Day 9: Calgary to Fort McMurray

Today's trip is one of the longer stretches, so I DID REMEMBER to take a picture of the odometer just after I left the hotel this morning.









Onto the Deerfoot and Highway 2 northbound... a drive I have probably done 100 times or more in every conceivable kind of season/weather/time of day/etc.









Nothing really worthy of a picture between Calgary and Edmonton, but I did think I should get a shot of one of the refineries in Fort Saskatchewan. The row of plants like these is where we send all that black gold from McMurray. Amongst other things, these nice people make it into the gas that is probably in your car right now.






Well alright, I lied... there was some photo worthy stuff between Calgary and Edmonton, but I didn't take a picture of one until I was past Fort Saskatchewan. Canola fields like these are all over the province and make for a very nice colourscape (if you like yellow, anyway).







Downtown Grassland, Alberta. This is about 250km from Fort McMurray and is THE place to stop if you're driving to the oilsands. Your best bet is Wally's Grill... good food, clean washrooms.








Apparently there are more than a few people who miss this turn and end up in Lac La Biche. I, on the otherhand, could probably make it blindfolded.









Once you get past Wandering River (200km from McMurray), any semblance of agriculture ends and the drive pretty much looks like this from here on in.









In the vicinity of Mariana Lakes (100km from McMurray). This was the site of a pretty nasty forest fire about 10 years ago. The fire blocked the highway for a few days, making the Fort McMurray accessible only by air.








Thanks! The trip was fun, but its nice to be back for a while (well, a week anyway)!










Downtown Fort McMurray, Alberta.

My hometown :)









The odometer reading upon the triumphant return to my driveway. That puts today's journey at 755 kilometers.

Remember, the reading when I left last Saturday was 10081km. So that means...





Total Distance Travelled: 4803 kilometers
Total Trip Duration: 8 days, 11 hours, 3 minutes.
Number of Ferry Trips: 3
Number of Border Crossings: 4
Nights in Hotels: 4
Nights with Family/Friends: 3
Nights in my new Apartment: 1
Number of songs sung along to on the radio: Too many to count.

Finally, THANK YOU for coming along! As i've said, I am amazed at how many people have followed this blog. I think i'll make a point of photo blogging my vacations and other stuff like that in future.

We now return you to your irregularily scheduled political commentary!

Day 8: Claresholm to Calgary

Today's trip was by far the shortest distance-wise at around 120km, but Calgary was a very busy stop for yours truly.


The view of one of the greatest cities in the world from Memorial Drive. Every time I visit, I remember just what a great place Calgary is.







When one is in Calgary during Stampede, and one is hungry... one finds the most happenin pancake breakfast in town. This morning, the obvious venue is the Jim Prentice Stampede Breakfast!

Before the breakfast ended, a reader by the name of Les Stelmach came over to say hello. Not only was it very humbling to have people who read the blog come up off the street to chat, but it was particularily nice to talk to Les. As you may have guessed, Les is the son of PC Leadership Candidate Ed Stelmach. I have a lot of respect for Ed, Marie, and their entire family. They are truly decent and outgoing people. After spending 10 minutes chatting with Les, it is clear that he has inherited his father's approachability and positive attitude. Thank for reading, and for stopping to say hi!



With the host, the Honourable Jim Prentice, Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development and MP for Calgary Centre-North. A great guy who has his act together, and will (I think) prove to be Canada's greatest Indian Affairs minister.








I spent the rest of the day driving around and meeting up with various friends in Calgary.

While on the Deerfoot, I spotted this loaded down Mazda with New Brunswick plates... obviously headed west to catch a piece of the Albertan Dream. This is a fairly common sight in Alberta these days.






Aside from this roadtrip and the move to BC, one of the highlights of my summer will be in 2 weeks when my good friend Kevin (in this photo) marries the charming girl to his left. They're both truly wonderful people and I can't wait to see them wed. I've known Kevin for 10 years now... I look forward to knowing Kev and Dee for many, many more.








I didn't bother with an odometer reading for this leg given that it was so short... chalk it up as roughly 150km driven today.

Day 7: Spokane to Claresholm

Before setting off from Spokane, I made a point of stopping in to visit some friends/customers at RAHCO International, whom we had the pleasure of working with on a major project last year. I got to see RAHCO's plant first hand... on the outside, it looks like a WW2-era magnesium plant (which is what it was)... inside, they manufacture some of the best mining and industrial equipment on the market.






Out of Washington and into the Idaho panhandle. This was my first time in the state... seems like a nice place.











At 6500 residents, Sandpoint, Idaho was the largest town between Spokane and Cranbrook, BC.












My fourth and final border crossing of this trip... heading back into BC at Kingsgate. Understandably, the nice customs officer here was just a little perplexed at my routing this week.










Cranbrook, BC... a very nice little town/city in the heart of the Kootenays. It was also the first time I stopped at a Tim Horton's on this trip. The Horton's stop is significant, because I had vowed to a couple of people at work that I would investigate their goofball claim that ordering a "Regular Coffee" will get you a coffee with 1 cream and 1 sugar. I thought this was some crazy Ontario notion, and set out to prove them wrong. Well...



















Its not the Rogers Pass, sure... but its still a tunnel through the mountain.










The obligatory photo of Fernie, BC. Its obligatory because I know Nicole is reading this.










Leaving BC and back in the homeland, Wild Rose Country.










The site of the Frank Slide in the Crowsnest Pass. All of the towns in the Pass are incredibly scenic and very historic, but none has a greater impact than viewing the Frank Slide. The site remains largely untouched from when part of the mountain collapsed onto the mining town of Frank.









There are hundreds of these windmills dotting the landscape across southwestern Alberta. Some consider them an eyesore, but I quite like them. I also think they're an efficient and responsible way to generate power. They're obviously effective, because Calgary's C-Train system runs entirely on power from these windmills.








The final swing to the north of the trip. From here on, the needle will be pointing up.












Heading north under a big, beautiful, blue Alberta sky.











True, Tom. Soooooo true.












Arrival into Claresholm, Alberta... roughly 120km south of Calgary.












Based on this and the odometer reading upon arrival in Spokane last night, I covered 604km today.











All of that driving is tough work. Time for a beer at Dusty's Roadhouse, proudly operated by my good friend Ryan!

Day 6: Victoria to Spokane continued

Alright, I have once again found wireless that I can steal/borrow so you are about to be bombarded with posts...



The mountains west of Seattle slowly gave way to a more gentle landscape, still stunning nonetheless.








The landscape continued to change heading down I-90. The leg of the trip that I travelled on this highway was definetly the nicest surprise, scenery wise.








This little gem is known as "The Gorge". It is a sprawling lake in a sea of coulees. When I crested the hill descending into the Gorge, I knew I had come across the scenery gem of this trip. Thankfully, there was a great lookout for people to stop and take it all in. The view from here was simply breathtaking...










... it was also VERY windy.








Normally a little mom and pop motel wouldn't be worth a picture, but I had a good laugh at this one. If you enlarge this picture, you'll see that its a shot of Martha's Inn. Why is this significant, you ask? Because its in the town of George. That's right... Martha's Inn... in George, Washington.








The water tower in Moses Lake, Washington. If you are ever in Moses Lake, DO NOT fill up at the Chevron... slowest gas pumps i've ever seen... 10 minutes just to get half a tank in the Honda.









Its not the top of the Space Needle, but the view of tonight's sunset from the highway was pretty good nonetheless.








And finally, the destination. Downtown Spokane, Washington... a city whose television i've been watching for 24 years, but am only seeing live for the first time now.










The odometer reading upon arrival in Spokane. Based on the departure reading this morning, the car and I travelled 650 kilometers today... plus the undetermined distance on the 2 hour ferry ride between Sidney and Anacortes.

Day 6: Victoria to Spokane

First off, this was Thursday odometer reading at departure from Victoria. It puts Wednesday's distance travelled at 161km plus the 35 or so nautical miles travelled on the two ferries.

My building is on Maitland Street. One block over is none other than Robert Street. They obviously knew I was coming.

Waiting in line for the ferry back to the U.S. was pretty entertaining since we were right under the approach path for runway 27 at Victoria International. Shown here is a Canadian Forces Aurora.

The M.V. Chelan was my ride to Anacortes and, at over 2 hours, the longest of the 3 ferry trips.

Anacortes seems to be home to a great number of oil refineries and/or storage tanks.

After a scenic jaunt across Washington Highway 20, it was back onto I-5 for the run down to I-90. Besides Highway 63, this is the only stretch of highway that I will see twice on this trip.

On I-90 now. You know, i'm not an expert in concrete, ashphalt, or any other kind of aggregate... but I do know that whatever they put on this stretch of I-90 sucks. Its rough, its loud... its like driving on cut-rate cobblestone. Thankfully, I only had about an hour of this garbage. Anyway, as you can see I had lots of forests and clouds on this stretch.

My wireless is about to run out so i'll have to finish this part later... there's some good pics coming up, too!

Day 5: Seattle to Victoria (continued)

I couldn't add to the old post, so i'll continue Day 5 in a new post...

One of the things that has floored me is how many of you are following my vacation on this blog. Many of you have emailed, some have posted comments on the blog. I even got a phone call from Bill Stewart in Edmonton on Wednesday. He was asking how it was that I was getting these pictures... I guess this answers your question, eh Bill?






One of the other things i've noticed on this trip is how many cars with California plates there are driving around the U.S. Mind you, I suppose with 44 million Californians out there, they're bound to get around.









Downtown Port Angeles, Washington. A cute little tourist town, and home to...











...the M.V. Coho, my ride to Victoria. This ship has been making the 1h25m crossing between Port Angeles and Victoria since 1959.








Nearing Victoria after crossing the Strait of Juan de Fuca. If you enlarge this picture, you can see my apartment building... its the one to the right of the big white building.









As we swung into the harbour, we were greeted by an outbound West Coast Air Twin Otter bound for Vancouver. From my balcony I can see and hear these things all day long.










Downtown Victoria, my new home... ain't she beautiful?









The view from my bedroom window. Its certainly a departure from boreal forest, that's for sure.

McVie also pointed out that the Esso oil storage facility you see on the right should be a bit of a taste of home for me.





Now the day's activities didn't end here. I had to go buy a futon so as to have something to sleep on that night... many thanks to Andrew McVie for figuring out how to put it together (and for getting us into Victoria's prestigious Union Club for dinner).

Sadly, pictures of the Union Club and futon assembly aren't available because the batteries on the camera died.

Oh well, next up: Back in the U.S.A....