Here it is – the second week in October and over two months since I’ve posted anything. What is it they say? “Time flies when you’re having fun” . Let me see – what have we been doing . . .
The rest of the summer weather did co-operate. So this years we managed to visit my favourite National Park (Waterton/Glacier) a couple of times. First I went up with Diane (a gal I met in the line at a local grocery store last year who used to work in Waterton-another story) then Fred and I went up after the tourist rush was over. By gosh, he takes fantastic photos.
Waterton Lakes looking towards the USA
The Village of Waterton
Prince of Wales Hotel that overlooks the Lake
Waterton was our Go-to place while I was growing up. I went to the YMCA Summer Camp there; many of our friends’ families had cottages there; and we often went cross-country skiing in Red Rock Canyon – so it does have special significance for me. Like everyplace Waterton is far busier than I ever remember it but still offers spectacular scenery.
Cameron Falls is right in the town of Waterton
There is still snow around Cameron Lake in July
With Diane as my guide and teacher, I managed to get some wonderful photos of the wildflowers and even learn their names. Mind you, Diane knows the scientific names but these were good enough for me and heaven knows how long I’ll remember them anyway. I loved what Sheila said “We can learn them all over again next year. That way, we’re always learning new things.”
I put them into a special BLOG - firstep Wildflowers – with all the wildflower photos from the Yukon and Waterton to keep all together.
And then, of course there was the Stellar Jay begging some of our lunch.
My Buttons are Popping!
My writing has been coming along – and I did get this email from the editor of one of the magazines I write for:
Top ten Snowbirding 101 articles visited in the last 12 months. (Sept 2011-Sept 2012. Time spent on each article in brackets)
- rving across the border (3:39)
- feeling down in the dumps (4:29)
- going solar harnessing the power of the sun (4:25)
- rv park etiquette (3:26)
- the ins and outs of rv clubs (3:33)
- the vast desert marketplace of Quartzsite (3:53)
- the same only different (3:30)
- the wonderful world of e-readers (3:50)
- show me the money (4:08)
- its time for snowbirds to fly home (3:06)
In total Snowbirding 101 received over 7,000 unique page views last year! That is the highest of all our columns. Well done Lynne.
Birds of Prey Refuge Centre
The Centre is about 5 miles east of here and one on those places I just never got around to visiting, so this year it happened.
The Centre works with injured or abandoned birds. When they’re well or large enough they are release them back into the wild unless they are so badly injured that they would not survive. They do breed burrowing owls because they are an endangered species.
Baby Burrowing Owl
These are both Bald Eagles – it can take up to 7 years for the Eagle to develop its while head.
The staff work with the birds to demonstrate their power and agility
The Ferruginous Hawk – the largest hawk in the world. This one feed mainly of gophers.
Of course, our next big challenge was to plan our Winter Venture. Originally we wanted to head down to Louisiana and leave here the first of October. A long trip but places we had never been or have not been for over a dozen years – yeh – that sounds like fun!
Then life got in the way. First there was the hurricane, Isaac, that hit around where we wanted to visit – around Lafayette and the wildlife refuge near Lake Charles - and then Fred had a medical incident that turned out okay but took time. Consequently we put off leaving – that is activating the Medical Travel Insurance – until October 20th and our travel plans keep on changing. The only thing that seems consistent is that we will visit New Mexico but not in time for the Albuquerque Balloon Festival.
Back to work!!
We’ll catch up with you somewhere on the road.
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