parents) had a pretty long conversation about whatever came, until the younger generation got bored and left to the other room to look at the chinchillas. I had a good time there even if there was less reminiscing and more talk of music than I thought there would be.

Now because it is my job, the campsite is like all provincial parks nice and forested with a paved road but no hookups, with one major difference, nice showers.

Trailer Update - Solar Panel / Inverter

Before we started out on our trip this year we had a 130 Watt solar panel and a pure sinewave inverter installed. The inverter was wired so we can use all of the outlets in the trailer. This was all installed by Pacific Van and Camper in Nanaimo.

We have been very happy with both the solar panel and the inverter. We are able to work as if were were hooked up to power and the batteries charge up during the day. The solar panel seemed to work when we were on the ferry from Skagway to Prince Rupert (from lights on the car deck) as the batteries had more of a charge when we went down to let the dogs out at the various ports.

We can charge the computers and iPads as we drive along by turning on the inverter and plugging in the computers.

We do not use the microwave or air conditioner unless we have shore power and the fridge and water heater are on gas but we are using everything else.

Pictures

After being on the road for 2 weeks we parked the trailer at Kathie's cousins place in Kitwanga for a couple of days. Her husband Barry offered to take me out into the swamps in his Argo (and 8 wheeled all terrain vehicle that floats) to take pictures of the animals in the swamp, bear, moose and beaver. It was a very wet day and we banged through the bush trails and had a great time but we didn't see any large animals. They were probably hiding from the rain.

We did see hawks and eagles.

And we stopped on a ridge above a swamp and the humming birds were flying all around us. Unfortunately as soon as I moved the camera to take a picture they flew away. I got lucky with the one below he did not see me move the camera.

In the picture below you can see the humming bird feeding but you can also see the rain falling.

The day after we drove around and took pictures of the more easily accessible areas. We did see some bear cubs that day.

Here is a picture of the church and bell tower in the Kitwanga Village.

I had a great time and look forward to going back into the swamp and getting that picture of a moose.

Lakelse Lake

Well, after spending the morning visiting with more relatives and catching up a bit, we have moved to Lakelse Lake (between Terrace and Kitimat).  We are staying in the provincial campsite with a huge site and lots of trees.

For those wondering about Abby (our 13 year old Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever) she seems to be doing better now than she was at the start of the trip.  She was whining as we were packing up today - and I never thought I'd be happy to hear her whine!  She is eating better and talking short walks.  Kody (our 6 year old Bernese Mountain Dog) is doing great.  He is going for long walks with us and has not been bothered by the limp he sometimes gets.  He wanted to go chase the squirrels at the site today.  It's a good thing he thinks he can't get through the screen door, or the door would be no more.

Sylvia's birthday yesterday

Busy day yesterday.  Even though it was Sylvia's birthday, I tied up her phone for a good section of the day.  Contacting as many of my students as I could and saying hello.

Paul and Barry went out on the Argo and got very wet and a couple of pictures.  They are out for more pictures today.  Sylvia is going to teach James how to make jam.  I'll sit back and watch - and try to stay out of the way.

Kathie

A day for visiting

It was a day to visit lots of friends in Smithers.  I spent a couple of minutes with my Uncle Joe at Bulkley Lodge.  Then we went to VanderGaag and Bakker and saw Willy, Ted and Val.  Over to visit Don McM. for a while and then Lisa and Stan.  Then finally to visit with all the S's (Shelley, Skeena, Saige and Silkien) and Ian.

Whew, it was a busy day.  Now we are back in Kitwanga and ready to go to sleep.

Kitwanga for a couple of days

For the next couple of days, we are in Kitwanga.  Spending the time visiting with family.

Sylvia said Carl was in trouble because I didn't post when I was visiting with him - but then, visiting with her I also didn't get around to posting.

Driving into Smithers today and hoping to touch base with some old friends.

We have achieved the speed of the Internet

Hey all you frequent readers of Ross gu-astar and random people who have just stumbled upon it. So we have come to my uncle Carl's place in great weather (so I like pouring rain, what of it) yesterday and after 5 minutes my mom says James your uncle Carl is rubbing off on you all ready, probably because we were cracking similar jokes at her expense, and uncle Carl states I look like my uncle Mandell. Other than that the best part of the day was when dad hooked up the wireless modem to uncle Carl's and aunty Darcy's Ethernet and I got Internet like that (I would snap but you can't here it in the text). Me and mom could actually work, on a proper Internet speed, and finish before wishing to gut whoever invented slow Internet. So we're tech heads with super fast Internet at home, I admit I am a nerd on a regular basis.

Prince Rupert & Weather

I have posted the picture below to show that it does not always rain in Prince Rupert. The weather this trip has been confused. We started out in southern BC in rain and we had rain on most days until we got to the Yukon. One night is Dease Lake we had an inch of rain.

When we got to Whitehorse, Yukon the weather broke and we had sunny warm days that lasted for a long time because the sun did not go down and the sun was quite warm even at 9 or 10 in the evening. We drove to Skagway, Alaska and it was so hot we turned the air conditioner on.

It was cloudy with sunny breaks (and some mist) on the ferry from Skagway to Prince Rupert. It was foggy in the Prince Rupert harbour but sunny for the 2 days we were around there and now we are in Terrace and it is raining again.

I see that BC Highway 20 is closed again because of the rains. We hope all of our friends in the Bella Coola valley are OK.