Calvin's Weblog

Sixth Anniversary

Yesterday Carole and I celebrated our 6th anniversary with an afternoon cruise from Coal Harbour, through the 2nd narrows, past Deep Cove, and up Indian Arm. It was a beautiful day, and despite a sunburn, I couldn't have had a better time. The area is rich with history, yet largely pristine, unpopulated, and untouched by mankind. It's awesome to see that despite many failed plans to open up the area with a highway, parklands, and tourist stops, a place that's so close to home (as the bird flies, maybe only 10km from where we live) is still a completely natural and practically 'unreachable' setting.

On the cruise, we enjoyed a great salmon dinner, and a couple of tantalizing libations. After returning to the port, we grabbed a couple of Dolce Vita Gelatto's and walked through all the awesome new park lands at Coal Harbour. We then took a detour through North Vancouver on the way home, and checked out the new Village at Park Royal Mall. We didn't get to go in, but wow - that's a cool looking place!

In the evening, I made a nice beef srirfry, and we watched a movie.
All in all, it was a nice, relaxing way to celebrate six years of marriage (and 10 years together!).

PS - it looks like summer's in full swing now! Has been 25 to 28 degrees every day last week, and is supposed to be 28 and above everyday this week! Too bad I'm working too much to fully enjoy it...

Summertime, Summertime, Sum, Sum, Summertime...

Ahhh... finally... Summer finally made it to Vancouver. 28 degrees two days in a row, does that qualify as summer? Well, we had 3 days in a row over 30 degrees near the end of March (technically in winter!), but since then it has pretty much been rainy and/or overcast. For sure, we've had a few nice days, even a couple of great weekends, but I think this is the highest temps we've had since March (as strange as that sounds...)
Of course, as I type this, the gray clouds start rolling in... figures!
So anyway, over the past week I've kept pretty busy;
I've placed my first two geocaches and have even had a handful of people discover them already (two finds for my first cache, 3 for the 2nd) but that wasn't without it's challenges... I had scoped out a great spot in the bush near our place, and had checked it three days in a row to ensure it was safe an that my coords were correct, but then, the day after I placed it, some crazy kids had a big bush party within 20 meters of it.... burned down some trees, left a bunch of beer cans and junk all over the place, and while my cache was left intact, the first few people to attempt to find it were really put off with the atmosphere of the place. In fact, the 2nd person to look for it actually stumbled onto the party as it was getting started, at about 8PM Friday night... they obviously weren't too impressed... oh well, live and learn. I'm sure my next caches will be in more 'secure' areas.

Saturday Carole and I went to a small 'local' poker tournament with some people from our community, and we blew 'em away - I was 1st, Carole was 2nd. I don't think they were prepared for competition with seasoned poker tourney entusiasts, and I'll be surprised if we get invited back to that particular game again, LOL, but it was fun, we tried really hard to not play agressively (but it's HARD, if not impossible to not 'play to win'...). I walked away with $60, and Carole won her buyin back. Hope we didn't make any enemies!

On Sunday morning I made some of my world-famous potato salad, planning on having a beach picnic, but we actually decided to just pig out first then have a leisurely day at the beach without lugging the picnic stuff around... On the gorgeous Sunday afternoon (28 degrees!) we wen't to Pleasantside Beach, but decided to walk the trail down to the old secluded Port Moody mill site where we tossed our towels down and lay peacefully in the sun for an hour. There were only a few other people there, so it was nice and quiet. I was even able to have a nice cold beer in the sun without having to be paranoid...

then Sunday night my mom stopped by on her way back from Bowen Island, so I made a nice breaded parmesan pork dish to go with the potato salad and a few other veggies, we had some wine, then at about 8:30 we went out to introduce my mom to geocaching and had some nice park and harbour walks. We were back by 10:30 when the sun had finally dissapeared, though it was still 21 degrees out. That made for a fairly warm/sweaty sleep, but thats the price you pay for nice days!

All throughout the weekend, as well as yesterday, I've been out geocaching by myself too. I love this new hobby! The mosquitos are really coming out now though, and I'm getting eaten alive! I can usually ignore the pests well enough, but my legs are starting to look like hamburger now (I suppose the thistles, thorns, and poison ivy are contributing to that as well...) so I gotta remind myself to go buy some bug spray before I venture into the bush again. Oh, that remind me - bear spray too! The bears are EVERYWHERE this year - even trails in town have notices of bear sitings... I'm starting to get a little nervous about being out in the deep woods alone without any pepper spray, so I'd better pick some of that up too before doing any more serious hikes!

Vital Idol

Last night Carole and I were at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre to see Billy Idol's new "Devil's Playground" tour. Let me tell ya... for a guy that turns 50 in four months, he sure has a hell of a lot of energy - not to mention the bod of a teenager... and he made sure to show it off allllll night long...

The girls went wild for him, that's for sure - and he made sure to play it up to the max, too. Carole went as far as to describe him as "pure sex on stage", LOL - and that's all fine and dandy, but how was the MUSIC??? Pretty damn good, that's how it was. It was a really well put together show with a modest stage show, but effective lighting and loads of energy. Steve Stevens on guitar is always a blast of virtuoso energy, so that kept me happy while Billy was busy grinding the girls in the front row. Steve Stevens has been playing with Billy Idol ever since Billy left "Generation X" in 1981 to form his solo band, but you may know Steve from one of his MANY side projects - like his solo band "Steve Stevens and the Atomic Playboys", or his writing of the "Top Gun" soundtrack, or his awesome solos in Michael Jackson's "Dirty Diana" video, or his tour with the Vince Neil band, after Vince left Motley Crue... just to name a few...
Yes, I admit it - I was there half to see Billy Idol, the biggest name to ever come out of 70's Brit Punk, and one of the very first successes of the MTV revolution - but I was also half there to see Steve Stevens, one of the guitar legends that I grew up admiring back when I was first learning to play.

Billy confessed to be "completely drunk" last night, but I'm not so sure it wasn't an act.. sure, he rambled incoherently a bit, and laughed at his own lame jokes a lot, but I never saw him drinking anything but bottled water, and his performances were flawless, so who knows ... maybe he was just kidding around. It was sure fun though, that's for sure.

One strange thing about the two-and-a-quarter hour show was the inordinate number of cover tunes that they played. Sure, Billy IS known for doing a lot of covers, like "Don't You (Forget About Me)" (theme from Breakfast Club movie), and of course, he pulled out "L.A. Woman" (by the Doors) and closed the show with his monster rendition of "Mony Mony" (by Tommy James and the Shondells), but some of the other oddball stuff they pulled off (flawlessly, I might add) was "Heartbreak Hotel" (Elvis), "Jump" (Van Halen), and "Who are You?" (The Who) - sure, they did all the songs to perfection, but it was still a shocker to substitute covers for originals that never made it to the stage last night. Conspicuously absent were "Cradle of Love", "Dancing with Myself" and virtually all of the "Charmed Life" and "Cyber Punk" albums ... though I must admit, it was really cool to hear him pull out the old Generation-X classic "Ready Steady Go" which he prefaced by querying "Can you believe I've been performing this song for TWENTY-SIX years?"

When it was all over, Carole and I both agreed (for entirely different reasons) that this was a great, memorable show. I must admit, that after hundreds and hundreds of concerts, they all start to become a blur when thinking back, but there are occasionally shows that really stick out - and this was one of them. For Carole, I think it'll be the image of Billy's washboard belly, for me (assuming I can shake that image!) it's the power, energy, charisma, and presence that an 80's punker can still bring to the stage after 26 years of decadence and debauchery (Billy hasn't exactly been living a cautious life).

They're still on top of the world, I'm glad I've finally seen this band after all these years!

Back from California

Well, we're back. Back to work, back to the rain.
On July 2nd, we set out bright and early (by car) for Santa Barbara, California. We crossed the border by 7:00AM, and by the time we hit southern Oregon, we were out of the clouds, and into the sunshine. At Grants Pass, Oregon, we decided to vere off of the I-5, in favour of the scenic coastal route through the Giant Redwood Forests. We hit northern California the first evening, and after 12 hours of driving, found a nice campsite for our first night.
The campsite commissary sold six-packs of Bud for four bucks (we ended up getting two of 'em), so armed with cold beer, we set up our tents and I flipped burgers on my Coleman stove... quite a chore, actually... I had to use tinfoil for a makeshift griddle, but it worked, we ate, slept for about 6.5 hours, then hit the road again.

By the way, checkout Carole's photo website It's All Good (Carole's Photo Gallery) for some pictures - I figured since she's already posted 'em, I won't duplicate the effort.

California is a LONG state - and since we did the coastal route all the way to Santa Barbara, we probably drove for 4 or 5 hours longer than we would have if we'd stayed on the I-5 - BUT - it was totally worth it! We got to go through San Francisco, over the Golden Gate Bridge, through Eureka, San Jose, San Luis Obispo, and we got the awesome ocean view, and cool ocean breeze that we would never have had on the I-5. Finally, shortly before 8PM, (after a total of 25 hours of driving) we pulled into Carole's grandparents driveway, in Santa Barbara.

We cought up, ate dinner, then had a gooooood nights sleep!

The next morning, we were up bright and early to the sounds of classical music wafting through the house. Today is the fourth of July, and there are many activities going on around the city. First we take in the 4th of July parade, then we attend a free "symphony in the park", presented by the Santa Barbara symphony in the sunken garden of the historic old Santa Barbara court house. After a bit of sight seeing, and some food, we're then off to the grassy knoll of the College, (which overlooks the harbour) to take in the spectacular, hour long, 4th of July fireworks display. Then it's back to bed, 'cause we're going to be up early!

On the 5th, we decide to do some geocaching. I had read up about a half-dozen caches within walking distance of our domicile, and figured they'd be easy to locate - but after our first three dead ends, we came to the realization that in California, caches aren't hidden like they are in B.C. ... no rotten stumps, no moss coverage, no thick foliage, just lots of rocks, dust, and cacctus... we had to think differently if we were going to have any success here! Fortunately, the most important cache of my "to-find" list, the "Santa Barbara Travel Bug Hotel" was an EASY find ... it's a 5 gallon bucket! We traded the German Shepard travel bug that we brought down from Canada, for Harlow, a monkey travel bug that wants to see Canada - so a perfect trade! Over the next few days, we will successfully locate eight caches in Santa Barbara, (and unsuccessfully search for at least eight others) which actually turned out to be more finds than I was hoping for, so that's kewl!!!

Oh, you can read all about the journey we took with "German Shepard" and check out the photos I've posted of his trip, at the Travel Bug tracking Website

The next day was full of sight seeing. We went to the beach, walked the warf, checked out downtown, saw the museum, climbed the courthouse tower, and basically just soaked up the sun, and the atmosphere. On Thusday Carole and I toured the Mission, and that night, we dressed up, and headed to Solvang, an authentic Danish Village with European architecture, for an authentic smorgasborg dinner, then a "theatre under the stars" showing of "Guys and Dolls". It was a REALLY professional production, and one of the highlights of our trip!

Another late night, another early morning, and it's Friday already... we're setting off early tomorrow, so today we kick back in the sun, do some more geocaching, take the grandparent's dog to the beach, take a driving tour through the estates of Montecito (where Oprah has her 60 million dollar ranch-slash-palace), and we top it off with an authentic Mexican dinner at a quaint little restaurant.

Having French grandparents makes for and awesome apres dinner tradition of wine and cheese every night, but combined with the copious amount of ice cream, frapaccinos, frostys, and milkshakes we've been consuming to keep cool in the California heat, Carole and I have each somehow managed to put on about ten pounds over the last week... yikes! We're going to have to do something about that when we get home!

So Saturday morning at 5:00AM, we're up and at 'em. After bidding our hosts a fond farewell, we're on the road (this time straight up the I-5) - heading straight north. We make it to within 20 miles of Grants Pass, Oregon the first day, and miraculously find the first drops of rain to be seen in over a week, as we begin pitching our tents. The rain gets heavier after cooking up Coleman stovetop chunky soup for dinner, but stops long enough for us to enjoy a six-pack of Bohemian Lager, and a bottle of two-buck-chuck. This $2 bottle of wine, by the way, is awesome stuff... I know, it's hard to believe, but we brought back a few bottles - it's better than the stuff I bottled the other month, that's for sure... and my cost came out to $6 a bottle... how can I compete? Anyway, we settled in for the night as the rain started pouring down. The next morning we were actually fairly dry and comfy, though another 5AM awakening wasn't exactly 'enjoyable'... on the road again by 6, I drove through the entire state of Oregon, and let Carole take a stint at the wheel just after Vancouver, Washington. We were through the border by 3PM, and after unloadiing at Carole's dad's place in Kits, we were home around five.
Sigh... in twelve hours we both have to get up for work.

It was a nice trip - short and sweet, but still with ample time to really be enjoyable, and get lots done. I know I haven't gone into much detail in this blog entry... I could have written this long about the Mission alone... or about Solvang, or about the beaches - or about how rediculously (yet amusingly) patriotic the 4th of July Parade was, but hey, those are all other stories, they'll save for another time, right?