Paul Cipywnyk's Blog

Dawn, Dusk on BC Ferries

The 7:00 am BC Ferries run from Tsawwassen to Swartz Bay, and the return 5:00 pm run produced some moody sunrise and sunset photos today.

The dawn run:

And coming home at dusk:

iPod Navigator

For a couple of months now I've been trying to catch this gizmo on sale at Canadian Tire. It plugs into the cigarette lighter on a vehicle to power an iPod, and it also transmits music from an iPod using a selectable FM band. (Our faithful and stalwart '98 Subaru Outback has no aux input for its stereo. . .) Such devices are often in the $40-70 range, but this no-name brand has been available at Canadian Tire for under $20 off and on, but has always been sold out when I get to a store.

Well, I finally found one during Boxing Week sales at a CT for $14.95. It's pretty flimsy, and it sticks out so far that I cannot put the vehicle in park without removing it, but hey, it works! When I finally saw one, I turned it over and over, wondering at its cheap appearance, and a fellow came along and said, "Hey, works great, I've got three of them!"

I just realized that I badly dated myself - does anyone call them cigarette lighters anymore? I believe the politically correct term now is auxiliary power outlets.

Christmas Jaunt up the Sea to Sky, Squamish, Brackendale

A Christmas daytrip up the Sea-to-Sky highway to Squamish and Brackendale resulted in some nice shots, though there were few eagles to be seen.

Stonework pattern on washroom at Shannon Falls

Spawning salmon, green water, stones make for an impressionistic shot
near the Tenderfoot Hatchery

Great Blue Heron watches salmon near the Tenderfoot Hatchery

An American Dipper keeps a sharp eye out for wayward salmon eggs

Lots of people at the Eagle Run at Brackendale, but few eagles

Squamish River with mountain background

Heading back home we stop at Porteau Cove - Yumi against the sunset

Moon at bottom with Porteau Cove pier structure

Rocks and ripples at the ocean's edge

Chains anchor the sunset

Bench and rails frame the setting sun

Trees, sunset along the Sea-to-Sky highway

The sun dips in to the sea beyond the mountains

Silverdale Creek Wetlands

On the way home from Harrison Lake we took the slower route 7, and at one point before Mission saw trails and what looked like a spawning channel to the north of the road. We found an access road, and discovered the Silverdale Creek Wetlands. We'd heard about the project, so we set out to explore. There were "Mother Bear with Cub" warning signs all over, so we kept our eyes peeled, proceeded slowly, and made plenty of noise!

It was a beautiful area, with ponds, marshes, and a spawning channel. We found only one dead spawner in the wetland area, but saw several more dead, and one live one swimming upstream, from the bridge over the creek near the entrance.

Look closely - there, in the middle foreground, it's
a huge concrete salmon. Steamkeepers around the
lower mainland have been sharing the mold for
these beauties

Despite it being November, there were still lots of dragonflies about

Lots of bird boxes of various sizes adorn many erected perch "trees"

The only spawner we saw in the habitat

The same spawner can be seen in the foreground

And a close-up of a second concrete salmon in the habitat

Harrison Lake Colors, Aerobatics Flight

On the pretext of looking for spawning salmon in Fraser Valley creeks and rivers, Yumi and I took a day trip all the way up the valley to Harrison Lake. While we didn't see many fish, it was a gorgeous day. As we were strolling around the beach at the lake, a formation of aerobatics planes zoomed overhead.

Kayakers head out on Harrison Lake

The dock near the hot-spring hotel

Along the trail to the original hot springs pool

Heading back toward the beach area

A sudden roar, and this formation unexpectedly flew overhead

A slightly tighter shot as I banged away while zooming in

Breaking into the blue

Heading back from a loop over the lake

Duffey Lake Road Trip

A day trip up the coast from Vancouver past Squamish and Whistler and then along the Duffey Lake Road to Lillooet and Lytton had us up at 5:00 on Sunday morning. It turned out to be a great day, sunny, and not too hot. We stopped at several places along the way for short walks/hikes including Brandywine Falls, Nairn Falls, Duffey Lake, Seton Lake and Lytton.

Brandywine Creek

Brandywine Falls

View south to Daisy Lake from Brandywine

Yumi on the trail to Nairn Falls

Nairn Falls

Nairn Falls

Nairn Falls

Young black bear on Duffey Lake Road

Duffey Lake

Duffey Lake

Yumi at Duffey Lake

Seton Lake

Seton Lake

Seton Lake

Road toward Lillooet

Seton spawning channel

We came across a nonchalant herd of mountain goats between Lillooet and Lytton

The silty Fraser River

The clear Thompson River flows into the silty Fraser at Lytton

A crow harasses an osprey above the river lookout at Lytton

Sea, Sky, Clouds at Porteau Cove

Porteau Cove is one of my favourite spots to stop on the Sea To Sky highway from Vanvouver to Squamish and Whistler. With the sea, the mountains and the sky, there are always photo opportunities.

Brandon, Riding Mountain Park, Dauphin, Swan River

Update when I get home.

NOTE: I am taking hundreds of photos, but as mentioned earlier, am traveling with an old Japanese Windows ME laptop that cannot load contemporary Nikon or Canon software (am carrying several cameras :-)

Dauphin, Manitoba -- nice town with some gorgeous buildings.

Highway 10 heading north from Dauphin in Manitoba lined with Ukrainian Orthodox and Catholic churches, many nearly in ruins, along with cemeteries.

Ukraina, Manitoba -- a dead village several kilometers east of Highway 10 named after the home country of many early settlers, with a neglected, rotting church, open to the elements. I felt sadness, shame, and resignation... But there is nobody left, so who is to blame?

I got that feeling a lot along the 10 north in Manitoba.... Tough country that it appears a lot of people gave up on....

Ethelbert, Manitoba -- dueling Ukrainian Orthodox and Ukrainian Catholic churches at opposite ends of town :-).

Transition from prairies to forest comes much faster than equivalent central Saskatchewan latitudes.

Brandon, Riding Mountain National Park, Shilo

I will update this later when I get home from the road trip.

Beautiful Clearwater Lake. Many golf courses. Shilo Canadian Forces Base -- sobering sight of hundreds of yellow ribbons on fence posts for miles and miles around the base.... Assiniboine College -- site of former "insane asylum" -- not my words but those on a historical photo, is another beautiful site with impressive old buildings and beautiful grounds.

Regina to Brandon

I will update this later.

Swift Current, Red-Coat Trail, Moose Jaw, Regina

This is a placeholder to remind me to update this later.

Windy southern Saskatchewan -- can barely stand up!

Was taken aback at how hilly and "bad-landish" it is south of Moose Jaw on the No. 2...

Royal Canadian Mounted Police Heritage Centre in Regina. Beautiful new museum that reviews the force's amazing history and proud heritage while glossing over or omitting the less complimentary bits.... Don't get me wrong, I have huge respect for the history of the NWMP and its successor the RCMP. I have worked with RCMP members to improve communities. I just figure it wouldn't hurt to be honest and own up to a mistake or three? The best PR is when you admit all... and do better...

Anyway, one item that irked me aside from the rah-rah intro movie was several references to the "disappearing bison" that resulted in a massive socio-economic-environmental disaster on the prairies, that completely disrupted the lives of First Nations tribes. It was never explained how or why the bison "disappeared" in a decade or two after being sustainably harvested by First Nations for thousands of years. Was it magic?

Right... There was no mention of the slaughter for hides by Caucasian killers -- I do not deign to call them hunters -- that arrived in the mid-to-late 19th century that took bison to the brink of extinction, along with the First Nations that relied so much upon them.

No self-respecting historian would let such a reference go unexplained. This ain't no political polemic, it's the facts...

Medicine Hat, Cypress Hills, Red-Coat Trail, Swift Current

This is a placeholder to remind me to update this when I have more time.

Lethbridge, Head Smashed In, Medicine Hat

For some reason I woke up at 5:00 this morning and could not fall asleep again. I got up, did some excercises, shaved, showered, and it still wasn't time for the free continental breakfast at the hotel. I read the paper, and finally 7:00 arrived and I had my breakfast.

But it was still dark! I snoozed until 8:00, and then checked out and headed off into a gray dawn. I decided to drive back west on the No. 3 to Fort McLeod and from there to Head Smashed In Buffalo Jump -- a World Heritage Site. According to my guide book, it was supposed to open at 9:00, but when I arrived, the sign said 10:00. That was OK, because it gave me an hour to explore the trail through the killing grounds below the cliff. There were several signs warning of bear and cougar activity, so as I walked my head kept swivelling like a WWII fighter pilot, and I made sure to make plenty of noise as I trundled along.

For those unfamiliar with the concept, a buffalo jump was a way natives used to kill many of the huge bison by driving them off a cliff. Then they would smoke and dry the meat, render the fat, and use the bones and hides for various purposes to get them through the winter. Nothing was wasted.

Over several thousand years, the jump at Head Smashed In was reduced from over 20 meters to around 10 as bones and fallen rock and washed off dirt filled the area below the cliffs. It's still an impressive site, with magnificent views over the rolling prairie and the Oldman River marked by a line of trees off in the distance.

The interpretive center was a strking modern building set into the cliff, with excellent displays about the site and the Blackfeet who controlled the area. While the autumn colours were modestly spectacular, I'd like to see the site in the summer, too.

Then it was back to Lethbridge for lunch, followed by a couple of hours near the Oldman River, where I walked some trails, viewed the magnificent rail trestle bridge (the longest in Canada, or the longest in the world, depending on which sign or source you read), and checked out the reconstruction of Fort Whoop-Up.

As I was taking photos of the fall foliage I spotted a midsized beast curled up in a tree about 12-15 meters off the ground. I couldn't quite make out what it was, and a passing jogger said it was a porcupine. Huh? When the nature centre opened I went in and asked the staff, and sure enough, porcupines often sleep way up in trees during the daytime! That was new to me....

Two more hours on the road brought me to Medicine Hat, which I found to be a very confusing city to get around in. Dunno why, nothing seemed to go as I expected it to...

I am really on the prairie now -- it was flat flat flat for much of the leg from Lethbridge to Medicine Hat. But the wide open spaces are beautiful in their own way.

Calgary to Waterton to Lethbridge

I left my cousin's place on an acreage west of Calgary this morning and zipped into the city to drop off a package for a friend. Mission accomplished, I backtracked west on the No. 1 -- and ran into a near whiteout of a snowstorm! Groan. Just what I needed after two days of rain.

I persevered, heading south down the 22, and within half an hour the skies cleared, the sun came out, and I enjoyed a wonderful drive through the beautiful, rolling, ranch country with the mountains to the west. As I cruised south, view upon view pulled me to the side of the road to shoot photos. The silvers, yellows, browns and golds of the autumn landscape were amazing, with the blue, purple and gray backdrop of the distant mountains, and the white clouds scudding across the vast, azure, western sky!

When I hit the No. 3, I backtracked west to visit the Frank Slide, then it was east again on the No. 3 and then south on the No. 6 to Waterton National Park.

I arrived in Waterton to find the village literally boarded up for the season and just a few hardy tourists wandering around. The townsite was full of deer. The countryside was gorgeous and I took a pile of photos. I had not visited Waterton in over 30 years, and the short sojurn today sparked weak memories, at best. But I vowed to bring my wife Yumi to Waterton in the spring, or next autumn, to make fresh memories together.

I left Waterton reluctantly, as fragile fragments of camping in the park as a kid with my family began to form and tease over the intervening decades... Were we driving the Rambler? Did we have that huge, heavy, yellow and brown canvas tent?

It was time to head onward into the future again...

I took the No. 5 north and east to Lethbridge. I ran into another line of windmills, about 20 or so, not as many as the dozens along the No. 3... I wonder how much of Alberta's electricity comes from the wind?

Today made up for the last two days of non-stop rain. I loved cruising along the nearly deserted roads at 10 - 20kph below the limit and pulling over whenever I felt like it to drink in the views and frame a few shots.

Sorry, the photos will have to wait until I get home in about ten days -- I don't have the gear and software to get them onto this ancient notebook computer that I'm using....

Rain Burnaby to Canmore

Well, despite Environment Canada forecasts, it rained all the way from Burnaby BC to Canmore AB over the last two days. I stopped in Banff for a quick walkabout in the drizzle today, drove the Bow Valley Parkway -- I always like to pay my respects at the monument to Ukrainian-Canadian internees near Castle Mountain. While none of my relatives (ancestors) were interned, I still feel a bond. And on my wife' side as well, for she is Japanese... Two great travesties in Canadian history and democracy... It finally cleared up around Canmore... and I arrived at my cousin's place in Calgary for an excellent meal and a great bed.

On the Road

I left Burnaby on a two-week road trip this morning, so I won't be updating this blog all that often. I've got my photo gear along and plan to amble along from BC to Manitoba before visiting relatives in Saskatchewan.

One snag is that a new notebook computer that I ordered from Dell did not arrive in time for the trip. My main laptop is being used by my wife for a class she's taking -- it's the only machine we have that has MS Access 2003, which is required for the class. I have her seven-year-old Japanese IBM laptop with me, but it's constrained by the obsolete Windows ME operating system so I couldn't even load some of my software on it before I left. It's pretty slow, too, with its Celeron processor and 192MB of RAM...

Not to mention working with the Japanese menus! By guess, and by golly, and by ancient memories of scripts and characters learned many years ago... Dang it, I really need to keep up my Japanese...

So I will be limited to taking a few notes and surfing the web, but not posting photos to this blog. I hope to catch up in November with several dozen photos winnowed from the hundreds I plan to take over the next two weeks.

Road Trip Prep

I've been gearing up for a two-week road trip across BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. I'll be visiting friends and relatives, and taking tons of photos.

I figured I'd be seeing snow, and sure enough there already was a dump of several centimeters in southern Saskatchewan, so I'm glad that in the last few days I got a new set of Arctic Claw winter tires from Big O Tires, and got a major service on our '98 Outback from Don Docksteader Subaru. My automotive philosophy is never stint on maintenance, and use reputable service providers. We've put 165,000km on our Outback, or over 100,000 miles, with nary a problem.

Whistler, Lillooet, Lytton Loop

Itchy feet and an itchy trigger finger put me on the road today to get out into the mountains and shoot some photos. I went north up the 99 to Squamish, Whistler and Pemberton, carried on past Duffey Lake and over to Lillooet. Then it was back south to Lytton, Hope, and home to Burnaby. It never ceases to amaze me how varied the landscape is in BC, and how quickly you can transition from one ecological zone to another. The weather also changes by the hour as you travel, and today I encountered everything from hot sun to torrential rain.

On the 99 north.

Near the Joffre Lakes parking lot.

Near the Joffre Lakes parking lot.

Cayoosh Creek.

Duffey Lake.

Setton Lake, just west of Lillooet.

I've stopped at this spot perhaps four or five times over the last ten years, and I have never seen this lake calm. Powerful winds funnel down between the mountains, raising whitecaps and making boats tied to the dock buck like broncos mad at being tethered.

Heading south on highway 12.

North of Lytton.

Nagasaki Sara Udon and Champon

After the morning spent retracing the horrors of atomic weapons, we headed back to the Dejima area, and had lunch by the waterfront at Dejima Wharf. Two of Nagasaki's famous dishes are Nagasaki Sara Udon, or crisp noodles covered with a seafood and vegetable sauce, and Nagasaki champon, a succulent noodle soup.

Nagasaki Sara Udon

Yumi tackling a bowl of champon.

Throughout our stay in Nagasaki we saw many of these impressive raptors soaring overhead.

Nagasaki Nuclear Bomb Memorial

Our first morning in Nagasaki we headed out to pay our respects at the atomic bomb memorial and peace park. With the sun shining brightly on the beautiful harbor city surrounded by mountains, it was hard to believe that 60 years ago much of it had been instantly rendered a radioactive wasteland with tens of thousands of dead and dying.

The peace museum was powerfully moving, with haunting images and artifacts. It also does not overlook Japan's imperial expansion and aggression.

Preserved ruins of the Urakami Cathedral. The cathedral, then the largest in East Asia, stood near the epicenter of the blast. It is ironic that Nagasaki was likely the most "Western" city in Japan at the time, and had the highest proportion of Christians in Japan.

I had never quite understood the symbolism of the Nagasaki peace monument until I read the plaque with the following words:

Words of the Sculptor

After experiencing that nightmarish war,
that blood-curdling carnage,
that unendurable horor,
Who could walk away without praying for peace?
This statue was created as a signpost in the
cause of global harmony.
Standing ten meters tall,
it conveys the profundity of knowledge and
the beauty of health and virility.
The right hand points to the atomic bomb,
the left hand points to peace,
and the face prays deeply for the victims of war.
Transcending the barriers of race
and evoking the qualities of both Buddha and God,
it is a symbol of the greatest determination
ever known in the history of Nagasaki
and of the highest hope of all mankind.

Seibo Kitamura
Spring 1955

Nyokodo. It's tiny, yet so moving...

From the plaque:

Nyokodo (As Thyself Hermitage) is the sickroom and study used by Dr. Takashi Nagai, honorary citizen of Nagasaki City. Born in Shimane Prefecture, Dr. Nagai graduated from Nagasaki Medical College and majored in radiology. He was exposed to excessive doses of radiation while treating large numbers of tuberculosis patients with poor equipment. As a result he developed chronic myeloid leukemia and was given three years to live. Two months later he was injured in the atomic bombing and lost his wife, but he continued his selfless efforts for the rescue of the atomic bomb victims, finally falling bedridden. However, spurred on by his sense of scientific mission and also his Catholic faith, Dr. Nagai wrote more than ten books from his sickbed here. He named the building after the Christian maxim "Love others as you love thyself" and live here with his two children, appealing to the world about the foolishness of war and the importance of peace until his death on May 1, 1951 at the age of 43. Nyokodo continues to this day to serve as a symbol of Dr. Nagai's spirit of peace and brotherly love.

Kurashiki Charms With Canals, Crafts

We left Himeji around noon and took a side trip to Kurashiki on our way to Nagasaki. Kurashiki has preserved an area of town with charming canals, old warehouses, and lots of arts and crafts.

The curry shop where we had lunch.

Himeji Castle

OK, here we go with about a dozen views of Himeji Castle.

137 Views of Himeji Castle?!

Yes, I took 137 pictures of Himeji Castle, and I'm having a tough time winnowing them down to, say, a dozen to post here. If we'd had more time, the shutter would likely have dropped a few more hundred times....

The castle is one of few in Japan to survive in original condition following the destruction at the end of the shogunate in the Meiji Restoration in the 19th century, and the bombings of WWII. While there are quite a few reconstructed castles around Japan, none compare to the sheer immensity and beauty of Himeji.

When I first experienced the castle 22 years ago, I was packing a Nikon F2 and Fujichrome slide film, so as I recall, I limited myself to a 36-exposure roll or two. This time I was packing several SD cards the size of the first joint of my thumb (but much thinner) in the 1 - 4 GB range that could hold anywhere from several hundred to over a thousand shots each at the highest 8MP setting on my Canon S5 IS digital camera....

That said, I think I'll return to editing photos later, and will leave this here as a teaser :-). G'night...

Bullet Train Trip Begins

After seeing a client for lunch in Tokyo on Tuesday, Yumi and I headed off on our travels. With Japan Rail Passes in hand, Yumi organized a series of bullet train tickets that would take us all they way to Nagasaki on the southern island of Kyushu with stops at Kobe and Himeji on the way down, Fukuoka and Hiroshima on the way back north to Tokyo, then all the way to Aomori at the northern tip of the main island of Honshu and back to Tokyo. The JR agent at Kanda Station in Tokyo where we made our seat reservations was amazed at all the stops we were making. The JR Pass is a great deal -- we likely did over 200,000 yen worth of traveling each on passes that cost less than a quarter of that amount.

The shinkansen bullet trains are magnificent beasts that run like clockwork.

Cleaners line up to ensure the bullet train is spick and span before passengers board.

Tokyo Morning, Kichijoji Ramble, Akihabara Changes

We were up by 6:00 on Monday morning, and decided to head out to our old stomping grounds in the Kichijoji area in western Tokyo. We planned to walk around Inokashira Park on the south side of Kichijoji station until the stores opened at 10:00.

Walking on side streets on the way to Ochanomizu station we got a glimpse of the Nikolai Cathedral among office towers.

A holdout householder -- the land must be worth millions...

A Chuo Line train pulls into Ochanomizu station.

Inokashira Park with shrine, aeration fountain.

A detail of the shrine.

The small park surrounded by the urban jungle had an amazing variety of wildlife.

Yumi with binoculars in hand, pointing out another species of duck.

After a couple of hours in the park, we headed back into the shopping arcades and streets of funky Kichijoji.

The main shopping arcade.

A shop selling traditional crackers.

A kimono store selling the real stuff, not tourist junk.

Personalizing cell phones is a big business.

Blowfish swim in a restaurant's aquarium.

As lunch approached I began thinking more about food, so I headed over to the Seiyu department store, knowing the basement food floor featured an amazing variety of prepared items.

A lineup of packaged meals.

A mouth-watering variety of onigiri rice balls.

More great stuff! I love Japanese supermarkets!

This display of tonkatsu (deep fried pork cutlets) reminded me of a tonkatsu restaurant nearby, so I headed out to find Yumi.

Yumi was shopping at Yuzawaya, a huge crafts store at the east end of the station, and I was to meet her there at 11:30. When I arrived, I found a large Halloween display -- I don't recall the event being such a big deal in Japan five or more years ago! Japanese retailers are experts at appropriating any sort of holiday from any culture to flog more goods :-).

Hmmm. This costume looks like it's more suited to, ahem, tricks rather than treats!

We were momentarily distracted by this sushi mountain plastic display...

But ended up at our favourite tonkatsu place in the LonLon mall. Yum!

In the evening we walked over to Akihabara, Tokyo's electronics wonderland. When we arrived, I was completely disoriented -- the area has undergone huge development, and it took me 15 minutes of wandering around to gain my bearings. I was seeking a new memory card for my digital camera and the prices in the major stores were out of sight. I knew I could do better if I could find some of the teeny shops I'd frequented years ago. I finally tracked a few down, and sure enough, the prices were less than half of the major electronics retailers.

A manga character billboard.

Yumi checking out canned noodles -- a recent phenomenon that we'd heard about but not experienced first hand.

We ended the long day back on the Kanda shopping street, where we closed out the evening with beer and munchies at an izakaya pub.

Arriving in Tokyo

The flight from Vancouver to Tokyo was uneventful, but the descent into Narita brought a smile to my face as I listened to the middle-aged tourist couple behind me excitedly point things out in the landscape: "Look honey, they've got Toshiba in Japan, too!" Ah, yeah :-).

Yumi met me at Narita Airport on Sunday afternoon -- she'd left for Japan a week early to spend more time with her parents.

I felt the change in the air and humidity the moment I stepped off the plane, even though the temperature was around 20C. My nose crinkled up, my pores opened up, and sweat began to trickle down the small of my back.

I was second in the "gaijin" (foreigner) line in immigration and sailed through. In typical Japanese efficiency, from the time I passed through immigration and picked up my bags, it took us only minutes to set up my Japan Rail Pass, get reserved seats on the Narita Express to Tokyo Station, and run for the train. Whew! Love that clockwork train system.

As we traveled in to the city, night fell early, and it was pitch black by around 5:00 p.m. As the mixed farms and towns of Chiba gradually filled in with the tens of kilometers of unbroken urban concrete jungle of the greater Tokyo metropolitan area, I was overwhelmed with a sense of time passed. I lived in Tokyo for 14 years in the '80s and '90s, but this trip I felt more like a tourist and a stranger than I ever had in previous visits back after moving to Canada. A four-year gap can do that to you...

From Tokyo Station we took the Chuo Line to Ochanomizu Station, and walked the five minutes to Hamilton Inn Ochanomizu, a basic yet comfortable business hotel where we've stayed several times.

I grabbed a quick shower and then we headed out to get something to eat and drink. We walked over to the Kanda shopping arcade, and I marveled at the familiarity, and the changes, in the area near where I worked for several years back in the late 90s. We ended up at a Watami chain izakaya, or pub, near Kanda Station, and I reveled in the familiar menu items and excellent Japanese beer.

The strangeness fell away and I felt great to be back in Tokyo!

Off to Japan

I'm off to Japan today, and am not bothering to take a notebook computer with me, so this blog will be in hibernation for a couple of weeks. When I get back I'll start filling it in with photos and commentary starting from the beginning of the trip.

It's been nearly four years since Yumi and I were last in Japan. Since we moved to Canada some eight years ago, we've returned to visit family, friends and clients every one to two years; however, a series of events including my two-year MA in Professional Communication program at Royal Roads University conspired to make for a long gap.

I'm really looking forward to the trip. In addition to visiting Yumi's folks in Aomori Prefecture, we've got meetings set up with several clients in Tokyo (these short meetings and lunches are important in maintaining contacts and keeping the work flowing), and lunches and dinners scheduled with several friends.

We're also taking a week to ourselves to take a swing down all the way to Nagasaki on the island of Kyushu with several stops at key tourist points along the way. Neither of us has visited Kyushu and we're looking forward to it.

I'll start posting entries and plenty of photos starting around Oct. 29. See you later!

Driving Home From Jasper

We drove home from Jasper today, and got a some nice shots of elk and Mt. Robson along the way.

An elk with a magnificent rack calmly browsing beside the highway.

Me in front of Mt. Robson on an unusually clear day.

Edmonton to Jasper

Before we met a couple of fellow learners from my recently completed MA in Professional Communication at Royal Roads University for lunch in Edmonton, Yumi and I spent the morning at the Royal Alberta Museum. We enjoyed the dioramas and live animal exhibits, and wished we'd had more time to explore.

Here are some of the beautiful and educational dioramas:

Coyote family.

Wolves.

Golden eagle and chick.

Yumi is spellbound by the eagle catching a rabbit diorama.

And here are some of the live animals:

A western hognose snake -- cute! And endangered :-(

An amazing stick insect.

Yumi staring at the unnerving giant tropical cockroaches!

Brook trout.

Arctic grayling.

Northern pike -- a ghostly predator...

Relaxing by the fire with a brewskie at Whistlers campground in Jasper.

Saskatoon to Edmonton

We drove from Saskatoon to Edmonton, stopping at Vegreville to show Yumi the world's largest pysanka (Ukrainian Easter egg).

The pysanka with a brewing storm in the background.

Yumi stretching up to the pysanka.

Alberta summer thunderstorm.

We reached Edmonton, and in the evening we checked out the West Edmonton Mall, the largest in the world. We were not particularly impressed. A mall is a mall, eh? OK, there are the other attractions, too, but.... Just didn't do it for us.

Morning at Weyakwin Lake

We went for a drive and walk in the morning at Weyakwin Lake. We spotted some mushrooms from the vehicle, so we all piled out to search for more, but they were few and far between.

The public beach.

A sleek female mallard.

"Ukrainian fire drill" -- everyone hops out of the van and checks the side of the road for mushrooms :-).

A wasp's nest on the cabin with resident emerging.

Visiting Weyakwin Lake

We drove from the farm north of Melfort Saskatchewan to an aunt's cabin further north at Weyakwin Lake. It was great visiting relatives and catching up in the summer sun.

Checking out the dock.

My wife Yumi on the tractor-tire tree swing.

Yumi lends an ear to a visitor.

Amazing lilies.

Evening boat ride with cousins.

The breathtaking (and nose plugging :-) cormorant and pelican island. Unfortunately I was using my pocketable Canon SD400 and didn't bring my Canon S5 IS superzoom along...

Banff Morning

We woke up early in the morning in the Tunnel Mountain campground in Banff, and quickly ate breakfast and broke camp. We had a few hours to kill before driving to Calgary, so we poked around the hoodoo trail, drove up the Mt. Norquay road, and explored the Cave and Basin historic site.

Morning view from the campground.

Hoodoo in front of mountains.

Hoodoos trail.

Another hoodoo trail view.

Banff from the Mt. Norquay road.

The Cave and Basin historic site -- the hot springs here provided the impetus for declaring the area a national park.

The famous pool, now closed to use.

Yumi carefully viewing endangered Banff Springs snails.

A trail from the Cave and Basin leads to a bird blind on the lake.

Trilingual English, French and Ukrainian signs commemorate the harsh internment of Canadians of Ukrainian descent during WWI -- the Cave and Basin was their winter camp. Such forced labourers built much of early Parks Canada facilities. They were considered to be enemy aliens because at that time Western Ukraine was under the rule of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. They were treated much like Canadians of Japanese descent were in WWII.

While none of my ancestors were interned, I am angry that such events happened in a supposed democracy. I feel it for both wars and ethnic groups for my wife Yumi is Japanese. Again, none of her family was affected for she was born and raised in Japan, but there's a connection...

Summer Trip - Burnaby to Banff

We're off to the prairies. I was born and raised in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, and we try to get out to visit relatives at least every second year. I love the drive from our home in Burnaby, BC, through the mountains, and down into the expansive plains. We drove as far as Banff the first day and camped overnight. We had reserved a spot through Parks Canada, a wise move during the busy summer season, but were disappointed by the bare, open campsite that we were assigned which was closely surrounded by several other sites. With the usual luck, some of our neighbours arrived back from town near midnight, and proceeded to loudly chatter and giggle with boyfriends on their cell phones as they bedded down. The wonders of modern technology, eh?

Yumi forbade me from roaring at them, as I've been known to do to campers who carry on with loud music and laughter well past "quiet time."

Grrrr...

Sunset on the Bow River in Banff.

Magpie casing out handouts in downtown Banff -- why have I seen these corvids only east of the Rockies?

Vernon Sightseeing

After a hearty breakfast at our friends' place, we headed out to see some of the sights. Yumi and I have never spent any time in Vernon, though we've passed through on several trips, so it was nice to take a look around. There is a lot of development going on!

The first place we stopped was Planet Bee, which was very interesting. We enjoyed viewing the transparent hive and locating the queen bee who had been marked with a dab of white paint.

Yumi checking out the hive.

The queen amid a mass of bees.

Next was a visit to Davison Orchards. I enjoyed checking out all the old farm equipment while the others explored the fruit, gifts, pies and other products for sale.

Davison Orchards.

A 1949 John Deere M.

A 1946 Mercury 3-ton truck.

Next stop was the Allan Brooks Nature Centre that provides an awesome view of the Vernon area. We enjoyed the vistas, and the wildlife.

A view from the centre.

Yumi stalking a marmot.

Taking a closer look at the marmot.

A swallow brings food for its young.

Our last stop before we had to drive back to Burnaby was the Gray Monk winery. It's a beautiful setting overlooking Okanagan Lake, and we had lunch at the outdoor restaurant. The food was excellent.

The winery overlooking Okanagan Lake.

A huge hanging basket of brilliant flowers.

The sunny restaurant.

Walking Marathon in Beautiful Washington DC

We woke up on our first day in Washington at 7:30 am local time and got out and about around 9:00. The Computers, Freedom and Privacy 2006 conference that I'm here for starts tomorrow, so I had the full day with Yumi to get ourselves situated before I turned her loose on her own.

I'm going to put a bunch of photos at the end of this post, so if you're a visually oriented type and want to avoid all the blather, just scroll down :-).

We walked north across the Mall to the Old Post Office to try and find some breakfast in its food court. Along the way we noticed all the concrete planters placed for security since 9/11 and the armed guards everywhere. We encountered our first of many security checks when we entered the Old PO. I had stuff spread all over several pockets and had to pass through the scanner three or four times. The last item found was my Swiss Army knife, which the security woman perused, shrugged and handed back to me.

The food court in the magnificent hall was deserted, giving the place an eerie feel. We decided to go up the tower first and then get something to eat. I didn’t like the glass elevator, but felt fine at the top. There were magnificent views all around on the sunny, clear morning. We could see the Capitol, a chunk of the White House, the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial and the Smithsonian buildings. Great place to start our visit!

Back down at the food court a few places were beginning to come awake at 9:30. We got bacon and egg breakfasts for $3.49 – a lot better than $12 for the same thing at the hotel.

Morning hunger pangs sated, we headed over to the White House. There was a crew digging up an area on the lawn, and I snapped a photo of a John Deere Gator with the White House in the background -- nice juxtaposition for a Saskatchewan boy!

It was gradually getting warmer as we ambled along toward the Vietnam War Memorial. As it came in view I began feeling somber. There were quite a few small Canadian flags left along the wall so it looked like a Canadian tour group had passed through recently. It was touching to see the photos and mementos left by people, and watch aged couples painstakingly page through the memorial books. Hard to believe there are over 50,000 names of the dead carved in that black granite.

Next stop was the Lincoln Memorial. It’s an impressive structure. The feeling of awe and respect was destroyed by herds of rowdy schoolchildren who were running around and shouting despite the signs asking for quiet. The view up the Mall was impressive and we thought of Forest Gump.

We trundled off to the Korean War Memorial and it was a somber and impressive monument. I found the statues of a unit on patrol powerfully evocative of the rigors of that often cold campaign. Both the Korean and Vietnam memorials didn’t yet exist the last time I was in Washington nearly 35 years ago.

Down around the Tidal Basin we began to flag a bit as lunch approached and the sun strengthened. The Roosevelt Memorial was impressive. I found the quotations thought-provoking. They seemed to call upon ideals that are not actually reflected much in contemporary American society. Wonderful words, but are they heeded? I found this to be a recurring thread throughout our long march today. Many monuments to many highly intelligent men who wrote compelling thoughts, yet the swarms of fat retirees and screaming schoolchildren kept intruding with their apparent lack of awareness and respect.

Oh well, it’s still a magnificent place and the Washington Monument commands the eye from every turn.

Next up, the Jefferson Memorial. Somehow it was not quite as impressive as the Lincoln, or even the modern Roosevelt. I wondered out loud what presidents since Roosevelt would ever be honored in such a manner. Likely none, or at least none that I would deem worthy.

By this time we were tired, so we headed back across the Mall to the food court in the Ronald Reagan Building. Security again. It was a relief to get out of the sun, eat and relax. We checked out the Washington Visitor Center in the same building and were not impressed. The woman there ignored us until we were leaving, and there appeared to be little free information available.

Somewhat refreshed and fully refueled, we trekked on to Ford's Theater and caught a presentation on the assassination of Lincoln. I could remember visiting the theater as a kid of 11 or 12. I think we saw a production of “You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown” there, but I could be mixing that up. There is a museum in the basement of the theater. There is something macabre about the clothing worn by Lincoln the night he was shot and the pillow he died on, yet it is all strangely touching. Across the street is the house he was carried to and the bedroom he died in. The house is flanked by gaudy souvenir shops, fronted by raucous street vendors, and fumigated by the exhaust of idling tour buses. The parks staff seem dispirited and resigned to an endless stream of repetitive questions. Poor Abe.

That did it for us. Over seven hours of walking was enough. We dropped into a convenience store and picked up some drinks for the walk back to the hotel, and stumbled in, exhausted, at 4:30 pm.

I’ll do some blogging and some homework and Yumi will bone up on sights she’ll see tomorrow while I’m in sessions.

Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial from the Old Post Office tower.

John Deere on the White House lawn.

Bird's nest in a traffic light near the Mall.

Kids make rubbings of names on the Vietnam wall.

Lincoln Memorial framed by trees.

Yumi got me with Abe. There must be millions of photos like this one!

The Korean War memorial patrol. Canada is among the UN nations honored.

The two of us at the Tidal Basin with the ever-visible Washington Monument.

Roosevelt Memorial bread line figures.

The quotation on the wall to the left deserves sharing: "The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much, it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little."

Fishy humanoid gargoyle on Ohio Dr. bridge looks Jimmy Carter-ish :-)

Off to Computers, Freedom and Privacy 2006 in Washington, DC

We headed out to Washington, DC, where I'll take in the Computers, Freedom and Privacy 2006 conference, along with some sightseeing. Yumi is tagging along.

We had a bit of excitement along the way in Toronto, where we changed planes. There was extra security on for flights into Washington's Reagan National Airport because of its close proximity to the center of government. We had to clear security again before entering the departure lounge, with all carry on baggage checked by hand.

We boarded the Embraer 175 and after awhile the captain came on the PA system and said there was a glitch with a computer and they would have to power down the entire plane and reboot it. It took about 90 seconds in darkness before they fired it back up. Then a few minutes later he came back on the PA with a command to deplane immediately and leave all personal belongings behind because a fuel truck near the plane was smoking. The plane was only about a third full so we scrambled off quickly.

After about 15 minutes back in the departure lounge, the captain said there had been an electrical problem on the fuel truck, and that the fire marshal had cleared us back onto the plane. An adventure to start the trip! We departed about 45 minutes late.

The ride in to Washington was spectacular in the dark with the major monuments and government buildings lit up. The approach to Reagan National provides an excellent view of the Mall, and you can see why they have the extra security for Reagan flights. It’s only seconds from the flight path to major sites. Yumi tried to snap a photo or two, but the turbulence resulted in smeared streaks of light.

The L’Enfant Plaza Hotel was a bit of a disappointment. Perhaps it was a "4-star luxury" hotel 20 years ago… The TV in our bathroom is a tiny old thing, the toilet paper roll doesn’t stay seated, the furniture is somewhat "distressed" and there is generally a tired air about the rooms and hallways. The mini bar was not stocked, though I suspect that if it had been we would have avoided it anyway -- prices for room service and hotel restaurants are not encouraging for us hillbillies :-).

I was also disappointed to find that the hotel's wireless Internet access was not included but cost an extra $9.95/day or $24.95 for three days. I guess now that so many people are free from usurious hotel telephone charges, hotels are trying to make up the lost revenue in high-speed Internet access. Seeing as I have to do homework for my Royal Roads MA in Professional Communication course while I'm here and interact daily on online discussion boards, I had no choice but to cough up. Dial-up was an option, but it would have been irritatingly slow.

Camping at Long Beach

Yumi and I went to Pacific Rim National Park a few weeks ago and stayed at the Green Point campground for two nights. It's the third time we've gone in as many years, and we always enjoy walking aptly named Long Beach and exploring tidal pools for interesting critters.

We always throw in a tramp along the gorgous Wild Pacific Trail near the lighthouse in Ucluelet, and visit funky Tofino as well. Here are few shots I took.

Me standing on the Pacific rim :-).

One of the hundreds of beautiful views from the Wild Pacific Trail that greet you every meter or two...

Kettle River Camping

Yumi and I went on an overnight camping trip to Kettle River Provincial Park over the weekend.

The forecast was for rain, but we took our chances and arrived as the sky was clouding over. We saw a grouse strut through the campsite we chose, followed by greetings from assorted chipmunks, squirrels and jays, and then we got the tent and tarps set up.

Our dining and eating shelters in place, we walked the river from the campground south to the old Kettle Valley railway bridge and then back to the north end of the park before dinner.

We were looking for beavers, for we had seen one near the island at the north end of the park last year, and on our way back to the campground we rounded a bend and found ourselves face to face with a sturdy specimen eyeing us from the water only a couple of meters away. We stared at each other, and then as I reached for a camera, it disappeared. Sigh.

After dinner we walked back south to the bridge, and then all the way to the south boundary of the park and back. There were dozens of swallows flitting through the sky over the muddy, fast flowing river like a melee of dogfighting Spitfires.

It rained that evening, but we were snug under our tarp by a fire.

The next day dawned soggy and foggy after heavy rain. We had breakfast, packed up the wet gear in garbage bags, and went for a walk on the other side of the river where there are several visible entrances to old mines. They are all "closed" because of the danger of collapse, however it's obvious that people explore them. Not us, though, a photo in front of a dark, gloomy, mostly filled-in adit is close enough for me!

The morning walk was also rewarded with seeing a marmot, spotting several unidentified raptors, and hearing an owl. As we slowly drove out of the park, a couple of young deer near the road graciously said goodbye with ears flared, and noses twitching.

BC Legislature at Night

Continuing our Victoria weekend trip, Yumi and I wandered the inner harbour one evening. It's a popular tourist spot, with the BC Legislature and the Empress Hotel anchoring two sides of the harbour.

Ft. Rodd Hill

Yumi and I took advantage of a holiday in Japan to take the ferry over to Victoria on Friday morning. We arrived on the island at 10:30 a.m. and slowly drove down the west side of the Saanich penninsula, aiming to be at Ft. Rodd Hill national park for lunch.

It's a beautiful site on the ocean, with former coast artillery fortifications and a picturesque lighthouse.

That's me beneath the fire-directing tower, leaning on a cannon.

Fisgard lighthouse, built in 1860.

To Mt. Edith Cavell

Up with the sun again, we broke camp and headed south on the Icefields Parkway. Our first stop was at Mt. Edith Cavell, accessed just a few dozen kilometers south of Jasper.

The road up to the mountain and glacier was paved but in bad condition, so the 14.5km passed slowly, but the views more than made up for the bouncy, twisty ride.

Named after nurse Edith Cavell who was executed by German forces in WWI for helping Allied soldiers escape Belgium, the site is suitably majestic and uplifting.

The lower end of the upper glacier is known as the "Angel," while ice calved from the lower part floats in the little lake.

Hiking Near Gorgeous Maligne Lake

Up at the crack of dawn, we built a smokey fire from damp wood, ate breakfast, and headed off to Maligne Lake.

The sky cleared and the sun came out, literally brightening the prospects for some good hiking. The drive to Maligne Lake took us past Medicine Lake, an interesting body of water that appears and disappears with the seasons.

In the spring, Medicine Lake magically appears as the snow melts, and then gradually shrinks over the summer until it disappears in the autumn. The mystery was solved when underground channels were discovered that empty the lake at a pace that doesn't keep up with the spring rush, but eventually drain it as the inflow decreases.

We arrived at Maligne Lake around 9:30 a.m., ahead of the tour bus rush. It was beautiful. We walked the shore, and hiked a loop through the woods.

After having lunch sitting on some rocks near the shoreline, we headed back toward Jasper. We stopped at Maligne Canyon for another hike.

The hike down the canyon is spectacular, with amazing rock formations and thundering water. Some of the underground channels from Medicine Lake can be seen emptying into the canyon. We took the trail as far down as 5th bridge, and then considered returning to the parking lot on a different trail through the forest.

There was a cougar warning out for the area, so we were a bit uncertain about the narrow, darker, less-used forest path, however with tighter grips on our walking poles, we ventured forth.

About 50 meters into the forest Yumi suddenly stopped dead in her tracks, and pointed at a muddy area on the path. Superimposed on horse tracks was a perfect cat print, only the size indicated this was no house cat! A careful look around found more cougar tracks, and we about-faced and with tingling spines headed back to the path along the canyon where there were plenty of other hikers.

Sleeping With Elk in Jasper

We left Prince George early in the morning and cruised east on the Yellowhead (Highway 16) toward Jasper. It was overcast with occasional rain.

Being avid streamkeepers, we stopped several times along the way to check out rivers and creeks including the Willow River, Bowron River, Slim Creek and the Milk River.

As we approached the intersection of highways 16 and 5, I recalled that there was a salmon viewing area in Valemount, about 20km south of our course. We decided to check it out, and discovered that we'd missed a chinook salmon run by a week or so. They had arrived a couple of weeks early and we saw only one carcass.

Swift Creek is billed as the home of the world's longest chinook salmon run -- the fish travel 1,280km from the Pacific Ocean up the Fraser River and to the creek to spawn. Apparently they average about 18km a day. Amazing.

Retracing our course back to the 16, we continued east to Mt. Robson Provincial Park where we stopped for a tailgate lunch and a visit to the information center.

It's hard to believe that the icy blue torrent one sees in the north is the same Fraser River that is a brown, silt-filled working channel back home in Burnaby.

We arrived in Jasper around dinner time, and headed for the Whistlers campground, the only one that was open due to the "strategic services withdrawal" underway by national park staff negotiating for better wages. Park staff were uniformly friendly and helpful throughout our trip.

As we registered at the campground, we were warned to be on the lookout for elk, as it was the mating season and the males could be aggressive.

We set up camp, got a fire going and were cooking dinner when a group of female elk appeared, three mature and three yearlings, slowly moving along while munching on grass and shrubs. Not long after a male with an impressive rack appeared, obviously the leader of the harem.

We were a bit nervous while the male was around, but eventually he trotted off, and the females bedded down less than 10 meters from our tent! We thought that eventually they would move on, but on our last bathroom run for the night, we discovered they were still sleeping there.

Cheerful Laughter Amidst Tragedy of New Denver

Continuing our trip homeward, we left Nakusp around noon on June 8 and headed for New Denver. We wanted to visit the Nikkei Memorial Internment Centre there.

The few buildings are the only existing remnants of all the internment camps that held some 22,000 Japanese-Canadians during WWII -- a shameful stain on Canada's history, as over 70% of the internees were Canadian citizens. They were uprooted from B.C., and then after the war ended they were not allowed to return home, but had to move east of the Rocky Mountains.

As we walked into the site, we could hear a happy male voice laughing and chattering away. We entered the reception area, and the man behind the voice looked familiar. My wife Yumi exclaimed, "I've seen you on TV!"

It was "Nobby" Hayashi, former bat boy for the famed pre-war Japanese-Canadian Asahi baseball team, and we'd seen him in a documentary video that was produced when the team was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame recently. Better late than never....

We toured the centre, and as we moved from building to building, my anger and sadness grew at what had transpired in a so-called democracy, and at the blatant racism. It was shocking to hear cheerful women's voices calling to each other in Japanese as we walked around the site, and to turn a corner to see beaming, beautiful, elderly faces in a place that to me seemed to hold such sadness.

I had many questions for Mr. Hayashi. He said there were only about 20 Japanese left in New Denver, all that remained of a handful of tubercular and family-less internees who were allowed to stay on in the town when the other 2,000 or so internees were forced to move east when the camp closed.

They must all be in their 70s to 90s.

I didn't ask what will happen when they're all gone.

I sat in the beautiful gardens created for the centre among the ghost-filled buildings, and pondered people's inhumanity toward other human beings.

Yumi entering the building in which we found Nobby Hayashi manning the counter.

Friendly, Beautiful Nakusp

I'm still catching up on our trip home from Calgary to Burnaby last week.

After crossing Arrow Lake on June 8, we continued south to the charming town of Nakusp and its friendly residents. Everywhere we went, people chatted with us, and we met several former Burnabarians who had moved to this interior town to enjoy a slower pace of life.

We walked the lovely lakefront and saw hawks and osprey soaring overhead, and enjoyed the jam-packed local museum.

Unfortunately, we didn't have time to visit the hot springs, but I suspect we'll be back sooner than later.

Crossing Arrow Lake, Shelter Bay to Galena Bay

We woke up to a cacophonous chorus of irritatingly cheerful birds, squirrels and chipmunks around 6:00 a.m. on Tuesday, June 8, at Blanket Creek Provincial Park. The auditory assault on our peaceful campground prompted us to hit the road early.

We were on our second day of driving home to Burnaby from an Editors' Association of Canada conference in Calgary.

We planned to catch the 9:00 a.m. ferry across Arrow Lake from Shelter Bay to Galena Bay, and arrived at the landing only to find it was half an hour late.

As the sun's intensity increased, we slathered on the sunscreen. At last we drove onto the small ferry, and were on our way.

I love ferries, large and small. It's great being on the water, binoculars and camera at hand. The 20-minute crossing was all too short.

Looking north up Arrow Lake from the ferry.

Blanket Creek

We stayed at Blanket Creek Provincial Park on Monday, June 7. It's about 25km south of Revelstoke on Highway 23. We'd never been down that road, and were impressed by the beautiful scenery.

Of the 64 sites, only half a dozen or so were occupied, so we looked forward to a quiet evening.

It's a beautiful little park on the shores of the Arrow Lake reservoir. We walked down to the water, and did the 2km nature trail. There were piles of deer scat all along the trail, however we didn't encounter any deer.

We'd certainly camp there again if the occasion arises.

It's hard to believe that paddlewheelers used to ply these waters in days gone by.