i was hoping to do this in a somewhat chronological (or at least logical!) manner but i have to face the truth: my brain just does not seem to work that way.

anyhow.

musings (a few days late) :

• leaving food out on a table while camping is often hazardous. not so much because of bears, but because of overly friendly deer with a soft spot for salty snacks.
• corollary of the aforementioned lesson: everything you do to mother nature she will give you pay back for, often sooner than expected.

of course, there is an anecdote related to this that can be summarized as follows: j. sees a bunch of frat boys whose campsite is by the group fire pit. first thing that comes to mind: 'oh oh trouble'. around dinner time, as m. & j. are trying to make melted cheese and apples on the fire, they notice that the frat boys have taken to playing a game called 'throwing a machete at young trees to see if it will stick to it'. then eventually migrated away from their site, enjoying a newly discovered game: 'hitting strangers' tents with a frisbee'... until a deer came around and did some quality control over the wide variety of snacks they brought. with the way the dear was licking his lips, we could tell he gave snacks two paws up!

• the rockies are, as their name suggests, really really big rocks. i can not find a more clever way to put it.
• canada (or, well, the part i got to drive through) has an awfull lot of small mining towns who have unfortunately become something like ghost towns after the mines shut down. stores and motels that are still opened pay tribute to this once glorious past: gold digger RV and campground & gold pan coffee house.
• thanks to draft dodgers, hippies (and probably organic pot growers!), other smalltowns have developed thriving micro-economies where buying local and thinking global can be easily done on a daily basis.
• extended thank yous to japanese tourists who make sure that the tourism industry can make record profits year after year. and that the attractions are also well maintained. i do, however, hope they do not discover the joys of camping. i do not think i could stand to see my every move recorded on video camera as i stumble out of my tent at 7 in the morning.
• the concept of riding ferries to go everywhere is really appealing to me. although i am sure the effect probably does wear off with time. i like standing at the front, with my eyes partially opened pretending that i am navigating on an old wooden boat towards unknown lands. in a more elaborate reverie, i also pretend to shout instructions to my loyal crew members.
• after visiting vancouver and victoria, i wonder why anyone would want to live in toronto, hamilton and maybe even the cute little city of ottawa.

and now for the more mundane lessons:

• the sun sets at different times, according to your location. i was probably told during geography class, but i guess it had slipped by me until now.
• my heart goes out to the people of creston who live at the limit of the mountain and pacific time zones. they thus have to take calculate time differences before giving a call to friends in neighboring towns. what is even trickier, things change when daylight saving time comes around. i would clearly not have enough brain power to understand any of this.
• really big sunglasses can be worn over regular reading glasses, apparently. you can thus avoid having to buy two pairs. you might also scare the hell out of a few people that way.
• although i originally made a big deal out of this, i guess i did not mind too much wearing a temporary tatoo of a maple leaf on canada day. besides, you have to admire a country that will let its citizen host a drag ball game (the queens against the kings) on its national day.

hmm… i guess that’s it for now. until next year when i explore foreign lands again providing i am blessed enough to get a chance to do. which means unless i screw up and get my precious a$$ fired.