Feb 17

The Winter Olympics (Winter itself not so much :) ) have arrived in Vancouver and everybody in Vancouver is hooked. At work everybody is working with the intranet TV broadcasting on their second monitor and cheering every time Canada gets a medal or scores in hockey. So far Canada has 5 medals of which 2 in snowboarding events and we are of course very curious of what the Belgian Ladies Bobsleigh Team is going to do.

Tomorrow we’re going to one of the nightly Victory Ceremonies where they hand out the medals to the winners and have a concert of a different Canadian artist every night. Tomorrow seems to be Alberta night, so they have an Alberta country artist named Paul Brandt on the schedule :)

We’ll be Alberta bound when visiting our friends Oli & Saartje in Cochrane, Alberta in a month and a half, so it seemed like the perfect song :)

On Thursday we’ll be at the Ladies Half-Pipe snowboarding event on Cypress Mountain, which we’re both very much looking forward to and this weekend we’ll spend the whole weekend in Whistler with friends experiencing the Olympic atmosphere over there. It’s going be a great week!

I know I haven’t posted a lot of pictures lately and I’ll try to pick that up again once I get some more spare time.
This picture was taken a couple of weeks ago in Callaghan Valley in Whistler which is right next to the Olympic Nordic sports center where the Ski jumping, Biathlon and Ski Cross events take place.

Alexander Falls, Callaghan Valley

Alexander Falls, Callaghan Valley

May 8

Good thing Kris has kept you guys and girls company!

I’ve been away for a couple of days (for work), and I also had to work on weekends. Well not every weekend but I have been quite busy lately.

The trip to Alberta was pretty cool! It was a nice opportunity to meet some new people, to visit Edmonton and Calgary and to visit Olivier and Saar.

The cool thing about Edmonton was definitely the biggest mall in the world: West Ed Mall.
IMPRESSIVE! They have a golf course, water park, skating rink, pirate ship, roller coaster, … You name it, they’ve got it.
Basically: you could get lost, big time!

Besides that they also have an amazing amount of shops (of course). The best thing about all of this: taxes are less in Edmonton, so I actually had an excuse to shop!

After a couple of days in Edmonton, I drove to Calgary. The drive itself was pretty boring because prairie is pretty much the only thing you see.

In Calgary I had my first Red Lobster lunch (finally after all these months of waiting!). It was worth the wait though!

And besides all the fun things I had to work too of course. But it wasn’t bad at all, and even though it was work, I had a wonderful time out there!

It was good to be back home though! I’ve missed my three men! And I think Kris missed me too (he had to take care of everything, and get up early to take out the dog).

So good to back in BC. We are expecting some visitors next week, so it’s going to be busy again. We also have a long weekend coming up so we might end up going somewhere. Maybe Harrison Hot Springs, we’re no sure yet.

I do have some pictures of the mall, but they are taken with my mobile, and not really worth a lot… But anyway:


Galaxyland
Galaxyland

Small_coaster
Small roller coaster

humpback
Humpback whale

golf
Golf course

pirate
Pirate ship

lions
Sea lions area

ice
Skating rink

Ooh and we also got our patio furniture. Grizzly likes it, that’s for sure!


imag0315

Jan 9

Maybe a more appropriate blog topic would be: “10 photos I made in 2008 of which I’m most happy and for which I’m looking for an excuse to post them again…” but that would be too long, so let’s go for the Top 10 one :)


10. Rain over Lake Annette – Jasper N.P.


Rain over Lake Annette - Jasper N.P.

9. Swiftcurrent lake, Glacier N.P.


Swiftcurrent lake, Glacier N.P.

8. Berkeley Pit, Butte


Berkeley Pit, Butte, Montana

7. Venice, Las Vegas


Venice, Las Vegas

6. Vancouver Panorama


Vancouver Panorama

5. Hot spring, Yellowstone N.P.


Hot spring, Yellowstone N.P.

4. Peyto Lake Panorama


Peyto Lake Panorama

3. Victoria Government Parliament building


Victoria Government Parliament building

2. Dead Tree in Mammoth Hot Springs, Yellowstone N.P.


Dead Tree in Mammoth Hot Springs, Yellowstone N.P.

1. The Wave, Arizona


The Wave, Arizona
Nov 2

I know that some of you guys aren’t really interested in bear stories, so maybe this post is not for those readers (just to warn you guys:)).

I just finished reading a book which is called “The black grizzly of Whiskey Creek”. Why am I so eager to write something about it? Well there are several reasons.

First of all, Whiskey Creek is situated in Banff. Banff is a place we have visited in June. So we know where the story took place.

Second reason, I’m very intrigued by bear stories, bear habits, …

And the last reason: while reading some chapters, my heart was pounding and my adrenalin was coursing because sometimes it got really tense.

Sid Marty, the author, was an ex warden and he was there when everything happened. I don’t have the intention to tell you guys the whole story but at least I will tell you what the book is about.

Back in the 1980s there were a lot of problems with bears going to garbage dumps and feed on it. Wardens were pretty busy with trying to handle the situation. But besides that, everything else in Banff was going like it always was.

One day in August, 2 friends where going to the Whiskey Creek meadows to go fishing. Suddenly out of nowhere, a bear was charging them. The bear terrible mauled one of the guys… The wardens closed down the area and started a big search action for the bear. But they didn’t really know what they where searching for. Was it a grizzly or a black bear? Every lead was pointing in a different direction. After a few days they shot a bear of which they thought was the killer.

Apparently they did not capture the right one, because a few days later a second mauling was reported. So again, they used everything in their power to capture the bear. But a third mauling appeared. It was a 19 year old guy who was attacked. He was critically wounded. His scalp was torn from his head, he was bitten in the arm,… Why am I mentioning this? Well, although the guy wasn’t sure that the bear had left the mauling site, he went to a nearby pond to wash out his wounds and clear his head. He saw how badly he was wounded in the reflections of the water. Still he managed to think straight, start walking and try to find help.

I think it’s so weird that even when you head is that badly wounded, your brain is telling you to keep on fighting and to move on. If you think about a situation like that, a normal reaction would be to loose consciousness (not only because you saw the wound and part of your skull, but also because the loss of blood…). But it’s like your brain knows that if you go in a state of unconsciousness you will probably die…

After the third mauling, a lot of sleepless nights and a lot of hard working people, they succeeded in catching the black grizzly. It appeared to be the largest grizzly ever seen in Banff National Park and like I said, it was a grizzly instead of a black bear.

I can definitely recommend this book to anyone who is interested in bears and who likes to find out more about how everything works in national parks.

The authors website

Aug 8

Just a quick Friday afternoon post before the start of the weekend.
Lake Louise is a lake in Alberta, Canada. The glacial lake is located in Banff National Park of which the eastern shore of the lake is dominated by Chateau Lake Louise, one of Canada’s grand railway hotels, a luxury resort hotel built in the early decades of the 20th century by the Canadian Pacific Railway. This hotel is now owned by the Fairmont hotel group.

Lake Louise
Lake Louise | Location on map

Lake Louise
Lake Louise | Location on map

As you can see on the pictures, the weather wasn’t too great, spoiling the reflections on the lake…

[Ine]: I would like to add something. Just to make it a bit more exciting :) .

A few weeks ago, a girl from Antwerp (who’s living in Canada) was mauled there by a black bear. She was jogging not far from the lake, and she wasn’t carrying bear spray. Lately I’ve read a lot of stories about people being mauled by bears. I think it’s mainly because the bear’s hibernation is over. But since bear stories are a topicality, I’ll try to write something, in the near future, about the things I’ve discovered about bears.

Jul 31

The Banff Marsh Trail is a 0.5 km boardwalk trail starting at the Cave & Basin site which leads downhill into a nearby marsh next to the Bow River. It brings you close to nature and wildlife within minutes of downtown Banff. Apparently this is one of the few places in the park where you can see the completely harmless garter snake, but alas.. no luck for me so you’ll have to settle with a picture of the marsh itself.


Banff Cave & Basin Marsh
Banff Cave & Basin Marsh | Location on map

The trail offers excellent views of Mount Norquay, which is home to one of the many ski resorts in the area, Ski Norquay.


Mount Norquay
Mount Norquay | Location on map

Jul 30

Of course (since we have a photo addict among us) we are far from finished with our pictures from our trip to Canada and the US, so here are a few more.

The pictures in this post show Cave and Basin National Historic Site of Canada. It commemorates the birthplace of Canada’s National Park system, which began here in 1885. Naturally occurring, warm mineral springs can be found inside the cave, and outside in an emerald coloured basin.


Banff Cave and Basin
Banff Cave and Basin | Location on Map

Actually we had planned to go to Banff Upper Hot Springs, but since we didn’t had the time to sit in a hot spring and relax for a while (we made that up in Vegas, so don’t worry, more about that soon) we visited the Cave and Basin.

Tourists flocked to Banff in the early 19th century to restore themselves in the natural hot springs
waters at the Cave and Basin site. Nowadays it’s not allowed anymore, to use the springs as a swimming pool. People don’t really mind because they can go to the Upper Hot Springs.


Banff Cave and Basin
Banff Cave and Basin | Location on Map

Like I said, it’s breathtaking, but not only in the positive sense of the word. Inhaling the smell of the sulphur vapours, is really disgusting. Boy, was I happy to leave this historic site… (I had to inhale the smell again while visiting Yellowstone National Park, but it wasn’t that bad, the black and grizzly bears made it all worth it:) ).

Jul 28

Peyto Lake is another glacier-fed lake located in Banff National Park in the Canadian Rockies.

Before the melting of the glaciers which starts early June, the lake is dark blue. During the summer, meltwater flows into the lake which is loaded with finely ground particles of rock debris known as rock flour. These particles reflect the blue-green sector of the light spectrum resulting in the unique turquoise color of the lake.

If you look at the left side of the lake, you can see where the glacier used to be a couple of hundreds of years ago. Today, the glacier is so far retreated (losing 70% of its mass since it was first researched) that you can barely see the glacier to the far left of the picture.

Peyto Lake Panorama
Peyto Lake Panorama | Location on map

Jul 24

Sunwapta Falls is a waterfall of the Sunwapta River located in Jasper National Park, Canada. The water originates from the Athabasca Glacier, and volumes are higher in early summer, caused by glacial meltdown. Sunwapta means “turbulent river” in the Stoney Indian language, which is a Siouan language of the Northern Plains.


Sunwapta Falls
Sunwapta Falls

Photo freaks only: This picture of the falls was taken with a ND-3 filter and a Circular Polarizer stacked together resulting in -5 stops. This allowed me to take a picture of the falls with a shutter speed of 0.8 seconds at f/22.

Jul 23

As soon as we were in the middle of the trail loop around Lake Annette, an upcoming rain shower forced us to move a bit faster making us reach the car right when the rain started to pour down. I did find the time to stop for this picture, but as you can see compared to the previous picture, the wind already started to kick in, eliminating the reflections on the water. Except for the rain we had in Vancouver we were actually very lucky with the weather we had during our trip.

Rain over Lake Annette - Jasper N.P.
Rain over Lake Annette – Jasper N.P. | Location on map

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