Back again!

Ahhhhhh...... back again.....

My son and I just returned from yet another visit to SE Asia.  I do so love travelling to this part of the world.

                                   

This time we were gone for just short of 6 weeks, travelling mainly through Thailand with a short hop up into Laos.  And it was, well, awesome.  It usually is.  Ha ha, I almost said always, but that wouldn't quite be true.  I have had the very rare experience of not having an enjoyable trip, and even of having an unenjoyable one.  Sigh, it happens.  But happily this was one of those awesome trips and I can't wait to share it!  We've been home for just over two weeks now, still working on the jet lag but far enough along that we are pretty much sleep cycle adapted, although still feeling a little lethargic.  Feeling lethargic, I have learned, is a good thing, and do please, please listen to what I say here and learn from my experiences and not your own...... jet lag can be DANGEROUS, in ways that I sure as anything didn't know anything about.  I was in a car accident last week, and it would appear as though the most likely culprit was jet lag.  It was 6 days after our return..... I had intentionally waited 3 days before doing any driving, then I waited until I had two normal sleep cycles before going out at night.  And then I went out in the car in the evening to take my son and I to the swimming pool. I wasn't feeling tired, I hadn't had any alcoholic beverages in days, no medications.  One minute I was driving along fully cognizant of where I was, the next I was being woken up by what felt like the biggest speed bump ever but which was in actuality the curb as I went barreling over it at full speed seeing directly in front of me the driver's side door of a thankfully large SUV.  I had no time to do or think anything, except think "I can not hit that door", trying to swerve, which I think I might have succeeded at to some extent since I did not hit the door of the SUV, and trying to brake, which I have no idea if I was successful at, and which probably wouldn't have been effective anyways since my wheels were shot and I was possibly in the air as well.  A couple of seconds later I came to rest on a slight incline on the other side of three lanes of vehicles.  Thankfully although I did hit at least one other vehicle and my car is likely a write-off there were no serious injuries to people, in fact my son and I may be the only ones with any injuries, and his are very minor.  After things were cleared up at the scene my son and I went in to the emergency room of the hospital to get checked out.  There we started to examine the mystery of why I was suddenly asleep while driving.  It was very strange, in that I had no warning.  I was not feeling tired that day.  I did not feel drowsy while driving.  I had not been starting to feel sleepy as I drove.  I literally was awake, then I was not.  The doctors did an ECG and I was on a heart monitor for a couple of days.  Nothing.  The only variables leading up to the accident that were different from the thousands of times I have gone driving in the evenings without suddenly falling into unconsciousness was my recent return from a lengthy visit to a location 14 time zones away.  So a friend of mine started to do some searching on jet lag.  And I started asking around.  What I have come to from this is that it is quite possible that that little thing we call jet lag could have been the culprit.  Jet lag messes up your rhythms, we know this.  But I do not think an understanding of how much it messes up our rhythms, and the body's communication, is out there in the general public, it certainly isn't in the general public I hang out with.  Moving quickly from different time zones not only messes up one's ability to sleep at the appropriate time in the new location, but it also messes up the body's ability to accurately communicate how it is feeling.  As in, you might be absolutely exhausted, and not be hearing that from your body.  And that is likely what happened to me. Between the 8 hours of broken sleep over the 48 hours between when I woke up the morning of the start of my return travels and arriving back home, and the lesser amounts of sleep I got because of sleep cycle adjustment after getting back, I would have been seriously sleep deprived.  But I didn't feel it because my body's signalling abilities were messed up.  Being ignorant of the inadvisability of trusting in my body's signals almost a week after my return I thought not feeling tired meant I wasn't tired.  So out I go.  But my body is physically on the verge of collapse from exhaustion.  So put it in a dark environment, at a time which on its most recently adjusted schedule is slightly early morning after an all nighter and, well, it stops.  And I pass out.  Completely without warning and outside of my control.  In the process of my inquiries I have had related to me a tale of a similar experience.... a friend just dropped in his kitchen, then woke a few minutes later, had a milkshake as he says, and everything was fine.  Well, I dropped in the car.  While driving.  Thankfully there were relatively minor consequences, I shudder to think of what could have happened.  In the future I'm going to be tabulating how much sleep I have, and I'll wait until I start to feel tired when I should, and then don't feel tired, instead of just waiting until I don't feel tired, before I start to think I'm even beginning to move over jet lag.  So I request of any of you who may choose to do lengthy travelling, please, please, factor in accommodations for proper adjustment upon your return.  Don't drive, operate if you're a doctor (please no!), or geez, walk along cliff faces, until you have felt tired, then felt not tired, AND can tabulate an appropriate number of sleep hours, as a MINIMUM.  In his searches my friend found a statement that it generally takes 1-2 days per time zone difference to re-adjust, which means that for  a trip such as the one from which I just returned, with its 14 hour time difference, the readjustment period would likely be between 14 and 28 days, way longer than most of us allow, and certainly long enough to be of impact in our lives.  So before you go away even plan on how you are going to protect yourself and those around you for the appropriate time while you recover, how you will decide if you are re-adjusted enough to start re-engaging in regular activities, and how you are going to undertake this process.  Please do not rely upon this blog to determine your behaviours, I am just relating my personal experiences as a watch out! this is something to check out!, I am no expert, I am still hunting for usable information myself.  What I am doing right now is  taking cabs, buses, and rides from friends when I need to get about.  It's been 2.5 weeks now, and I have been through feeling slightly fatigued, as though I haven't had a terribly good night's sleep, so I think my body's signals are working again, I hope.  Regarding my previous experiences of what I understood to be jet lag, I have found that a three week trip is about my cut-off for the jet lag experience - trips under 3 weeks have a relatively easy readjustment period (although it's still there, so be careful still!), trips over three weeks have a considerably more painful, lengthy, and impactful readjustment period.  This is why I took what most people around here would have viewed as fairly excessive precautions, such as not driving at all for three days, and waiting for 2 normal sleep cycles before heading out in the evening, when I returned from this trip, even though evidently they were not enough.  Perhaps those precautions would be adequate for a short trip, although I wouldn't count on it, like I said, I'm not an expert and I am still hunting for information.  If anyone else has any information please share, this is an area of knowledge that would be good to get accurate information out in.  

So there is my warning note, I have to go now but I will be back to write more on this latest amazing adventure of ours in Mom and Son Explorations!

Kootenay National Park Camping - August, 2013

I love the mountains!  My son and I just returned from a very quick camping trip out by Radium, B.C., another activity which people frequently express surprise at hearing that I do on my own with my son.  We have been camping together since he was 6 years old, he is now almost 14.  I have to confess it has certainly gotten easier the older he becomes, but even when it was more difficult it was a most worthwhile experience.  It is probably not quite as entertaining for the surrounding campers now as it once was, some of those times when he was 6 or 7 or 8 and I was working on putting up our large family tent on my own, or with him "helping", would have been interesting to witness, to say the least. Now, well, he has become a much more accomplished helper, so there is less entertainment for the surrounding campers, and more relaxation for me!

My son and I live in Calgary, Alberta, which is very conveniently located within an hour's drive of beautiful mountain scenery with plenty of campgrounds.  This makes it quite easy for us to get away on the spur of the moment for a couple of nights of nature.  I have all of our camping equipment nicely stored in travel boxes, so all I have to do for these 2 or 3 night trips is make a quick trip to the grocery store for food and cooler ice, then load it up in the car.  Provided we can find someone to care for our birds we can be out of here on one day's notice, fantastic!

This camping trip was prompted by my realization that the summer is almost over, how did that happen?, and camping time is rapidly running out.  We were going to head to Two Jack Lakeside by Banff, but by the time we arrived at 3:00 in the afternoon the campsite was full.  Hunh.  I chatted with the most helpful campsite attendant about site availability at other campgrounds; the Two Jack Lake main campground had sites available, but it wasn't lakeside and my son and I were good for a bit more of a drive, so we decided to head down towards Radium and Macleod Meadows Campground instead.  After an hour and a half along a beautiful road we arrived, and so glad we chose to drive the extra, the campground is beautiful!  Right on the river, about 15 minutes to Radium, fantastic!  Here's a view from behind the washrooms in G loop.....  

The view from behind the G loop washrooms at Macleod Meadows Campground by Radium, B.C., Canada

We arrived probably around 5:00 in the evening, chose a campsite, and then registered.  This campground, like many of the less busy campgrounds in the Canadian Rocky Mountain National Parks, is a self-registration campground.  Meaning there is a kiosk

Self-registration kiosk

at the campground entrance with a map of the campground, a listing of the rates, envelopes to enclose payment, and a dropbox for the payment envelopes.  Everything works on an honour system, something I appreciate very much about this country of mine.  A recent development is the acceptance of credit card information for payment, previously it was cash only, which nowadays can be a bit of a nuisance.  Anyways, after taking a look at the campground map we decided to try for G or H loops, which were right next to the river.  It turns out H loop was closed, it looked as though perhaps it was flooded out by the June flooding.  G loop was still there though, with beautiful sites.  The 3 that backed onto the river were already taken, but G5, where we settled, was still beautiful - large, treed, and with a path off the back that led to the trail towards Dog Lake, a short walk of about 2.5 km which we did not do because of the small knee injury I sustained hiking last month and from which I was still recovering.  The beginning part of the hike though, from our campsite and along the suspension bridges across the river, was quite beautiful.

Campsite G5, Macleod Meadows Campground, Kootenay National Park

Path behind campsite G5

View from the beginning of the Dog Lake hike

After a delicious, relaxing, dinner at the campsite we headed into Radium to pick up some milk, making it into the store barely 5 minutes before their 9:00 p.m. closing time.  We would have had a few more minutes to spare except we ended up behind somebody going 40km/hr on the highway, my goodness!  And on this highway there is no passing, it is far too narrow and winding.  Thankfully however we did make it in before closing, so we were all set for our morning hot chocolate, yeah!  After that success we decided a nice relaxing soak would be enjoyable, so we stopped at the hot springs, (link), ahhhhhhhhhhh......  nothing like lying down in some nice hot water at the end of the day, looking up at the surrounding cliffsides and the emerging stars.....  then back to the campsite and to bed, but not before spending some time looking up at those amazing stars again.  So many!  It was like the sky was made of stars, with occasional specks of darkness in between, and not the other way around as is the case in Calgary, or even some of the other places I've camped which evidently have a little more light pollution than the area around the Macleod Meadows Campground.

The next morning dawned bright and sunny and I enjoyed a few hours of rest and relaxation before my teenaged son rolled out of bed around noon.  We satisfied our need to move by heading off on the Kimpton Creek trail, a trail along Kimpton Creek just a few minutes east of Radium.  We chose this hike because it was supposed to be flat, and sounded as though it would be interesting to walk along just for the sake of walking, which was important since with my knee I was only supposed to be walking on flat, and for limited amounts of time.  So I set us a time limit of 45 minutes each way, and off we went!  Although, not before seeing some of the local wildlife.....

Deer by the Kimpton Creek hike

Welcome to the forest

And now off we were on our "hike"!  One thing about this hike, if one is looking for some peace and serenity, this one will do it for you.  Just look at the entry way!

The rest of what we did of this hike continued in a similar vein.  Very limited on mountain views, but full to the rim of peace and serenity.  Cool yet open forest, a stream, and lots and lots of mushrooms!

Actually, that is rather unusual, typically it's a little on the dry side on the eastern edge of the Rockies for mushrooms.  But here there were plenty, and a great variety.... big ones, small ones,

red ones, brown ones, white ones, oranges ones, yellow ones.  Circles, rods, and just globs.

    

 On trees 

And on the ground

Getting down and looking up lends a whole new perspective....

 This was one Rocky Mountain hike where looking down was the thing to do!

 After finishing our hike it was once more to the hot springs, so nice!  This time however we also visited the "cool" pool, which is a regular temperature pool.  I really enjoy the Radium hot springs pools, their hot pool is large and pleasingly shaped, and they do have a cool pool for kids, and adults, to play in, complete with two slides and a diving board, fantastic!  After our most relaxing time in the water we headed back to the campsite for a campfire, along that beautiful mountain road,

The view from the road from Radium, B.C., to the Macleod Meadows Campground

and an easy dinner of some chili that I had brought from home.  A campfire is a necessity for us, it and the associated s'mores are an

Our campfire

integral part of any camping excursion.  For those who don't know, s'mores are like little marshmallow sandwiches.  Take two graham wafer crackers, fill with one beautifully roasted marshmallow, (and I am an acknowledged expert in marshmallow roasting), and your choice of chocolate bar pieces, (I have a fondness for Caramilk bars, or really anything that combines chocolate and caramel), and voila!, one beautiful s'more!  Yummm!  Wood at the national parks around here is generally provided,once a fire permit is purchased that is. And one is not permitted to have a campfire without a fire permit.  This time the cost was $8.80 per day, including unlimited wood.  The camper does need to come prepared with an axe or hatchet though, you'd have a bit of trouble getting the fire going with the sized pieces provided, and collecting from the forest is strictly prohibited.  Bringing firewood in from outside of province is also strictly prohibited, in an effort to control pests and disease, I believe.

Three hours of poking the fire and eating, and it was time to end our last evening of camping, for this time.  One last walk to the washroom under the stars, and it was off to bed.  Ahhhhhhhhhh.....

The next morning I woke early, and had a nice surprise, I was up in time for the sunrise!  One last relaxing adventure before heading home!  So off I went in my pyjamas, settling myself in by the river to immerse myself in the changing colours of the coming day. 

And with that, it was time to say good-bye to the local campsite wildlife,

Campsite wildlife, Macleod Meadows Campground, B.C., Canada

pack up and head home, rested and rejuvenated and mentally prepared for the business of the fall...

The arrival of fall in Calgary, AB, Canada

Newfoundland, Part 1

Tilting Rock Art

I love Newfoundland!  It is June, 2013, and my son and I are on day 5 or so of our trip to Newfoundland.  This is proving to be an absolutely amazing experience.  So far we have visited Twillingate, Fogo Island, and Dunsfield, which is right close to Trinity.  We have been doing the rent a vehicle and drive around staying at bed and breakfasts thing, which has allowed us to meet some wonderful people, like Mark and Ruby at All Season's Bed and Breakfast  in Twillingate, Gerard and Darlene at Foley's Place in Tilting, on Fogo Island, and Ed and Marge at Rolling Hills Bed and Breakfast in Dunsfield, just outside of Trinity, on the Bonavista Peninsula.  Not to mention all the other guests with whom I spent the evenings, and breakfasts, chatting.

So what have we been doing?  Well, mainly we came here for the

Kittiwakes (?) on the water

birds.  Seriously.  It's seabird nesting season, and Newfoundland has lots of neat seabirds that nest close to shore, like puffins, gannets, kittiwakes and murres.  Not to mention of course all the gulls which fly around all the time, including this enormous type which I had never seen before, or if I had, hadn't noticed, which is odd considering its size.  It is aptly named a great black-backed gull, and when I first saw one I thought it must be some sort of large mammal hunting bird, like an eagle or something, simply because of its size.  But it wasn't, it's a gull, just a very large gull!  

Interested as we are in birds, and interesting as the birds may be, there is much more to Newfoundland than the birds.  First, there's the amazing scenery.  Up around Twillingate and Fogo Island in particular the scenery is absolutely stunning.  

Scenery on the way to Twillingate

Barren, rocky, but with lots and lots of bright blue lakes, ponds, and streams.  And the coastline!  It weaves in and out, water playing along the rocky shoreline.  Toss in some small villages with houses perched in seemingly impossible locations, squeezed between the rocks and the ocean, more often than not making use of stilts to hold the houses level as the rocks fall away beneath them, and you have the landscape up around Twillingate and on Fogo Island.  On a sunny day a drive or a walk through the area consists of one breathtaking moment after another.  On a stormy day I am sure it would be an entirely different experience, although likely just as breathtaking.  

While we were in Twillingate we had the most amazing experience, we saw an iceberg!  I had signed us up for a boat tour with Cecil the Iceberg Man, who runs Iceberg Man Tours, hoping that we might get lucky and see one of these, and what do you know, my hopes came true!  A fast-moving berg came down the coast our first night in Twillingate, we could actually see it from our bed and breakfast the next morning.  Cecil's daughter was nice enough to call our bed and breakfast to ask if we would like to change our tour time to the morning since the berg was moving fast, we did, good thing since by the afternoon the berg was gone, and as a result we got to have this amazing experience. 

 
















 

Birds on the berg, they knew when it was going to go, since they all took off just seconds before the first section broke off!

A chunk coming off of the iceberg, watch out for that wave!

Iceberg viewing was the focus of our visit to Twillingate, although there is much more that one could do, I could happily have stayed longer than our two nights.  There are a couple of little museums around, many, many nice sounding walking trails, and I heard from one person that they had gone out on a lobster fishing boat.  In July I think people can go out cod fishing as well.  And they have beautiful sunsets.... 

Sunset from our bed and breakfast in Twillingate

After Twillingate we headed to Fogo Island.  After a short ferry ride to the island

Ferry ride from Farewell to Fogo Island

we made our way down to Tilting and our Bed and Breakfast, then drove back to Fogo town to walk up to Brimstone Head, which is claimed to be one of the four corners of the earth by the Flat Earth Society.

 
I'm not really sure why they would think this is one of the four corners of the earth since one can see other islands from the top, but, well, whatever, right?
 

The view towards the Atlantic from Brimstone Head

 

Walking back down from Brimstone Head

Sheep guarding their territory along Turpin's Trail

Anyways, Fogo Island was beautiful.  We stayed only one night, and again, we could have stayed longer.  There are lots of walking trails there, and I would have really enjoyed walking a few of them.  We did get to walk some of the way along one right by our bed and breakfast, it was called Turpin's  Trail.  It was an easy walk, along a dirt path weaving among the grass and boulders, with views of sheep, cliffs, and the ocean.  

Turpin's Trail

There are many entrances and exits to the paths, so one could make one's excursion as long or short as one would want.  If one wanted, one could even bring along a lunch and have it at a comfy spot along the way!

Picnic time?

All this walking around I have been talking about was a fantastic way to spend our time.  The landscape is so very different than what we see in Calgary, and to be able to get out and walk around in it was so much more meaningful than just looking at it.  Feeling the wind, smelling the air, and, definitely, feeling how much that ground sinks when you step on it!  The bed and breakfast experience was also incredibly rewarding - meeting the people, and being able to go places that perhaps wouldn't have been as easy to visit if we had limited ourselves to hotels.  And even if you have done bed and breakfasts elsewhere, your previous experiences might not be quite the same as what you would have here.  These really are small towns we were in, and, well, for example, in Tilting we arrived and there was no one at the bed and breakfast. But the door was unlocked, and there was a note saying it was the bed and breakfast and for guests to make themselves at home, so I had us take our things in and do so, much to the consternation of my son.  We did eventually meet our hosts of course, and they were quite friendly and welcoming, which I think reassured him.  At least he wasn't nearly as concerned when we did the same at the next bed and breakfast at Dunsfield...

The landscape around Dunsfield is different from that around Twillingate and on Fogo Island.  It is much gentler, although it may still seem harsh to some.  And it was here that we first ran into rain, lots of it!  We went out to Elliston to see the Puffins, and it was raining.  But we really wanted to see the Puffins, and at Elliston they have a colony just offshore, close enough to the mainland that you can watch them from there.  So there we were, standing in the pouring rain, watching the puffins hop, and waddle, and attempt to fly (they really aren't very good fliers, they flap their wings like little hyperactive wind-up toys and have a tendency to crash into things, and yet, they nest on the tops of cliffs.  Oh dear).  

You first, no you, no you, no you.....

A benefit of the rain is the possibility of seeing rainbows, and we saw a beaut, right over the town of Trinity.
 

Rainbow over Trinity

While my son was sleeping in the morning (he is growing, and thus is sleeping lots) I went for a nice little walk, again, beautiful walking country. 

Looking back to Dunsfield

So let's see, what can I say to any who might be considering a trip out this way?  Well, the rent a car and drive yourself around approach is working very well for my son and me.  It gives us freedom and flexibility, and, really, I don't think there's much else out here in the way of transportation.  Food and gas can be a little difficult to come by, so top up on both when you have the chance.  Most gas stations have a convenience store attached, but whether or not it is selling anything that one would want to use as a meal is, well, very much up to chance, with I would say the likelihood of their stock not being what one would want to use as a meal higher than it being of the decent meal variety.  I have noticed that most seem to serve ice cream though.  Open grocery stores are also hard to come by, as are restaurants.  What restaurants are around typically close by 8:00 p.m.  The one in Tilting is also closed Sundays, Mondays, and Tuesdays until the end of June.  I noticed a bakery somewhere in the vicinity of Tilting on the way to the ferry the morning of our departure that had a huge, for that part of Newfoundland, lineup, but that is not helpful for dinner.  So..... be sure to stop for dinner at the first of whatever you see offering such early, in case you don't see another before 8:00.  For information's sake, Twillingate has a couple of restaurants, Trinity had one that was open when we were there, Tilting had none if you're there on a Sunday, Monday, or Tuesday, but Fogo town on the other side of the island, about a half hour's drive away, had one that was open daily until 8:00.  For lunches, in the event that you need one of these at a time when you are not actually located in a town with a restaurant, I would recommend going into whatever grocery store you find to stock up on some travel meal supplies, like peanut butter, bread, and maybe some grapes.  There are a lot of beautiful picnic spots around anyways, so why not make use of them?  

As for types of food, once you find a restaurant, well, I hope you like fish!  Both my son and I do, actually, fish is a bit of a treat for us back home, so this was great for us.  Fish and chips (which for those of you unfamiliar with this terminology, like my son was prior to our trip to Victoria last year, consists of deep fried fish and french fries, not potato chips) are on the menu everywhere. 

A typical Newfie meal

For those who find the deep fried character of the fish a bit on the heavy side all of the places we've been to up here can also offer pan fried fish.  Cod is of course the main fish offered, although atlantic salmon is also frequently on the menu.  I've had a couple of really nice chowders, usually with cod, mussels, and I think once crab, and I did order a lobster once, unfortunately it wasn't much less expensive than what I would pay back home, although it was much better prepared.  This would not be a good place for strict vegetarians as vegetables were in short supply.  I think I might have seen a salad on a menu once.  When the seafood entree came with vegetables, it was always peas or carrots, and there really weren't very many.  The portion sizes of the seafood, and chips, were always quite large though. 

With regards to lodging, bed and breakfasts seem to be the way to go.  I say this by noting the lack of restaurants, as well as the lack of hotels.  Besides, the B&B people are soooooooooo friendly, really!  You wouldn't want to miss out on this.  All the people up here are friendly, but you really notice it with the B&B hosts.  And, the bed and breakfast hosts are often a really good way to find out, for instance, how to contact the guy who will take tourists out on his lobster boat.  One note on the bed and breakfasts though, there are rumours that they fill up, especially in July and August, so you might want to book them in advance.  

Oh, and can't forget, the accent!  I actually have noticed several different accents as we have been driving around, and some of them are really, really difficult to understand.  It's really quite fun, but it's like being in a different country.  That and the signs..... we've seen a couple of really interesting ones.

Twillingate area road sign

Like, what, exactly, do their roads need protecting from?  Overzealous developers?  I only took a picture of this sign because we were seeing it all over the place up by Twillingate and Fogo Island.  We also saw a very interesting schoolbus sign where the schoolbus is shown speeding along with lights flashing with children leaping off towards the side of the sign.   

We did finally figure out what all the neat hexagonal wooden crates were on the side of the road though.  This one's fairly boring, but they came in much more enjoyable colours as well.  Can anyone guess their function?  Garbage cans!  Or, places to put one's garbage for collection.  Isn't that great?  These are much more aesthetically pleasing than what we use back home.

Garbage can (?) in Tilting

 

 And that's where we're at on our Newfoundland trip.  Wonderful trip so far, and we're looking forward to the rest of it.  We have two more bird sites to see - Bird Rock at Cape St. Mary's, and the Witless Bay Ecological Reserve, and I'm sure many more people to meet and experiences to, well, experience.  I'll keep you posted.....




Post-script:  This post has been put up a considerable amount of time after it was written, but the content is accurate for the time at which it was written, even if not for the time it was posted.  Why the delay?  Well, I was waiting to get home so I could load the pictures, and then, 2 days after our return, before I had really even finished unpacking, my son and I were evacuated because of the Calgary flood.  No damage to our home, but it and the relief efforts, which are still ongoing, somewhat interrupted my posting.  Here are a couple of links for flood information, for any who are interested....  Globe and Mail flood information, CBC Calgary flood news - changing daily .

For ways to help, see Southern Alberta flood - ways to help 

For monetary donations, try Canadian Red Cross Alberta Flood Donations or Place 2 Give