A fun surprise!

It's been a surprising week for me.  First came the free bus ride on Wednesday, then came the unexpected surprise on Friday.

Friday was going to be another Friday for me, relaxing at home after a busy week.  I really don't mind doing that as sometimes I am really exhausted.  Well, my plans instantly changed when a customer at work dropped off an envelope for me and co-worker, Darleen.  In it were 2 tickets to the Toby Keith Concert which was on last night!  It's a good thing that I had nothing planned!

Surprise night out for me!

PG Transit Drivers are the best!

I thought that I would share another amazing story today.

It was a cold brisk day today, but I decided to walk to work anyways.  There was very strong Northern winds that would have made bicycling challenging (-35c WITH Windchill). While I was walking to work, a transit bus pulled over and the driver motioned me to board it. I took the driver up on his offer and hopped aboard.  As I was sitting down, I mentioned that I had a bus ticket on me that I use when I feel like taking it home, usually after work.  He said there was no need to pull it out.  Wow! This is not the only time that I've been offered a ride in time of need.

What is the coldest temperature that you've bike in? Or you have walked in?

I might take bus tomorrow, as it's supposed go down to -42 or so WITH Windchill, a bit cold to be on bike, at least for me.

I love living in PG, it's a decent sized city with not bad transit, but the people are so friendly like they are living in a small town.  Has anyone else ever had this happen to them?

I am still wondering where Spring is.

What a difference a few days make!

Streets are cleared and it's good riding.

What a difference a few days make!  It's still sunny out, but much warmer!  I didn't end up going snowshowing, but it looks like I missed a great snowshoe trip.  Oh well, what can you do?  I was a bit under the weather and it was -20C, a little too cold for me even though it warmed up to -10C later on.  I hope that I get a chance to snowshoe the Slim Creek Provincial Park sometime in the future.

I took out my bicycle again to pick up my glasses.  This time the brakes worked fine, the temperature sure makes a difference on how smooth everything works.  I wore my Canadian gloves which stand right out against the white snow.

I picked up my 2 pairs of glasses.  It's funny that they are very similar to the pair I broke.  I wish I would have been a bit more daring, but I find lighter colours work on me and circular style shapes work better too.  I am not sure how closely you have to follow the rules for picking out eyeglasses.  These pair are actually a slight bit different from each other..but it is very sutble.  Colour is different.  For those with eyeglasses, how do you pick out your glasses?  Do you tend to pick similar styles, or go crazy and take a chance with a totally different look? Maybe it's my toned down look...

It's good that it's warmed up, I wasn't at my best this weekend.  But, I heard that it 's supposed to cool down in the new few days.  Let's hope that this is the one time that the weather forecasters are wrong!

Accumlated snow plowed from the streets.

Ok, tired of Winter!

The sun was out but it was -32c!  Hard to want to leave the house.

I'm so done with Winter.  During the last week the temperatures went up to about 0C and then down to -32C yesterday.  I've been walking to work and taking the bus home as I haven't felt like taking the bike out.  It's a good thing that I had bought some bus tickets so I can use them whenever needed.  It was actually nice walking to work in the morning as long as I kept moving.  My mp3 player though, lost power the other day on my way to work and I thought that it had died.  I had taken it with me when we snowshoed at the Ancient Forest and I thought I damaged it doing that as the snow was so deep.  But after plugging it for a bit, it started charging and the screen turned on! Whew, I guess the subzero temps sucked all the power out of it.

The Ancient Forest Snowshoe Trip- Part II

Here is the Trip Report that Nowell wrote up as he was the leader.  I reposted here from the Caledonia Rambler's website as I think it's a pretty cool writeup!

Fourteen of us began our trip around the Ancient Forest by once again restoring the outhouse as a functional feature by freeing its entrance from the grip of winter.

After recent heavy snowfall, the snow was neither too soft nor too hard - it simply wanted to swallow us, as each of our steps sunk down into the snow 12 to 18 inches, and sometimes more. Consequently, it took 3 hours to travel a bit under 2 km. of trail, with people taking turns breaking trail.

Although Treebeard Falls was frozen and snow covered, the water under the ice and snow was evidently running.  At Treebeard we went off trail, heading due east to see some of the other ancient cedars that have made the area their home for upwards of 1000 years.

It doesn't seem to matter when you go to the Ancient Forest - it is beautiful any time of the year, and it was a pleasure to be a part of it for a few hours."  Nowell S.

Here are some more photos, to give you a good idea what it's like in the Ancient Forest during Winter.

Waiting to cross the bridge.

Circle of Trees.

Hard work breaking trail.  Also hard work 'running over' taking photo of this!

Group shot in front of Treebeard