Timber!

Yesterday I took four couples up to the Columbia Icefield. We started out in about 8 inches of fresh snow but the weather got better as the day went on. On the way back I noticed water collecting in a spot on the side of the road where there usually wouldn't be and discovered a brand new beaver dam and lodge. I wasn't able to get a picture of it this time but we were able to stop a get a picture of the area where the beaver was collecting the tree branches from. This is one of the newly felled trees.

We also saw a black bear and I got a slightly better shot of it than I got last time. It was in about the same area as my last bear picture so it may have even been the same one but we didn't ask him so who knows for sure.

Today is a much nicer day and I decided to take a picture of the unfrozen version of the Bow river near my place.

This is one more of the mountains surrounding the town of Banff and it was looking pretty good today so here is Cascade mountain as well.

I'm going up to St. Albert tomorrow to take 70 Japanese highschool girls and their teachers to Jasper, down to Banff and then out to Calgary (airport) over the next few days. They have been doing the homestay thing there (St. Albert) for the last week. It should be an interesting trip.

Name that lake.

It's been a while since I posted and I really don't have any exciting news to tell or new pictures to show so I've decided to post this old photo of one of the lakes that I take people to all the time and see if any of you know what lake it is.

It's quite a high lake and doesn't usually melt until the first part of June. It is a very nice deep blue color when it first melts but it soon fills up with rock flour from its source glacier and turns from this color to more of a turquoise then even a lighter blue color in the middle of summer.

Go ahead a have a guess if you dare. By the way I have changed the name of the file to mystery lake so you won't find the name just by saving the picture.
Good luck!

A Little Better Weather

I made another trip to the Columbia Icefield today and finally had some decent, although not perfect, weather. This is a 183km drive (one way) from the town of Banff and we always stop at Lake Louise and a few other spots along the way.
As you can see Lake Louise is just starting to melt around the outlet of the lake.

It was a little cloudy at the ice but at least it wasn't a white out blizzard like in the previous picture I posted. Here is a less blizzardy picture of some of the machines that take people out on the glacier.

One of the nicer views at the spot they stop and let you off onto the glacier is Mt. Andromeda and its glacier. It is quite close and is clinging to the mountain at a steep angle so once in a while we actually get to see little pieces break off come crashing down.

On the way home today we saw a little black bear on the side of the road. My first bear sighting of the year. Sorry it's a little small in the picture.

Finally, in case any of you are wondering, this is my (company) van that I drive my customers crazy in.

On Monday the Japanese tour guides in Banff were invited to the Chateau Lake Louise for a hotel orientation and menu tasting where we could sample some of the main dishes on their menus that our customers will be eating this year. We had some beef tenderloin, chicken, halibut, trout, salmon, soup, salad and some desserts. The food was good and although it was officially a “sampling” they kept bringing it out until we were all quite full.
As you can see in this picture there is still a whole lot of snow left here at the lake. It will be another month or so until the lake is completely melted.


On Tuesday I made my first trip of the year up to the Columbia Icefield. The weather up there was not so nice; basically we were in a blizzard when we got off the snow coach onto the glacier. You get about 20 minutes to walk around on top of the 300 meter thick ice but that day most of the few people that were on the same tour as we were only lasted about 5 minutes outside. The three people you can see outside are the driver and two of my five clients that day. A mother and her four year old daughter whose name is Mia, although it is not pronounced the same as Mya’s name. Hers is the same as Mia Farrow. She was a cute little kid and we had fun in the snow.
Hopefully as the weather warms up I’ll be able to show you what the area really looks like on a nice day.

Oh snap!

I did get a chance to fly my plane for the first time last Saturday. It was a perfect day and I did manage to get it off the ground..... but you'll have to watch the video clip to see what happened.

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

It was a short flight and I'll probably have to replace the main body but it was great fun for the few seconds it lasted. Hopefully my next try will be a little better and not quite so disasterous.

Welcome Home TJ

Looking forward this weekend to seeing TJ and everyone who will be there this weekend.

I recently visited John and Tanis's blog (it's linked at KJAMB's blog) and watched the video of Jordan flying his plane
(this one I think)

and thought it was pretty cool. I've always wanted to try that but those model R/C planes were always so expensive that I never got into it.
Now though you can buy ready-to-fly electric planes that aren't too expensive so I decided to take the plunge and get one. I wanted to get a cool looking fast one but the store guy suggested I start with an easier to fly and less expensive one to learn with so here's what i got.


I'm hoping to fly it for the first time this Saturday so anyone who will be at dad and mom's could watch me crash and burn if you like.

Tales of the Riverbank

Recently I've been trying to find video clips of old children's TV shows I barely remember watching as a kid. Do you recall any old shows that you think you remember vaguely but aren't quite sure that you didn't just dream them at some point in your childhood? There was one show in particular that, I could still kind of play the basic melody of its theme song on my guitar but could not for the life of me remember its name. Tonight I decided to try and find it and googled "hamster driving boat" and low and behold I found out that it was a show called Tales of the Riverbank. Isn't the innerweb wonderful!
I've added a few clips on my blog here. (There is also one clip of some unrelated person's fishing trip as well, that happens to be set to the same music, as it is difficult to control all the results of the video search.)
The one where they go for a ride in the jeep is pretty cool. The Dukes of Hazard had nothing on these guys. I'm sure most of you are too young to remember this show but finding these clips tonight for me has been like finally being able to scratch an itch I've had for a long long time.
Next up, Marine Boy.

UPDATE APRIL 19, 2007
I have now taken the video clip down as I think most everyone who might visit my blog has seen it. Time to make room for other things in that space.

Are we there yet?

Yesterday and today I got back into the new tour season with a group of high school kids (grade 10) from Hiroshima Japan. I first picked them up at the Calgary airport a little over a week ago and they stayed with some "homestay families" in Calgary while they studied English, went places and did things around the city.
Yesterday I picked the 39 kids and 2 teachers up with a charter bus and took them to Banff where we went up the Sulphur mountain gondola among other things.


This is the town of Banff from the top of Sulphur mountain.

This morning it was back to the airport and then Japan for them.
Lucky kids.
I think the biggest school trip I ever went on was on a school bus to Creston BC for band.

This is where I live

This photo was taken just a few days ago from on the frozen Bow river that runs right beside my apartment building here in Banff. It has melted quite a bit since then and is no longer crossable. I know that some of you may never have been here or at least don't get to see this area often so I thought I might periodically post some random shots of the scenery I visit in my work throughout the Rockies.
Even though you may have seen a certain mountain or lake one or more times the changing seasons and weather do make a big difference in the view as you all know. This mountain by the way is called Rundle mountain (2949m/9675ft) and it's what I am facing my as I go out my front door.

Bob Loblaw (bah blah blah)

I have finally decided to join the ranks of all you web logging people out there. I have resisted the urge to start a blog until now as I'm not sure if I'll have enough interesting material to make it worthwhile but I have decided to give it a go anyway. Be sure to stop by once in a while to keep up to date on the exciting adventures of Lorin.
For those of you who don't know me I have attached a photo. That's me on the left. ;)

P.S. Be sure and click on it and view it full size. It's a pretty cool picture I think.