Friday, January 16, 2009

I was tired of the foggy, soupy weather here in the lowlands so I decided to head on up Grouse to get some sunshine and exercise. As you can see in this image it's foggy down below.

After deciding not to snowshoe because with the school kids on a pro D day the trails were far to busy for my liking - I took the short sleigh ride around the main ski area.

While waiting for the sleigh ride someone had built a snow cave that was attracting interest from some of the kids.

One group prepares to head out on the snowshow trails - your Skyride ticket or Grouse Pass is you admission fee for the trails. There are three or four trails that are groomed by Grouse for us to use.

Anyone who has been up Grouse knows that there are a lot of carved wooden figures on the mountain - because of there location these three stand out - it looks so different with the socked in clouds 3000' below us.

Looking down towards Vancouver harbour with the Vancouver Island mountains in the far distance.

There is a skating rink right by the main ski lodge - the ice was in fairly good shape - almost laced on the skates but decided it was time to think about lunch.

The rest of the day was uneventful.

Tomorrow - perhaps an early bike ride as it is suppose to clear off.

Also finally got the emails out to the FOYPS regarding the work parties - I am half way to my goal of 14 people - will also need to hit the phone tomorrow as some people either don't have email or haven't provided it to us.

I think I have all of my pre-planning complete for the trip - other than packing and deciding what to do with my one day in New Orleans.

Cheers

D

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Well things are moving along fairly smoothly - with improving weather I finally got out on the bike and did the False creek loop with a detour over to the Amtrak station to pick up the tickets for the train ride to New Orleans - it took all of two minutes for the agent to plug in my confirmation number and get the tickets printed.

Today I finally finished emptying my storage locker - they have actually started work in some of the rooms and I talked with the contractor so I have a better idea of what the revise space will look like then it was off to have lunch with my brother or at least that was the plan - after arriving at the care home I am told that he has no money in his account - this didn't sound right - he usually spends a fair amount of his monthly money on cigs but I knew that wasn't the case as I brought him some from the duty free on my trip and because of the bad weather I or the other staff haven't taken him out for lunch in the last three weeks - well after asking around and getting the finance gal to check the account it turns out that a debit was entered instead of a credit and he has plenty of money for the remainder of the month - by the time I sorted this out it was to late to take him out as the usual place we eat gets packed around noon and it would be too much for him.

So after having my own lunch I dropped into the Y offices and chatted with the staff for a while and got a better idea of when we might reopened - while the end of the year is possible from a construction point of view it will probably be after the Olympics from a marketing point of view.

Glad I didn't pay to watch that hockey game last night - they may need more than there star goalie back if they don't stat playing a better team game.

I am now starting to work finding volunteers for our next FOYP work party - I will need up to 14 in total - one of the options that I did this year at our AGM was have the members present sign up in advance for the work parties that they might want to work on this year. This should help me fill the spot and also mean less emails and phone calls - already have 6 confirmed and there is about three weeks to go.

Tomorrow I intend to get out on the bike - hope the sun comes our early - hope to do the Stanley Park seawall - need to check to see if it is completely reopened - a section was closed last week because of slides and falling debris.

Also need to get the packing list finalized for the trip.

Almost time for supper

More later

Cheers

D