Sunday, August 27, 2006

Good Morning Life!

What fantastic fresh air we've got out here in the mountains. It's another beautiful morning and we've got a whole day of exploring and hiking ahead of us. Unfortunately, we've also got a pile of laundry to wash and a very disorganized car. Timmy spearheaded the latter... Disorganization ruled the car. Opening a door made me fair game for a shower of pillows, dirty clothes, birdseed and various technological equipments. Near the bottom, lurked my razor. Now would be the appropriate time to share a proverb, related by Jenny (Laura's bridesmaid). "[Facial hair means] no kisses..." Cleaning was an imperative labor of love. Equipment was shoveled from the car, organized and repacked with great care. Objective accomplished. *smooch* After this lengthy cleaning ordeal, we were able to hit the most popular trail in the park a few seconds before noon. It was a brave thing to do, since (as previously mentioned) bears seemed to be more prolific than hikers in this area. Apparently "beary" season was in full swing. Tim took the opportunity to tell a "dirty" joke - "How do you tell the difference between grizzly bear and black bear scat? --You'll notice the bear bells and awful stench of pepper spray."Ha ha. The ranger told us to be sure to call out loudly every so often, so we wouldn't startle any grizzlies, so Laura spent the entire hike calling out "Oreo" in her best singing voice. Tim, of course thinking this quite wimpish would reply with various two-syllable phrases, engendering the lack of wilderness atmosphere such as "gift shop", "Walmart" or "Starbucks"! Needless to say, we managed to survive the 11.2 km trek through the canyon and up into the alpine zone, with minimal damage. Wet weather and stinky hot springs quickly depleted our supply of dry towels and sweet-smelling clothes. This necessitated, A TRIP TO TOWN! This town is not known for laundromats. Asians must not sweat or play in the rain. After dilligent searching, we found one, in of all places, the mall. The low price of $6.00/load washed our clothes. Hunger was gripping both of us after the laundry experience, so we visiting the local Safeway and found some seriously wonderful foods. Not just anywhere can a person buy Cheemo perogies, dill doritoes, and "Freddie and Eddie" Shreddies! Tim had his doubts, but Laura wasn't working too hard to convince him - "more for me!!" Add in some hummus and veggie dogs smoked over the lovely campfire (that Tim so proudly constructed) and it was quite an evening meal. We belong to the 95%! All of the cars stopped in the road reinforced Tim's belief that Canadians are crazy. We slallomed through a few before noticing all eyes looking in the woods. There was a GRIZZLY BEAR! Due to technical difficulties, we have a lovely picture of his posterior.

2 comments:

  1. Hi Tim & Laura,

    Looks like you enjoyed a hike through Johnston Canyon. This is an incredibly popular trail due to the lovely water falls. You must have continued beyond the water falls, because the picture of Tim was taken at the Ink Pots.

    Thanks for sharing your adventure with us. It's fun to track your progress and guess where you might travel next.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I see you made it to the Ink Pots? Quite nice up there, isn't it?

    yummy - that's a delicious looking plate of perogies - well deserved for a tired out hiker!

    Yep, isn't it weird how those cars stop for no reason!

    What next? Even the laundromats in Banff are capitalizing on the rich tourist trade! Guess you could do it Philipino-style, Laura! Just kidding! Sorry it's been kind of wet there for ya.

    ReplyDelete