Magic Jewball

You will not be surprised to learn, I’m sure, that I’m the kind of person who takes two weeks to download and sort through my vacation photos. I like to think of it as pining for the good old days of getting rolls of film developed. Of course, if you also knew that I hadn’t fully unpacked my suitcase, you’d more accurately call it “procrastination” or even “laziness.” In any event, due to post size restrictions, I’ll be doing this in three posts. This one’s the overview of the time I spent away from my delightful hosts. It comes last so you’ll see it first.

This is Olympic Park in Calgary, the first of two Olympic parks I’d visit on the journey. It’s mostly here because none of the photos I took of preparations for Stampede came out well. Oops. Just imagine some hay on the ground and people in cowboy hats. But while I was here, I tried to remember watching Katarina Witt on TV while I was babysitting at my weekly gig. I wonder what happened to her. The kid I used to babysit for, that is.

That’s the Calgary Tower in the background.

And this is downtown Regina, specifically, “the Twin Towers.” I know, because they were on the sign as we entered the city on the bus. I also visited a sweet museum there and chatted with a Jewish docent about the Jewish community of Regina. You can’t see the museum or her, but they’re down the street. So is the mall where they sold poutine from a place called “New York Fries.” Indeed.

(I’m skipping the whole train trip and saving it for another post. Too many good photos! But this is where it would be sequentially.)

Hey, it’s Olympic Park #2! remember when they were lighting this in Vancouver and one person’s section wouldn’t light? I loved those Olympics. The little Roots caps and whatnot…. by the way, Roots is an overpriced store and I couldn’t afford even their sale-priced items. Boo!

It was grey almost every day I was in Vancouver. But it’s OK, I hear that happens in the Northwest from time to time.

This was where I hung a left and went to Portland, or as I like to call it, Hippietown, USA. They had fabulous public transportation and no sales tax. Other than that, it wasn’t really my kind of place. Here are a gaggle of representative youth of Portland. Yes, that’s a cat sitting on that guy’s head (click to enlarge). He was more a hipster than a hippie; you can tell because even with the cat, he had the neatest hair of the bunch.

And there you have it! It was really an awesome trip and this was just 3% of it. Please check out Post #2 and Post #3 for more vacation scenery. I, of course, will be heading out to Canadian Fries for a bagel and lox.

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