"Hej!"

So we have made it safe and sound to Sweden. In fact, it's almost time to go again. Rose has filled the camera, twice, full of pictures.

We cruised around the coast in a Ethanol powered Volvo. Very cool.

Last night we stayed in a fantastic little town called Ystad. The Resturant we had dinner in was built in the 1700's and so was the hotel right next to it. Very nice beer. After 9 pm, till 3 am a bugel played in the town center every 15 minutes. It has traditions back several hundred years, to keep a look out for fires, along with some very stiff rules (Read: if the bugeler fell asleep during the night, he could be senticed to death) but now they do it, just because.

Tomorrow it's off to Denmark.

Skoal!

Here we go

My stomach is doing back flips.  It's almost time to leave for the airport to head to Europe.  My bags are packed, but that's easy when you are only going with carry-on.

 

Visa Card

Passport

Tickets

 

I can fake the rest if I need to.

The Boom Times

For those of you who just haven't had it sink in what type of economy Alberta is in right now, here is photographic proof.

This picture was taken today in Whitecourt Alberta. I sized the picture down so it loads faster, so in case the picture is hard to read I will spell it out for you:

In front of the 7-11 "Now Hiring! $700 Signing Bonus Apply within"

7-11? Signing Bonus? I still can't belive it.

Aside from health issues, mental or physical, if you can't get a job in this province right now, you're an idiot.

How I plan to spend my summer vacation

There were always those class projects in school: "How I spent my summer vacation" I never remember the project "What do you plan on doing?" I don't know why. As if they were focusing in on who had the bragging rights for the next year.

So here's my plan:
In a couple of days we head off for Beaton. I can't wait. The May long weekend is always good. I haven't made it the last few years because I've had to work, but not this year. I'm a monday to friday kind of guy now. Ha. I'm just not going to be around this weekend. Lots of things make Beaton a special place. Too many to list. It's just a happy place to be.

Then after we get back, it's off to Europe. The train has proven to be a bit of a challange to get all booked, but I'm hoping we have enough in place that the rest will just come into place when we get there. There were a few moments that I honestly thought that I was the first person to book a train in Europe from North America. A suggestion to anyone who is going to try and make such a booking: have a speaker phone. I have spent over 2.5 hours on hold over the last few days getting things all fixed up. A test to my patients.

How am I going to spend my summer vacation? Exploring the world. Parts I've seen before. Parts I haven't seen before. There's lot's to see. I might as well take in as much as I can.

Signs of spring

Today I had a chance to take part in an activity that few outside of Canada can relate: Drive 700+Km in 7 hours, and go through enough towns that I could count them all on one hand. Thank god for cruise-control.

So to help me on my voyage, I tuned the radio into something else truly Canadian. The CBC. Besides, for the most part there was only one other station to listen to in the middle of nowhere, and to borrow a line from the Blues Brothers, "We play both kinds of music, Country and Western"

As the CBC does on a week day afternoon, the had a phone-in talk radio program. The special guest was Ben Gadd. Mr. Gadd is an environmentalists and naturalist, who lives in Jasper, and who's knowledge of all things wild and free has given him a god-like status amongst some of my loved-ones. So I didn't have a lot to loose by listening. (And I've listened to my Nine Inch Nails CD just one too many times in the last week)

They were talking about Signs of Spring. People were phoning in talking about birds they had spotted, and flowers they had seen. I felt enlightened because I had heard some of the names of these plants and animals before, discussed over tea at my in-laws house. However for the life of me I wouldn't be able to match the name to it's rightful owner. I can identify a helicopter by it's noise before you can see it, but by the time I find the right section in the Bird identification Field Guide, the little guy has flown south for the winter.

As I listened to the tales of these all these folks, topped of with the wisdom of Mr. Gadd, I started thinking about my own signs of spring. What tells me that spring is here?
Is it the urge to ride my bike?
How about the fact I start checking out to see if they have opened the Patio at the pub?
Maybe it's simple things like going to work in the morning and it's -5, and coming home at the end of the day and it's pushing 20? (Add that to the riding the bike part. A challenge.)
Looking forward to May Longweekend and the trip to Beaton? I'm not sure that's an accurate sign of spring, because that starts in the fall.

I think what did it for me today, was seeing on the hiway, the first caravan of american Motor Homes each towing an SUV, all on their way to Alaska. I'm not talking that old Chevy van, that you used to take on camping trips down by the river, or that mint-condition Westy, that just needs a little tune-up. Nope, I'm talking Greyhound Bus, with all the trimmings. Air-conditioning, central Heat, Satellite TV, Satellite Radio, full kitchen, master bedroom with en-suite bath, and I've even heard of jet-tubs and jacuzies. These things are, in my mind, the top of the heap for automatic admission into the "More Money than Brains" Club.

I do take solace in the fact that the Canadian dollar is $.91 US today. Well sorry fellas, there are four of our liters to one of your gallons. I paid $1.10/L today. Yup, almost $4 US/gallon. The Westy just got that much cooler.

But it's only spring. Just wait till summer, that's when the price of gas goes up.