Heading Home...

There is nothing quite like being around people who love and appreciate you. It revitalizes the heart and the soul.

After being away from my friends and family for almost a year I was thrilled to spend some quality time with so many of them plus the addition of a few new friends along the way.  My next few posts will be based on my holiday adventures and my return to my roots.

Join me on this mini version of my trip home so you can appreciate the beauty and talent that comes from the place I will always call home.

1^st Stop Toronto; not really home for me, but it is where my “Darlin’ Daughter” now resides.

It was weird to arrive in Toronto at night. I had gotten used to the long hours of daylight in the North and completely forgot that it would be dark at a mere 9:30pm. I was so exhausted by the time I got there and very anxious to see me daughter, I forgot to take a picture that night. The one below is of the CN Tower the next night, it didn’t turn out too  bad considering I didn’t have a tripod with me.

My daughter Sonia, is a wildly talented and extremely energetic young lady.  She is currently an Apprentice Stage Manager on The Railway Children. Although this is her 1^st professional play to work on, she has been stage managing on many smaller plays over the past few years.

Being the charismatic, extremely funny, and all around great person that she is…of course she attracts like minded people.  This post is dedicated to Sonia, her cool friends (Steph, Zack, Justin, Rob, and all the others I have met over the years), and the cast and crew of The Railway Children, a wonderful production! 

The Railway Children is unfortunately coming to a close this week, but here are a few photos of the Tent where “Vicky” the train would roll into and the site location at the roundhouse railway museum across from the  CN Tower in Toronto.

Happy Birthday!

Yeah, Canada Day!

Canada day in Fort Smith isn't bad.  Sure there aren't miles of street performers or hoards of people dressed in red and white and sporting all sorts Canada themed clothing.  But for a tiny little town the parade wasn't bad.

The entertainment in the park was actually really good even if there were no big name acts.

And I certainly wouldn't get to enjoy a free meal back in Ottawa.  The fish fry was great!

Here's a nice shot of Charlie...looking so patriotic!

The one big thing I missed? Fireworks :(  It's not only dangerous when the risk of forest fires is high, it's also pointless when it doesn't get dark.

This photo is one from Cross Lake at New Years...just to make me feel better.

I hope you had a fun Canada Day too!

Oh Crap!

I'm a little behind in my posts so I'll try to catch up.

My weekend in Hay River was lovely.  Beautiful scenery, fabulous weather, and pleasant company.  The plan was to get up bright and early on Sunday and drive back so I could participate in the Photo Scavenger Hunt that my Photography club was putting on that afternoon.

This is where the title comes in. When we went to turn onto the road heading to Fort Smith we came up to this...

Apparently  there were two places along the road where there were fires burning on both sides of the road. Clearly I was not going to make it to my photo club event.

With nothing to do and time to kill, we hit the road again; this time heading up towards Yellowknife.  We drove for 1 1/2 hours, crossed the MacKenzie River on the fairy, got gas and headed back.  I must say this was a very boring stretch of road...straight highway and trees on either side.  The fairy ride was the most excitement.

Check out the cool old truck we saw.

I must confess that I was very disappointed that I was missing my photography club outing, but after having one of these I felt so much better.  I love the claims they make on the label...now if only I had the Island breeze and Reggae music to go along with it.

Once we got back to Hay River the road was open again so we could go a merry way. Of course there were Buffalo, with cute little babies this time.

Double crap! This one took me by surprise. Only about 100km from Fort Smith we spotted this...

Then a road block where we had to wait to be escorted through the smoke.  Really I thought they made a big deal out of nothing.  I've driven through thicker fog.

It was a little disconcerting to know that forest fires were burning so close to where I'm living, and not having a body of water between the two of us.  When it comes to being stranded by a forest fire, I much prefer being on the side where there are roads leading out.

A feast for the Eyes, the Belly, and the Soul

My visit to Hay River was by no means over; The drive into town provided many extraordinary views of the valley and the river below as it winds its way along.  It brings back so many wonderful memories of the Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon and destinations much further South.  Who new we had so many similar things in our own back yard.

Here are just a couple pictures of the valley to tempt you into visiting this fabulous part of the country.

You may remember my winter pictures of the Hay River Fisherman's warf and the vast emptiness of Great Slave Lake. Here is the little fish market as it's meant to be seen.

And the feast for the belly it provides...Soooooo good!

A short distance from the fish market you can find many secluded little spots to hit the beach along Great Slave Lake. Since it may be my last trip this way for the summer, I definitely wasn't going to miss the opportunity to swim in a lake north of the 60th Parallel.

 I can tell you that although this lake is the second largest in Canada it sure is shallow near the shore.  I thought I would have to go halfway to Yellowknife before it got any depth to it.  This probably wasn't a bad thing though as it made the water nice and warm.  In the picture below the water really was only about mid-thigh but I figured if I didn't get in soon, you'd never see me in the picture.

One other cool thing about the North...the long summer days.  This photo was taken at 1:00 am.

Fall Spectacular!

Not quite what it sounds like but boy the falls were spectacular.

Last weekend I made a trip to Hay River again to check out some of the nearby falls and the extraordinary canyon that winds through the whole area.  I am constantly blown away by the scenery of the Northwest Territories and I feel quite sure that I'm not alone in my misconceptions of the area. I was thoroughly convinced that it was flat, virtually treeless, and without anything that could remotely be considered beautiful...Boy was I wrong!

The first stop was Louise Falls where I was rewarded with a panoramic view of the valley far below.

After climbing down the spiral staircase, a dizzying adventure on its own, I hiked along the edge of the cliff where I was able to take a few great pictures.

Just a few kilometres down the highway was Alexandra falls, even bigger and more majestic than Louise Falls.  Hiking down the river trail was mind blowing.



I couldn't help but imagine someone canoeing along, having a bit of fun in these tiny little rapids only to discover (too late) that only a short distance away was this...

Wow! In the picture below I was standing just a few feet from the edge of this spectacular water falls.

After hiking along the short trails to view these two falls, I felt like a kid again and my old passion for hiking was firmly rekindled.

Summer in Hay River

I was so excited to have an actual day off today...it's been a long time coming and it was a perfect day for a little road trip, so off to Hay River I went with Charlie.

Check out the cute baby Buffalo we saw along the way.

This little guy had just run across the road with another little fella, then seemed to realize his mamma wasn't with him.  I snapped this picture as he was bolting back to the safety of his mamma's side.

And the river the town was named after...

It was a bit chilly so I was shocked to see children swimming in Great Slave Lake. The sand is beautiful here and  reminds me of the long stretches of beach at Sandbanks back in Ontario.

Lastly, we saw this beautiful bird and I'm trying to figure out what it is. Maybe one of my friends or their children (Freddie?) can figure it out and let me know.

Weather Forecasts

I get a kick out of the Weather forecasts for Fort Smith. Recently we've had ones that say the weather will be "Smokey"... I personally didn't think that was a weather pattern, but looking at this picture you can see that it must be.  This picture was taken after work on Monday night at about 10:00pm...look how high the sun still is, but it was obscured by the sun so much that it appeared as an orange ball.

Normally you can clearly see the opposite shore of the river, but on Monday it was barely visible through the smoke.  It smelled great and had me dreaming of campfires and wiener roasts. Don't worry my friends, there is a large body of water keeping the fire from reaching us here.  If that changes, rest assured I will be outta here!

My favorite forecast though is one like tonight's; overnight the forecast calls for sunny with cloudy periods. Yes that was overnight.  The picture below was taken at midnight.  It was considerably darker than usual because of the smoke in the air, but you can see that it wasn't dark at all.  Too cool!