Indian Summer

Fantastic weather lately! ("Indian Summer")

Late September is THE time to visit Canada. Just look at these colours! (Picture from Calgary, followed by today's hike to Galatea Lakes.)

Note the reflection in the water. 

P.S. Thanks to an exceptional salmon catch in Vancouver, I could get my hands on a fresh wild sockeye salmon. Unbelievable taste, surreal texture (very much like scallop / St-Jacobsschelp), and very different from the wild salmon we have in Belgium. I told a friend to taste it. "No thanks, I hate fish." After insisting: "Mmm! Can I have more?"

Drumheller

Quick update from my trip to Drumheller. The dinosaur museum was awesome. It must be THE most impressive collection on this planet. As it turns out, Alberta is one big dinosaur graveyard. If you study paleontology, get your ass over here and start digging! Chances are you won't even have to dig, the stuff is everywhere! Much of the material in museums around the world (London, New York, ...) comes from here. This must be the first time ever that I've taken more than a few pictures in a museum.

Pictures 1 and 2 are T-Rex-alike species, 3 and 4 is Mister T-Rex himself:

We also drove around in the area, which is mostly badlands, but with great views from the top of the hills (see pictures). The rough skies were a great match for the landscape. We also saw pump jacks (which pump for oil). Click on the third picture to see gas being "flared off" (burning). 


From the road we could smell (deadly) sour gas (H2S) from the oil wells. While this is not unusual, the concentration was high enough for both of us to get 'car sick' (nausea, slight headache). The cause was definitely not the car. First thing I did when I got home? Reach for my course book and check the H2S symptoms table. Apparently our symptoms indicated a borderline (un)safe H2S concentration. One step higher in concentration causes "loss of breathing, death within hours" - seems like we missed that! Hello Albertians?! Poison gas is blowing around your public roads!

Waterton

I'm accompanying Davy, a cop from Ghent who's on holiday here. I ask if he knows a friend of mine from high school who went on to become a cop as well. He does: "Ah, de rosten!!" ("Ah, the redhead!").

Today's destination: Waterton National Park, on the border with the US. The 300km drive to it alone is worth the trip: 

By the time we've gotten to the park, we've pulled over countless times to look around us and take pictures. I thought I took a lot of pictures (50-100 per day, which equals 2,000 on a 1-month vacation), but this guy averages 8,000 on a 1-month vacation.

Finally we arrive in the park. Look at those clouds!

At the end of this lake (Cameron Lake) is the US border, where Waterton changes into Glacier National Park. Another thing on my places-to-visit list! By the way, 500km further South is Yellowstone, also on my wish list, together with Alaska, and the many places closer to home (Banff, Jasper, Lake Louise, Fort McMurray, BC).

A great thing of living abroad is you can do cool stuff like this every weekend. We have another (small) trip planned next Wednesday. Check back next weekend!

Moose Mountain

Amazing weather! Geert (another Fleming here) and I went to hike to the top of Moose Mountain, 2400m. We came by car, Geert's car, a red Mustang convertible, so the day started good :-)

Then came the hike. Some fresh snow along the way.  

From the top we could see Calgary, 60km away, in the middle of the plains - which go on for 4000km all the way to the East Coast! For some reason it doesn't show in the picture below though, so you'll just have to imagine Calgary's downtown towers somewhere in the plains:

Right ahead, our destination, the top:

The snow is fresh. Half an hour later we're at the top:

Looking at the mountains around us, the travel bug bites... hard!

Click to enlarge the next picture:

Back to school

I just finished 3 days of training. Now I have my First Aid and H2S (the deadly gas ;-) certificates, which is the minimum you need to work "in the oil patch". The lessons themselves weren't easy, and I had trouble staying concentrated all day - either I'm not used to classes anymore, or it's just the effect of a few short nights. The test/examination was a joke though, so I got my tickets!