I first met Stacey & Bevan Hughes in Peru. We hiked Alpamayo and later hooked up for Paine in Chile.
They are a prototypical cool Vancouver couple with diverse interests, a fascinating history and some exciting things happening in the future.
They hosted me for a couple of days. Good, lively fun.
Stace was almost … glowing.
» next travelogue post on this trip – Vancouver airport sucks
I’ve been raving about Yahoo Farechase. It is great — especially for regular routes in the USA.
But I think I will switch to Mobissimo, a similar site, but which searches a larger number of suppliers to find you the best fare, or the best connection.
I was hiking with one of the Mobissimo developers in California. Though I had never heard of his site, he convinced me that Mobissimo could do a better job on international flights. I did an experiment searching for a fare Sydney to Hobart Australia next February. The best Yahoo farechaser could find was $208.
But Mobissimo found the discount Virgin Blue airline for only US$75.
Details on the Mobissimo service.
On a Vegas – Calgary flight search, Yahoo and Mibissimo search results were similar — though Mobissimo still better because it had more options.
It was too late to fish — the (poor) fishing season had ended — but Dad thought we might run his boat for a couple of hours then take it in to be winterized.
The Fall weather was so good he decided to leave it at the marina in Port Alberni for at least one more trip.
» next travelogue post on this trip – thanks Stacey, thanks Bevan
Uncle Reg toured us around his retirement town of Crofton, BC on the Island.
A great host, we managed some off-road, a bit of a hike, visited several marinas, a good fishing spot and finished the day with Halibut and Ice Cream!
» next travelogue post on this trip – Jack Russell dog races
In Canada, after being caught with (self-prescribed) medicinal marijuana one-too-many-times, you must move to Coombs, British Columbia. Here hippies like you sell antiques (junk) to retirees.
Goats on the roof of the restaurant lure in the tourists. And ladies have trouble departing without buying at least one hand made collectable as a Christmas present for a distant niece.
more photos of the Coombs market
Actually Coombs is well worth the stop. It’s a piece of west coast culture.
» next travelogue post on this trip – a day with Reg Taylor
Grabbed a chance to visit my parents at the new house in quaint Parksville on the east coast of Vancouver Island. We had great weather for the end of September!
This was the start of 5 weeks on the road.
I posted a few photos of the trip on Flickr — click “view as slideshow” to see them.
» next travelogue post on this trip – Arthur Black – comedian
The perfect book for Rick McCharles?
An author friend strongly recommended Scream And Run Naked – Lessons from a Neurotic’s Journey to Nepal by Alison Arnold.
It’s on the top of my “to read” list.
It was pouring rain on what I thought was my last hiking weekend of the year. Rocco and I cancelled.
But the following September weekend turned clear. I insisted on joining the Cartwright clan on their annual Lake O’Hara adventure. This was the 14th year for Judith Cartwright. Her husband Rob was chief organizer.
Turned out that 6 of 7 siblings were able to make it up to the mountains with various family members and a few (how did they get invited?) friends. What a turn-out!
Click on the thumbnail photo for a (slow loading) larger version or see all full resolution photos on Flickr.
We were there for the spectacle of the changing of the Alpine Larch from green to golden yellow. This signals the start of winter in the Canadian Rockies.
details on how to organize a hike to O’Hara – besthike.com
If you read this blog regularly you know I am pro-Islam.
I have had nothing but wonderful experiences travelling in the Muslim world and am mortified at the stupid things I see in the Western media.
That said, there are aspects of Islam with which I disagree including these listed on the (locked down) Wikipedia page:
I don’t list the current debate about whether the religion was historically more spread by the sword than Christianity. It is an unimportant issue. Ancient history. A hot button which diverts attention from the far more important issue of women’s rights.
Certainly there are many Muslim societies that have evolved past all of these (often exaggerated) criticisms.
The good works of Islam far outweighs the bad.
Of course I also disagree with some of the traditions of other religions, especially Catholicism and Hinduism. (Lets save those for future posts.)
Now unlike some religious defenders, I welcome criticism of my point of view. If you believe I am wrong please post a comment below.
Ouch. I fly today.
You should subscribe to the excellent treehugger.com blog. It is sometimes over the top irrational — but not on this post:
One transatlantic flight for a family of four creates more CO2 than that family generates domestically in an entire year. (source)
Air Travel and Climate Change: Take the Train
As a frequent flyer, this really hurts.
We need this kind of statistical data to significantly improve the Earth. We need to take an economists viewpoint. Seems we need to fly less … or come up with aeroplanes with better technology.
Up to 25% of the world’s aviation carbon dioxide emissions could be cut if airlines, airports and governments worked together, the Virgin boss said.
Sir Richard Branson last week pledged Virgin airlines profits worth $3bn (£1.6bn) towards renewable energy initiatives.
