Montana

Here are some shots from our recent trip to Montana.  Mostly pictures - but I will toss in a little commentary where needed (check back later in the week for stories)......

Aunt Mindy's cabin on the top of a mountain near Bozeman, Montana

One of many hikes (this one was very tame - unlike the hike the girls and I took - more later)

Cabin tradition.... be up early to watch for the sun's first peak over the mountains

Whitewater rafting on the Yellowstone River

We had a good time and (as I said) we have some good stories to tell.... later.  :)

Pictures @ Motherwell Homestead

Why does all the fun stuff happen when we are away?????

That burnt patch was caused by a lightning strike in the valley a few hundred yards behind our house. Our neighbours were home went it happened and called the fire department. Said they had never heard anything like that sound..... and we missed it. :(

Oh and here is a bonus picture.... check out who is lurking in the background at the speedway.... (insert scary "lurking shark" music here)

Ok - more pictures and stories in the coming days.  We are off to a wedding so no telling what sort of "dance moves" pictures we will come up with... if the girls let me dance.  I think they are just jealous!  :)

Cool

We just returned from a week in Dauphin visiting Sari's parents and hanging out (more about that later - pics etc), but one of the things that we had the chance to do was see these guys.... they are called "The Asham Stompers". They do a show based around the "Red River Jig" and Metis culture and it was really entertaining (even if the girls made me watch the last 30 minutes sitting in a blinding rainstorm.... it was literally coming down so hard that you could not see at times. Everyone else headed for the big tent or to their cars.... Katie, Megan and I sat in the bleachers getting soaked while the dancers danced on in the rain. It seemed only fair).

The video is sort of long (and it is not the performance we saw) but it will give you the idea.

Any "Estevan Arts Council" people reading this blog??? "Stars for Saskatchewan" anyone??????

The Pippus Brother's 2nd annual Motorcycle trip... brought to you by Hypothermia

Yes.... Hypothermia... whose motto is... "Don't worry about not being able to feel your fingers... they are probably going to fall off anyway!"  :)

In other words...... it was cold!!!  And rainy!!!   And cold!!!!

This year Kurt (aka Lenny) and I went to BC.  That would have been a great plan.... except for all the flooding..... and the rain.... and the cold.   Yes, we are the only people to plan a vacation right in the middle of a disaster area.

The night we got to Tabor, Alberta (we stopped there b/c it was raining too hard to continue on), they evacuated 75 000 people out of Calgary due to flooding.  Since that was the direction we were headed, we were not sure what was going to happen.

As it turned out, nothing happened.  We saw some flooding.  We had to ride single lane past some washed out parts of the highway, but overall the road was good and the floods really had no effect on us.

The trip took us through the Crowsnest pass, to Cranbrook, Kimberly, Creston, across Kootenay Lake on a ferry, to Kaslo and then Nelson... all the way up to Revelstoke, Golden, Lake Louise, Banff, Jasper, Hinton, Wetaskiwin, Outlook, Moose Jaw and finally home.

4005 kms later.   346748967438968943674360978 gallons of rain later.

Here are some pictures..... just for fun.

The "Great Sand Hills" in Southwestern Sask (turned out to be the "Not so Great Sand Hills".  We drove 2 hours out of our way to get there and back and all that was there was a big pile of sand!!!  Surprisingly - not that interesting!)  :)

Frank Slide 

Largest tandem axle truck ever built.... in Sparwood, BC

Old steam paddlewheeler (the "Moyie") in Kaslo, BC.  Last sailed the lake in 1957

Waiting for more modern water transportation

Moraine Lake in Banff National Park

A local resident of Jasper

Reynolds auto and air museum in Wetaskiwin

Restoration shop in the auto museum

The "Skytrail walking bridge" - obviously an old train trestle - part of the ``TransCanada trail`` in Outlook, Sk

Lastly, our bikes, in the rain, in front of one of the many ``Dive-like`` motels that we stayed in.  I don`t have a pic of it, but on the last night we paid $75 for a room with two queen beds - and that price included breakfast in the morning...... let your imagination run wild (and don`t forget the smell in the room when we first walked in....... oooh - the smell!!!!)   :)

Bottom line:  The trip would have been a lot better without the monsoon rain that hit us 6 of the 8 days.  And also if the temp had been above 7 degrees that would have been nice.  On the upside, I don`t have to feel bad anymore about owning a rain suit that I never wear (I almost had to sleep with it on!)

However, we did get to go and for that we thank our nice and understanding wives!  Next year`s trip...... Hawaii (or somewhere else hot and sunny..... like the Arabian Peninsula)

Maybe I am alone in this........

 

So the fair is in town this week.... and I am SHOCKED by the number of people who have said to me, "I am not going to the fair" or (cover your ears if you are sensitive) "I HATE the fair".

Hate the fair?????

Isn't that the moral equivalent to kicking puppies down the stairs?????

I mean where else can you eat a bunch of garbage, be spun around until you want to be sick, smell carnies (and believe me - there is a smell) and blow over $400 in less than two hours?????  Come on!!!!

The fair used to be THE EVENT when I was a kid.  I loved riding the rides (I still do in fact.... wanna go right now???).  I loved the lights at night.  There was just something about being on the midway.

Now, I will admit that as I walked around Estevan's fair this year I thought, "This does not feel quite the same".  Not sure why.  Maybe it lacked the sound of rock music blasting out of the rides.... maybe it was just a little too small this year.... maybe it was that I was at a meeting and by the time I got there most of the crowd had left...... whatever the case, I am still glad I went and I still like the fair.

I am not being judgmental toward those who did not go.  In fact, I will admit to the fact that I was shocked at what the night cost us this year, so if you bailed based on finances, I get that.  

However, I think it was worth the $4 admission just to people watch and to walk around and visit with 1/2 the town (Seriously, you could not go two feet without seeing someone you knew - small towns, right?)

The thing is, I just cannot remember a year when so many people said, "I am not going".

So..... do you like the fair at all?   If not, why not?   

On the bright side (for me) when I got there the admission gate was closed, so I got in for free.   Then, as we walked the midway, I found 25 cents..... so I actually made money at the fair this year (If you don't include the pile of cash the girls blew through).

It was sort of a success story anyway!  :)

Anyone wanna go to the Isle of Man??????

Best Escalator Ever! :)

Ba ha ha!!!!!

Things you are not prepared to see

Our baby has her "learner's license"..... what the wa?

Ready to rip????

Going to BC in less than two weeks.... hope I remember how this all goes back together!

Oooh - I think that left a mark!

A present from the highway just south of Stoughton.

Hard to see in the pictures, but the bruise is bigger than a softball.

Thankful for glass coverage now!  Good call Sari!!!!  :)

Stay Alive at 5:05 (AKA "Survivor Regina")

 

(Please note:  The above image - while an inaccurate physical depiction of Regina's Ring Road - is an EXACT image of the feelings about that road portrayed in the following story).



A week ago, I went to Bethune (a little town northwest of Regina) for a funeral.  As no one else was going with me, I decided to take my motorcycle.

The funeral was at 2 in the afternoon and after visiting and coffee and whatever, it was almost 5 o'clock as I rolled back into Regina.

Coming down north Albert I thought, "Ya know, I should take the Ring Road and avoid the 5 o'clock rush hour" (such as it is in Regina), so I hung a right and sped off..... and that is when it all started.

First, I got stopped by a train.  A TRAIN!!!! On the Ring Road.  Wa???? I thought waiting 30 minutes for a train while sitting stopped dead on the busiest road in town only happened in Estevan.

By the time the train was gone, we had a pile of cars in every lane..... some going fast.... others barely moving..... some wanting to merge in.... some out.  In order to get going (and not get run over), I had to weave in and out of traffic like some sort of weaving thing (I tried to come up with a good simile there.... but I couldn't.... so you supply one).

As I crossed Victoria Avenue I thought "I will keep going to Arcola Avenue, get off there, cross back over Ring Road and then get gas at the Shell on the other side" (I was starting to get low on fuel).

Just then, 86743896789678936464 people came up off of Victoria and merged onto the Ring.  In fact there was so many of them that there was no way I could force my way across from the far left lane to get to the Arcola off ramp.

"No problem" I thought.  "I will just go down to the Wascana Parkway, get off, swing around and get back to Arcola."   However, when I got there a bunch of people were coming out of the university, so I decided to just keep riding north. 

Eventually (after weaving in and out of traffic again) I came to College Avenue and thought, "Why don't I go down there, get on Arcola, cross the Ring and then get gas" (by now the fuel was getting really low).  So I did that.... but when I got to Arcola I discovered that there are NO LIGHTS AT COLLEGE AND ARCOLA!!!!   NO LIGHTS!!!!  And there was a line of 867894367894578967894567 cars both on College and Arcola.

So I waited and waited and then I closed my eyes and forced myself into a lane.  Finally on Arcola, I crossed the Ring and took a left on University Park Drive..... then I realized that the gas station was on Prince of Wales not University Park!!!

Now you may be wondering..... "Why did you HAVE to go to THAT gas station when there are like 67487849 gas stations in Regina?"

Truth be told: I drove by tons of gas stations along the way to that specific Shell.  Why?   Well, I had decided that I was going to THAT station and I was not going to let a bunch of pinheads driving like morons deter me from doing what I said I was going to do.

So - the long and the short of it...... by trying to avoid the "Regina Rush Hour" I ended up spending and entire hour (literally) trying to get out of Regina.  Not to mention the number of times that I almost kicked people's car doors as they cut me off, etc.

So - what I am trying to say is...... that was the best part of the trip!!!!  It was like a combination cannonball run/death race!  :)

I may plan every motorcycle trip to Regina for 5:05 pm. 

Hmmmm

 One of the grocery stores in town used to have a sign from "The Orkin man" hanging on the front door.  The sign stated that the store had been checked and that it was "rodent free".

I noticed the other day that the sign is gone.

I am not sure which situation disturbs me more.... (a) The fact that there had to be a sign in the first place (I sort of think that "rodent free" would be something you should just be able to assume about your grocery store)... or (b) that the sign is missing completely now (What is that supposed to tell me?)

Maybe it is time to plant a garden or something.  :)