Hello Calgary!

... the Epic Journey

In February, 1997 my friend Brian and I decided to take a trip from our home in Abbotsford, BC, to Calgary, Alberta. We would see the sights, enjoy the 1000km car journey, and visit friends whom we had met over the IRC.

I just got my film back, and here are the pics!

The first of the real rockies Brian or I ever saw! Just before a tunnel, we saw this and I came to a screeching halt beside the road, and we got out and gawked at this for a bit.

A little further east, just before Banff if I recall correctly, we saw this very cool formation. Don't ask me the name of it, but it was pretty neat to look at. Sorry for the bad quality picture :).

We got there, and although I had been driving for 12 hours, I went out and found Carolyn, and she took me around the city a bit, and showed me the wild^H^H^H^Hnight life.

Carolyn Jones, student, coffee addict, and sleep advocate, after showing me the night life of Calgary (and some streets with ice ruts like you wouldn't believe!)

The first day was spent being shown around by Michael and Karen, and hearing all about Calgarians problems... taking 20 minutes to go across town... whether to live in the north or the south... their horrible rush hours [editors note: ha! you call that rush hour? come out to Vancouver at 4:30 (when we got into Calgary) and see how long it takes you to get a block or 2!]. That night we got together with the Calgary gang and went to see a movie.

After seeing Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back on one of the largest movie screens I have ever seen, the group of #North people went out to dinner at Earl's. This picture was taken by one of the ditziest and talkative waitresses I have ever had the honor to lay eyes on.

From left to right: Carole (Shelybean), me (Arcterex), Carole's sweetie Jim (Jakee), some guy I don't know (whose name is Daryl (BigGuy)), Brian (WhtDragon), Michael (Squiddy), Karen (nermal), Hobbes, and Carolyn (NaCL).

... and another shot of the gang of us in the parking lot. From left to right: Alan, Brian, Michael, Carolyn, Karen, and Carole.

The second day we were there Carole showed us around downtown.

Well, that's downtown Calgary. Kinda a pimple in the middle of a wasteland... I get those all the time, especially around finals time.

A shot from the top of the Calgary tower. As soon as we got up there it started fogging and snowing. Sept lives somewhere around there.... near the tower anyway. I'm glad I didn't get a shot of him changing in front of his window or something.

Another shot from the top of the tower. Again, no Sept changing. You do, however, get to see the new city hall (the big blue thing), and the old (the little brown blob to the left of it).

At the bottom of the tower is a train... and uhmm... well, I can't say much more than that as commentary :)

See the cool hazing effect around the train? Well, photographers spend years learning how to do that.. and I did it first shot. Ok, it was by accident, I admit it! There! Happy now!?

That night we went to visit Diane, a virtual mom :). We got there around 4pm (after seeing downtown Calgary), and chatted for a while... around 6 we decided to find sustenance in Pizza. I think we left that night around 11!

I blame nordic's hubby for the quality of the photographic composition of this pic (just kidding). From left to right: Brian's left ear and arm (WhtDragon, Diane (nordic), Carole (Shelybean), and your faithful author (Arcterex). [Editors note: the pen I left at Diane's was returned recently.... thanks!]

Home! Brian gives Smokey the neighbors cat a hello cuddle upon return to Abbotsford.

98% Dirt, 2% car When we returned from Calgary, we had knocked 2 hours and 40 km off our trip there. Time warp? Should have taken longer coming back, with all the dirt on my car.