Take Off, Eh!

I am writing this before the fact, so if it reads a bit weird you now know why. It’s currently 11:18pm MDT and my flight leaves from Edmonton’s International Airport at 07:00am MDT. Not only will I encounter one layover, I will also be losing two hours on the return to Atlanta. My flight is scheduled to touch down in Atlanta after 4:00pm EDT, just in time to put me into rush hour traffic.

A Tale Of Two Connected Trips
If I had to do it all over again, I wouldn’t change a thing.

I spent four days and change in Seattle and never left the city. I spent five days and change (Canadian) in Canada and only slept in the same city twice — on the first and last nights.

My great friend Tamara (shockingly we realized that we have now known each other for fifteen years) drove me all over Alberta showing me much of what it has to offer, allowing me to eat and drink all that I wanted to ingest, letting me join her family for a family reunion, and putting up with my self-centered birthday bullshit.

On Thursday we stayed in her town of Millet, drinking Molson Canadian with Clamato juice (it’s a disgusting combination to my mouth) while putting down chicken wings and the “world’s best” nachos (what do Canadians know about Mexican food? 🙂 )

On Friday we played all day in Edmonton; attending the Taste of Edmonton (with beer included, of course) and the topping the night off at one of those bars only a bar lover like myself could appreciate called The Commercial.

Saturday was Tamara’s family reunion. While not part of the family I was accepted into the all-day event, ate wonderful pot-luck food, and capped that night off at the bar in her home town of Breton.

Sunday! Sunday! Sunday! (which also happened to be my birthday) we drove to the town of Jasper. Along the way we stopped for a Tim Horton’s donut and coffee, I was treated to beautiful scenery and amazing wildlife including watching an unfortunate mountain goat getting hit by a van traveling in the opposite direction and being launched head-over-hoof. (We believed that it survived, although we didn’t stop to make sure.) My birthday dinner was Alberta steak (yum!) and then many beers at a bar called the D’ed Dog.

On Monday morning we pulled out of Jasper and headed to Banff. Along the way we stopped like tourists (because I was) and took pictures of the Canadian Rockies. In Banff we drank, caught our breath a bit, and then headed out for a night of drinking. Oh, and it was the night I ate poutine.

We brought it all home yesterday while making the return trip to Millet. We toured the Fairmont Banff Springs, stopped at the sulfur springs in Banff, and then drove the back roads back north and east. During the day I ate back bacon (as part of a buffalo burger), Lay’s Ketchup-flavored(!) potato chips, Korean food in the town of Millet, and a donair (an alias for “gyro”) pizza. I also found out that Mountain Dew in Canada, at least at the one location we stopped, was caffeine free. WTF?!

I was fortunate to encounter almost nothing but amazing weather while here. It rained some after we returned from the Banff bars, but for most of the time the skies were blue with white clouds, or at worst gray but dry. Alberta was having a heat wave, but fortunately for all parties the weather cooled slightly for my visit.

Hey, Is That A Television?
For obvious reasons I didn’t watch a whole lot of tv while vacationing. Last night I did sit and watch Big Brother (with a 4:00am wake up call there were no plans to party). I have been oblivious to the goings on in the BB house for over a week, with the exception of hearing that Joe was the one who got ousted last Friday.

Last night I thought that Dick let his emotions get in the way, and was rather disappointed that the Jenious was able to win the Power of Veto and get her neck off from the chopping block.

I had been recording all of my stories to be watched upon my return, but I think that I will just have to get rid of the BB episodes and go forward with it.

I still do not know what happened on Hell’s Kitchen, Pirate Master, or Top Chef, so if you’d do me a solid and not bring them up, I’d certainly appreciate it.

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Current Mood – wonderful regarding the feelings I have about the trip, bummed that it has all come to an end
Current Music – none
Website Of The Day – If I had serious money I’d definitely reward myself by staying at the Fairmont chain of hotels.
Exercise (b)Log – none
Mode Of Transportation To Work – none, I’m headed home

July Goals
0) Celebrate my 42nd birthday
1) Get my first Ruby / Ruby on Rails program written
2) Get my photoblog up and running

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]