Posted Jan 27, 2015, 1:25 am
I've been dreaming to join toy voyagers' family for ages, I'm a super faithful reader, now I finally have my own travelog hehe. My name is Arn Wes Wilde. Yes you got it, exactly the same Wilde as Oscar Wilde, the famous writer. I've read some of his books, the novel and poems, they are just so beautiful. Hehe I'm a cat person but not a real person, ummmm..I mean a cat tiger. If possible I'd like to selfie with many cats as I can, and I wish I could say hi to a real tiger someday. I also really love your human children, maybe I can play games with them and make them happy. The photo below is me and my portrait.
Have a nice day!
Arn
Posted Jan 27, 2015, 4:22 am
I was just going to take a nap on the balcony, GiGi ran to me and gave me a big hug. She said she wanted to congrats to me for becoming a toy voyager, hehe how cute she is. And then Crabs suggested us to take a group photo together. Dolly went out with Mia, they left home in the morning. I reckon maybe we could take a bigger group photo with them when they come back.
All the best
Arn
Posted Jan 27, 2015, 2:49 pm
After the short celebration on balcony, we decided to enjoy the winter sunshine and do some reading. GiGi and Crabs let me to choose an interesting book for us. Ummmm..I finally pick a dictionary with 5 different languages, English, French, German, Japanese and Chinese. Trust me it is not that kind of common thick dictionary as you think, that dictionary has a lot of vivid graphs and photos in it, pretty sure GiGi and Crabs will love it. I need more time to learn the words about football, they will be useful someday if I watch football match during my travel hehe.
Greetings
Arn
Posted Jan 29, 2015, 12:47 am
We got to a secret place and met 2 new friends today. Hehe they are a pair of lions. You know I'm a cat person, no no a cat tiger, so we became friends just after a tiny small talk, ummmmm..I mean after some howls. And the lion which was standing on the right gave me his sword, how general he is! Carbs wanted to try that sword too. When he was negotiating with the lion on right, oh I should ask his name, honestly I even not sure his gender, he might be she a lady lion...Okay,when Crabs was talking to her the lion, GiGi put the sword on her head. It's too heavy, she said. Then finally Crabs got the sword.
Have fun
Arn
Posted Jan 29, 2015, 4:33 am
I think I know how to distinguish male or female lion. I collected some info on Baidu, someone said the lion who holds a colorful ball is male, the one who holds a small lion is lady lion. Did you see the red circle in the first pic below? It is indeed a baby lion! And I have good news! I'm going to Michigan, USA! I saw tons and tons of beautiful pics online, amazing! Hold on...I should consider taking my wool hat with me, can't wait to run on snow field! The sunset there must be gorgeous!
Will send myself off tomorrow
Arn
Posted Jan 30, 2015, 1:12 am
I'm ready to visit the USA. And pretty Gretel is going to Germany! Amazing right? All of my friends were comming, they were going to hold a send-off dinner for us, but we have no time to prepare, ummmmm...I mean I just can't wait any minute more to get to the USA!
See you guys there
Arn
Posted Mar 14, 2015, 2:20 pm
Yay!!! I can't wait to meet Mel! You know I've been spending too much time on the road.
...
Hmm..there's somthing I need to tell you. I'm a little different from before, might be a bit difficult for you to recognise me. I mean my appearance's changed after a tiny little accident. But I'm still Arn the tiger who loves cats and children. I got a brand new outfit. Blimey! I even have my own football boots right now!!!
Posted Mar 19, 2015, 8:53 pm
I arrived just in time for Mel's sister's birthday! She is turning 39 years, and it wasn't much of a party by some standards, but there WAS cake! Angel food cake with strawberries and cream! I helped Mel get enough whipped cream.
Then I wanted to go see the football fields. Maybe there was a game I could get into! Oh... no, not yet. Still too much snow!
Now we are back at the Tea Cafe so Mel can work on her story a bit more. She has had one story published, and the deadline for the next is May 31, so she needs to get working!
"Hey! Who are you?"
"What? I'm Arn, I'm a Toyvoyager. Who are you?"
"I'm Arn!"
"Tiger-Arn! We thought you were lost! Mom sent me to replace you, to keep Mel company!"
"Lost! Well, not exactly, I stopped off to watch a game. It was a great game."
"But you got everyone worried about you. We thought you were gone forever! And now what is Mel going to do with TWO Arn's?"
"Have twice as much fun? I'll make it up to her, I promise. I'll be the best Voyager. We can work together! Human-Arn and Tiger-Arn!"
Posted Mar 26, 2015, 5:30 pm
But that hasn't stopped us exploring! Aaron and I were going to kick around a ball, but we couldn't find one small enough. But we checked out the field anyway. Look! The net here matches me!
Then we went to sit by the water and enjoy the sunshine. The geese had just come back and were very noisy, but they were inn the yard next to the park so we couldn't see them. We sure could here them though! We also saw a pair of woodpeckers, but they wouldn't sit still long enough for a photo.
Then we went hunting for the first flowers and found a crocus right in Mel's own front yard! She lives in the upstairs apartment so it isn't really hers, but since she just moved here in January, all of the plants that come up will be a surprise for her all year!
I am getting ready to go to Nebraska soon! I wonder if it is warm enough for football there yet?? I'll write gain before I leave!
Posted Apr 14, 2015, 4:45 pm
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Posted Apr 15, 2015, 4:58 am
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Posted Apr 15, 2015, 5:03 am
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Posted Apr 17, 2015, 4:44 am
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Posted Apr 19, 2015, 1:07 am
We went to a bookstore to help Mel's niece buy some books! These looked interesting to me, but she had different tastes and only enough money for a couple books.
She did find three books though, two new and one used. We voyagers had fun exploring.
Since Mel's niece was spending the night, we got comfy and read for a while, and then played some games. I helped! She thought I was very cute. Yay! A small part of a big life goal!
Then Mel took me for a farewell dinner. All You Can Eat Shrimp! We ate a LOT. Yummy!
We still found room for dessert though. Berry Cobbler a la Mode!
And as you know by now, I am safe in Nebraska, but I enjoyed my time in Michigan. Aaron will keep us posted about Mel's house, I'm sure! And i PROMISE not to sneak off to watch a game this time. Honest.
Posted May 27, 2015, 10:12 pm
I was traveling around the western United States when I came upon a jungle and saw another ToyVoyager tiger. he introduced himself as Jeremy and invited me to stay.
Bye now from the Wilde West,
Your Arn
Posted Jun 11, 2015, 2:53 pm
I'm having lots of fun with Jeremy and the other TVs here.
We are having computer issues, so can't post photos here but you can look at some of my adventures on Aslan's page:
https://www.facebook.com/AslanLionToyvoyager/posts/1073438636019326
Bye now,
Your Arn
Posted Jun 23, 2015, 6:40 am
I've been out solving mysteries, can you tell where I am?
https://www.facebook.com/AslanLionToyvoyager/photos/a.954032331293291.1073741828.953872514642606/1081487021881154/?type=1&theater
Your Arn, having fun.
Posted Jun 26, 2015, 7:37 am
After a long day of pouncing at bugs among State Flowers (the California Poppy), we went to a cafe for coffee and cigars. Do you know why I look red?
Love ya,
Arn
https://www.facebook.com/AslanLionToyvoyager/photos/pcb.1083278688368654/1083278211702035/?type=1&theater
https://www.facebook.com/AslanLionToyvoyager/photos/pcb.1083278688368654/1083278178368705/?type=1&theater
Posted Jul 8, 2015, 12:19 am
It was a typical summer day, so foggy we have no idea where we went.
Having fun,
Your Arn
https://m.facebook.com/AslanLionToyvoyager?ref=bookmarks
Posted Aug 2, 2015, 5:49 pm
https://www.facebook.com/AslanLionToyvoyager
See ya,
Arn
Posted Sep 30, 2015, 4:05 pm
My latest adventures can be seen on Aslan's page:
https://www.facebook.com/AslanLionToyvoyager?ref=aymt_homepage_panel
Love ya,
Arn Wes Wilde
(Sorry, our new photo system is incompatible with this site)
Posted Oct 25, 2015, 12:38 pm
Posted Nov 9, 2015, 2:02 am
guess what? I am in Canada
! Today I suddenly felt a lot of action around my envelope 
...
...and soon it was opened and I could come out. As I explored this new place I found a host of TVs welcoming me here in Calgary
.
Of course, as it always happens when you arrive in a new place, story telling went deep into the night
.
Posted Nov 15, 2015, 9:41 pm
After a week of fairly inconsistent weather, today we headed to the mountains keen to find out how much snow
, if any, we were going to find. As it happens we found it from the very start and the first hour went by walking on a large snow-covered trail in the trees.
Eventually we came out of the tree cover and started enjoying the wind
.
Once we reached the top of Pigeon Mountain the view was great in most directions
.
Only in the west the clouds were very dark.
Anyway, smaug was having a hard time taking photos while making sure that we did not accidentally fly away in the gale force wind
. So he eventually shoved us back securely in the backpack and we did not see the outside world again until we were back in the car later in the day .
Posted Nov 23, 2015, 3:23 am
We had a new arrival in Calgary today
. smaug came home with a new envelope and, as usual, we were tasked with opening it .
And a new TV came out, Matcha a nice frog from Japan
. And he brought some lovely chocolate with him .
As it always happens in this cases, the night went by chatting and eating
.
Posted Dec 1, 2015, 2:44 am
winter is definitely here and today we went checking out the fresh snow outside of Calgary
. When we parked the car it was obvious that there was no shortage of it.
As we moved up the trail all the forest was clad in white
...
...and occasionally we could see that the it looked pretty much the same all around us.
When we reached the highest point of the day the clouds were really nice and opened up to let us enjoy the view
.
However they were not nice for long
, and soon we could not seen 10 m away, so we slowly headed back home.
Posted Dec 20, 2015, 3:32 pm
We had a bit more snow this week, but today it was quite clear, so we went for a nice walk in the foothills
. Well, actually there was a bit more snow than we expected during the first part of the walk, which caused smaug to be a bit grumpy . Anyway, eventually we reached the top of Eagle Hill, where we had a great view of the valley we just followed…
…and of the Bow Valley gap into the Rockies
.
As it happens, the wind was pretty much gale force
, so smaug was having some trouble keeping us from taking off and after a couple of near misses, we decided that the inside of the backpack was the place to be in these conditions .
Posted Dec 20, 2015, 3:43 pm
Guess what, we are going on holiday
! Today we finished packing our suitecase and headed for the airport .
See you soon from somewhere else
!
Posted Jan 3, 2016, 2:30 am
I’m in Italy
! Well, at least so I have been told . Anyway, time to have a hearty breakfast and when I recover from the jetlag I will investigate further .
Posted Jan 3, 2016, 3:09 am
OK, sammino explained us that we were planning to do some skiing
, but not a single flake of snow (or drop of water for what it matters) has appeared around here in almost two months . As a result, skiing, despite a lot of artificial snow been prepared and a good number of runs available, does not sound as great as it normally would , so, to avoid those breakfasts turning us in little barrels , we are doing a bit of hiking instead . Today we went close to town and we soon stumbled in what seemed to be a pit with stone walls.
As it happens, it appears that in the past it was an oven used to make lime that could eventually be turned into quicklime
.
After that it was mostly uphill going without any “cultural” excuse for catching our breath
, but at last we reached the summit from where we could enjoy great views west ,…
…, north…
…and east.
We assumed the south looked great too, but the sun is a bit low this time of the year and it was parked just there. So looking south just ended in a few burned retinas
.
Posted Jan 5, 2016, 9:33 pm
Today we went to a nice peak close to town
. Early on we found this lovely tiny house . We knocked at the door and peeped through the windows to see if someone was home, but no one answered so eventually we moved on.
Much, much later we reached the summit where the view was, of course, great
.
We could also see this lovely lake…
…and Trento in the distance
.
We found a summit log too! It was kind of hard to get it out of its case
…
…but we eventually managed to take it out and left a sign of our presence here
.
On the way down we even found a lovely and quiet spot where we could enjoy a little snack
.
Posted Jan 6, 2016, 3:36 am
Today we went out for another short walk near town
. As we were walking in the forest we came by this boulder. As it happens, it is not just a boulder sitting in the forest . Well technically it is , but it is also an erratic boulder, that has nothing to do with the rocks found in this area and that was probably dropped here by a glacier at the end of the last ice age .
Later on we found another interesting item. This was a rain shelter used by shepherds working in this area a long time ago
. It looked frightfully uncomfortable, so we decided against waiting for a rain shower to test how waterproof it is .
On the way we found a summit log, despite the fact that we were barely over halfway to the summit (this is a strange trail indeed
). Nevertheless we decided that, of course, we should sign it .
At last we reached the actual summit. There was no summit log here, but we found a lovely spot to rest and enjoy the sunshine while eating a little treat
.
Back home in the afternoon we had a surprise: Landroval and Sigfrido had just arrived home for the holidays
. As usual, a long night of chatting followed .
Posted Jan 18, 2016, 2:34 am
Merry Christmas
!
Tonight we are celebrating Christmas Eve
. There was quite a lot of food on the table , but our attention focused mostly on dessert .
Posted Jan 18, 2016, 2:43 am
Today we are heading to the airport to fly back to Canada, so this morning we said goodbye to Tatanka and Sigfrido who will stay in Europe
.
Posted Jan 18, 2016, 3:04 am
We have quite a long connection in Frankfurt, but luckily we managed to convince smaug to get a few supplies that will help making the wait less boring
.
Posted Jan 24, 2016, 1:14 am
Happy New Year
!
We are a still bit too tired and jet-lagged to engage in big celebrations, but at least we still have some of the tasty supplies we grabbed yesterday at the airport
.
Posted Jan 24, 2016, 1:44 am
After a few days of "funny" weather, today it was beautifully sunny, so we headed to the mountains
. When we arrived at the parking lot we noticed that it was a bit cold and we therefore suggested to go back home and admire the sunny sky from an indoor location .
Nevertheless, smaug would not listen and said that we were going to be fine. So after a bit walking we found a nice spot to peek at the landscape from between the trees.
Later we found an even nicer viewpoint
.
At that point we begged sammino to convince smaug to take us back to the car before our frozen limbs started falling off
and eventually we spent the afternoon at home trying to thaw out .
Posted Jan 24, 2016, 1:57 am
Having survived from hypothermia yesterday
, today it was time to say goodbye and wish a safe journey to Matcha and Landroval who are both travelling to Japan .
Posted Mar 7, 2016, 2:33 am
We have been a bit stuck at home over the last month
, but today, at last, we were able to go back to the mountains . We parked at Barrier Lake, which happened to be frozen solid.
A bit later we found ourselves much higher, where we had nice views of the lake
,…
…the prairies…
…and of the valleys heading in the mountains.
Further up we reached a fire lookout, that happens to be shut at this time of the year.
Still the view was really nice…
…and, most important, we found a lovely spot were to relax and take in a bit of chocolate
.
Posted Mar 21, 2016, 1:11 am
Today we went for a short walk up the mountains
. The weather was far from great , but we managed to snap a few shots.
As it happens the clouds were getting darker, so smaug decided not to linger too long and took us back home
.
Posted Mar 27, 2016, 4:24 am
Today we were again in the mountains
. Interesting enough, early in the day we had a lovely blue sky in front of us…
…and not such a blue sky behind us
.
As we reached the halfway point of our walk the view improved
, however the window of blue sky reduced a lot (pretty much only what you can see in the photo was not covered in clouds), so smaug the decided to head back.
Of course, by the time we reached the car, there was not a single cloud left in the sky
.
Posted Mar 27, 2016, 4:34 am
Today we gathered to say goodbye and wish a safe journey to Hansi Hü who is traveling to his next host
.
Posted Apr 4, 2016, 12:34 am
Happy Easter!
Today we celebrated with plenty of chocolate eggs
. Well, they were not exactly the size that we were hoping for , but at least we all got one .
Posted Apr 23, 2016, 10:37 pm
After almost a month, today we were back into the mountains, and with a very favourable weather too
. Of course, the first part of the day was not too exciting, but we reached the point where we stopped a month ago under a lovely blue sky.
We therefore decided to go a bit higher, where we found the sun shining, hardly any snow slowing us down and balmy spring temperatures
.
It was kind of hard to eventually come back home
.
Posted May 23, 2016, 3:47 am
Today we went for a walk around Calgary
…well, more a food crawl than a walk . As we missed breakfast we first decided to get something to support us .
But since the weather was far from great, we spent most of the time looking at the people moving around this huge mall.
Eventually it was time to go back home, but just to make sure we had enough fuel to walk all the way, we allowed ourselves another small energy boost
.
Posted May 23, 2016, 11:35 pm
We have been a bit quiet over the last few weeks, but today we convinced smaug to take us out
. Since we left the car the weather looked a tad misty ,…
…and as soon as we peeked out of the forest we got the suspicion that it was not going to be a good day for sightseeing
.
Anyway, we still harboured some hope that we might gain enough elevation to eventually, maybe, come out above the clouds. As it happens, that was not the case.
At least the humidity did not affect our supplies
, so we managed to fill up with some sugars before heading back to the car.
Posted Jun 11, 2016, 9:57 pm
Today smaug came home with a parcel, a TV sized parcel, so we got really excited
.
As we managed to open it, a new guest appeared, Ulani, a nice sheep from Germany
. And she brought some lovely things with her . Of course we spent a very long evening muching on those sweets while listening about her travels .
Posted Jun 11, 2016, 11:04 pm
Today smaug took us out for a bike ride after work
. Unfortunately he would not let us ride on the handlebar , but we still managed to enjoy some nice views along the way .
Posted Jun 20, 2016, 1:58 am
Today we went for a nice little hike early in the morning
. The first bit was mostly in the trees, but soon the view improved.
And it got better when we reached the summit
.
Disappointingly, smaug forgot to pack any chocolate
, so, instead of having a nice time at the top, we insisted on getting back to the car quickly so that we could drive somewhere to gather some supplies .
Posted Jun 20, 2016, 2:41 am
Today we tried to go back to the trail where we were blinded by the fog a few weeks ago
, and right from the parking lot we had a feeling that it was going to be a much better day for taking photos .
And it was definitely the case. The wind was pretty much gale force and freezing cold
, but the view was great .
On the way back down, when we were a bit more sheltered from the wind, we noticed that someone put a great effort in building a huge and stylish cairn
, so we stopped taking a photo with it .
Posted Jul 23, 2016, 1:48 am
Today we had a new guest arriving here in Calgary
. smaug came home with a TV-sized package and, as usual, he left to us the task of getting it open .
As we managed to open the parcel, a TV came out, Rachel, a nice sheep from China
. And she brought some lovely gifts with her . Of course we spent the night listening to and telling travelling stories .
Posted Jul 23, 2016, 2:09 am
After a rather surprising (well, at least for us since sammino didn’t mention anything in advance
), uneventful and long trip, this morning we woke up in Italy . And even better, we woke up in front of a lovely breakfast .
It is actually very hot here, so I think we will spend a few days just chilling out
and recovering from the jet lag.
Posted Aug 1, 2016, 3:07 am
smaug has been very lazy on this holiday
, but at last today he took us out for a little walk . We started the day looking down at the green pastures around Passo Vezzena …
…and when we reached the highest point of the day, we had a lovely view over the lakes of Caldonazzo and Levico
.
As it happens the WWI front used to pass in this area
, so we had a chance to do a bit of history tourism when we stumbled into this old Austrian fort .
It did not look very comfortable
, and the years have clearly taken their toll, so we decided it was not worth exploring the inside and just stayed out an enjoyed the sun till it was time to go back home .
Posted Aug 22, 2016, 1:46 am
Today we were, as usual, looking for food
. In this case we were attacking the last few supplies that we brought back with us from Italy when we had a feeling that someone was looking at us .
It was Landroval, one of smaug TVs who just arrived back home after visiting Japan
, and he brought some lovely presents too. .
Of course, we ended up spending the evening listening to travel stories
.
Posted Aug 22, 2016, 3:35 am
Today smaug decided to take us to a lovely trip to the mountains
. What was less lovely is that, to avoid afternoon thunderstorms, he made us start at a very ungodly hour . Nevertheless, after a bit we started having a nice view.
For the first part of the morning we aimed for that lovely grassy col
…
…and when we reached it the view improved further.
Sadly, it looked like the trail was not going to be nice and grassy for much longer
…
…and soon we were in the middle of a fairly lunar landscape
.
Our destination looked deceiviously close…
…but it was quite some time before smaug eventually carried us to the top, where the view was spectacular
.
Of course, true to the summit name, the weather was far from ideal, so smaug decided to quickly retreat down to an elevation where the odds of being smitten be lightning were a bit less discomforting
.
Posted Sep 5, 2016, 1:43 am
Today we had another day of decent weather so smaug took us again up to the mountains
. Early in the morning we were still in shadow but we started seeing our destination in the distance.
On the other hand, we had a lovely view over Kananaskis Valley
…
…and we could see the highway getting smaller and smaller beneath us.
When we reached the ridge we were aiming for...
...the view over the valley improved
…
…and we could also see Kananaskis Lakes in the distance…
…and Mount Evan-Thomas and Mount Packenham right in front of us
.
We also found a summit log and we all signed it. Of course you write way more interesting things while getting some sugars in the belly
.
Posted Sep 12, 2016, 12:20 am
Today we took advantage of the fair weather and went for a short and quick hike
. It was actually still a bit shadowy early on the trail…
…but by the time we reached our destination it was a beautiful sunny morning
.
Recently smaug has been less forgetful than usual about our sugar needs
, and luckily today was no exception to that trend .
Posted Sep 12, 2016, 1:12 am
Today I said goodbye to my friends here in Calgary and got ready to start travelling to Norway
.
As it happens, sammino lived almost a year in Trondheim, so over the last few days he helped me getting a head start by learning some basic Norwegian
.
He also showed me a map so that I could get familiar with the town layout.
I was a bit surprised that he had a paper map and asked how comes he didn’t just upload one on the phone. He explained that back when he was in Norway phones were still used only to make phone calls and they needed to be attached to the wall with a cable to work, can you believe it
? I was about to ask more about these fascinating times when we heard smaug in the other room talking about a tiger swimming to Norway, so I decided it was best to just shut up .
Eventually, before I jumped in my travelling quarters, sammino gave me a big hug and wished me a safe journey
.
Posted Oct 2, 2016, 12:25 pm
Thanks again for my host family and all the friends I've met during the trip in North America, you made my life so beautiful!