Wine country

Some sort of new fangled fertilizer, I guess. It's good to see that those plastic corks can be used for something practical other than the cheapening of a potentially great wine experience. Yes, I'm a snob, I like cork. If not cork, then make it a screw cap. When messing with a long standing tradition, don't do it half assed, embrace if fully and save some face.

And that was your bitter rant for the day, brought to you by Ivan's irked sense of wine culture.

Today was our extremely expensive tour of some Okanagan wineries. This picture was taken in one of Mission Hill's cellars. The whole winery was very pretty but had weird contemporary gothic architecture. It seemed to me that the whole experience was meant to intimidate with an artificial grandeur, looking thrown together like an amusement park funhouse that felt like anything but timeless. The wine was fine.

Annie: I think I like wine.

Who doesn't like chocolate filled with booze? Nobody, that's who.

Issac from Quails Gate has a hard-on for our tour guide and it really worked out well for Annie and I. This was the best of all five vineyards that we toured all day thanks to our lovely heavy handed Issac.

Go grape juice!

Banff/Louise

Vandalism is cool.

Oral hygiene is cool.

Lake Louise is cool. Really, really cool.

It's cool in the shade.

Unlimited fire wood is cool. It would have been much cooler if it didn't cost fifty dollars a night to camp. Banff, pfft..

'heller cool

You should see the rest of the car. Who knew bugs were florescent on the inside?

We spent the next night in Drumheller, Alberta which was totally awesome. We decided we didnt need to see Calgary when we could camp in the middle of the 'Badlands'. It was beautiful and very different from everywhere else we stayed. We also got to listen to a bunch of 35 year olds talk about the 'sick' weapons they had acquired in -insert RPG game title here-. They were awesome. Maybe my favourite part of the trip so far. It took us a while to figure out if they were talking about real life.

and I qoute...

"ive bought so many weapons that Ive gotta wait for the stores to restock, ya know?" "You mean you can actually throw the barrels?!?"

Just before it started to pour rain, the wind really picked up and flipped their six person army tent right over. We enjoyed the spectacle too much to have the presence of mind to document their misfortune photographically.

Terrible. Just look at it. Texas toast? Cheese?? And look at the measly piece of chicken. To add insult to injury I was actually slapped in the face by an uncooked piece of bacon. Vintage Pub, you fail.

This thing was alive. I can't remember if it was 40 or 400 million years ago, but it was definitely one of the two. It got all squished. I think they used 'compressed' or another word just as fancy, but I like squished.

It's pretty, no?

Hoodoos!!

..

Yep, there they are. Believe it or not this picture was incredibly difficult to take on account of the hordes of other annoying tourist families. Pretty neat though. Neat.. I'm usually not that lame.

I think I missed my calling...

Good times.

More like peasants ditch!

Kings acres...broken arcade games, not actually a campsite, only a 30' by 20' patch of lawn, which also happened to be shared by 5 tents.

Fortunately for us The Legend of Ron Burgundy provided the entertainment and we provided the drinks. Lots of drinks.

Turns out, Regina sucks. Everything except the greek poutine, us, and the 110 speed limit. Thanks a lot, Whales Vagina, see you never.

'Peggie

Westward bound down the trans-canada (or tranny, if you will) to the estranged family.

A tour of the old hood shows a grass covered marble hill and booter canyon dry as bone. I guess some things are bound to change. Then again, some things will always be the same.

Oh, dad, you're incorrigible.

Creepy, eh? yeah. Luckily it was right over our bed.

It was a nice place to be born and a nice place to visit but you can't go home again.

The Frisken boys, minus one.

Casa del Schweeen

Let's talk hospitality! My heavens! From start to finish we were pampered like royalty, fed like Italians and steamed like broccoli. We didn't want to leave.

Too many

Finnish pancakes..

Who would have guessed that water skiing wasn't as easy as Schween made it look. We're still aching from our countless failed attempts but in the end we both made it up, even if only for mere seconds.

Thank you to Katie, Larry and Jan for two fun days...'camp'ing will never be the same.

Day 1:

arrived in the soo. camping on a large intricate maze of ant hills. ouch.

at least this time there were no 17 year old french canadians laughing at our inability to put up our own tent.

it's a miracle we arrived alive, although we may soon be eaten to death by a motley crew of angry, smoked out ants. annie, god bless her competitive soul, lost the Rock Paper Scissors competition early this morning to see who would drive and who would sleep. luckily for us her small bladder came to the rescue as she danced the 'holy shit do i ever have to pee' dance in the driver's seat for her last two hours keeping her awake, if also a little uncomfortable.

(File Photo)

Vacation check list:

New places. check.

Good company. check.

Good food. check.

(The Obsession)

Practically perfect. The toast was crunchy and golden brown and just the slightest bit fresh in the middle.

The bacon, plentiful and properly cooked. The mayo!, generous, but not overly so.

The turkey, fresh and warm.

The only problem that there Might be with this heavenly sandwich would be a little bit too much tomato, if such a thing is even possible.

The proprietors were fast, polite and cute. What more could you want form the Soo? Mike's Lucnh, five stars.

Other than 'Mike's Lunch', some local politics kept us interested and with cameras in hand...

we detoured 3 hours off our route to take this picture.

Totally worth it.

Off to T-bay tomorrow for a couple

nights of "camping" with Schween.

~send money :)

i was the best photographer on this trip...for sure

wow...im blogging.