I'm back

I made it back from my winter excursion to Canada. Fortunately, the super cold weather was easing up by the time I left Saskatoon on Tuesday. Weatherwise, the trip was mostly clear sailing.

I had a good visit (other than the bitter cold) with my Mom for a week in Edmonton, and then a couple of days in Saskatoon with Martha and Allan. And of course, no trip to Saskatoon would be complete without filling a cooler with my favorite Mennonite sausage!

As it turned out, we didn't do any skiing on the way back, but we did some touristy stuff nonetheless. We visited Lake Louise for lunch, and while there took in the ice sculpture competition. It seems the world-wide market crash has hit the tourist industry. Banff seemed pretty much dead, and there wasn't much action around Lake Louise.
















I hope the economy doesn't totally melt down like these ice sculptures inevitably will.












We went to Kamloops and checked out the resort at Twin Peaks. It looks like a great development - a year round resort with skiing and golf, but gorgeous as it was, I don't think I'd want to be invested in a new resort with the economy the way it is. The big news in Canada was the new budget, complete with a $34 billion deficit - the first budget deficit in Canada in 12 years. Comparatively speaking the Canadian deficit is far smaller than that of the US, but still huge by Canadian standards.

While in the Kamloops area, we visited one of my favorite unknown places - Helmcken Falls. Not even most Canadians are aware of this spectacular waterfall. It has a vertical drop of 463' making it the fourth highest falls in Canada. I had been there in the summer before, but this was the first winter trip.

We took the scenic route along the Trans Canada Highway from Kamloops, visiting my old railway stomping grounds in the Thompson and Fraser Canyons.

It was a good trip, but as usual, it's good to be back home.