A variety of things...

Disclaimer! These photos were all taken with my camera phone, so quality is not so good...

We in Alberta think gas prices are tough at about $1.10 per litre. Well, I was in Ottawa two weeks ago...

This is the plane that took me home from my recent travels to Trenton. I was only gone 2 nights, but it was long enough.

Zebras at the Calgary zoo. We were there early last Saturday, but not early enough to beat the 1.5 hour line to the new Penguin Exhibit. The rest of the zoo was pretty sparse, giving good photo opportunities.

I am patiently waiting for my luggage at Pearson International Airport in Toronto. I had a 2 hour drive after I landed at 8:30pm in Toronto. I couldn't, however, resist the urge to take a detour through Toronto downtown along the Gardiner Expressway past the CN Tower.

I bought free-range eggs from the Butcher shop in Cochrane, and I was delighted to find my first ever double yolk! 

My guitar arrived a few months ago, and it is awesome! I picked it up during one of my lunch breaks at work, and every was so grumpy that I couldn't try it until I got home. Oh well, it is fun!

This lion escaped in the Calgary zoo and rest rather animatronically in the Transalta Building on the roof of a hut. Tourist, beware!

At CFB Trenton. I didn't take too many photos, but those are C-130s off in the distance. I pointed out several of them that I used to work while I was at SPAR Aerospace in Edmonton.

There was a poster for the Cochrane Guitar Festival, so I thought all I had to do was take a photo of this barcode with my camera-phone and it would take me to the linked site. Needless to say, it did not work...

I had some meetings in downtown Calgary, and I was on the 15th floor of the building. I took this photo of  9th ave SW. I am always a little awestruck when I am among the tall office buildings of the city. I guess that's the small town kid in me.

And of course, rather than park my car in Calgary's core for $15 (for a 1 hour meeting), I took the Ctrain. Again, a treat for a small town kid like me.

My wife commandeered my new camera (see previous post), so I used my camera phone to take photos. But since the quality is lousy, I will likely save up another $150 for a second camera for me!

:-)

Calgary at the Gates of Dawn

So I haven't blogged lately cause I work too much (sorry my dear). Therefore I shall blog now. This morning I had some business in the northeast of Calgary then Airdrie, so I figgered I'd go bike Nose Hill, right smack dab in the middle of Calgary. 14.19 km, not too bad.

GPS data can be found here, in case you get lost in Nose Hill.

Yeah, so driving south from Cochrane to Springbank, there was the MOST spectacular sunrise ever. So me goes out and takes a photo while driving (always a safe thing to do) in hopes of capturing dawn in it's beauty. And what do I get? A blurry, smeary inside of my driver window. At least I tried.

The "trailhead", if you will, is located off of Shaganappi and Edgemont Blvd. Not as scenic as K-country, but on the way to work, so it's got my vote. This photo doesn't make it look too urban...

...but if you turn to your right, you get this. At least those condos have a nice view.

Almost as if you are in a serene meadow in the middle of nowhere. But the serenity was betrayed by the skyscrapers that are being built downtown. I could photo shop those out of there, but that would be lying about Nose Hill Park.

The trails are either loose gravel or paved! Last time I was there (about 2 years ago), there was no pavement. Not a very challenging ride, but I didn't care. I was out to have fun (as always).

The view out east was fantastic. Well, this is sort of north east. I could tell it was going to be hot day today because there were waves of heat blowing on me while I was biking. Yep, gonna be a stinker. That means hot in ellornean.

There is some single track in the park, but it is pretty well worn down from being in such an urban location. No biggie though, there are places you wouldn't even know you're in a city. It's really a beautiful park. I think it is the largest "in-city" park in North America. Take that Central Park...

It's kinda cool looking down at downtown. I always think of the poor executives in their leather chairs looking out at Nose Hill wishing they could be frolicking in the grass like I am doing. Haha, suckas. That being said, my goal in life is to never be an executive or have to wear a suit (aka. fabric coffin) to work. How did I get talking about this?

Turn your back to the road (14th street) and you get some nice rolling hills. Believe it or not, I actually bailed on my bike on a flat section at the top. I was just biking along when my back tire obviously slipped on something and I found myself on my duff. Weird....

A view out to my beloved mountains. I will be out in K-Country this weekend with fellow blogger and barefoot runner Neil Z, assuming the rain is not a pourin and the bears aren't too hungry. I am sure there will be a blog from the both of us regarding the trail run. Now you get to see BOTH sides of the story.

BTW, props to whoever can decipher this blog post title. I'd have giveaways, but I have nothing to give away other than being a riding buddy or running partner.

Also, I did a scramble of Mt. Baldy 2 weekends ago, and I promise a blog about that one. Hang tight!

:-)