Kent and Blair's house warming party

What a nice time at Kent and Blair's house warming party. I went a little early and helped out with preps plus got a nice visit in with some of the cousin's before the festivities began. The crew picked up a disco ball and fog machine and Marc set it all up downstairs with disco music to boot. It turned out to be a fantastic addition to the dated era of the party room, with the bar set up also playing an integral role in setting the ambience for the party. Marc took it one step further and snapped some excellent photos, most of which I've borrowed to complete this blog entry. Thanks Marc :) The captions with each photo will fill in some of the story from the night, the rest of the stories will lay hidden in the memories of those who were present, and the photo's I didn't post here. Enjoy!!

Proud new owners!

Chef extraordinaire (AKA Kentzies)

The result.....bacon wrapped, goat cheese stuffed prunes. Delicious!!

Janel adding her expertise to the kitchen

Kimzies rolling meat balls. Not shown here was my meatball making buddy, Marc.

Kent and Blair graciously posing with their pointsetta from Kärolin and I. The fellas did REALLY well with their gift cards for Crate and Barrel. I guess the hints worked Blair!!

Kyle presenting Blair with their 'house warming' present. Now that's punny!

The fellas opening their new ice maker from Kyle and Cerise. Edged out only slightly by the disco ball, this ice maker was a hit of the party!

The lovely Cerise and her fiance Kyle

Kent's lovely sister and her talented man Marc

More of the gang

The party room

Kimmer holding down a chair at the bar with his charming cousin's Cerise and Janel

What nice smiles on these gals!

The boys under the haze of the smoke machine

The lovely Mel and our photographer, electronics tech, entertainer, Marc. 

Disco ball, photo art

Blair and his wonderful friend Mel.

Kyle and Kimmer gettin' serious with the D ball.

The handsome Kent

Cerise, Mel, Wendy, and Blair pose during their fresh air break on the front step 

Cerise getting her boogie on!

Kimzies throwing in the towel and joining the conversation after his futile efforts to sleep amongst the Disco goers

Chocolate Hostage

There I was. Standing in the 'Water Sports' section of the Surf House on the corner of Tärtu Mnt and Väike-Karja. Finally. After spotting this fine looking sporting goods store on a previous visit to Tallinn, I've made it in to have a look around; and it wasn't disappointing me. Endless walls of sporting pleasure. Suddenly a little twitch from the backside of my underpants. I look around. "Where is the WC(water closet)?" I'm not seeing it. I spot a staff member. First thoughts cross my mind; "I hope she can understand my english?"  I approach her with the cautious question. "Is there a water closet I could use?" She responds. "Yes, there is, but I am just on my way to use it." Relieved, I accept her response and converse back, "OK, I will wait then until you have finished." She nods her approval.  A few minutes later she returns and escorts me to the toilet. I thank her gratefully and make my way through the door. Upon entering, I observe the magazine rack and reach towards it while simultaneously dropping my trousers and taking my seat on the throne. "Ahhhhhh.............. a quick release of the chocolate hostage and I'll be back on my way to shopping bliss!  Ugghhhhh,   ugghhhhhhhhhhhh.........no fiber in that one!"  I return the soiled magazine back to the rack. I stand. Trousers still at my ankles I reach for the flush buttons on top of the toilet. "This one's going to require the 'full' flush button for sure!" Wooshhhhhhhhhhhh.........the water runs past my hostage.

"Hmmmmmm.......wasn't expecting a double flush?  I'll take this time to pull up my trousers and have a wash" I think to myself, "while I wait for the bowl to refill."  Hands are washed; "I'll try this again." Wooooooooooshhhhhhhh..........I stare down the hole in amazement. "He hasn't budged." I frantically tap the button again. Nothing.  I hear the door handle wiggle. Someone wants in. "Hmmmmm........ not good, I think I must abort. Maybe the toilet has malfunctioned?"  I settle the lid back down over the hole and unlock the door. I exit the closet. A man from the shop enters. "Will he understand that it wasn't my fault? I tried twice; the TOILET was unforgiving!"  I try to reassure myself.  "Or was it my 30cm hostage that refused to turn the corner and slither down into the abyss like usual?  I can't take that chance." The man locks the door behind him. My pace and heart rate quicken as I shuffle past the till and the woman who had helped me out and I thank her on my way out the door as I exit. My mind is not clear. "Have I made it out clean or has he already returned to expose my dirty little secret to his co-worker.  Was this the right decision?"  I hop into my fogged up car. I turn on the ignition and fasten my seat belt. My mind is wandering as I put the stick in reverse and let out the clutch. "Will I be able to return to this shop one day; will I be exposed?" I shift back into 1st and prepare my mind for the daunting task of downtown Tallinn's roads. I let out on the clutch and proceed towards the street I am trying to reach. Honnnnnnnnnnnk.............is my greeting. "What? Oneway street? How could I have missed that?" My foot hits the accelerator and I speed into a right hand turn to exit onto 'my' street. "Phewwwwwww, that was close!" "Okay, focus. Defog on; check. Correct street; check. Now lets finds a coffee shop so I can sip some java and debrief from this traumatic experience."  :)

   

My Estonian adventures! :)

Well, I had a pretty uneventful flight from Calgary to Helsinki, got to see what Lady Gaga was all about from one of the in flight videos, and actually enjoyed it quite a bit. The show theme was 'Monsters Ball' and it was very well choreographed. Okay, I'm a little weird!

Upon arriving in Helsinki I had to catch a bus down to the main train station where Kärolin met me, and from there we caught a cab to the ferry terminal. It was quite rainy and stormy as we left the main train station for the ferry, and it never crossed my mind how rough this ferry ride might actually be. Well..........let me tell you.....it was ROUGH! In my estimation the seas were roughly 4 meters, and the bow of that ship was pitching at least that through every wave we encountered. In fact, we were sitting up better than half the height of the boat and the spray from the waves was blasting past our windows! It is actually making me nactious writing about it! Kärolin and I weren't the only ones experiencing the sea sickness though. There were numerous other passengers heaving, and ralfing into their plastic bags as well. Fortunately after my visit with ralf I felt somewhat better and was able to withstand the remainder of the 3 hour journey with a little bit of dignity :)

I will write more as my trip progresses. Kärolin and I have a few things planned so I will share more as we experience them.

Lufhansa Business Class with the new seat styling that extends almost like a bed! I WISH!!!

Frankfurt Main. Definitely Lufthansa country!

A lonely Air Canada jet amongst the White and Blue

Interestingly a familiar sight in Helsinki. (Shell gas station) with the identical store front theme to those in Canada

An atypical view of Tallinn's Old Town taken from my bus tour.

Marina with the ferry terminal in the background

The ferry that runs between Tallinn Estonia and Helsinki Finland. Hard to believe the seas would toss a ship of this size around as much as it did on our ferry ride from Helsinki! The seas were VERY rough that night, I'm guessing 4m swells.

Estonia's famed 'Song Festival Grounds'.

Notice the mist surrounding the ferry. It's constantly barraged by the waves of the Baltic Sea! Quite a ride let me tell you. I was introduced to ralf on that ship.

 

Tallinn's TV Tower. The tower was abandoned for a number of years but is now being restored, and the Sky view restaurant plus a history exhibit for the tower will reopen sometime in the near future, 2012.

Chef Kärolin and her salmon creation :)

Roasted beet root and garlic, green beans, and lemon baked salmon on a bed of  mesclun(mixed) greens. It was delicious!!!!

Rosin being Rosin.

Karolin opening her Christmas present. She actually knew all along but was nice enough to act surprised! :)

Kärolin and Roger (sister Katlin and Rainer's first) at just over 1 month

Sporting my new scarf that Kärolin knitted for me for Christmas :)

Finally!! My trip to Whitehorse :)

Well, I finally made it up to Whitehorse to see my buddy Kyle!  Kyle is an engineer for AirNorth the local fixed wing company that flys in and out of Whitehorse to Calgary, Vancouver, and Edmonton. Kyle and I went to school together back in 2003 at Northern Lights College in Dawson Creek, BC. So it has been a long overdue visit, basically 8 years! He has a wonderful girlfriend Casey, and one child, a dog named Wednesday. They live on a beautiful 2 acre parcel just north of the city in a very wilderness setting, the pictures to follow will explain more. Kyle grew up in Whitehorse, and Casey from Haines Junction, also in the Yukon, so I couldn't have hired a better couple to show me around and learn about this magical place! Fortunately the weather did come around on the latter part of my trip and we were able to get out and play in the outdoors and see the surrounding scenery.

Another bonus of the trip was to see my old friend Scott Keesey and his family who had moved to Whitehorse 7 years ago. That also was a far too long, overdue visit! They too have a wonderful house in Whitehorse, and much of their time is spent doing outdoor activities with their family, plus all the other incidentals that come along with raising a young family. Sorry, no pic's of the Keesey clan this time around, but I can assure you they have two very cute young kids, Liam 6, and Sabine 3. There is a set of photos from this summer from Kelowna on my blog if you need a photo refresher :) However we did manage to have two very nice visits, and Scotty and I braved the masses at their local ski swap Saturday morning, but unfortunately no play time together like we had hoped.

Anyway, a wonderful trip with some great memories shared, and I left with a small bug inbedded in me that seems to keep people coming back to the Yukon, so I shall return!

Kyle and Casey's place from the air.

The main house on the property. Kyle rents this house out and him and Casey have a cozy flat built into the back 3rd of the shop.

Natural spring, feeding 3 ponds that Kyle raises Arctic Char in.

First pond coming from the spring.

Old trapper style cabin on the property near the second pond. Kyle keeps fish supplies in there.

Second pond where the majority of half the Char stock reside.

Arctic Char swimming below.

Third pond where the second half of the population resides. The little house in the back is also Kyle's and it generates revenue for Kyle and Casey as well.

Wednesday! Wednesday is a smart little dog. She played strange with me the first day after Kyle and Casey had already left for work. We got it sorted out in relatively short order and became best of buds :) She has an unusually short tail for a Border Collie and there is tale to follow that may not be for everyones ears. So if you feel you have a weak stomach and would prefer to continue chasing butterflies in endless fields of flowers, STOP READING HERE! :)
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..................So anyway. Kyle has a Honda CT-70cc motorbike that he uses occasionally to run Wednesday, and this particular motorbike has been missing it`s chain gaurd for quite some time. Now this normally would not be an issue as Kyle would normally be the only one riding this particular bike, however, there arose an occasion where Wednesday required a lift and had to double with Kyle on the motorcycle. Well, needless to say a certain portion of Wednedsay`s anatomy, the portion that attaches to the rearend, got into a little tangle up with one, ungaurded chain. Well, the chain came out on top in this particular bout. Fortunately though for Wednesday, papa Kyle with his savy bushman skills, was able to amputate the dangling portion of the tail with his trusty Swiss Army knife, the portion that the chain wasn`t able to complete. Needless to say one soul slept out in the dog house that night (Wednesday slept in the house with Casey, with a bandaged up tail) but the story had a wonderful outcome in the end that only made their family grow closer together, and provided me with this entertaining story for my blog!! :)  (Thanks K,C,&W) 

Schwatka Lake above the fish ladder. This lake was formed when the Yukon River was damned and is the local 'water' runway for the floatplane operators in the area. Kyle`s plane is the right most plane on the shore line.

I climbed a spruce tree to get this shot of the city of Whitehorse with the Yukon River meandering through.

Miles Canyon

This canyon was the most dangerous portion of the river at the time. (circa. 1899)

Suspension bridge over Miles Canyon looking north back to Whitehorse.

S.S. Klondike, the last sternwheel boat to run the Yukon River.

Canadian National Historic Site.

Schwatka Lake and my lack of a view of the surrounding mountains on day one.

Dr. Kyle conjuring up a well designed bracket to hold the video camera for our flight on Friday.

Entering the mountains to the west heading toward the St Elias Range

  Rose Lake, our landing strip. This lake is located about 35miles SW of Whitehorse.

Another nice shot of Rose Lake

The gang!

Kyle, Casey, and Wednesday right at home in their playground.

Alpine plant

Kyle on his way up to an interesting vein of rock in the granite.

Casey making her way up the creek. It was quite slippery with all the fresh snow so it made for challenging hiking!

Casey with our landing strip down below.

Kimmer suckin`wind :)

It was an amazing contrast of micro climates in and out of the canyon we hiked into.

We chose to scramble out of the canyon rather than go back down the icy chasm. One definitely has to remember the remoteness of these places that you can get into with plane, and be well prepared for the worst. Also, extra caution should always be in the back of you mind when embarking on these adventures.

Back at the lake, following our time plan so we can be out in time to close our flight plan with a small margin left for error.

A small sheep scull we`re thinking.

Note the snail lodged just below the upper, left tooth. 

The plane. What beautiful scenery up here!

Kusawa Lake

Casey, Wednesday, and I with the airplane on Rose lake.

Another beautiful alpine lake.

Whitehorse international airport with the downtown core on the left, and Schwatka Lake above and the Yukon River meandering below.