Canada III

so here's what we found on our camera from that trip...

We had a one day head start, and headed north with Ron and Omer. Here are a few pictures from the bridge:


We arrived at the cabin after dark, and after a hearty bowl of white chili (see recipe below), Ben felt too hot, and decided to cool off at the lake.
For the record, he was the FIRST AMERICAN IN THE LAKE this year. ha!
What you see here, is Ben walking on the frozen part of the lake, finds a crack in the ice and dipping his own crack in it.


Ron wasn't far behind, and claimed the FIRST ISRAELI IN THE LAKE THIS YEAR title. I think he will hold the "Only Israeli in the Lake" title at least until the spring...

Ron warmed his numb feet in a "gigit" of luke-warm water;

As you can imagine, the NATIVES are not as adventurous: Dave chickened out, and put on his wet suit. his sub-zero, good for any weather, wet suit.



The next day, we rode/walked up the mountain. The 4-wheelers were left behind where we had to cross a very deep stream (sometime later that week, the same stream was crossed by some people, so we heard. but the water level got lower in time, and therefore when THEY crossed it was no big deal).
We had to cross by foot, and walk the rest of the way. here are some selected pics, the rest can be found by a click of a mouse...

Ron ALMOST made it dry to the other side. Actually, he did cross successfully, only that SOMEONE left the key in one of the avts, and Ron volunteered to go back and get it... we heard "thomp squash thomp squash thomp squash..." for the rest of the walk.



And finally - a nice panorama of the LAKES

More from Canada

A few memories of Canada from the American side of the family:


At right is proof that the Sharons made the obligatory trek up Fire Tower Mountain, the big rock you see in pictures of the lake taken from our cabin. It's takes an hour or so to travel on foot, but we took pity on Dalia's poor foot and made the trip on 4-wheelers--at least most of the way.



At left is most of our party, stopping at Black Lake to have their pictures taken. I think Grady may have been out on the ice looking for a stick when it was taken, but he was also part of the group. At the end of the line of 4-wheelers you can see Gary, riding behind "Give 'Em Hell Harry" (aka Omer). Omer (and Ron) apparently have a bit of Canadian blood in their ancestry because they took 4-wheeling in the mud and water like they were born to it. Look below to see the proof.




This is our Canadian clothes dryer (also our Canadian television). It's full right now with boots, gloves, socks, and whatever else got saturated with mud during the trip. Someone's pants are drying on the chair next to it. I think someone's pants were drying next to it all weekend.

Here is another very common sight in Canada.
This photo was taken after a long hard morning of hiking around Aubrey Falls. We stopped at the Aubrey Fall Trading Post where the "Truckers' Special" was the recommended lunch and Ron learned the truth about jackalopes. We were all worn out after that, but these two gave in immediately and just went to sleep.

Actually, we did a lot of this, when we weren't sitting by the fire listening to music or sloshing through mud. (Sorry it's so blurry. I didn't have my glasses on and couldn't see that it was a lousy shot until I got it on my computer.)It should be noted that Oddi is a closet card shark and seems to wind up with all the chips at the end of the night. Dalia and I mostly just did as we were told during the poker games. Gary introduced Oddi, Omer, and Ron to the mysteries of Euchre though, so I can now lose at that to Israelis as well.

Canada?? oh, Advanture island...

Grady with Dalia and Odi. At first he taught he was kidnapped, but as he saw the bridge, he started smiling. He knows Canada when he sees one.

Dalia's first meeting with the river next to the cabin. Grady makes sure she is not getting to know the river "face to face". he knows the river is wet and cold.

On the way to see the "Aubrey Falls". yeh, there was snow!!! so we had to put a brown carpet under the table.

Here is the fall...

Here we are on the bridge. Trying not to fall!

On the way back Omer took the chance of having reception and phoned Dikla.














Yep, that's the famous anchor. The Sharons demanded a proof about this story. Even the barrels are still there, with Gary's ropes. Omer is still using his chance of a signal with home.










What a light.... The aliens are coming!!!! Oh, it's the sunset.

The "Canadian TV" was on... but no sound! this is the sunset we saw while you were welcomed into Chicago.



A link to the Sunset - all 22 photos, step by step.







Dave & Brenda Stake House
"How about some Moose for dinner, "Hey?


The Game Dinner. Moose, Deer, Ram... I think...








The AfterParty around the fire! Check out the sleeping drummer!





You guessed wrong. it is not the CRCC (Canadian Road Construction Corp). This is us guys, on Stinky Lake, with the uniform Dave got us for the 4wheelers ride.












We had a nice quite evening in the cabin, playing music and cards...
That was after the 16 wheeler trip we had with thanks to:
Dave for two 4 wheelers , and fashion clothing.
Gary for one 4 wheeler, and navigation.
Dave's Brother, for his 4 wheeler, and kindness.


















Here we are leaving. This picture was taken in moments of stress. Sandy and I, in the 2nd car, with my passport on the first car. "Young Man, you should know that you must curry your passport at all times". I didn't think I should take the officer's photo after that.

BYE BYE CANADA.

Koesters, you have some more pictures we don't have....

The ball is in your hands.

A Quiet Weekend in Canada

Gary and Matt and Erin and I just spent a nice quiet weekend in Canada, hiking, swimming and snorkeling. Some of us snorkled. Some of us learned the meaning of th verb "to bonk" and will never go hiking again without eating first. Matt and Erin had to go home on Sunday, so after we saw them off, Gary and I wandered over to the neighbors house, where a post-wedding party
was just getting cranked up.
The gentleman pictured above is Bob, father of the groom. The hat was supposed to keep the sun off his head, but I think he just liked it. He looks like a nice harmless fellow, doesn't he? Don't let the looks fool you. People like Bob are the reason that William Wallace and Robert the Bruce were able to drive the British out of Scotland. I spent quite a while talking with him and I learned lots of things about Scotland and the Royal Air Force which are probably mostly lies, but entertaining nonetheless. He was charming and witty and was able to say the most outrageous things in the driest tone I've ever heard. Gary and I liked him a lot.

At left is the band they hired for the occasion. Well, not really. That's Gary at left and some other very nice folks whose names we can't remember playing the mandolin, guitar, and hammered dulcimer. The music started around 6:00 pm and went on into the wee hours, with the musicians coming and going and the songs getting weirder and weirder. There were banjos, guitars, harmonicas, one sad Irish whistle, and even a highland bagpipe at one point. All we were missing was Matt and his ukulele.



Here you see Graham, the groom, and his good friend Stewart (or Stewed, as the case may be) who are reportedly international drinking champions, Scotch division, and are not allowed to spend time with Gary unsupervised. Graham is a very nice fellow and did not even get upset when a guy from Toronto miscalculated and threw a stick for Grady into the lake and almost hit him in the head. And when he turned to see who was throwing sticks at him and saw about 38kg of Labrador Retriever charging through the water at him at top speed, the look of confusion and terror on his face earned a round of applause from the folks on shore. He made no attempt to throw the stick back at the guy from Toronto so I think he will fit in nicely with the Canadians.
Incidentally, both Graham and Stewart were initiated into the Lumberjack Brotherhood during the wee hours of Monday morning and went home with a few stubby socks as souvenirs. ( Ask Ben.)
All in all, we learned that the Scots are a violent and rowdy race and we wish we could spend more time with them. Graham and Crystal also had friends from England, Germany, Russia, Sweden and who-knows-where-else attending and they were all delightful.

I guess this is why we love going to Canada so much.

Canadian Fishing Techniques

This past weekend Sandy & I celebrated the anniversary of our wedding by going north! It was another good weekend at the cabin.

We got up late Friday morning and drank coffee and watched the lake (it was raining) until 11 am.

At about 2 pm Sandy decided she was just dying to go fishing, so I put the boat in, and we went out for a couple of hours. Sadly, we caught no fish, but had a lot of good discussion about different fishing methodologies, i.e. Candadian, Russian (see earlier post regarding Russian vs. Canadian technique), trolling, jigging, and live vs. artificial baits, etc. Needless to say, after 33 years of marriage, we didn't agree on everything.

On Saturday, while Sandy and Brenda went for a long ride on the 4-wheelers (ATV's), I invited a true man of the bush (Dave's father) to go fishing, and perhaps introduce me to some of the finer points of Northern Pike fishing.

I was the student and he was the teacher. We caught lots of fish and threw the really big ones back.

We actually held a fishing derby that afternoon, with Jerry and me in one boat and Dave and Jennifer in another. Yes, Jennifer is trying to make me kiss her fish.




Nothing follows a great day fishing like a good fish fry. With the help of a couple of neighbors we cleaned and cooked the fish......

and ate them!

...and here's a little addendum to the trip. We have a signpost up in Canada pointing to various landmarks, cities, and Galactic places. The list of significant places has grown enough that they began a new signpost, including the cities of Tel Aviv, Israel and Aberdeen, Scotland. The latter made the list because Dave has a cousin (or is a niece?) that is marrying a guy from Scotland! Hopefully you can read some of the other places on it.