The best way to fly...

... is not in a KLM 747, but a Cessna 172. Not only is the service far more punctual (not to mention, flexible), but you have the added reassurance of loading your own baggage onto the aircraft! The best feature by far, though, is the in-flight entertainment - you can listen in to all the conversation with the air traffic control.

So, instead of travelling to Vancouver Island on the ferry with the rest of the holiday weekend traffic, Uncle John came and collected us at Boundary Bay airport and flew us over - a 20 minute hop with bird's eye views over the Gulf Islands. At 2500 ft you have a fine view of the islands, the boats and if you're lucky, even a few eagles.

Here's the GPS log for Google Earth.

U Dig Fossils

Activity of the day was fossil hunting at the McAbee fossil beds, run by a fossil enthusiast who will be forever remembered by us as "U Dig Dave" (thanks to the proliferation of "U Dig Fossils" signs along the way).

The set-up is pretty casual - we met U Dig Dave halfway up the side of the hill where he has a small portacabin and then he drove us up to the fossil beds - a couple hundred metres which turned out to be pretty hair-raising as the brakes weren't up to much and neither was the acceleration power of the engine. Hurtling backwards down the track, after U Dig Dave's reassuring "don't worry, you might roll down a little way, but you won't go far" is not something I shall forget in a hurry. Apparently, most clients walk up, and I can certainly see why!

Our fears that we might dig for hours and not find any fossils were pretty groundless, as the area was littered with specimens. Most common were redwood leaves and pine needles, but there were also gingko leaves, and Jen found a spectacular fish. We came back home loaded with rocks, including some for Janet to practice on in the future. Given how much I have to fit in my suitcase, I guess I won't be bringing too many home with me.

Horsewomen of the Apocalype - the GPS logs

I took the GPS along with me on all our trail rides, and generated some maps from the trails. Here are the files you can download into GoogleEarth: Trails, Canadian Topographic Overlay.

Using GPS Visualizer you can generate all sorts of funky graphs showing the elevation or speed profiles of a trip. Each ride is shown using a different colour.

Horsewomen of the Apocalypse

So here we are, decked out in our finest cowboy boots (yes, I really have my own cowboy boots to bring home with me!), saddled up and ready to gallop off into the distance.




After 3 days on the Sundance Guest Ranch in Ashcroft, we are walking like cowboys (ie. bow-legged) and wincing everytime we try to sit down, with seized muscles and saddle-sores.




The riding has been challenging - aside from not having ridden in a while, the trails we've followed have been up- and downhill, in places quite steep and rough. Still, we've had a great time, and by the end of the trip were able to canter fairly comfortably. More to the point, no-one fell off!

Finally arrived in Vancouver...

... this afternoon, and after a whistle-stop visit with relatives old and new I'm ready to crash out. We're heading up country at the crack of dawn, so not much time to catch up on sleep.

Back at Schiphol, and ready to go...

Well, I hope so any way. After waiting for 7 hours yesterday, with an ever increasing delay, KLM decided to cancel the flight and put everyone up in a hotel for the night. So, for the second time in two weeks, I found myself without a suitcase, clutching a KLM overnight emergency bag. (contents: XXL t-shirt, mini toothbrush/paste, laundry soap, runny deodorant, razor, moisturizer.) Now I remember exactly why I prefer to travel with handluggage only.

What can I say? My travelling track record for the last two weeks now looks like the following:

• arriving in Bergen to find that my suitcase didn't make it
• trying to leave Bergen and finding out that I didn't actually have a plane ticket (no, I also don't know how KLM managed to send me out to Bergen without having issued my ticket in the first place)
• arriving back in Amsterdam to find that I left my wallet in Bergen Airport
  
• trying to fly to Vancouver, only to have the flight cancelled too late in the evening to find an alternate route

Fingers crossed that I manage to get through the rest of the trip without any further difficulties.

At Schiphol and ready to go...

I should be boarding my flight now to Vancouver, but we have a delay due to a technical reason. Won't make dad happy, since his flight is scheduled to arrive 2 hours earlier than mine, and he has to wait for me! This empty looking gate is where my plane should be.

Still, after a busy week, it's nice to just sit quietly in the KLM lounge (apart from the loud and impressive snoring of someone a few seats over) and relax.