Not Yet Settled...Free to Go

Cat's Got My Tongue

I hate that!

But I will say that the pictures from Thanksgiving are posted:

http://s68.photobucket.com/albums/i6/jeff_zekveld/Calgary%20-%20Thanksgiving%202006/

JZ

posted by JZ @ 3:37 PM Comments: 0

Thanksgiving Trip

This past weekend was Thanksgiving, but I didn't stay here at home in Wichita and gorge myself on turkey and pie. Instead I hopped the short flight up to Calgary and visited my friend Deb, who I hadn't seen since the summer after my third year in university. We have kept in touch through e-mail since then, and especially in the past year or so. Can I just say, what a great trade! Trading away turkey, gravy, and pie (and a future heart attack) for 3 stellar days in a beautiful city with an amazing friend!

Deb couldn't have been more accomodating either. Of course, Canada didn't have Thanksgiving last week, so she graciously offered to take Friday off from work and instead spend it showing me around.

Here is a (brief) recap of what happened over the weekend. There will be pictures posted soon.

Thursday: I flew into Calgary where I landed at around noon. From there I drove down to Medicine Hat, where Deb lives and works, and waited for her at Timmy Ho's. When she got off from work she came there and we met. It was almost as if we hadn't been apart at all. I immediately felt comfortable around her. From there we went to her apartment, I cooked her dinner, we sat around a talked for several hours, and late in the night she showed me some of the places in Medicine Hat.

Friday: We headed back to Calgary, taking the scenic route. First we drove by the Canadian Forces base where she works as a civil engineer. Then we continued to drive down this rough old snow covered road (take that, rental car!) that went behind the base and saw the plains of Alberta. From there we drove up to Drumheller and saw some of the badlands and the dinosaur museum. We didn't want to actually pay the admission price and then be bored by the museum, so Deb just took my picture in the lobby and then we continued on. We stopped at 3 or 4 places in the badlands area and took some pictures and then kept going to Calgary. In Calgary we stopped for dinner at a Malaysian restaurant (delicious!). Then we went to her parents house where I stayed the rest of the weekend. Her parents were wonderful people, warmly welcoming me into their home, even though they had never met me. I also met her sister who was a funny and active 17 year old highschool student, and her dog who is a big teddy bear and who seems to love me!

Saturday: We drove up to Banff natioanl park and went first to Lake Louise. This was my first time in the Alberta Rockies. With the fresh fallen snow and crisp temperatures, it was a beautiful day. I couldn't get over the spectacular and tranquil sight that those mountains were. From there we drove down into Banff and then took a gondola to the top of a mountain and got another spectacular sight. We had planned to go to the hot springs if we had time, but the mountains were so gorgeous that they enveloped our entire day. From Banff we went back to Calgary where Deb's parents wanted to take us all out to dinner.

Sunday: On Sunday I went to Deb's church with her family and then straight from there I had to head to the airport and Deb had to go straight to the bus.

The three days went by WAY too fast. It felt like I could have spent a month there. There were so many great things to see and do, and I only scratched the surface. There is much more that I could say...but that's not for a blog. Sorry! Keep checking for pictures.

JZ

posted by JZ @ 10:29 PM Comments: 0

Taking Pictures While Driving

Tonight as I was driving to and from my small group, I thought that I would set up my tripod on my passenger seat and click off a couple of time lapse pictures. They look sort of interesting. If I had a car with a smoother ride then they would be better, but I don't have my Porsche yet.

Here's the link: http://s68.photobucket.com/albums/i6/jeff_zekveld/Driving%20Time%20Lapse/

JZ

posted by JZ @ 10:36 PM Comments: 2

Ugh!

Insomnia stinks. Especially when you are sick and you just want to go to sleep early.
.
.
.
Oh well. Less than 3 weeks until my Calgary vacation, and do I ever need it. Tons of OT on top of my already busy schedule is exhausting. Maybe I will go for the Porsche at the end of all of this. That would make it worthwhile.

JZ

posted by JZ @ 11:52 PM Comments: 0