Is It Possible To See It All

We Love to Travel

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I enjoy travel, sports, music and anything else that jumps up at me for the moment, which is why I blog. There will be lots of travel posts, pictures and our videos as well as a smattering of sports and humor. I enjoy promoting Canada and am unabashedly a proud Albertan
  • Mazatlán- Getting There – The Calgary Part

    Mazatlán- Getting There – The Calgary Part

    User:Qyd:Qyd, CC BY-SA 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/, via Wikimedia Commons

    This year’s adventure to Mazatlán began on December 29 with a stay at the former Wyndham Garden Hotel. Now a Hotel 11. As always, we chose to stay at an airport hotel because the flight departs in the morning. We have stayed at this hotel several times as it has a good restaurant and is in great shape. Since our last stay, Wyndham sold the property to Sonesta Hotels, who have branded it as Hotel 11. A great rate, excellent service and the same great food. Our rate for the night was $151.95, tax in. Had a few vino’s, so supper almost matched the room rate. Our bad. Check them out at the link; it’s recommended.

    Hotel 11, MOD Sonesta – Calgary Hotel with Airport Shuttle | Sonesta

    The next step is the flight.  As usual, we flew in on WestJet.  It is pretty much the only game in town from Calgary.  There is Sunwing as an alternative, but they are now owned by WestJet and have some limitations that are not good for us. It is cheaper, but one-way travel is not allowed, and changing flights is next to impossible.  As we are there for 3 months or so, this restriction is not a good thing.  We book as one way in each direction instead of round trips to give us the flexibility to head home earlier or later, especially for urgent personal reasons.

    We caught our shuttle and arrived at the airport with a 3-hour window.  As we check in online, we ditch the lineups at the counters and proceed directly to the self-check-in kiosks.  We generated our bag tags, dumped our luggage at the baggage chute, and headed into security.  Security can cause a hiccup or 2, but we sailed through and headed for breakfast.  The Tim Hortons and Starbucks are always full, so we use the Vin Room in case we want a mimosa or a nice chardonnay at 8:00 in the morning (You have to love air travel).   The buzz in airports is unique.  People everywhere around are excited, nervous or bored.  Sitting in a restaurant eating breakfast and people-watching is a great way to kill time before boarding.  The Vin Room is a Calgary restaurant/wine bar with 3 locations; this (obviously) is the airport location.  Food is good and reasonably priced for an airport.  The service is excellent as well.  Breakfast was around $50.00, with tips and taxes and no wine.  Another recommendation to check out if you are flying out of Calgary. Check them out at the link below.

    Vin Room

    Photo by Timur Saglambilek: https://www.pexels.com/photo/wine-glass-bottle-87224/
  • Scenes From A Hike – September 4, 2021

    Scenes From A Hike – September 4, 2021

    Went for a nice hike on a forestry road that led us to the shore of Monroe Lake in the East Kootenays of British Columbia. The trek was 3.21 miles or 5.2 km. A screenshot of the route is below, in and out via the same route.

    The scene below is indicative of the scenery along the road.

    Once we reached the lake, there was a footbridge and an old dam, now in various stages of deterioration.

    It is also the mouth of a creek, pretty much dried up as we are at the end of the season. Most creeks and rivers out here are snow and rain-fed, meaning they tend to dry up, or they are spring-fed, which this one is not. We have seen this creek higher up in the mountain in the past, but it was late October and there was runoff.

    We continued to the right on the map and discovered some well-worn elk trails that we will explore later. We turned back and took the left spur to some amazing scenery. We have done this path before this and knew what we were in for. We have also kayaked through the meadow, a post I will put up once I finish playing with the video.

    We also know about how to relax. A conveniently placed bench to look at the landscape.

    And of course, it is not all about the scenery, let’s not forget the foliage and critters. In this case an interesting mushroom and some pretty butterflies.

  • Just For A Chuckle

  • Blog Note

    Merry Christmas and happy holidays. Just back, but posting will be light over the next few days . Have a several events and then some travel.

    Yes, we are outta here. Heading to Mazatlan, Mexico for the next 3 months. Been doing this for a few years now. This time I’m going to do my best to give the reader a taste of what our winter home has to offer. Restaurant reviews, night life, things to do, we will give an overview of a great city.

    A Mazatlan sunset. Taken by myself.

  • Zoolights 2023

    Each year the Calgary Zoo transforms into a sea of Christmas lights. There are over a million lights and 250 figures. It is quite the display as seen in the shots I took. All pictures were taken on my iPhone 13.

  • Just A Picture

    Have to keep my streak alive, while being exceptionally busy. It’s that time of year isn’t it. Took this shot at a stop on the way up to Gardiner Dam, north of Lardeau, B.C.

  • Remembering Myles Goodwyn

    Myles Goodwyn. (2023, December 14). By Tabercil – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4449811In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myles_Goodwyn

    Myles Goodwyn, a blast from my past, passed away on December 3, 2023, at 75.  I say a blast from the past as the band he basically led, April Wine, was a big part of my life’s soundtrack. Not well known internationally, April Wine is a Canadian treasure.

    He formed Apil Wine in 1969 with David Henman , Ritchie Henman , and Jim Henman. The band underwent many personnel changes over the years with Myles being there through it all until late 2022 when he retired from touring due to health issues. He left the band in March 2023.

    His accomplishments were many and included the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame, Canada’s Walk of Fame and the Canadian Music Hall of Fame. The band has recorded 16 albums, 15 compilations and 9 live albums. To my detriment, I never saw them live even though I had many opportunities. A regret for sure.

    The memories attached to their volume of work are huge and plentiful. Their heyday was perfectly placed in my music timeline. He will be missed. I leave you with one of my favourites, and as always, a live version.

  • See You Next Year

    It’s that time of year. Off to our Calgary home for Christmas and then to Mazatlan for New Years. We will be in Mazatlan until April. I had to take some shots just before we left. It’s such a beautiful place.

  • Just A Photo

    A shot of our “almost” complete backyard. Loving the look and the view, especially the reflections off the rocks on the mountain.

  • Who’s Out There

    Photo by Oleksandr P: https://www.pexels.com/photo/orange-safety-ring-on-man-shoulder-near-body-of-water-319930/

    I’m kind of taking a stab at making a go at things once again. I’ve been doing a lot of travelling around, listening to lots of music and taking many photos. Generally speaking, I have a lot of pent-up brain fill to regurgitate. 

    I had a stint editing a magazine, which we will leave nameless for now. It was music and lifestyle oriented and I interviewed quite a few independent artists. I have an interest in that and will incorporate these into this place.

    That brings me to my point here. At one point in time, there was quite a community of kindred spirits on here, and it makes me wonder who is still out there. Drop me a comment if you remember me and we can hopefully reconnect, even if you are not actively writing on here anymore.

    I missed this, and I seem to have found some time available to me to actually try this again. I will likely be sporadic for a spell as I rebuild the site and figure out what has changed, technically relearning WordPress.

    That’s all for now. Hope you drop me a line.