On trying to blog while travelling and working full time

Turns out I was a bit delusional when I thought that I could spend the summer backpacking across Western Canada for work, and blog all the way. This was especially challenging because I thought that an iPad would be enough to write on every couple of days. It turns out that a lack of time, and no dependable WiFi connection, made this impossible. So I’ve just decided to put together a short post of pictures highlighting what I’ve been up to so far, and in the fall, when things have calmed down, I will be able to write longer posts about where I’ve been this summer. These pictures aren’t in chronological or geographical order because frankly, I’m just too lazy to sort through them.

Reconnected with old students and ate a lot of fudge in Moosejaw, Sask.

Discovered that Calgary is, in fact, a lovely city

Spent enough time on the Prairies that I began to feel like a bit of a cowboy

Went for a drive in the countryside of Saskatchewan, and found an abandoned bus

Participated in a full on Mantracker activity

Went sailing off the coast of Victoria, BC

Went for a drive in the countryside of Saskatchewan, and found an abandoned bus

Went to see the giant dinosaur in Drumheller, AB

Discovered that Canada is even more beautiful than I thought, in Drumheller, AB

Got to spend a day (of work) swimming in a lazy river in Kelowna, BC’s H20 centre

Met the beautiful Marshall from Walk Off the Earth

Hiked around Lake Louise

Got to spend a day (of work) playing on bouncy castles

Wore my first ever cowboy hat at the Calgary Stampede

The time we ate everything at the Calgary Stampede

I was so excited to go to the Calgary Stampede, really really excited. I planned my entire summer around it, and told everyone I was going. By the time it finally rolled around, I couldn’t handle the excitement!

The day started off really well with a Stampede Breakfast – for two weeks, all around town, you can have a free pancake breakfast. We ended up at one place that made bacon pancakes, which was a bit of a dream come true.

We got to the stampede, and I was really excited because the first sign that we saw was for all kinds of fried food – I would finally be able to try things that I had only heard about!

Highlights of the Stampede included: pretending to birth a calf, a pretty cool water show, the opening act to the rodeo (not really the rodeo itself, that was kind of sad and scary) and meeting Walk Off the Earth. Turns out that the Stampede is pretty much one big fair, and I probably wouldn’t plan on going again unless I was in Calgary at exactly the right time.

Otherwise, the most exciting part of the stampede was the food. We decided to photo document our food journey. As a team, we ate pizza, poutine, mac and cheese, chicken on a stick, schnitzel, frozen yogurt with all the toppings, cotton candy, donuts, and fried snickers and mars bars. Not bad for a day’s work! Our biggest regret is that we weren’t able to try the fried butter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Can we talk about hotels?

As I’m sure I’ve mentioned in previous posts, my family travels a lot. And we love hotels. When we were kids, and my mum wanted a weekend away, sometimes we’d just rent a hotel room in our town so we’d feel like we were on vacation.

I love any kind of rented accommodation, really. Big fan of hostels, which is my usual residence of choice when I’m travelling. Since I’ve had this job though, I’ve had the privilege of staying in hotels.

I just got to Calgary, and I’m loving my hotel so much that I’m actually writing a blog post about it. I’m staying at Hotel Alma. I was excited about it before getting here, because their website is funky, and they’re called Alma. It means soul in Spanish, and I’ve always thought that it would make a great name for a daughter.

I’m not sure why I’m so excited about this place. I don’t even know where I am in Calgary, but I’m here to work, so it doesn’t really matter. They have unlimited long distance calls, which makes my life much easier, since I’m spending the day inside tomorrow and Friday interviewing people over the phone. They have a fridge and a microwave, which I’ve discover isn’t that common. It’s attached to the university, so they have a dining hall that’s open until 11pm, as well as an entire campus to walk around in. Parking is cheap, the room is affordable. I have a few in person interviews, and an entire campus to choose from for meeting space.

I think that I’m excited because this is the first time on my three week trip that I’ve actually been motivated to work, and that’s good, because I’ve got a lot to catch up on!

While we’re on the topic, other fave hotels/hostels are the following, in case you’re ever in these places and looking for a place to stay!

Quito, Ecuador – The Secret Garden

Canoa, Ecuador – Hotel Bambu (I seriously love this place so much)

Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica – Rockin’ J’s

Ok, this is all I can think of right now. Feeling kind of silly. Please comment with your own faves!