Author: megan

Categories
canada general travel

your life or your lupins, my lord

Memorable events from my first day in the Yukon, in order of happening:

    * A German girl playing Abba’s song S.O.S. on the piano in the Bed and Breakfast we’d stayed at, thus inspiring me to start learning how to play the piano (I’m easily excited).
[This was followed by an uneventful period in which we picked up a rental Subaru, looked at a gorge, picked Emma up from the airport, purchased food and camping things, then drove up towards Dawson City – which really isn’t a very exciting drive.]

 

 

    * Testing the bear spray in calm air, leading to a cloud of spray which slowly dissipated in all directions. This lead to much coughing and sneezing and teary eyes and cursing of Megan by everyone concerned.

 

 

    * Finding lupins in Moose Creek Campground (LUPINS!!!.. She’s bloody dying and all you bring us is lupins).

 

 

(So not that much happened – it’s quiet up there!)

Categories
canada general travel

a moose! a moose! (two mooses actually)

After about a year in Canada, I finally saw a moose while up in the Yukon. Two mooses. Conveniently located at Two Moose Lake, along the Dempster Highway.

 

Moose Two
 

Moose One

More tales of the Yukon coming soon, once I’ve had a little more sleep.

Categories
russell

i find love in the yukon

After nearly a year in Canada I had still found no other moose. Growing lonely, I decided to travel to the Yukon, where I was assured that hundreds of moose would be roaming the streets.

 

 

Our first night out of Whitehorse we camped in Moose Creek Campground. This sounded promising, but no moose resulted.

We drove northwards, looking out eagerly for moose. The road between Whitehorse and Dawson City was boring and moose-free. So we headed on to the Dempster Highway. First stop was at Two Moose Lake, where we’d heard that mooses often roam

 

 

And there was a moose! Here is a photo of me posing with the moose in the lake in the background.

 

 

This is the moose in the lake. She was shy though, and did not come up to say hello. I sat and marvelled at her, then had to move on.

 

 

And that was when I met the second moose! Her name is Sharlene and we’re maintaining correspondence at the moment. She says she might come and visit me in the Rockies one day.

 

 

The rest of the trip is a bit of a blur to be honest. All I could think of was Sharlene. We made it to the Arctic Circle though. Didn’t see any more moose.

Categories
canada general travel

chipmunks and RVs – tales of the road

After living here for nearly a year, we finally visited Lake Louise and drove up the Icefields Parkway to Jasper on the weekend, in a bout of touristing with Mum. It wasn’t fatal, but camping and road trips sure are popular round here in Summer. We fought our way up the highway through streams of traffic, and battled for campground space with RVs. Vicious chipmunks attempted to eat our shoes and car tyres, and vicious panpipe and trumpet players attempted to assault our ears. We were not crushed by the relentless retreat of the Athabasca Glacier, and no tourists fell down a crevasse, despite crossing the barriers and dancing round on the glacier and posing for silly photos. Oh, and we also escaped unscathed from the man-eating Canada Geese at Maligne Lake.

 

Golden-mantled ground squirrel, at the Lake Agnes Teahouse near Lake Louise
 

 

Poppies outside the Lake Louise Chateau
 

 

Athabasca wuz ere in ’82
 

 

Train tracks outside of Jasper
 

Tomorrow we’re jumping on a ship and sailing up to the Yukon, where I’ll wrestle a moose, then tame it and ride it back to Canmore. And also drive up to Dawson City, and the Dempster Highway – well that’s the plan anyway.

Categories
general

more good thesis news

The email I just received from the lovely ladies at the Research and Graduate Students Office:

I’ve received the Statement of Authorship pages and done the cut and paste job. Everything is now in order for your name to go to Academic Board on 13 August.