Library in Banff

I almost forgot that I snapped a picture of the public library in Banff. Perhaps not as flashy as the library in Calgary, but who am I not to take a picture of a library I see?

Time Travel: Lake Louise

Time Travel: Life got a bit away from me this summer. I have been working on finishing up school, and with the addition of my lovely almost full time job, I haven't much time for anything else. Posts with the Time Travel disclosure were posted well after I intended to post them (and not always at the right time). Sorry!

Probably the most beautiful thing we saw while we were gone, was Lake Louise.

The water was this amazing blue, the mountains were just barely concealed in mist, and you could see so far up the canyon. 

Time Travel: Banff

Time Travel: Life got a bit away from me this summer. I have been working on finishing up school, and with the addition of my lovely almost full time job, I haven't much time for anything else. Posts with the Time Travel disclosure were posted well after I intended to post them (and not always at the right time). Sorry!

Jer and I drove into the Rockies for a few days before we left Canada. It is so beautiful! I'd also like to mention that these are mountains:

Guys, gals, seriously. These are mountains. Afton "Mountain" may colloquially be counted among the giants, but if you've ever seen both, you know there is no comparison. 

Banff was this adorable little town that really reminded me of home; of course there are differences, but small towns all feel at least a little alike. They also have really cool manhole covers. 

Time Travel: West Edmonton Mall

Time Travel: Life got a bit away from me this summer. I have been working on finishing up school, and with the addition of my lovely almost full time job, I haven't much time for anything else. Posts with the Time Travel disclosure were posted well after I intended to post them (and not always at the right time). Sorry!

With some of Jer's old friends, we drove north to Edmonton, and visited the West Edmonton Mall, which I think at some point was the largest mall in North America, but isn't anymore. Who wakes up one morning and thinks, I want to build the biggest mall?

Regardless, it's huge. It's big enough that it has it's own pirate ship. Some lucky girl was having the craziest princess/pirate mashup birthday party on board while we were there. It also had a live seal show, and a hotel, and loads of other stuff. We barely scratched the surface.

Time Travel: Poutine

Time Travel: Life got a bit away from me this summer. I have been working on finishing up school, and with the addition of my lovely almost full time job, I haven't much time for anything else. Posts with the Time Travel disclosure were posted well after I intended to post them (and not always at the right time). Sorry!

Many of my american friends are bewildered by poutine, which I think was available in almost every single place we ate in Canada, from fast food to trendy hippy restaurants. Well, here it is:

French fries, gravy, and cheese curds. I'll admit, I was a little mystified too, until I realized that I couldn't eat it, so I'll never know what it tastes like. I have an out, what about you?

Oh, also, in true tourist fashion, here is a picture of me outside a Tim Horton's.

Time Travel: Penguins

Time Travel: Life got a bit away from me this summer. I have been working on finishing up school, and with the addition of my lovely almost full time job, I haven't much time for anything else. Posts with the Time Travel disclosure were posted well after I intended to post them (and not always at the right time). Sorry!

So, you're probably wondering what my favorite part of visiting Calgary was, right? Well, I'll tell you. It was the penguins.

There isn't much of a point posting more pictures, because the lighting just wasn't great. However, I cannot emphasize enough how cool seeing the penguins was. We visited twice, and over post visits spent at least three hours with the penguins.

The Calgary Zoo has a plunge exhibit modeled after the St. Louis Zoo's penguin plunge. They have four breeds of penguins, the Gentoo, which are small and smart. The Rockhoppers, which have orange old man eyebrows. The Kings, second in size only to the emperor penguins, and who like to follow each other as you can see above. They also have Humbolt penguins which were outside, and not loving the heat that much.

This was just too much fun!

Time Travel: Badlands

Time Travel: Life got a bit away from me this summer. I have been working on finishing up school, and with the addition of my lovely almost full time job, I haven't much time for anything else. Posts with the Time Travel disclosure were posted well after I intended to post them (and not always at the right time). Sorry!

Jer, his mom, and I all drove out to the Badlands to see the Royal Tyrell Dinosaur museum (AKA, the second coolest part of Calgary). 

The area is quite beautiful. We drove for hours with just farmland around us, then all of the sudden there were these eroded portions. 

I learned a lot, and it was the coolest kind of museum. They even had a garden they was carefully controlled to grow plants like the ones that grew naturally in this area when the Dinos roamed!

This town paints dinosaurs like Avalon painted Buffalo for a while (and like Los Angeles painted angels. We aren't alone in being weird).

But we don't have a giant towering buffalo, so there's something to aim for.

Time Travel: Calgary Tower

Time Travel: Life got a bit away from me this summer. I have been working on finishing up school, and with the addition of my lovely almost full time job, I haven't much time for anything else. Posts with the Time Travel disclosure were posted well after I intended to post them (and not always at the right time). Sorry!

While visiting Calgary, Jer and I went up the Calgary Tower. Which at one point was probably more impressive; now there are several taller buildings within the city. Still, it was quite tall and both Jer and I had a problem with the glass floor. He admits his fear of heights (yet still volunteers to go into tall buildings with me), but I don't normally think I have a hard time with them. I certainly did with this, I could step onto it as long as I looked out, but not down.

Time Travel: Libraries in Calgary

Time Travel: Life got a bit away from me this summer. I have been working on finishing up school, and with the addition of my lovely almost full time job, I haven't much time for anything else. Posts with the Time Travel disclosure were posted well after I intended to post them (and not always at the right time). Sorry!

The truth is, I can't go anywhere without looking for Libraries ore strange library novelty things. Here they are from Canada.

Time Travel: First Day in Canada

Time Travel: Life got a bit away from me this summer. I have been working on finishing up school, and with the addition of my lovely almost full time job, I haven't much time for anything else. Posts with the Time Travel disclosure were posted well after I intended to post them (and not always at the right time). Sorry!

We spent the first day running errands, mostly. Our room had a little fridge and a microwave, so I took advantage of it and planned to eat breakfast in the room most days. So, we went shopping! Apparently the Real Canadian Superstore is like Wal Mart. I think it sounds way cooler, though. This is also the first place I noticed gratuitous maple leaf placement. They are EVERYWHERE.

Also, there is apparently such a thing as underwater hockey. My mind is blown.

Time Travel: Leaving Pittsburgh

Time Travel: Life got a bit away from me this summer. I have been working on finishing up school, and with the addition of my lovely almost full time job, I haven't much time for anything else. Posts with the Time Travel disclosure were posted well after I intended to post them. Sorry!

This is a picture of all of us on our way out of Pittsburgh. Mom and Dad caught a flight back to California, and Jer and I drove back to Virginia.