John & Anne Wiley

2010/08/02

Into Alberta

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,NxNW Adventure,People,Random — John @ 17:21

Every day is different, every day divine. Yesterday there was something special about the way sky reflected in water.

0141 Bird's Eye

0141 Bird's Eye

Many times a small pond next to a farm house would shimmer with sky as we passed, creating a powerful illusion of the portal of pond revealing another world beyond. Though I saw that effect many times, it was so mesmerizing and fleeting there are no better photos. Even video could probably only capture a hint of it anyway I guess. So much of what we experience flying is impossible to capture or even describe.

0143 Lost Home

0143 Lost Home

An old abandoned farm house on the Saskatchewan prairie miles from any other structure seems to whisper stories of struggling families and improvised repairs.

What would explain these circles? Was there something in the center of each that attracted milling cattle? Were they deliberately carved by a tractor for some reason?

0146 Evidence Of?

0146 Evidence Of?

Approaching Edmonton we noticed what seem to be massive parks and green areas along the river.

0163 Approaching Edmonton

0163 Approaching Edmonton

With all the fires in Western Canada, the air is very smoky in places but the views are still spectacular.

0168 Window On Edmonton

0168 Window On Edmonton

As we descended to land at the downtown airport, our small room provided a grand view of the skyline. We heard that there had just been a car race on one of the runways, and the viewing stands were still there. We also heard that some in the city would like to close this airport. The property must be very tempting to developers, but it would sure be a big loss.

After a brief stop we flew on to Hinton, just outside Jasper, where we stopped for a night of “camping” inside the empty terminal building. Maybe Anne will post some photos, because I didn’t get any here. We met Pete and Nadine, who have explored in their own plane and are now exploring with a small camper and bikes. Thus ended another day of discoveries and delights. Today we hope to make it through the pass to Smithers, though weather may bring other plans.

2010/08/01

Prairie Part One

Filed under: Flying,Has Photos,Inner World,NxNW Adventure,Random — John @ 05:25

Terrain is changing, and weather might be too. Looks like if we’re lucky tomorrow will see us reaching at least Edmonton. Today we droned across Manitoba and some of Saskatchewan, to land in Regina. The landscapes just west of Winnipeg offered an interesting mixture of shapes, colors and textures.

0126 Manitoba Twist

0126 Manitoba Twist

Vistas gradually changed, and some time after crossing the provincial border we saw lots of bright yellow in some of the fields.

0133 Sask Watch

0133 Sask Watch

Descending into Regina the city impressed us. Maybe we were expecting some desolate prairie hamlet, but it’s a pretty cool little city.

0136 Regina

0136 Regina

We saw lots of stuff that would be right at home in Santa Barbara: health food stores, college kids, arts and culture, and a magnificent urban park (the tip of which is visible lower left). Lots of evidence that civic leaders envision a sustainable future for generations.

We briefly considered camping next to Tripp at the airport, but a new rule prohibited that. Next we were offered a great new minivan for a cruise around town and out to a campground. By the time we found dinner and reached the campground our resolve had weakened considerably, so after noting the campground is next to the highway we opted for another hotel. Along the way we had noticed this 70,000 seat stadium filled with a roaring crowd.

0078 Rough Riders Rule

0078 Rough Riders Rule

Turns out this was a big game, and Regina won. People had come from miles around, so of course every hotel was booked. By now it was getting late for setting up the tent, and mosquitoes were forming into large squadrons. We finally found one room, in a hotel that’s still being built. We parked on the frontage road and lugged our stuff across an obstacle course with bugs dive bombing us to the door. I fully expected them to follow us in, but somehow they respect the lobby and our room as a sanctuary.

Now hopefully we can catch up on sleep, and bolster our courage for camping tomorrow.

2010/07/30

Missed Moments-GT&R

Filed under: Aviation,Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Nature,NxNW Adventure,Random — John @ 14:00

You may recall that back on the 23rd we flew some particularly spectacular sights but weren’t able to share pix. Here then are a few from our exploration of the Grand Tetons and Rushmore. The view up-slope from our hotel provided a great start to the day as we could see the chair lifts taking tourists up for a low and distant glimpse of what we were about to survey on wings.

8168 Jackson WY

8168 Jackson WY

The airport is much closer to the Grand Tetons, and our excitement built considerably as we approached Tripp and contemplated our route along the range.

8252 Teton Setting

8252 Teton Setting

A few minutes later our magic carpet provided this view back toward Jackson with the airport just out of view to the left and of course the town further out of view beyond. Some peaks in the range have a distinctive “Matterhorn” look, as you can see in one of the snaps I’m about to put on my Photo Page.

8365 Back Toward Jackson

8365 Back Toward Jackson

Next we toured massive Yellowstone Lake, and this tiny slice of shoreline shows one of the many areas of bubbling hot springs and mud pots at the left edge. The lake is surrounded by a tumble of small peaks and a distant rim of tall mountains. As we traversed the vast valley I explained to Anne that the entire thing is a volcano. She tried to grasp that for a few minutes, looking for a large cinder cone or crater. “This whole valley to the mountains all around in the dim distance,” I repeated. It’s called a super volcano, the last time it erupted launched an ice age, and it’s due to blow again. Pretty sobering to contemplate that from a few thousand feet up where the whole thing surrounded us.

8382 Yellowstone Lake Pots

8382 Yellowstone Lake Pots

Not many miles later we searched a rock outcrop for signs of the Mt. Rushmore monuments. In the dim haze we first spotted a few large buildings and a parking lot so we flew toward it. Such an enchanting moment when rock outcrops suddenly emerged into crisp faces.

8468 Mt. Rushmore

8468 Mt. Rushmore

Now we’re off to find coffee and then back to Tripp for more miracles…

Wawa & T.Bay

Filed under: Aviation,Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,NxNW Adventure,People,Random — John @ 03:26

Big Brother and Cousin Corpo slowed our progress today. First came all the hoops of CBP’s new and improved eAPIS reporting system for planes flying across U.S. borders. In the old days they were interested only in people and things entering the country, but now they are intrigued by departures as well. If larger than a Canada goose flying across, you must answer lots of questions and carry documents. Once out of the land of the free you must deal with an entirely different Canadian Customs than 2007 or so when we simply taxied our plane into a box painted on the tarmac, picked up a phone to assure them we had no weapons or other stuff they didn’t like, and we were free to fly on. Today we waited two hours while two armed men drove the five miles or so from Soo Canada to that airport. We had failed to phone giving two hours’ notice of our intention to invade this beautiful land. Now we know, so hopefully next time the CanPass system they told us about will ease our transition North. Once they’d done their work we enjoyed a few minutes of easy conversation and laughter as people rather than the roles we humans so often become entangled in. At least the roles and procedures help us all feel safer, right? 😉

While waiting we tried to activate Anne’s phone for use in Canada. Verizon it seems has special torments for anyone taking phones into Canada. To get it working we were to dial a number on the phone, but of course the phone didn’t work. Mine somehow did, so it’s activated. Now I have the right to pay the better part of a dollar per minute of talk time. As an added bonus, the new Android phone I bought for the trip is equipped with a data connection that racks up charges even when not in use. I think that great feature is now turned off. Too bad that neither the data connection nor the phone voice connections work reliably. 🙂

Happily, we did finally take off to see how far we could fly around the top of Lake Superior toward Thunder Bay. The scattered clouds were too low for us to fly high and thus shortcut more of the highway’s curves to save time, so we kept within 5-10 miles most of the way. A nice benefit of flying low of course is the intimate perspective on our green planet. There were many small lakes in variety of shapes and hues, like this little gem surrounded by miles of forest.

0046 Small Lake

0046 Small Lake

The first airport along the Trans-Canada highway from Soo is in the small town of Wawa. Do you love that name too? At the edge of Lake Superior a couple of miles from town was a scene so placid as to be ethereal.

0061 Quiet Waters

0061 Quiet Waters

I just love the curve of the ripples in the lagoon. Be sure to click and see the largest version of this one. I’ll probably post larger versions of some snaps from this flight on my Photo Page too.

Rounding the tip of Superior just offshore is a cluster of small islets descending gracefully into the clear water.

0075 Floating Islands

0075 Floating Islands

At last we turned away from the moderate headwinds and sped toward Thunder Bay, where a long row of bluffs reflects the lowering sun.

0082 Approaching T. Bay

0082 Approaching T. Bay

It wasn’t getting dark as this photo seems to show. Thick clouds were blocking most of the sun, and much of the remaining light surrendered to fairly thick smoke from fires further North. T’Bay is off to the right of this photo, in the distance. Thus ends another glorious day on our North by Northwest adventure. We bid you pleasant dreams and happiness in your homes as we wander the continent.

2010/07/29

Soo Looks & Locks

Filed under: Aviation,Flying,Has Photos,Inner World,NxNW Adventure,People,Random,Tripp — John @ 04:03

Today we playfully walked back to the airport to check on Tripp, chatting merrily and pausing to look at flowers and other fascinations. Our plan was to arrive in time for the Wednesday aviation-buff lunch. Every week some local EAA (the group that does Oshkosh and much more) chapter members and others just interested in planes and/or flying, gather for lunch and socializing. Well, we were 1-1/2 hours late so only half a dozen were still around.

0005 Tripp at KANJ

0005 Tripp at KANJ

Still we had great conversations with them, and also ended up with a “courtesy car” to tour Sault Ste Marie. In many ways it’s an ordinary town with Wallmart and other businesses stretched along the highway. But down by the locks it’s a major tourist attraction.

0008 Workers & Observers

0008 Workers & Observers

A temporary “attraction” is the major construction work that’s disrupting commerce but entertaining at least two old guys who were watching the two workers whose helmets you can barely see down in the hole.

0025 Boat Tour

0025 Boat Tour

A bigger attraction is the frequent boat tours of the locks and surrounding waters. Some in each group seemed to enjoy every moment, while some seemed to be loyal accomplices who’d rather be somewhere else. I enjoy watching people interact, and this moment in time evokes so many stories in my mind. What was the woman in the gray parka thinking just before she noticed my camera?

The biggest attraction we saw was the old street parallel to the locks, lined with fudge shops, cafes, restaurants, antiques, curios, and of course ice cream.

0016 Street Scene

0016 Street Scene

The older girl in the family at left seems at the age where text messages are more interesting than ice cream (or most anything else). There are some great museums on the canal side of this street, and those too attract many visitors.

After our own walking tour, we hopped back in the car to drive further along the lock and tour the town a bit.

0031 Kite

0031 Kite

At the Lake Superior end of the locks we paused to watch a guy flying a complex kite. Want to guess how fast those cars and trucks on the bridge are going? I won’t keep you in suspense, or let you worry about them being so close together at freeway speed. They are parked. Occasionally they inch forward one car (or truck) length, and that gap passes lazily back along the line like the movement of a caterpillar (which might move at about the same average speed). No, it’s not rush hour, it’s the US/Canada border crossing. The entire length of the bridge is stopped in both directions. At least they have a great view. We wanted to walk up there, but were told there’s no pedestrian access to the bridge. We have an airplane that might make for a less time-consuming crossing tomorrow. 🙂

0032 Rail Bridges

0032 Rail Bridges

We were briefly intrigued by the different railroad bridges. Anne couldn’t figure out why the high one doesn’t go anywhere, until I pointed out it’s a drawbridge. It has massive counter-weights hanging on cables at each end, and the whole thing raises up so ships that are tall and wide can pass freely through the lock. The bridge adjoining to the left is a more classical drawbridge that splits in the middle, also balanced by the big concrete blocks on angled girders at each end. That one would only pass ships that are tall but not broad (I’m guessing older ships on which only the masts were tall).

OK, we’re off to dreamland. Tomorrow we’re hoping to reach Thunder Bay and beyond as planned. Weather looks likely to cooperate.

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