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17-01-2010

Today I did the grocery shopping. That is all.

Since you're all such nags...

Here's an update:

I've been working at Earl's about one shift a week - which sucks. But it's just not busy here at the moment. And at least I'm getting some work. My friend Katie got her only shift for the week canceled last week.

During the day I sleep in (like being on holidays) and then I read and watch tv shows online. It takes forever to load so I can normally get a chapter of a book in between watching snippets of tv. There isn't much snow at the moment. The days have been too warm so the streets of Banff have turned to mush. On Sunday night I walked all the way through town and actually broke into a sweat because it was so warm- About 2 degrees C. There hasn't been fresh snowfall for about a week now. Not sure when the next fall is forecast for.

And as exciting as that all is, that's my life for the moment. I'm having dinner at a friends place tonight then I think we might be going to see a movie. Tonight is Katie and Axel's last night before they leave for Vancouver (and then to Africa the lucky ducks) so I promised them I'd see them off as well. 

They're all my plans until work friday night.

But here's a pic to keep you interested :

 

Sitting on a park bench.

 

Love xx

I completely forgot!

I know it's super delayed, but i just remember one of the most amazing things that we did whilst on the moose tour. Although, technically not part of the itinerary, on our free day in Banff me and a few of the girls decided to go dog sledding. We called up Snowy Owl Dog Sledding who run out of Canmore (about 30mins down the highway from Banff) and booked ourselves in for a tour the next day.

We were picked up bright and early from the SameSun hostel. In the van with us was a beautiful Husky which only got all of us the more excited and worked up. It was quite a bumpy ride to the sledding site, but well worth it when we saw all the dogs lined up ready to go. They were all so excited and so were we. After a brief tutorial we were assigned to sleds and guides and a team of 8 dogs. Some big, some small, but all extremely beautiful and friendly. I started out IN the sled (as opposed to driving the sled) which was so cosy. The dogs all began barking and howling and were just pulling to start running. All these dogs are bred at Snowy Owl and they're raised to run. If a dog doesn't enjoy running or isn't up to the task, it is adopted out to a good home. They're fed twice a day, and groomed daily. With over 120 dogs at the kennels you can imagine how long this process takes.

So we were off and running. All up the tour takes about an hour, and the driver and the person in the sled swap half-way. It was so exhilarating, although from the video you can't really tell. It's a bit frightening when the dogs take off down hill. They're all so happy and excited, you can't help but smile. Of course, we help the dogs out a little by yelling encouragement and running alongside the sled on up hills so they don't have to pull dead weight. If you ever get the opportunity to go sledding, by all means DO IT!!!!

Our sled on the go.

Our Dogs, Sled and Cameron.

After our ride, we patted and thanked the dogs, then sat around a campfire drinking hot apple cider and eating delicious cookies. The guide on my sled, Cameron (i think his name was), came and chatted with us and fed some cookie to the birds who happily flew out of the trees into his hand to get it. Absolutely amazing.

The Bird Cameron was Feeding.

Group Shot by The Fire (L-R): Me, Linda, Nicola, Lauren, Rachel.

Given the chance, I would do it all again in a heartbeat.

The Van.

Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year

Sorry it's taken me so long to post again. It's been hard only having internet access on my mobile. But now my laptop has arrived so I have no excuses for not keeping you more up to date.

Okay, so last post I'd just gotten back to Banff. I've now been here for about a month. Wow, time flys.

I'm living in a unit with 3 other people; AJ, Kate and Becky. AJ and Kate are from the U.K and Becky is local. The unit (or condo as it's called here) is quite new and very nice. My room is small and pretty much in the basement so it's cold but I don't mind too much. Everyone sticks to themselves; I barely ever see Becky unless she's coming or going, all the other times she's in her room upstairs. AJ and Kate are both ski instructors so work most days leaving about 7.30am and coming home about 4.30pm, which happens to be when I'm usually leaving for work.

Our condo at dusk.

I'm working now in a restaurant called Earl's. I'm a setter meaning I clean off the dirty tables and reset them for the next customers. We'd been pretty busy over the last two weeks but apparently business goes into a bit of a lull now for a week or so making work hours pretty few and far between. Good thing I've gotten used to living on a backpackers budget. The staff there are all really nice though so hopefully I'll be able to stay working for a fair while.

 

Street Level View of Earl's Restaurant.

I don't know if I mentioned last time but I had a snowboarding accident a couple weeks ago. I had a pretty bad fall on a black run and bruised my tailbone and smashed the back of my head. Ski patrol made me go to hospital and all that crap. It sucked but I guess it could have been worse. I'm still not allowed to go back on the slopes in danger of furthering my injury (which only occasionally hurts now). I suppose it saves me money though.

Um, what else is there? I can't remember what else I wanted to write right now but if I think of it I'll update.

Love xx