Thanksgiving in SF

As most of you know, I was invited for Thanksgiving by family in ... San Francisco! It was good to see them back after over 2 years. It was a week of outdoor trips and delicious dining. Once back in Calgary, I had constant cravings for (similarly) tasty food. It's finally over now - after there were no more snacks left in my cupboard!

Guys, thanks for the wonderful time, and see you back soon!

In contrast, Calgary doesn't look very inviting, does it? But guess what happens in the following days...

Winter's here!

I just changed the title from 'Hell breaks loose', which was a little too dramatic. ;-) But hey, I was doing groceries yesterday night, in the snow and the cold, and it was no fun.

Yesterday's warm and sunny weather changed into cold and snow, and it will continue all week, with temperatures around -12°C. So Winter's here, the brown prairies have turned white, and this place will never be the same again...

...at least until April next year. Glad I snatched those hikes last weekend!

It's -10°C tonight, I'm walking to the barber, and the moist, windy cold bites into my face and hands. The snowy city is beautiful, and for reminds me of "Home Alone" (the movie) for some reason. Only christmas music is missing (oh yeah, they had it at Sears yesterday night).

By the way, I live in the dark building on the right of the Calgary Tower (in the picture above).

Grotto Canyon

Today was a leisurely drive with Benjamin, along scenic highway 1A, to Canmore. We hiked through Grotto Canyon, which has a creek inside (frozen!) and ancient Indian drawings (they were small and I have no pictures of them).

This is what this region looks like in November 2010 (in other years, you'd see a lot more white ... snow!).

I was in good company:
Meanwhile the weather has become Summer-like, and we're in the canyon:


PS: also check back to my other November posts, which are either new or updated!

Cory Pass

Before this country gets all white and snowy, I'm not letting any hiking opportunity pass. On Saturday I went to Cory Pass with the Outdoor Club, on Sunday I went with Benjamin to Canmore. This post is about Cory:
Look at the breath of the land here! And realize this can't be caught in a picture. It's like this wherever you look.

On to the pass:

Quite an adventure for me to be high up in the snow! Had to put cleats under my boots to have grip on the snow and ice.

Wabasca

First day on the job with a small company to put anti-leakage around oil installations. We drove the entire day through the brown, brown, brown prairies of Alberta, to Wabasca, a bit southeast of Fort McMurray. We're almost 1000km north of Calgary, and with Winter hour enacted yesterday, we were driving in the dark at 5PM! There's snow, and I saw the contours of the facilities, but it's too dark to see much - we'll have to wait till tomorrow. I'm now in a work camp - pretty cool! Ta ta for now because I have to get up at 5:30 tomorrow.

Update: -15°C this morning. Remember, we're far up North. 

The work is hard and dirty, but I love it! I'm really fortunate to work here:

I actually made that last (oops, unshaven!) picture to put on my resume (fake it till you make it!), but then I remembered you can't do that here (no personal info whatsoever because companies don't want to get sued for discrimination). 

By the way, don't expect too many pictures from oil sites like this one. Usually pictures are not allowed. A good thing I was persistent here...

So you all wanted to know what exactly we're doing here? We're building & spraying a surface below the huge oil tank, to catch any oil that may leak from valves...

Below is the camp we live in, 8.5km from the work site. The red building on the left is a noisy electricity generator. You may not say so, but the camp is comfortable and the food is nothing short of amazing - I've been trying out all the different dishes, which prompted my boss to say "okay let's go...well, when 'The Stomach' is ready". I guess that's me :-) 

Nihahi Ridge

Hike with the Outdoor Club. Stunning views that remind me of Yosemite. Too bad we didn't make it to the top. Nevertheless, one of my favorite hikes so far!

That's all from me folks! ;-)