Ski Bunnies

We finally made it out to the mountains to go skiing on Easter Sunday. We headed out to Lake Louise, about an hour and a half from Calgary, where I spent the day on the bunny slope (hey, I've never ever skiied before) and Gregg braved the real runs with our friends Jenn and Kent. Lake Louise has about 150 runs so you could ski there for days and never get bored. I had the longest waits of all for a lift - around 5 minutes - because I was stuck with the T bar lift while everyone else was in the chair lifts or gondolas. Once you get to the summit, you can ski down the way you came or down the back of the mountain which is mostly black and double black runs (ie: scary!)

Us in our nifty ski gear:


The front side of the mountain:


Me on the bunny hill with the kidlets:


Some shots from up high (it started to snow so these aren't as clear as they could be):




For good measure, here is a shot from another, clearer day:


Pas mal, non? I am somewhat sad that we waited so long in the season to go out for the first time, but we will definitely start early next year.

And for the bunny part (you didn't think I was the ski bunny, did you??) here is what we found when we came home from work today, and this time he hung around long enough for me to run and grab the camera:

Happy St. Paddy's Day!

Ugh, the weather sucks. It's like, dry and stuff.

Ah, sweet fate. How did I please you so?

Since leaving Toronto, I have avoided 130 centimetres of snow. Not counting the supa storm we had in December, pictured above. In fact, Toronto has had 3 times the snow as last year.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that Calgary has received about 30 centimeters of snow. Altogether. And that is allowing for some snowfall before we moved here. I actually cannot verify this online, because the amount of snow hasn't been remarkable and isn't worth reporting. Type in "Calgary" and "snowfall" and you find articles in the Calgary Herald discussing the horrible blizzards in Ottawa, Montreal and... wait for it... the worst of all in Toronto.

Now, I won't go so far as to say the grass is green, but it is visible and dry as a bone. It's been around 10 degrees for the past week or so, and hasn't really gone below zero since the dreaded -30 episode back in mid January. I really can't complain about this.

The reason for our fortunate weather is the legendary chinook. It's kind of neat, the mountains completely trap the clouds. When I was flying back from Vancouver, it was completely cloudy and ready to rain. As we headed west, the clouds slowly became more sparse until I could see tops of mountains poking out. But it was still about 75% covered as we started our descent to Calgary. Then, just as we passed the point where the mountains dropped off to prairie, the clouds vanished and it was completely clear with a bright blue sky.

The fact is, those mountains save us from rain, snow and cold. On the other hand, they also trap the freezing weather here, which is why we had a 10 day cold spell in January. When the chinook blows in, the sky is cloudy with a defined edge that curves. Beyond that edge, it's completely clear and you can see the mountains perfectly. It also goes the other way, where the clouds are all trapped in the mountains and you have perfectly clear weather with nary a breeze.

So today is the tail end of the chinook, and it has been ultra windy. Off blows the good weather, and we've got a forecast for snow for this weekend. But only 60% chance, and it will be zero degrees.

And thus ends your Interesting Facts About Alberta Meteorology session for the day. Cheers from the place where a snow shovel lasts you a lifetime, and you never get backstrain from shovelling.

Come on. You knew I was going to rub it in.

Ed, Ed, Ed, chant triumphant Tories

Oh, brother.

Another exciting provincial election has come and gone, leaving "Steady Eddie" Stelmach at the helm of the province for another 4 years of PC bliss. Despite the lackluster election campaign (I didn't see one sign on a lawn, and remarkably few out and about town), Stelmach managed to clean up tidily, not only winning a majority mandate but even gaining seats from the last majority government which was won by none other than the legendary King Ralph.

Now, anyone who knows me, knows how I feel about Conservatives, progressive or otherwise. But I am in the wrong part of the country for that kind of attitude. The PCs have been reigning here undefeated since 1971. That is a long freaking time. Oddly, everyone in the running including our friend Ed was running on a platform of change. Seems to me that Albertans are quite satisfied with the status quo, so much so that much to my complete and utter satisfaction, they even completely shut out the Wildrose Alliance Party - a party that makes the Conservatives look downright leftist.

Interesting (?) Election Fact Round-up

• The PCs ran on a platform of spending. That's right - no tax cuts for the rich, no program cuts for the poor. Just a commitment to phase out the provincial healthcare premiums over the next few years. It was kind of like reading a Liberal platform, only it was blue and (hopefully) not all lies (thank you very much, Dalton McGuinty)
• The Liberals wanted to put a temporary cap of 10% a year on rent increases, and limit increases to once per year. Yes. A temporary cap of 10%. What is the cap now, you ask? Well, there isn't one. People have been faced with rents that have doubled and tripled with virtually no notice, and there isn't a damn thing they can do about it. Move out, and good luck trying to find another place that isn't priced out the ying yang. Of course, this was far too radical and leftist for the majority of Albertans. As far as I'm concerned, this isn't leftist enough to be on the Liberal platform.
• The NDPs managed to win 2 seats. This is down 50% from the last election. Nonetheless, I am proud of them for these 2 seats, and glad that at least in some of the province, people care about the environment. (see earlier rant on recycling)
• Being that this is the 11th consecutive majority government won by the Conservatives, they are the record holders for longest political dynasty in Canada. And I would imagine that with the way the economy is going here, it would take a pretty major faux-pas to unseat them anytime in the foreseeable future. At least these guys aren't evil reptilian kitten eaters from another planet. Oops, there I am thinking about my old friend Dalton again.
  
• As new residents, we were not allowed to vote. So thanks fellow Albertans, for electing the government that will spend my tax dollars for the next four years. Correction: thank you to the 40% who actually got off their butts to vote. Gah.
  

Canada's Best Kept Secret

Ahh, Vancouver.


I recently had the pleasure of spending 8 glorious days in Vancouver, mostly for work, but thanks to Aeroplan, Gregg was able to join me for an extended weekend right in the middle. I've only been to Vancouver once as an adult, and lucked out on that trip with 2 beautiful days of sunny weather. This time around, I am both shocked and amazed to report that the weather was on my side once more. In eight days, despite the weatherman's daily ominous predictions, I saw but one sprinkle of rain and one brief cloudburst that occurred while I was at work.

I must say, Vancouver has a different, almost un-Canadian take on winter. Bulbs were sprouting, the grass was green, and flowers were blooming everywhere. In February. In Canada! I had no idea this utopia existed, but I could definitely get on board with it.

My hotel was just off Robson Street, a main street downtown which bills itself as "a commercial mecca which includes premier fashions stores, fine dining, services and all the amenities a tourist or local might need". That might sound like a bunch of PR spin, but I have to give credit where credit is due. It's a really great area - sort of like Queen St. W. meets the Danforth meets Yorkville - lots of great shopping, lots of great food, and lots of great people watching. Of course, the Vancouver version features more Starbucks than I ever imagined existing in such a small area - there's even one corner with a Starbucks on both sides of the street, and they're both bustling with Lululemon clad Vancouverites eager to get their organic, fair trade caffeine fix.

We spent Saturday exploring Granville Island, which is an island (obviously) just over the bridge south of downtown. It has a mix of condos, parkland and a little shopping and art/design district, somewhat reminiscent of the Distillery District in Toronto. (Well, minus the cobblestones.)
There's a large public market with such an outstanding variety of gorgeous looking and wonderful smelling fresh food - from fish to meat to sweets to spices to homemade pasta and everything in between - it was upsetting not to leave with bagfuls of deliciousness to enjoy later. Alas, it was not to be with only a microwave in the hotel room, but I am quite certain that should we ever move to Vancity, it will be within close proximity to this culinary gold mine.

On Sunday, we made our way to the ever popular Stanley Park. It's huge, lush and green, even at this time of year and following the somewhat recent windstorm that levelled areas of it. As we had another unprecedented day of beautiful sun and 14 degree temperatures, we spent the day on foot and walked the Seawall path from the hotel along the marina, which leads right into the park. It's a two lane path with one side for those on foot and another for those on wheels, and both sides were getting plenty of use in the beautiful weather. After a few kilometres of walking, we ended up at the Vancouver Aquarium and I convinced Gregg to check it out. I'd never been to an aquarium, and it was super cool. We saw the beluga whale show, the dolphin show, and even some sharks and jellyfish.


But the best thing about Vancouver for me was the urbanity. When I left Toronto, I was getting downright sick and tired of urban life. So many people, so many cars, so many crowds. As it turns out, 7 years can get a person used to things like that. I do enjoy the slower pace of Calgary, and hadn't really realized that I missed the bustle of a large urban metropolis, until I got back into it. I enjoyed my daily walk to and from work past all the freaks and chics; shopping in boutiques instead of malls; stopping for a drink in a quirky little no name restaurant; walking through urban residential neighbourhoods and seeing people out and about. Spring was in the air, in February!

So much so, that I just had to bring home a little piece of Vancouver to remind me of the eternal spring-i-ness. It's even spring colours. :)

Ahh, Vancouver.

My take on Calgary, 2 months in

Welcome dear readers! I've been feeling a bit detached from all of our old friends and family, in Toronto and elsewhere, so I decided to blast into the future (or the present, as it were) and use technology to keep in touch. At least you'll know what we're up to, when we're not moping around the house missing you, that is. :) And maybe you'll even get a hankering to c'mon down and visit sometime. We promise not to lasso you.

As you know, we moved from Toronto to Calgary at the beginning of January. So we've had almost two months to settle in and get accustomed to life in the Prairies (or, in The Heart of the New West tm, as both I and the folks down at Tourism Calgary like to refer to it). As with anywhere, there are some great things and some things I could easily live without.

The Things I Like About Calgary (in no particular order)

1) The prairie sky, as evidenced above in the title bar. It really is beautiful, and hardly ever cloudy. There is just something about leaving work after a long day and heading out into the bright blue cheeriness of the outdoors. And come on, it's one of the Seven Wonders of Canada.

2) The lack of precipitation. I'm used to slogging through the slush and snow and, well, yucky road sludge to get around in the wintertime in Toronto. Here, there's really not much snow to speak of. Yes, it gets cold, but I prefer dressing for the cold to arriving at work with salt stains halfway up my pant legs. Oh yeah, they don't really use salt either.

3) Driving. Perhaps this has a lot to do with our new truck, but whatever you say about Calgary, it is a city built for drivers. Except maybe during the briefish rush hour periods, during which I don't drive. It has roads that are designed for the capacity of cars that drive them and parking lots virtually everywhere you go. It would be unheard of to sit in a traffic jam at 10 p.m. I like that.

4) Bunnies. Calgarian raccoons are bunnies. We commonly see them on our steps, in the yard, and hopping cutely about the cul-de-sac. They don't get into the trash, they don't crap all over the place, and they don't have rabies. People around here seem to think they're a pain in the ass. Meh. Love the bunnies.

5) Polite transit users. I have been offered a seat, more than a few times. Because I'm carrying a lot of stuff, can't reach the 'hold bar', or... just because, I guess. Every time it happens, I become self-conscious and immediately rethink my outfit, thinking I must look very pregnant, as this is the only way that would happen on the dreaded TTC.

6) Being close to Medicine Hat. This is purely a Cheryl point, well actually all of these are as I do believe Gregg feels about the same about my blog as he does Facebook. It's really, really nice to be close to home and especially to my grandparents again. It's been a long time of being a long way away, and it's nice to be able to zip down for the weekend rather than spend $1000 and a week of precious holidays to see them.




The Things I Dislike About Calgary

1) Lack of Recycling. I didn't mention that this list is in no particular order, because this one is tops. There is no municipal recycling pickup in Calgary. Yes, that's right. None! If you want to recycle, you have to separate everything into a bunch of annoying categories and haul it to a recycling depot yourself. And you can't recycle plastic. At all. (Okay, you can recycle plastic pop bottles. But that is hardly the tip of the iceberg.) I didn't think of myself as much of a granola cruncher but man, this really bothers me. We do recycle, sorting and hauling as mentioned above, but lots of people don't. On trash day, I see mountains of cardboard piled up, ready to go to the dump. I suppose if you have mobility issues or no vehicle, it would be pretty difficult to DIY. I just cannot believe that the City of Calgary doesn't have any kind of program. Apparently, it's coming sometime in the next year or two. Um, we had blue box pickup when I lived in Ontario in 1988. Gah.

2) -52 with the windchill. Yeah. There's only so much dressing for the cold that you can do. Also, pipes can freeze when it's that cold. Easily. Don't ask.

3) Parking downtown is freaking expensive. As in, my subsidized spot at work is $300/month and it is a good deal. On the upside, this probably encourages many to take transit, including me, sadly. But it's not so bad (except when you are waiting for the bus in -52) and a monthly pass is only $75.

4) Downtown is, well, not so nice. Particularly at night. I thought that living in Toronto and going downtown almost daily would prepare me for anything I might find in Calgary, but I was wrong. There are not many garden variety homeless people here. Mostly drug addicts and dealers. Gregg refers to them as "the undead", following an unpleasant experience at a downtown McDonald's where he ate his lunch near the window and under the not so watchful eye of all of the vacant, drugged out faces staring in at him. Mac's Convenience Store, commonly known by the charming moniker 'Crack Mac's' is also to be avoided, at any time of the day or night.

5) Driving. Yes, I know it's on the good list too. Here's the thing - Calgary really was built for drivers. There's not much of an option to get around without a car. Yes, you could take transit, but most of the places that you'd want to go are not well serviced by transit outside of business hours. Also, the C-Train is scary at night. It's probably a bit early to say, being that it's still winter which keeps us from getting out to explore other areas, but there's not a lot in the way of walkable neighbourhoods here. Certainly we don't live in one.

6) Our friends and family are mostly in Ontario, or elsewhere. If no recycling is number 1, this is a close number 2. It's just not the same without you guys. And Java Tuesdays.