I wish you could all be there to experience the absolute calm and peace felt at this place. Kinda like PEI on steroids.
It was glorious and amazing and all things beautiful.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
All Things Beautiful
The first night at the Chalets, we all went for a walk down to the river. 
I wish you could all be there to experience the absolute calm and peace felt at this place. Kinda like PEI on steroids.
I wish you could all be there to experience the absolute calm and peace felt at this place. Kinda like PEI on steroids.
Wapta Takkakaw
I didn't have the energy to add these in last night.
The boys made us pose ... Totally cheesy, but kinda cute.
The actual falls
This vid is Wapta Falls
This is Takkaakaw Falls. Or the descent from the top (again in flipflops)
The boys made us pose ... Totally cheesy, but kinda cute.
The actual falls
These were the first falls. Wapta Falls. This is where we hiked down (in flip flops) and sadly realized we had to get back up that hill. My calves still hate me.
This vid is Wapta Falls
This is Takkaakaw Falls. Or the descent from the top (again in flipflops)
Thats it.
xo
L.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
WhiteWaterWafting and the Amazingness That Followed
2 hours of uploading pictures later ... here's the story.
Charactors you will hear about: Bree (as always), Me, Shawn, Mike, Wes, Kat, Brian and Raegan. Bree is my friend. Bree is friends with Mike , Brian and Wes. They used to be roommates. Shawn is Wes' brother. Kat is best friends with Shawn and Wes' sister. Brian and Raegan are dating. Got it? We left Calgary at 2 ish on Friday, convoying merrily along. Stopped in Field. Tiniest town I'd ever seen. We felt like we were in a Stephen King movie or something. This sleepy little town
nestled in base of the Rockies. Heres Bree in the grocery store.
Heres our lovely beautiful amazing chalet
The neighbouring chalets
The boys stayed in one, we stayed in the other, and the girls went for a walk down by the river and seeing that the boys were always over at our place, ("the women and food are here", they'd say when questioned) we thought we'd take the opportunity to short sheet their beds. So we did. And only one noticed. The others just though it was "weird" that the sheets were so tight. Typical bachelors.
Charactors you will hear about: Bree (as always), Me, Shawn, Mike, Wes, Kat, Brian and Raegan. Bree is my friend. Bree is friends with Mike , Brian and Wes. They used to be roommates. Shawn is Wes' brother. Kat is best friends with Shawn and Wes' sister. Brian and Raegan are dating. Got it? We left Calgary at 2 ish on Friday, convoying merrily along. Stopped in Field. Tiniest town I'd ever seen. We felt like we were in a Stephen King movie or something. This sleepy little town
nestled in base of the Rockies. Heres Bree in the grocery store.
Heres our lovely beautiful amazing chalet
The neighbouring chalets
The boys stayed in one, we stayed in the other, and the girls went for a walk down by the river and seeing that the boys were always over at our place, ("the women and food are here", they'd say when questioned) we thought we'd take the opportunity to short sheet their beds. So we did. And only one noticed. The others just though it was "weird" that the sheets were so tight. Typical bachelors.
Bree from the loft.
The loft.
View from the front door
My Bree
The loft.
View from the front door
My Bree
Our first class sound system
Okay. Heres where the craziness of the weekend started. Keep in mind that Bree has lived with these guys and is pretty tom-boyish herself - so when she was challenged to finish off a steak that was the size of her head, she wouldn't /couldn't back down. Please enjoy the following carnage:
The wager? Nothing. It was just a dare.
Don't know what Shawn is saying here, but I'm sure we burst out laughing at it. He's one of the funniest people I've ever met.
She was being taunted and jeered
She's on her last leg here. She was a trooper though. She doesn't hate me. Contrary to what the photo indicates.
Delirium setting in ....
Okay. Heres where the craziness of the weekend started. Keep in mind that Bree has lived with these guys and is pretty tom-boyish herself - so when she was challenged to finish off a steak that was the size of her head, she wouldn't /couldn't back down. Please enjoy the following carnage:
The wager? Nothing. It was just a dare.
Don't know what Shawn is saying here, but I'm sure we burst out laughing at it. He's one of the funniest people I've ever met.
She was being taunted and jeered
She's on her last leg here. She was a trooper though. She doesn't hate me. Contrary to what the photo indicates.
Delirium setting in ....
And the boys found a frog. Shocking.
He's even a little bit cute.
Opps. Falling Frog.
Campfire lovin'
Me, Bree, Shawn, Wes. It was such a beautiful night. Mike played guitar, we sort of sang.
My perfect marshmellow. (don't tell Wes, he thinks his was)
me and Bree (get used to it, theres many)
Just hanging out. Get used to it, theres lots of it.
Bree cooking breaky. Brian on fruit cutting detail. Shawn licking the beaters.
Bree's perfect pancake. They had bananas in them.
The boys found our Cosmo mag quite amusing. Read several articles out loud and with much theatrics.
Amazing pancakes with amazing whipped cream and berry sauce (made by me, (seriously!!)
Someone elses amazing breakfast.
Some pre-whitewater play.
Mike, who organized this whole thing.
Still more hanging out.
Archie comics and cards. Once overhead that morning "I already know what's going to happen." Quite funny. Remember the suspense of the Archie comics? Then you turned 6 and you knew how the story was going to end ??
Kat.
Getting ready for our group shot. The boys preparing for their `shoot`. I can't show you the pictures that followed this one. I consider this a PG site. :-)
HERE WE ARE !!!
Lunch was provided at the rafting site, which was part of where we stayed. We just walked across a field to get there. Mike, who has eyes so gorgeous I told him right after I took this. Then quickly hoped he didn`t think I was a coug just hitting on him. I have so many pictures, but blogger is a bit of a pain, and uploading takes years. I have video of the these guys too that I will try and post some day.
Waiting around in the searing heat to be briefed on our rafting trip. I almost bolted. Not from the heat. From the speech. I thought I was going to be leaving the river in a body bag.
After rafting. Brian and Mike. Brian caught mid-peel. He was sunburnt from the last weekends adventures.
Shawn and Kat. Shawn purposely ruins every picture. You don`t think he`s paying attention, and is fully fully aware that the camera is on him and he does something hilarious.
Raegan and Bree
Ummm ... Well, sir, I don`t normally smoke sunflower seeds...
So let me explain. I took pictures of all the others in my group on the bus. So naturally there was none of me. Wes thought there should be. So Bree takes the camera, goes to snap the picture, as I`m innocently grinning waiting to be snapped. Wes has a water bottle, cap off, pointed towards my face. He squeezed the bottle - soaking me. (and the poor guy behind us )
I got him back. (oh, and the guy behind us too ...) oops
I loooooove this picture. Its like they are in grade 1. On the school bus talking about their day. Bree is telling an animated story, and Shawn - listening intently. I love it and wish it was in focus.
A lovely meal prepared by the boys. I`m fresh from an hour long nap. We`d had a big day!
Don`t know. We were just sitting around, and he put them on.
Sunday Breakfast. I can still taste it.
Breakfast ...
Me and her again ...
The girls. Kat, me, Bree, Raegan. And Brian....(apparently, he does this all the time)
Shawn was the photog, and apparently he does this all the time too.
Another group shot. Our last day. We didn`t want to leave.
Beautiful 1 year old Milo.
Bloated bellies !
Some falls we went to. I forget the name. But they are the second widest in Canada. Niagara, natch, is the widest. Amaz-ing ! gorgeous hike. Some went swiming.
Wes showing off. Though I must say, we WERE all impressed.
He's even a little bit cute.
Opps. Falling Frog.
No princes showed up.
Campfire lovin'
Me, Bree, Shawn, Wes. It was such a beautiful night. Mike played guitar, we sort of sang.
My perfect marshmellow. (don't tell Wes, he thinks his was)
me and Bree (get used to it, theres many)
Just hanging out. Get used to it, theres lots of it.
Bree cooking breaky. Brian on fruit cutting detail. Shawn licking the beaters.
Bree's perfect pancake. They had bananas in them.
The boys found our Cosmo mag quite amusing. Read several articles out loud and with much theatrics.
Amazing pancakes with amazing whipped cream and berry sauce (made by me, (seriously!!)
Someone elses amazing breakfast.
Some pre-whitewater play.
Mike, who organized this whole thing.
Still more hanging out.
Archie comics and cards. Once overhead that morning "I already know what's going to happen." Quite funny. Remember the suspense of the Archie comics? Then you turned 6 and you knew how the story was going to end ??
Kat.
Getting ready for our group shot. The boys preparing for their `shoot`. I can't show you the pictures that followed this one. I consider this a PG site. :-)
HERE WE ARE !!!
Lunch was provided at the rafting site, which was part of where we stayed. We just walked across a field to get there. Mike, who has eyes so gorgeous I told him right after I took this. Then quickly hoped he didn`t think I was a coug just hitting on him. I have so many pictures, but blogger is a bit of a pain, and uploading takes years. I have video of the these guys too that I will try and post some day.
And ... the obligatory open mouth shot ...
Waiting around in the searing heat to be briefed on our rafting trip. I almost bolted. Not from the heat. From the speech. I thought I was going to be leaving the river in a body bag.
After rafting. Brian and Mike. Brian caught mid-peel. He was sunburnt from the last weekends adventures.
Shawn and Kat. Shawn purposely ruins every picture. You don`t think he`s paying attention, and is fully fully aware that the camera is on him and he does something hilarious.
Raegan and Bree
Our bus driver, who is also a guide was driving the bus with his helmet on. We were skeptical.
Ummm ... Well, sir, I don`t normally smoke sunflower seeds...
So let me explain. I took pictures of all the others in my group on the bus. So naturally there was none of me. Wes thought there should be. So Bree takes the camera, goes to snap the picture, as I`m innocently grinning waiting to be snapped. Wes has a water bottle, cap off, pointed towards my face. He squeezed the bottle - soaking me. (and the poor guy behind us )
I got him back. (oh, and the guy behind us too ...) oops
I loooooove this picture. Its like they are in grade 1. On the school bus talking about their day. Bree is telling an animated story, and Shawn - listening intently. I love it and wish it was in focus.
A lovely meal prepared by the boys. I`m fresh from an hour long nap. We`d had a big day!
Don`t know. We were just sitting around, and he put them on.
Sunday Breakfast. I can still taste it.
The spread (and more hanging around ... )
We were all so tired by this time. Mike is trying to get Milo to roll over. He wasn`t listening!
Breakfast ...
Me and her again ...
The girls. Kat, me, Bree, Raegan. And Brian....(apparently, he does this all the time)
Shawn was the photog, and apparently he does this all the time too.
Another group shot. Our last day. We didn`t want to leave.
Beautiful 1 year old Milo.
Bloated bellies !
Some falls we went to. I forget the name. But they are the second widest in Canada. Niagara, natch, is the widest. Amaz-ing ! gorgeous hike. Some went swiming.
Wes showing off. Though I must say, we WERE all impressed.
Bree and Wes being brave. I was only in flip flops and didn`t feel comfortable walking down there.
More lounging. We lagged at every chance we had. We ate all the frozen food here because we`d run out of ice. So we overdosed on Space Pops and ice cream sandwiches.
Sucks to have to be around these shirtless men all weekend. Trials and Tribs. We all go through tme.
These are the Takawaka Falls. Second tallest in Canada. Second only to ..... you guessed it! After our visit here, were sat around the back of Wes`truck and ate the rest of the food in the coolers. None of us wanted the day to end.
Sucks to have to be around these shirtless men all weekend. Trials and Tribs. We all go through tme.
These are the Takawaka Falls. Second tallest in Canada. Second only to ..... you guessed it! After our visit here, were sat around the back of Wes`truck and ate the rest of the food in the coolers. None of us wanted the day to end.
So, off to Canmore we go. Grab a bite and wait for an hour for our food. So what do you do in the meantime .... armwrestle, of course!
And play air hockey on your iPhone.
Such a great weekend.
Though you wouldn`t know it by Bree`s face!! But look at Shawns and you just can`t help but laugh. 
I could go on and on about this weekend, but I`m surviving on very little sleep these days as my job is kicking my butt! And its almost midnight, and I started this at 8:00. I am sleep-sitting right now, but need to say that I am forever grateful for Bree and the people she`s introduced me to in general the people I am meeting here. The people I spent the weekend with are a very tight knit group and not once did I feel like I was there as Brees`friend. But I was there as just Leanne. They accepted me with no awkward `get to know yous` and treated me like I`ve known them all my life. I laughed so hard so many times with them. They are an incredible and perfect mix of fun, serious, spiritual. See, I could go on and on and I won`t. Because I want to. But I need to go before I die from lack of sleep.
Hope you enjoyed the pictures. I will try and add more in the next few days.
xo.
L.
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