Travelog for: Hedgie

Hi Mum!

Over the last couple of days temperatures here in Calgary crept over freezing point for the first time in weeks, it was really nice and warm ! To take advantage of this unexpected spell of summerish weather, today we went for a hike around Lake Minnewanka...where temperatures were not that summerish at all  .
On the way to the lake we met again the elks.



Since they are often at this spot along the road, we decided that they are probably paid by the park tourist board to attract tourists , but they are cute, aren’t they?




As you can see the lake was nicely frozen...



...and the path wasn’t in much better condition.



At one point we had to cross this frozen stream that looked quite slippery...



...and the little bridge crossing it didn’t give us much more confidence.



But somehow we got across, and ended up at this junction where we found this sign: grizzly bears  !!!!



Smaug said that we were not entering that area today and, anyway, all the bears were likely to be asleep for winter. I hoped he was right. Eventually we reached our destination, a bend in the lake about 10km from the parking lot.
Here you can see the “beach” behind me,



The lake looking upstream...



...and downstream.



Everything was frozen or covered with snow. On the way back it was getting a bit darker so we didn’t take any more photos and, luckily, we didn’t meet any grizzly.

Hi Mum!

Today we said goodbye to one of the guests here. Nathalie is moving to her next host in Russia so we all gathered together to wish her a safe journey .



Maybe I’ll meet her again somewhere around the world .

Hi Mum!

Today smaug had to do some work so, since we were a bit bored, we followed him to the office. As he was busy with his stuff, we started messing around. We tried to call home but smaug didn’t tell us the code to get the external line, so we just managed to make ring every phone in the office  .



Then we played a bit with the screens and the plotter.




We even had a look at the books, but there was nothing interesting.



So we ended up sitting next to the window and chatting the whole afternoon...that was fun .

Hi Mum!

Today a new guest arrived here in Calgary ! Smaug didn’t tell us anything about new arrivals so we were quite surprised when he told us that there was an envelope that we might like to check. So we got very curious and gathered all around the envelope, apperently it came from the States.



As we opened it a little head peeped out of the enveope. It was a Dutch rabbit called Nijntje .



We were all very happy to have a new friend here so we started chatting and she told us of her previous journeys, she’s even been Voyager of the Week recently .

Hi Mum!

The “warm” spell that we enjoyed over the last few weeks is gone. We are back to cold weather and snow...perfect weather for chatting in the warmth of the house .



So when today smaug told us that it was time to go for a walk we all wished him a nice day and recommended that he brought back some sweets  .



Alas, he meant that it was time for us to go for a walk, so he dragged us along the river path  . The river is covered with ice.



Somewhere the pressure lifted the ice and created some strange  ice-ridges in the middle of the river. Maybe you can see one in the background.



Eventually we came back home where we spent the evening surfing the net...it was much nicer inside .

Hi Mum!

Today a new TV arrived here . Smaug mentioned (for once ) that someone was on his way but without giving us any detail, so we got really excited when the parcel arrived.



And it turn out that that our new friend is Dean, a horse from the USA . He brought us some lovely sweets and a nice card from North Carolina .



Apparently he is just back from China, so we are very curious to hear about his trip, plenty to chat about .

Hi Mum!

Today we watched a bit of Winter Olympics on TV. First we followed the men downhill, the biggest event of the games . I wanted to cheer on the Aussies but I'm afraid that they are not really good at skiing , so I just enjoyed the show .



Later we watched some cross country skiing.



In the afternoon the weather was quite nice so smaug took us out for a walk . First we went to see the Saddledome. The arena is the home of the Calgary Flames hockey team, but it also hosts other sports, concerts and, during the stampede, you can find games with cattle and horses in there .



On the other side we could see downtown Calgary with the Calgary Tower.



Then it started getting darker and we went home where we watched some more Olympics on TV .

Hi Mum!

Tomorrow Lucy K will travel to her next host, she is going to Lithuania . So tonight we gathered together to wish her a safe trip .

Hi Mum!

Today it was Mortimer_'s birthday, so this morning we all sang happy birthday for him .



Later smaug and sammino arranged some special cheese meal for him.



It was hard work, but, with some little help , he somehow managed to finish it .



Later we decided to watch a movie . Smaug recently got his new zone-free DVD player so we tried to set it up....without much success .



After the failure with the DVD  we sat down to chat a bit. Michel received last week a postcard from his mum and took a chance to tell us something about his hometown, Hamburg. It must be a nice place, I hope I’ll go there one day .

Hi Mum!

Today smaug had to drive through Banff National Park and we went with him . He was a bit in hurry, but the day was so nice that he wanted to take some pictures of us and so stopped briefly around Banff.
Here you can see the Bow Valley behind me…



…while this is Cascade Mountain .



Hopefully next time we pass here we’ll be able to take a few more photos .

Hi Mum!

A new guest arrived today . We were very curious when we saw that smaug came back home with a parcel.



And, after opening the envelope, we found out that our new friend is Etwas a ghost from Germany. He arrived directly from Russia and brought over a nice card and some lovely Russian chocolate, how nice .



We wanted to know everything about his travels, but he is a bit tired after such a long trip, I guess we’d better let him get some rest .

Hi Mum,

Today we said goodbye to Michel who is travelling to his next host in China, how exciting ! We all wished him a safe journey, hopefully it won’t take too long for him to get there .

Hi  Mum,

smaug told us that today we are going on holiday , so this morning we helped him in preparing the luggage. We don’t really know where we are going yet , but we are very happy that, despite the main bag being fairly empty, we haven’t been put inside it to fill it up: we are travelling in the carry-on bag instead .



See you soon .

Hi Mum,

Guess what? I found out my destination: after a long, very long, and mostly uneventful trip I arrived between the mountains of Northern Italy . Yesterday we had some excitement when, at the security controls in Calgary, they decided to have a closer look at smaug’s carry-on bag and we excitedly popped out of it earning him plenty of odd looks . One of the officers even decided that Dean was in desperate need of some grooming and brushed him with some sort of dust sweeper . The flight only highlight  is that while we were crossing over Greenland we enjoyed a wonderful northern lights show . It was so cool: just like curtains of light moving in the night sky. Pity the photos we tried to take didn’t really come out any better that some dark blur .
Anyway, here in Trento we had a quick look out of the window: there’s plenty of green around and even a small river right here next to the house .



Well, I am sure I will have a chance to explore around soon, now we are all a bit jet lagged so we are going to sleep .

Hi Mum,

Today we started exploring around here. First we got a good breakfast of cookies and hot chocolate to get the necessary strength .



smaug took us to a to a little village near Trento. The village lies in a sort of balcony on the side of the mountain and on one side sits at the top of a 200m high rock wall overlooking the town . From here you have a wonderful view of downtown Trento.




You can also see the valley heading south.



Later we went a bit higher up the mountain to a stretch of road nicknamed “7 tornanti”, that in English would sound like “7 hairpins”. It’s called like that because there are 7 hairpins in a very short stretch of road that, as you can guess, looks very “curvy” .




From one of the hairpins you can see the valley again, heading north this time.