…in which we head back to Dublin to wrap it all up.
Well, sadly, this is it. Our last night in Ireland; we head back to Montreal tomorrow.
Continue readingAuthor: jsauve
Full-time technology geek, part-time thinker/writer/reader/learner.
…in which we do a pilgrimage of sorts to Barrington’s Hospital in Limerick.
In the summer of 1981, Claire spent the summer with her 2 sisters, brother and mother in Alexandria, Egypt, where she was born. They still had family there, so they wanted to spend some time with them. Dad, who was working, stayed back in Canada and was to go spend the last 3 weeks with them.
Continue reading
…in which we visit the Cliffs of Moher, I lose my iPhone on the Burren and Loreena McKennitt helps me find it.
A much more relaxed morning; we get up at 7:45AM, get dressed and head to the small dining room here in the B&B. The other guests aren’t up, so we get the table looking out towards the ocean and the cliffs – quite the view for breakfast!
Continue reading
…in which we bid farewell to Galway and travel to Doolin, County Clare.
The previous night’s indulgence in beverages of alcoholic nature were felt this morning upon waking up. We had thought about getting up not too late so we could have the whole day for the next segment of our trip.
Continue reading
…in which we travel to the Aran Islands and dance at Dún Aonghasa.
The alarm goes off at 7AM, and although we are both sleeping soundly, we quickly get out of bed. This is the day we had booked the ferry to visit the Aran Islands, off the West coast of Ireland.
Continue readingWe woke up too late.
Could’ve been the long, overnight flight, the travel, the time change.
Or the whisky and Guinness. But by the time we pulled ourselves out of bed, it was 9AM. The plan was to head to Rossaveel and take the ferry to the Aran Island of Inis Mor. As it turns out, there’s only one ferry a day, and it was at 10:30AM. Too late for that!
Continue reading
…in which we travel from Canada to Ireland, and start exploring.
Out from Montreal at 8PM on Wednesday evening, to Toronto, then an 11PM flight out of Toronto to Dublin. This brings us into Dublin on Thursday morning at 10:40AM local time.
Continue reading
Autumn. It is not the season of death and dying, as some would claim, those who hate winter and sink into sombre thoughts of cold, dark days. It is nature preparing itself for it’s annual sleep, a time of rest, and in that moment, nature graces us with a most wonderful spectacle.
Here in Southern Alberta, it is definitely the most beautiful time of year. By far. The foothills, just west of Calgary and east of the majestic Canadian Rockies, are covered with a tapestry of deep greens, vibrant yellows and rich golds.
It is, in fact, a perfect time to pack the camera gear into the Jeep and take a drive. I had been hearing about the “Kananaskis loop” for quite some time, so we decided to go and explore. W
e headed out from Cochrane on Highway 22, also known as the Cowboy Trail, and headed south. It doesn’t take long that we’re out of town and driving through open fields, cattle and horses peacefully grazing in the sunshine.
Soon we pass through Bragg Creek, and we’re on our way to Turner Valley and Black Diamond, almost 70 kilometres away. The scenery is stunning, the colours incredible. We’ve got the radio on and we’re singing along to Keith Urban, Dean Brody and Paul Brandt, among others.
We leave Highway 22 for a little bit and drive through Priddis, but I blinked along the way and missed the town! Down a quiet country road, then take a left to rejoin the 22, and shortly into Turner Valley. Cute town, but we don’t stop; Black Diamond is only a couple of kilometres away so we decide that we’ll stop there for a bio-break. As we get into Black Diamond, we spot the “Eau Claire Distillery”; hmm, that looks interesting, so after a short pit stop we go in to see what it’s about. Turns out they are a local producer, and they make vodka and gin, all from local ingredients. I’m not a big fan of gin, but it’s their specialty, so I accept to try it when the woman tending the shop offers it to me.
Wow, was that different! We could smell and taste flowers! The woman explains that, “Yes, there is of course juniper, which is required in order to call it gin, but we also infuse our gin with about 20 more botanicals.” We easily spot lavender, which she confirms, and she also points out coriander.
We purchase a bottle of their gin and we head back out on the road (yes, the gin bottle remains unopened!).
The plan is to keep driving down the 22 into Longview, which is renowned for having Alberta’s best beef jerky: the Longview Jerky Shop.
Mmmmmm….beef jerky!
We find the small store and quickly purchase a couple of different jerkies: original, pepper, sweet and spicy. Unlike the bottle of gin, these do not remain unopened as we get back on the road! And boy, were they good!
From Longview, we now veer off the 22 onto Highway 541, heading west towards the Rockies. The hills are getting bigger, and so are the mountains. Along the way, we spot some free-range cattle along the road, so we stop to take some pictures. Up until now, there haven’t been too many photo stops, but the scenery is quickly becoming more and more spectacular, and the stops more frequent. Eventually, we join up with Alberta 40 and we start heading back north towards Highway 1, the TransCanada Highway, but there’s a good 105 kilometres to go.
We enter Peter Lougheed Provincial Park, and by now we are well into the Rockies. This is Kananaskis Country. The road is nestled between high peaks; the points of view get more spectacular and the camera comes out more often. We drive up, and up, and up, and eventually go by a sign that announces that we are at Highwood Pass, at 7239 feet, the highest paved pass in Canada. From that point on, the road goes slowly back down towards Highway 1.
Every turn and dip in the road offers more incredible views than the last; the sun is starting to sink low, and it shines through the gold and yellow leaves of the aspens. It is breathtaking!
We pass Nakiska ski centre; I had never seen where it was, so I make a note of it. The mountain looks a bit smaller than Sunshine, but it looks like a nice place – I need to get out there this winter.
We finally reach Highway 1, head east, cross over at Morley Road to the old Highway 1A, which leads us back into Cochrane, almost 4 hours later.
Yes, autumn truly is the most beautiful season.
Pretty much everyone of us has a “bucket list”: places we’d like to visit, things we’d like to do. I have one, too; but I also have what I like to call a “dynamic bucket list”. I put things in there that I never really thought I would do, or places I never thought I’d visit, but given the opportunity…why not?
One of the aspects of my job that I enjoy the most (I.T. sales and consulting) is that I get to travel all over the place, for trade shows or to work with customers. This week, for example, I am working with a customer in Waco, Texas.
Now, if you’re at least 30 years or older, I’m betting that the first thing that came to mind when you read “Waco, Texas” is the siege of the Branch Davidians back in 1993. David Koresh and his merry bunch of gun-slinging, God-loving followers going up in flames, the ATF and FBI all goin’ around saying “but we didn’t do nuthin’!”
Waco, or the site of the siege, had not made it on my “bucket list”, but I figured that since I was down here, and this is what the area is famous (infamous?) for, why not head out there? There really is nothing to see, it’s just the thrill of standing somewhere that a bit of history was made, where a major news event took place.
The site itself is about 20kms northeast of Waco, an easy drive out of the town, through some nice country side. Turn left on Double Ee Ranch Road, and the main entrance is about 500m up. I wasn’t sure I had found the right place, so I noticed a pickup truck parked beside a small water pumping station; an older gentleman, who works for the local water utility, was just getting in.
I stopped beside his truck, got out of my car and went to introduce myself, telling him that I was in the area for the week and was looking for the old Davidian place. He pointed to where I had just come from and said, “That’s the place, right there. I was here when it all happened. Worked for the local fire department. We were called out to help put the fire out. Lots of burned bodies everywhere.”
We chatted a while, and then he went on his way.
I got back into my car, drove back to the sight, and took a couple of pictures. I just stood and looked around, trying to picture the madness that was going on at the time.
Apparently, the main gate is normally open and visitors can get onto the property, but on this day it was closed. The gentleman from the water utility suggested that perhaps it was because the owner was not there.
I’ve been asking the people around here, “Does it bother you that when people hear ‘Waco’ that all they think about is the siege?” Answer: it doesn’t. At least not the ones I spoke to. It’s a part of their history, and they accept it as such.
One thing that is clear is that even 22 years later, there is still no consensus on the events: did the ATF and FBI overreact? Who fired the first shots? Who actually set fire to the compound? There are people who will argue from either side of the fence.
So, yes – I have a dynamic bucket list, and every now and then, given the opportunity, I’ll throw something in it and immediately cross it off. This one was particularly unexpected, and, well….kinda cool.
In closing, some pictures (not mine!) that will look familiar to most of us that remember that winter of 1993.
A String of Days 