Less Than a Year's Use After Seven!

When we came out of the Superstore with the cart of grocery bags today, I liked how the sun was hiding behind the clouds. I snapped a picture of my EV as its colour called, Lake Silver, matched the scene.

 

I love driving the Hyundai Kona Electric.  As we're gone for at least five months a year, the experience seems fresh when we return from winters away. Electric motors have instant torque. Yes, I can spin the tires at the stoplight if I press the 'sports mode' button.

We got it during the first spring of COVID and for that summer and the next, travel was discouraged.  As well, we never go to the US anymore, so I'm pretty sure it only went into Washington state once. 

The adaptive cruise control makes highway driving a joy.  It's not like we do much of it, though.  The majority of the kilometers were added going uptown and to the Coquitlam Superstore.  Last summer, for my birthday week, we took a road trip to Jasper, Alberta and down the beautiful Icefields Parkway to Lake Louise!  That was the farthest it has ever been from home.  

I was surprised when I realized the car is nowhere near being new.  One cannot argue with simple arithmetic:  2026 - 2019 = 7.    Although Kimchi is now seven years old, she has just a bit over 15,000 km on the odometer.  That is around 9320 miles.  So it is still a pretty new old vehicle.

Jasper, AB to Golden, BC

 

From breakfast in the Smitty's Family Restaurant in Jasper, to a sandwich in the parking lot at Lake Louise, and ending with dinner at an Indian restaurant in Golden, BC; it was a fine 66th birthday!  Well actually, ending with an butterscotch ice cream sundae at a McDonald's.

Cruising south on AB 93, the Icefield's Parkway, was a bucket-list activity.  It was around 232 KM between Jasper and Lake Louise.  The drive was very relaxing in the Kona EV w/ adaptive cruise control.  In fact, I have seldom had my foot on 'the gas pedal' at all during this trip so far.

However, once Jay and I got to Highway #1 in Alberta, we turned right and headed back over the pass into British Columbia.  We're in Golden near the Rockies, so it'll take another night in the Okanagan before we can get back home.  We left Sunday and should get back on Friday.

 

 

Oh, and at 66 years of age, I joined a 6 year old on the waterslide at the hotel. It was the first time for both of us!

 

Valemount, BC to Jasper, AB

Jay and I woke up to a nice morning in Valemount, BC.  We only got 120 km north and east and decided we should stay in this city too.  We're in Jasper.  We arrived at around 11:00 am this morning and charged the car up to 90%.  We'll need the battery reserve to explore the Icefields Parkway, or AB 93.

While charging, we walked around the tourist city.  We asked at a hotel and decided to spend the rest of today here and head off down the parkway tomorrow morning.  I get to drive our EV southward along the top of the Canadian Rockies on my birthday!  Yay.

We checked into the hotel at around 11:30 am.  That was our time though, we forgot that it is an hour later on this side of the BC / Alberta border!  It felt like we had the whole day to walk around, especially since the sun just set behind the mountain and nearly 9 o'clock.

Quite a few of the tourists seem to be connected to the 'Rocky Mountaineer' train that runs from Vancouver.  Some arrive and others depart.  Of course there were hundreds of campers and RVs in town too.  We passed through here once but never really spent time.  It's fun.

This town was extraordinarily impacted by forest fires.  Exactly, a year ago, nearly one third of this place burnt to the ground.  That section is under re-construction.  However, it hasn't impacted the fun and inviting atmosphere.  I'm sure it'll be rebuilt better than ever.  

Better Late Than Never?

OMG. After more than 11 years of daily blogging, I nearly forgot to add anything to my eJournal and images today. Perhaps I'm taking this 'retirement thing' a little too seriously!


Due to a total lack of time and inclination, I'll keep it simple. This picture was taken exactly 11 years ago next month. That means the day was December 16, 2003. It shows the base of the Calgary Tower. That's not the usual view one sees of that structure. I didn't use this picture to represent that day in Alberta at the time.

Leave the Driving to Them

With Christmas as it is, coming on a weekend this year, we could easily get away for a break. We've not planned any trip yet though. It's possible to wait until the very last moment and see if any flight deals occur.


We visited Calgary once in December. That was in 2003.

I was half thinking that it'd be interesting to take a trip over the Rocky Mountains to Calgary, Alberta. As I mentioned on Facebook, Jay doesn't think that's really a smart choice. Of course it would be cold there. In 2003, we were once there during the winter too. Yet, walking around in freezing weather is almost fun at least for a little while. After all, we wouldn't be there too long and we'd know that we would soon be returning to relatively balmy Vancouver.

On this type of short break it is relatively easy to take Greyhound. The trip takes a bus 12 to 14 hours to make, but one can take an overnighter that arrives in downtown Calgary at about 10:00 in the morning. Sleeping while travelling is like gaining extra vacation hours. And not driving would make the whole deal more of an adventure. Once in the city, we could pretty much get around my staying inside the 16 kilometers of walkways between the downtown buildings.

Many people try to get away to places where coconut trees grow but I will welcome any sort of change of pace.

The Neighbouring Province

Last night, we were considering how to spend the month we've scheduled for vacation this year. The big plane tickets have been purchased and we're leaving from Seattle on September 6th. Yet, in Europe nowadays, flying on the little discount airlines is cheaper than trying to take trains. Alas, travelling by rail seems such a more civilized way to get around. We are realizing, for time's sake, if we want to explore both Barcelona and Lisbon, we'll probably need to book those flights quite early. I guess, we can manage Morocco and the far south of Spain using surface transportation.

All this talk, made me realize we have rather neglected local travel. The problem with driving in Canada is there are such vast distances between places. Unless one has a long break, it is simply not possible to get there and back in time. For example, we last visited Calgary in December of 2003. That's about as close as a big city as can be, but it takes two days of driving to reach it.

Irony: Burning Them to Visit Their Fossils

My original goal for the truck was to have it last ten years. I figured that $US 1,000 per year was a reasonable cost for transportation eqipment. Well, 2006 has come and gone and I'm still lumbering around in my Ford Ranger. I have enough cash on hand to go and buy any new, replacement vehicle that I want. Yet, I cannot justify the expense as, at the moment, my truck has a measly 79,000 miles on it. Although it would be nice to have that fleeting new car smell, it simply doesn't seem necessary at this time.

The truck used to travel. In 2001, Jay and I took a seven-week, camping road trip. We left Vancouver and didn't turn around until after hitting Cape Spear, Newfoundland. In the past few years, we've not taken any substantial road trips. I like the feeling when pushing out in the morning with at least 400 miles of tar to cover. Maybe we can take several weeks this summer just to slide up the Canadian Rockies and visit Northern British Columbia. We could easily travel 3,000 miles and hardly leave our own province.

On the 2001 cross-Canadia trip, I'm standing helpless 'neath a menacing dinosaur in Drumheller, Alberta. It's in the Canadian badlands and is considered the dinosaur capital of the world.

Already 6.3% of My Life

I just searched for a photo to add as a reminder of a December in past years. This shot was taken three years ago when we went over to Calgary for a short break. This image marks the transition in my blog. At the time it was taken my eJournal and images was maturing into the beginning of my documented existence.



Since 2003, no major event has gone on in my life without being archived. The combination of digital pics and text is more powerful than an old-fashioned, personal diary. What's most amazing is I do have the resolve to continue this daily blogging routine to the end. Let's hope that's quite far in coming ...

The Same e-Card Again

It's nice to have been blogging long enough to have created certain traditions. This is the third year that I've linked to this homemade e-card on my site. The photo is of the Rocky Mountains and was taken when we once returned from Calgary by Greyhound.


Click this banner to view the photo, see falling snow, and hear a midi tune.

Movies in the Mailbox

We love getting DVDs by post. Selecting from the Internet is an excellent way to choose from the multitude of titles that are now available on disc.

Unfortunately, our favourite company has been purchased by zip.ca. We have some experience with that company and I even blogged about it in 2004. We dropped their service because of slow delivery. Honestly, it wasn't their fault; it was just that they're located in Ontario. Given the speed of Canada Post and its mere five-day work week, we didn't seem to be getting enough value for our money.

Since then there have been some changes and www.zip.ca seems hell bent on becoming the only option for online DVD rental in Canada. We'll give them another try in anticipation that their Calgary distribution will lead to faster service for Western customers. The only comment to them so far would be to completely delete old customer information. Why keep old email addresses and credit card information? Not doing this certainly made trying to sign up fresh .. a bit of a struggle.

Show us what you've got. We have the DVD player all warmed up.

my eJournal eCard

I do not maintain a Christmas card list. It seems plain silly to have to visit a postal outlet in this day and age. Furthermore, in an apparent attempt to ensure that people give up on them completely, Canada Post is raising rates effective January 17.

Everything else seems to have an e-version, so why not Christmas cards? I will admit it's a bit difficult to hang this as part of the festive, yuletide decor.

Please click the small screen shot to load a new web page. This will act as this year's Christmas card. I took the background photo when we caught a bus to visit Calgary, AB last December. The snow on the Rocky Mountains is real, yet the falling flakes were added electronically. If you open the page, and are not running the Firefox browser, you'll discover what I mean.

P.S. Apologies are offered to those who generally receive our Christmas CD. I did cobble together some at the last minute but never sent them off.

Let It Snow

Okay, I seem to be getting completely into this Season's Greetings fixation.

View a Rocky Mountain Vista

So, click the link to view a photograph taken last week. It was from a Greyhound bus window somewhere near the Alberta / British Columbia border. It is best viewed at 1024 X 768. (The falling snow has been painstakingly added for dramatic effect!)

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Walkingwaydowntown

We're now back from Calgary. I was trying to think of what today's entry could summarize or what event would be best remembered. There was one thing ...

It was near freezing so one wouldn't expect to see crowded streets. Yet, they sometimes looked quite bare! Where were all the people? Surely, the downtown workers didn't stay home because of the temperature. After a bit of traipsing around we discovered the 'Walk +15' signs. (See a pdf map.) Unlike Montrealers who can spend the winter in an underground shopping and subway system, Calgarians can spend a good deal of their time walking through and between buildings on an over-the-road, pedestrian walkway system.

During the trip, Jay asked if I remembered a Canadian movie that we'd seen a few years ago. He said it was shot in those Calgary walkways. He has such a good memory! I found the plot summary in the Internet Movie Database.

Waydowntown (2000)

Transit Passes

In order to squeeze out every penny from the day pass, we rode the rails today. We managed to visit an LRT station that's only been open for two days.

The weather guy on the news is talking about how warm it is, but I'm freezing! I never wear gloves in Vancouver so I promptly lost a pair I'd brought along. There seems to be quite a difference between Calgary's dry 3 degrees and those wet 12 degree days found in Vancouver!


Today, we went up the Calgary Tower. The view was worth the admission
of ten bucks. Here's a shot looking west towards the Rocky Mountains.

Downtown Calgary

Today the temperature got up to about 5 degrees Celsius. There's ice on some sidewalks which seems unusual for us. We're right on the edge of the downtown core in the Sandman Hotel. Although housing sprawls across the suburbs, the downtown is quite compact. I think there's just shy of a million people here. The LRT Trains are free down the street we're on but I've still walked my poor feet off. Maybe tomorrow we can buy a transit day pass.

As High as a Kite

The 22nd floor of the Sandman is fine!

I've discovered how to get a hotel deal: First, you research the very the best deal you can on Expedia. Then you dial up the chain directly and say that you're about to hit the enter key. They won't want to pay the rather expensive fee to the web agency, so they'll undoubtedly offer you a better deal. Even if they are at a loss at doing more than a few dollars cheaper, you can still demand a better room!

Greyhound Canada was efficient and comfortable; however, travelling through the night isn't as easy as it sounds. The stations are all nice. (This is unlike the ugly, dirty ones we visited when we once rode to Reno.) By taking the bus, we were able to travel directly here. If we'd have driven we would have had to allow an overnight in each direction cutting down on the time in Calgary.

Week's Entries Due Later

An occasional blog update may occur while we're in Calgary because I might duck into an Internet cafe or my hotel's business centre. I'll bring my digital camera, but will probably not find an access point to get the pics off the Smartmedia card.

So, please return next weekend to the see entries from December 14th to 19th. I shall post trip photos and additional comment upon our return.

In the meantime, perhaps you can find something interesting to read at blogger.com.