A Frog in BC: July 2005

Busy Saturday

This is why our Sunday is very low-key :-) We had such a busy day yesterday! Tucker and I spent three hours hiking the Mount Seymour trail (up to First Pump, we didn't make it to the peak). The view from First Pump is unbelievable. Especially on a clear day like yesterday. This was a nice change from the Grouse Grind, where the entire trail is covered and busy.

After our hike, we were meeting Lara, Charles and Gerri at Bridges, on Granville Island, to celebrate Lara's birthday. We had a wonderful meal, filled with laughs and stories. Then, we headed out to meet more friends at Sherri's place on Cornwall (close by the water in Kitsilano), to watch the fireworks. We arrived a bit late, but managed to see most of the show from the street. Last night was Sweden and they outdid Wednesday's show by Canada. They could create shapes that I have never seen, planets, cloverleaves, butterflies. Very impressive. Once the fireworks were over, we hung around Sherri's place for a little while. What a day!

On the way up Mount Seymour trail

Hmmm... Do you think the raven likes trail mix?

Made it to the top!

Big smiles for Gerri and Lara

Tucker and Charles are being goofs!

Lara, Charles and Melissa at Bridges

First week done... and full of promises

Starting a new job is always a bit unnerving, but my first week went well. My colleagues are really nice, the office is a great working environment, and the short bus ride downtown means I get to sleep a bit longer in the morning. A lot of projects are in the pipeline, it looks really promising.

This is a long weekend in BC, as we have a Civic Holiday on Monday. As the rest of the city is escaping and crowding the roads, Tucker and I have decided to stay in town. Tomorrow is Lara's birthday so we are having dinner at Bridges, on Granville Island. Then, we are going to a friend's place to watch the fireworks. We might do the Grind, or at least a bit of hiking somewhere on the North Shore. And we'll enjoy the time off. Starting in September, both Tucker and I are likely going back to school, Tucker to start courses to help his enrollment in a bachelor's degree and myself, to complete some preparation courses for the MBA. I will probably know next week if I am accepted (conditionally) at SFU, in the Management of Technology MBA.

Happy weekend everyone!

Goodbye Matisse (1990-2005)

I'm very happy that we had a chance to see each other during my recent trip to Montreal. I will miss you a lot.

Matisse at the cabin this summer

Happy anniversary!

Happy 30th wedding anniversary, mom and dad! You are the stability in my life and always the source of comfort and love. I can't imagine having better parents :-)

More camping stories

Because the next few weekends are not going to be very good for camping, Tucker and I decided to take advantage of the nice weather and take off. We left Saturday morning and headed to Manning Park. Normally, we avoid Provincial Parks, as they are super busy in the summer and quite noisy. However, I told Tucker I wanted to camp somewhere close to a few hiking trails, to work-out my walking legs a bit in preparation for the 60km walk I'm doing a month from now.

Manning Park is located about three hours east of Vancouver. When we arrived on Saturday afternoon, the main campground at Lightening Lake was already full (apparently, you have to reserve two weeks in advance to get a spot). That's 143 campsites completely booked... It was busy. We kept on driving to other camping areas and found a spot at the Mule Deer Campground. Now, this wasn't the wilderness camping we were used to, they had toilets that flushed, the highway was right beside the campsite (Highway 3 goes through Manning Park) and it was very exposed. This would have to do. We set up camp, made lunch and then headed back to the Lightening Lake day area to explore the trails.

Hiking around Lightening Lake is not hard, there is hardly any elevation and the trail is well-maintained. We were pleasantly walking under cover, protected by the lush forest of pine trees. Unfortunately, this also allowed us to see first hand some of the pine-tree beetle infestation the region has to deal with. Many trees were brown, twisted, clearly sick or already dead. Going around the lake took us a few hours and when we headed back to the campsite, we were nicely hungry.

We had chicken braised with cherry tomato and Parmesan pasta for dinner, with wine for me and beer for Tucker. We started a fire and had marshmallows afterwards. When the sun disappeared, the weather quickly turned to cold, it wasn't very long before we snuggled into our sleeping bags. We slept very well, hardly bothered by the occasional car or truck driving by.

This morning, we packed the campsite and returned to Lightening Lake. During our first visit, we noticed that you could rent kayaks for $15/hour, and we thought this would be a lovely end to the weekend. We rented a double kayak and paddled around the lake, checking out the scenery, the ducks, enjoying the calmer day. We then had lunch in the park next to the lake, watching little kids running after ground squirrels. We drove back feeling rested, relaxed.

Tomorrow is the first day at my new job. I've been going through a lot of changes recently and I'm looking forward to the new job not being so new anymore ;)

The failure of humanity

I just finished reading Shake Hands with the Devil, by LGen Roméo Dallaire. This is a hard book to read, but I do recommend it. It took me a while to pick it up, but I don't regret reading it. General Dallaire retells the horrific UN mission in Rwanda, during the 1993-1994 genocide. I was impressed by the amount of details he kept, probably in a personal journal. You read Shake Hands with the Devil and cannot help feel disgusted about what happened to this little African country. But also, you cannot help admire the man who stuck by his mission, even if it was a failure from the very beginning (lack of funds, lack of armed personnel, not allowed to intervene). This story is also about his immense courage and determination.

Scenes from my weekend back East and time well-spent at the Lac MacDonald chalet

It was a last-minute decision to book a flight to Montreal and visit the family, but the trip was well worth it. I arrived last Friday, early in the morning. We waited for Monique and Alphonse to join us for lunch and drove up to Lost River in the afternoon. Saturday was a beautiful sunny day, Annie, Marc-Antoine and Marc-André came to join us. We spent lots of time in the water, either drifting around on oval floater chairs or paddling in the new kayak. It was great to have three generations of Saumiers having dinner together on the new deck dad just finished.

Sunday was a bit cloudy and rainy, so everyone did some reading and relaxing. Only mom, dad and myself were staying until Monday. We drove back to Montreal only to discover that it was really hot and humid in town. I was invited to a BBQ with old friends Monday night, did some shopping (early b-day presents) with dad on Tuesday and more shopping on Wednesday, when I was scheduled to fly back to Vancouver.

I had forgotten about the heat waves. I mean, you hear about them on the West Coast, but we never get 30+ temperatures that feel like 40 degrees in Vancouver. I don't think I can get used to it anymore. The visit was nevertheless quite precious, a chance to see family and friends and say goodbye to Matisse, our dog. He's too old and in bad shape, I know he's not going to make it to Christmas.

The chalet viewed from the road

Mom and dad on the new deck

Dad decided he was too hot to paddle to the shore :-)

Misty lake in the morning

Sun going down over the lake

Three generations of Saumiers together at Lac MacDonald

Mud and mosquitoes (or camping in B.C.)

Actually, the weekend turned out quite nice, but it didn't start this way. The weather has not been really warm or sunny so far and we took a bit of a chance when we decided to go camping.

Our first choice for a campsite was the one next to Alexander Falls. The falls are amazing but the campsite was disappointing. It was also right next to a logging crew burning tree stumps. It was very smoky. So, we decided instead to continue another 8 km on the forest service road (FSR) all the way to Callaghan Lake. The road was rough and muddy, but we had a beast to face up to the challenge: a big Durango! We arrived at Callaghan Lake for another disappointment. While it was a mix of sun and clouds on Highway 99, it was very cloudy and rainy at the Lake, 8 degrees Celsius, and very buggy. We knew that the temperature was going to drop during the night, probably to the freezing point. That's not good camping weather.

So, we headed back down the FSR. We needed another action plan, somewhere easy to reach because it was already mid-afternoon. Fortunately, we found the Cal-Chek campsites, with three camping areas around the meeting point of the Callaghan and Chekamus rivers. We chose one of the sites where we could be close to the Chekamus river. We arrived to 15-degree weather and a mix of sun and clouds. That was going to be our spot for the weekend. And it ended up being quite pleasant. We set up camp, did some reading, started a campfire and had hotdogs and pasta. We slept well, the noise of the river drowning everything else. The campsite was empty except for another couple of cars.

On the way back, we stopped to check out the Brandywine Falls. We always drive by them on the way to Whistler but never really stop.

Alexander Falls... the falls were nice, the campsite, not

The effect of wet and muddy forest service roads

Our home for the weekend

Our campsite was only a few feet away from the Chekamus river

The Chekamus river

Brandywine falls, South of Whistler

View from the Sea-to-Sky highway, North of Squamish

I love long weekends!

This one was no exception. It started out with a day of volunteering at the Yaletown Grand Prix, an annual bike race hosted in the city. I was asked to help out with the Cops for Cancer booth, where we were selling wristbands, t-shirts, pins, hamburgers and raffle tickets to help raise money for this year's Tour de Coast. You can learn more about Cops for Cancer here.

Friday evening was a relaxing day at home, as I was a bit cold after spending the entire day outside where it was cool and rainy. The event was a success and the bikers, quite brave if you ask me. It must take quite the skills to race bikes on city streets surrounded by other racers going quite fast and riding only a few inches from each other.

Saturday was another day spent outside, except that this time, it was a pleasure outing at Stanley Park. Actually, I needed to get some kilometers into my walking shoes in preparation for The Weekend to End Breast Cancer and Tucker was nice enough to come along. It was a beautiful day, a bit windy but sunny. We ended our walk with some well-deserved ice cream and brought back some yummy dinner to prepare on the BBQ (I prepared, Tucker cooked).

Today, we woke up and turned on the TV to watch the Formula 1 race in France. Then, we picked up Lara and Charles and headed out to the North Shore to climb Grouse Mountain. This was Lara and Charles' first attempt at the Grind and they did wonderfully well. Can't say the same for myself. More cardio is needed, and on a regular basis, if I want to do more challenging hiking this Summer.

All together, a nice weekend amongst friends and lots of time spent outside. :-)