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The van made it over the Rockies. We only had to make one cooling stop (on the Coquihalla). We bought a National Park Pass and so stopped whenever we could to take in the sites. We are posting from Maura's Aunt Carol's place taking advantage of cousin Kim's wireless next door.
Planning to head out tomorrow, and keeping true to our manner of travel we are not quite sure which way we will go across the rest of the country. Our original plan was to head north, into northern Saskatchewan taking in Prince Albert National Park, but the weather up there at the moment is not looking good. There is better weather forecasted for a more southern route and so may head that way...
This shot is taken in the heart of the Rockies, as you can see by how I am dressed it ain't that warm. The heater, such that it is, is turned on or off once a year by crawling underneath and wiring the baffles on the heater boxes open or closed. We had them turned off as we thought it was summer. Turns out summer in the Rockies is a little different than summer on Vancouver Island. I crawled underneath the van by the Columbia Icefields and turned the heat back on. Waking up with frost on the inside of the van was my first clue. Watching Maura start to go catatonic was my second...
Stopping on a bench watching the sun go by...
The chirps from the Marmots were SO exciting...
The North Saskatchewan River.
Walking by the river with my dog...
The shadows play across the mountains covered with Pine Beetle kill.
These plants are cool. They have a hole in the top of them that attract bugs. The bugs get trapped inside and are devoured by the plant for nutrients.
Ma hanging with her kid at the side of the road.
Rock star album cover. Don't a name for the band yet...
Glorious day above tree line. We saw in the forecast that Saturday was going to be sunny so we slowed down a bit so we'd be in the heart of Jasper National Park. Great strategy as it turned out.
Family shot with the new camera.
Snow blowing off the cornice.
The wet western side of the Rockies heading towards Rogers Pass
Back on top on a sunny day.
Maura's B'day!
Maura calls this shot 'Living the Dream'. Couldn't agree more. What a way to spend her birthday. We shared a bottle of wine (thanks Sunny! You know how to pick 'em) and cooked a Porterhouse steak and new potatoes, and did up a few Portabello mushrooms. Hmmm Hmmm Good.
Overlooking a glacier lake.
Indian Paintbrush in full bloom.
THIS I think is my favourite shot of the trip. I can't remember exactly what I said, but I do remember that I TOTALLY deserved it and the finger was the PERFECT response.
This is a shot of the waterfall from the video in an earlier post.
Another shot of the North Saskatchewan River
Here is the scoop on the poop. A freshly delivered "load".
Here they mix the poop concentrate with a variety of 'other organic' stuff (see Maura for details) and mix it up real good. The blue mixer then dumps it into the bin below and it is then rotated through the bins you'll see in the next photo.
Here are the bins that the mixture is rotated through. It is mixed regularly to help reintroduce oxygen so the bacteria can continue to break down the poop into compost. The temperatures get pretty high (excuse the pun) and kill all pathogens. The temps can get so hot that the piles can actually catch on fire! Kate is busy taking samples to make sure that temperature, moisture content etc. are where they need to be.
Here is the final product. Piles of rich good earth. Good Earth Rules!
Catching a small avalanche on Mount Edith Clavell.
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