Well, didn’t we just have a over 3 hours of fun last night! Myself, the boy and our friends Jesse, Simone and Wobbly headed to the local community centre with bingo markers in hand to try and win the jackpot of more than $27000. We didn’t win a thing but discovered a cheap night out!

We lined up for over half an hour to buy our games and were lucky enough to have some lovely ladies try their best at explaining the rules of each game and how it all worked (luckier still that they sat next to us and continued to help us all night). All we knew was that you mark off numbers when they  get called and yell bingo if you mark them all off.. but there is more to it.. I am not about to explain because as I learnt last night, you have to experience it to get it! But once you get it.. then you can let the excitement of getting close to Bingo seduce you into playing again.. like we will be next week!

After the initial stress and confusion that comes with being ‘virgin bingo players’ we certainly got into it and on discovering that it was after 10pm when we left the bingo hall, we were all amazed at how fast the time went.

Next week, I want the thrill of yelling BINGO!

It was one of the final games for the season that the local ice hockey team would be playing a home game. We went to a few matches last season but had yet to go to a game this year. We didn’t want to pass on what could have been the last chance for us to support the Grizzlies!

We drank the local beer and helped build the pyramid of empty cups with other supporters and waited til (as per tradition) the Grizzlies would deliberately smash an opponent into the glass wall for all the cups to tumble down.. Sure enough, down they went and the crowd went wild!

There were banners up on the walls with such sayings as, “Hear them roar, watch them score” and “Holy Moly look at our Goalie.” It all seemed so cheesy but we had so much fun cheering along!

It was a nice night out with friends and I didn’t miss my chance of a souvenir puck to take home either

Today was an unexpected road trip to a town called Salmon Arm, about 100kms from Revelstoke. The boy and our friend Kelvin needed new SIN numbers and Wobbly (work mate, temporary housemate) and I came along for the ride. We borrowed our friend Ben’s Dodge Caravan to make the journey, and we are  glad it got us home safely as many strange noises came from the ol’ dodge while on the road. The smell inside the van was still distinctly  Skidder, Ben’s beautiful but smelly, smelly dog. We bought a car freshener to hang on the rear view mirror before starting out!

We had our lunch in a micro brewery called The Barley Station Brew Pub.  All but the boy, our designated driver, tried the sample pack of beer, a  glass of  each of the pubs different brews. It was a fun way to learn about beer. My favourite was the Bushwacker Brown Ale! We bought a growler of beer to take home with us.. got that to enjoy later tonight!

The rest of the time in town was spent exploring the thrift stores. Wobbly scored a Foosball table for $10, but the boys were sick of playing it after 5mins once it was home! I scored some reading material on where to road trip around Canada and the USA and The Best of Conway Twitty  on cassette tape to play in the car on the way home.. We certainly got our moneys worth there! Lots of laughter at the lyrics We also bought a baseball in preparation for Summertime activity! Now we are on a hunt for some mitts!

On the drive home we stopped in at the Dutchman Dairy for an ice cream and chat with the friendly farm animals that included a lovely donkey named Pedro!  I was able to pick up some cheese of a normal colour that I am hoping might hold a bit of taste like I’m used to! It’s been so long!

I also saw a few bald eagles flying over the road. My first up close sighting! Such big birds!! It was a great day out.. lots of laughs, food and topped off with a bit of Canadian nature which always makes me feel like I’ve had a good day!

I love experimenting with food and I love taxidermy. So last night was quite a treat when myself, the boy and a group of our friends headed to the Rod and Gun Club fundraising banquet. A Community Centre filled with tables and chairs and walls full of antlers and stuffed heads of various Canadian beasts, most of which we were about to taste for the first time!

Excitement grew as we saw labels at the banquet tables claiming Moose Balls and Elk Balls. Would I be having yet another Chevy Chase moment? Sadly they were just meatballs made of Moose meat and Elk meat. People thought I was weird to be disappointed!

Moose was wonderful however, that and the Bear were my favourites. I had already tried Bison in Banff and wasn’t convinced. On second tasting, still not a fan. Canadian Goose is one I won’t be trying again. It tasted very fishy. Definitely my least favourite.

White-tailed deer, duck, wild turkey, salmon and very little vegetables. All washed down with red wine

After such a big plate of meat, my night was filled with bad dreams involving grizzly bears and black bears and I awoke regularly throughout the night in sweats!

Maybe I should pass on the bear next time…  It’s a shame he tasted so good!

I’ve been wondering why I haven’t been committed  to my blog.  Looking back over past entries, it reads as though I had to submit something by a due date. It was starting to feel like homework. And i was never good with that!

I think this has been putting the handbrake on my blogging. I think I was taking the wrong approach to it entirely. For some reason I felt it had to do with my travels, but I think i really want it to be more my about my life in general and anything that takes my fancy, inspires me, makes me feel like I did last summer. This should be the place that fuels my creative juices.. like Ottawa did.

I saw three squirrels playing in the trees the other day and it made me miss Ottawa. And especially the boys I left behind. What a time!! A summer I will remember forever and cherish for just as long.  I loved the inspiration i felt there and long to have that feeling back. Craig asked me the other day why I haven’t written anything in my blog lately.. and to be honest i never really thought anyone would read it. Maybe this is where i should be expressing my creative self and bouncing my ideas out into cyberspace. Maybe Craig still visits here to see if i have posted anything..

On a greyhound again. Headed for the Badlands of Alberta and more specifically, Drumheller – self proclaimed dinosaur capital of the world. I got a taste of the Prairies on the 2 hour ride out there. Flat. Very Flat. There is the occasional barn and haystack and I expected a tornado to rip through, like a scene from the Wizard of Oz. Our bus was continuing to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and my decision to fly to Ontario was solidified by the bus driver’s commentary “After Drumheller, we’ll be continuing on to Saskatchewan, the real flat stuff. There will be a change of buses at Saskatoon, where you can head to all those wonderful places in Saskatchewan that only you know where.” Hmmm.

Suddenly it felt like the ground swallowed the bus, as we headed down into a ravine or coulee (Quebec French for ‘to flow’). This was our descent into the Badlands, aptly named for the lack of agricultural ability in these coulees. We were in cowboy country now and as we drove past the medium security prison it seemed right that the Badlands should have some bad guys. The most exciting thing that was awaiting us in the town of Drumheller, was the chipped fibre glass dinosaurs that stood on nearly every street corner. It appeared that none had been touched for decades, but that was what made me love it more! Street lights housed wire dinosaurs and shops had given their own Jurassic spin on everything, from dinosaur bone shaped seats to dinosaur footprints in the concrete at their doors.

For the first time in a long time I felt as though I was in another country again, people commented on the accent and everyone wanted to know why we had come to their town. Hello? When your town looks like Barney or Dorothy regurgitated all over it, i thought the answer was obvious! Just when you thought it couldn’t get any better, the best piece of tack that Drumheller had to offer towered above the buildings of Downtown. The 26 metre tall Dinosaur at the information centre. Who could resist paying a ‘toonie’ to climb the 106 steps inside him to take pictures from inside his gaping mouth? I can proudly say, “I climbed the worlds largest Dinosaur” Too bad I didn’t have room in my backpack for the T-shirt!!

About 6 km out of downtown Drumheller is the Royal Tyrell Museum of Palaeontology, the largest dinosaur museum in the world. This is where it gets serious, nothing tacky about it! Most of the skeletons were found in Drumheller or in the surrounding areas. Standing outside the museum, I took a moment (well, many at this place!) to imagine a T-rex heading through the Coulees or down the main street. Sent tingles down the spine! 36 species of dinosaur have been found in the Drumheller are alone.  Construction was put on hold for 8 weeks when the complete skeleton of a duck-billed dinosaur was found during the building of the local Walmart.

I had such a wonderful time in the town of Drumheller and I have never enjoyed a museum so much, despite the lack of bugs with pins in them!