Vegas 2012... Oh wait.. What!?

Vegas 2012  ... Victoria 2012

How exciting... we are packed.. everything in place and ready to go to Vegas !!

We arrive at Victoria airport, board our plane and fly off to Calgary. Westjet is a great airline to fly with... quirky and friendly. 

We find our bags and walk to the very other end of the Calgary airport.. find the USA entrance and wander in. What luck.. not a soul around, so we wander up to the border guard, Teddi goes thru no troubles.. then me.. the guard has some free time so he pokes about and then asks.. Have you ever been arrested.  I think about that for a moment and say, Yes I have thank you. Then a few more questions and he calls another guard over. Ya! I am being asked to go to a small quiet room for questioning.. what fun! 

So now Homeland Security has me all secure in a small room with fake windows and USA propaganda on all the walls. The posters are all very... how you would say... threatening!  Talking about illegal entry into the States, human trafficking, ID theft and how the Americans can send you off to Guantanamo Bay for being a filthy excuse for a person.. WOW! How exciting.. now I am looking everywhere for a big guy putting on a white latex glove... Nope!! ~phew~  

So the officer calls me over and asks me a whack of questions, I answer as best I can remember because they are asking me about details of 1987. I was kinda messed up then and I don't recall to much.

Anyway... the office shows me that I was arrested for a misdemeanour  back in the day and because I am likely to be a terrorist or something in the guise of a tourist headed to Vegas, I am ineligible for entry into the great fearing country of the USA. 

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Lets say I was shocked to say the least.. 25 year old conviction has barred me from the USA forever. Paranoid bunch of policy makers.. I would happily like to tell GW Bush that his policy people of his time are a bunch of melon heads...but I would rather avoid a trip to Guantanamo Bay. 

Now our trip is off.. no Vegas and we are in Calgary. Lets just say I am not a happy man and Teddi is not a happy woman. We gather our stuff and Westjet arranges to have our deported asses hauled back to Victoria. We wander the airport a bit and get a burger then head to our loading area. We are a quiet.. menacing looking couple at this time. 

We get home and yes.,.its pissing rain like never before... even the Gods think we need to cleanse our spirits with a good soaking... Bring it on!!

The rest of the weekend was a bit of a bust, I looked up everything I could to see if there was a way around this ban...nope.. I have to apply for a waiver to enter the states. It costs $585.00 and can take up to a year to process with no assurance that I would be allowed in. If I were to receive the waiver, it is only good for 1 year and I would have to re-apply and pay another $585.00 again. Repeat if I want to travel there....

I am a bit pissed at this but not to upset as I am happy to not visit that country full of  political bullies. I know loads of people in the USA and they are the kindest, friendliest people I know.. but their government does them such a dis-service with their war-machine, tarifs and paranoid policies. I learned quickly when I travelled overseas that being a Canadian is a very good thing..

We took it upon ourselves to explore bits of Vancouver Island and go Ford truck shopping. This vacation has turned out to be a good one, regardless the initial upset and loss of a whack of money. Being deported is not covered under your travellers insurance and all was lost.. 

Tsk..tsk...

Even Westjet was not accommodating in helping us with any monies in return. So we paid for multiple flights that WestJet will resell and pocket the money. 

Enough bitching till the end.

We wandered our way up to Coombs and talked to a couple old goats on the roof. They are fun to play with and they have the softest noses. Shopping in the stores up there is a nice change, bought a lions share of cheeses... I lovvvvvve cheese!  We then wander off to what we thought was Spider lake.. but I made a left turn when I should have made a right and we ended up in Port Alberni. 

We dined at Boston Pizza and then I saw a picture of the Mars water bomber and I needed to see it! Off we went.. following directions (well what I thought I heard) I saw the sign for Sproat Lake.. I was on a mission.... zooooooom... 8 1/2 km of wiggly road past the coolest tree I have ever seen...aka.. the Boot Tree, we end up at a hatchery.. umm.. HELLO!! wheres the plane??? 

Mars Water Bomber... oh baby!!

Heading back we get to the main hiway and head up a bit further past this exit.. and guess what ... THE PLANE!!! HOLY SMOKES ITS HUGE!!!  

We looked.. and then took off back home...

Later in the week we went to Vancouver. Granville Island, Gastown, Repo.com and Ikea... Shopping overload!  You should see my bear mug and Teddi's moose mug! The hiways are all messed up over there as there is a lot of construction and Ruddy the devious GPS unit we have, was misinformed and sent us on a wild goose chase a few times. Time to update the maps. We made it back home with a trunk load of Ikea goodies and beer from Granville Isle. I like Vancouver... fun and the traffic is insane! 

The train station by GasTown

There was many other ups and downs with this whole vacation and if I could have a do over I would! But life does not offer do overs unless you have alzheimer's or some rare short term memory loss disease. 

Our adventures will continue and I suspect they will always be insanely weird as this is what we are drawn too..thanks for reading and Happy Journeys

Awesome skinny building

A train!

Path by our house

GasTown steam clock

Awesome skinny building

Gastown

 Above was some random pictures as we walked around Vancouver.. I loved the skinny building in GasTown

Safe Journeys

~Wombats 

Horne Lake Regional Camp ground

We have been here twice.. this was the first place we went camping when we got back into the outdoorsy lifestyle once again.. and it was the best place to start out!

Our first trip we were in a tent.. how weird that was to sleep in. The tent was huge so that was great, I was able to stand up right in it and I am 6'2". The air mattress was a floppy, leaky sieve of an air mattress so we spent that weekend pumping and deflating... pumping and deflating.. It was promptly returned to Walmart and we bought the massive pillow top queensized air bed!! OMG!! this is an amazing thing.





So one of the reasons people love this area is the caves. They have some amazing caves for you to go into and explore. There is the lower caves which is self guided and then there is the upper caves which is part of a tour. Being the cheap guy that I am I opted for the self guided. Up the hill we trudged to the opening.. went in and guess what!!! I was too thick in the chest to squeeze thru! I thought about wiggling in under the main huge rock but I would for sure get my ass wedged in there and they would have to destroy much old growth forest to get a crane up there to drag me out.


Well not to be out done by a mountain, a hole and my HUGE chest we went to the lower..lower caves.. these were knee deep in water.. so I spiderman crawled along the wall.. had a look and shouted "Victory!" as I defeated the mountain and entered into its belly. I really need to stop watching Lord of the Rings.. gah.

We went up with our friends, Tammy and Jacolby. These 2 are younger, more outdoorsy (well Jacolby is for sure!!) and like to camp a bit rougher then us. They are fun to camp with and will try anything we want to do and they are the same.. kind of a dangerous mix at times! HAHA!!

As with all our camping trips they start out with Cheezies on the way up, the first night is fire roasted hotdogs and then relaxing with a beer and sunflower seeds... not a creature of habit at all am I.

Teddi and I are hiker, walkers and explorers.. we like to see everything we can on foot, in a boat, by plane or in a car. This place affords lots and lots of walking so we did ! We headed up the river the first day, very peaceful and wet.. I am not as graceful as I was as a teen when crossing slippery rocks.. but I do give a great show as I pirouette and flay and spin to avoid falling flat on my ass. I guarantee a great show everytime!!

Lots of lake and mountain views, wildlife and people..

Grouse laying in wait for us.. Stupid bird

On one walk to the adjoining campsite we found an avenue carved into the forest. It was the gas line to a pump station for the Alberni valley. We followed this wide opened, flat road that was knee deep in fresh foliage. There we are walking.. enjoying the view when all of a sudden a grouse (large, yummy tasting bird) did not want to be stepped one, flew up from under our feet and into the bush. I thought I was gonna soil my self! almost needed a heart restart! HOLY SMOKES!! what the hell was this bird doing hiding on the trail? Playing with us? haha

NO THANKS!!

The rest of the weekend went without any more heart attacks.. and as we were leaving a mommy bear and her 2 babies came by to say.. Drive safe...

Happy travels friends...
~W

Fairy Lake

Fairy Lake... the camping never ends!

So we had heard of this magickal little lake outside Port Renfrew.. We were game! We packed up and took the road from Sooke to Port Renfrew.. The hiway sucked! and those who maintain it should be flipped upside down...filled with hot gravel..spanked and given laxatives! What a shitty road and I refuse to drive it until its rebuilt!! 

Anyways... anger aside.. stupid hiway! .. We finally get to Fairy lake.. the sites are small and intimate.. WOW what a great start.. no watching your neighbors getting louded up and seeing the tent shake like a tornado is inside them.. thank goodness when we do get stuck witnessing those forces of nature that it normally last a few seconds and only a couple of screams.. haha .. amateurs!  Back to Fairy Lake..

The camp is clean, the ranger super friendly and it is very secluded. The lots are flat and well setup.. Go! We recommend it highly.

We set up and had our immediate hotdog roast.. we always have the celebratory hotdog roast as soon as we are set up! 

We have a nice fire and then its off to bed.. cuddles.. snores and heaven!!

Next day we are up and ready to go.. we explore the lake front.. very pretty..

I love the wide angle feature of my cell phone.. 

We spend the morning mulling about and then we head to Port Renfrew... We end up at Botanical Beach.. so we head to the ocean. 

The waters are decently calm and the weather is warm, bear and cougar warning signs everywhere.. lucky for me I travel everywhere with my Bear but those cougars.. Eeeeps! 

We walk along the beach looking for shells and other treasures, we get yelled at my a huge heron in a tree.. what a noise!  Dang picture is sideways,, 

Love the warning about Rouge Waves... I thought she was a character from the X-Men?? What do I know ..haha





We spent the day exploring.. see below...

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Nifty junk!!

Old and gnarly !!

 Back at the campsite we set up to relax.. soon though I discovered I had a nemesis..a purveyor of evil stares... a kid on a bike that would stare me down every time he rode by..

I am the monkey of course

 It was an odd thing.. he must have rode by a hundred times.. and it was a stare down every single time.. Odd little creepy kid!

This is what our setup looked like this trip.. My Bear will not allow me to post her pic so she gets censored via a finger...  My lovely wife is so shy..

 In the woods you find the neatest things.. a foot step or is the tree stinking its gnarly old tongue out?? could be a seat for other venturing wombats.. hard to say but nature is neat

 All in all its a fantastic place to go and I would recommend you join us one weekend.. maybe creepy kid will be there to stare us down!!

Oh 1 word of caution... there is a provincial campsite just up the road.. San Juan.. There is a strict policy on admittance, you must -

1 - Have only 3 teeth... minimum 2 original.

2- Dated a relative

3 - Field strip a shotgun in your long johns

4 - Bathe each season

5 - Know someone named Beaufort

6- Can skin a coon with a pull tab

It was the scariest thing I ever witnessed.,. I locked the doors and watched for the banjo playing fella.. Avoid this place!!

Rome - 2009

Wow.. 2009... has it been that long since we went to Rome?? We have had many trips since and many more to come..


Lets talk about Rome..
We went in the fall, we had been told it gets smoking hot there in the summer and that the fall would be more like our summer. People spoke the truth.. there was Teddi and I in summer clothes.. and the locals in mittens, puffy jackets and looking at us like we had antlers or something.
Our trip started out with a bang.. the flight was delayed 8 hours I believe and the travel agent we booked thru forgot to tell us.. so there we are.. smiling..nervous..luggage in hand after taking the bus from Victoria to Vancouver only to find something to do.. Gah!
We endured the anticipation and finally boarded the jet airplane ...destination Amsterdam.. then Rome !! I was squeeeeeeeeing inside like a wee piglet... Teddi was nervous and anxious but smiling like she won a bazillion dollars..The flight was quick... we flew KLM.. those sexy blue dresses those flight attendants wore.. GIGGITY! ooh sorry.. I digress.
We arrived in Amsterdam and then had to catch a second flight to Rome.. This was a small airplane and we were able to see the Alps as we flew down along the peninsula.

We landed in Rome at the  Leonardo da Vinci airport. This was a big, loud place... the luggage was to be picked up 66km away from where we landed, or so it felt. We waited for the luggage so an eternity.. then when we finally had ours we had to figure out how to get into Rome..the southern side. We started following the signs that pointed to the trains.. we knew that the train would take us to the central terminal and that we could then take the subway to our hotel. We stopped to ask for directions in the airport and the fellow in the direction booth said that there was a shuttle that we could pay 15 euros for to take us into town. Why not we thought! There was 2 young ladies and another couple headed that way so how dangerous could this be??

So this friendly..animated fellow appears and takes our reciepts and says to follow him to his van.. well the panic alarms did not go off until we ventured for about 10 minutes thru the airport, then into the service area.. then outside thru the parkade to a very dark area miles from the airport. Ya..sitting ducks... 6 tourist..luggage, money and we follow some fellow into the darkest most secluded area in all of Rome..  

Teddi and I were cautious and ready to use our karate skills if this went south.. the 2 young ladies were glued to each other and the other couple were whiter than snow...but it all worked out.. he loaded our stuff in the van and off we went.. this little moment tensed me out so bad I could not go potty right for 2 days!! HAHAHA

The driver was very animated and we drove at break neck speeds.. it was amazing how he could throw that huge passenger van down those wee narrow streets with such skill. We finally got to our hotel and bid the fellow a thank you and tipped him for not killing us.

Our hotel was glorious.. http://www.hotelrediroma.com/  I would recommend it in a heart beat! Huge rooms, huge bathrooms, great breakfast and right by a metro line. The people there were fantastic and friendly. Spoke english very well. 


Each day we would journey out to explore a new part of Rome. The first couple of days we discovered that there was a church, basilica or religious icon on every corner. God must be some busy watching over all those places. The art work, the carvings and the buildings were nothing less then awe inspiring! I took over 7500..yes.. seven thousand five hundred, pictures there. Teddi..well she took about a thousand...

Everyday we would come home and unload the cameras note where we were and hit the hay. Repeat for 10 days !


Day 1

Porta S. Giovanni - the great wall of Rome
San Giovanni Laterno - church photos
Massive Egyptian obelisk
Colosseum - Teddi picks up a piece of the wall.. ancient and dirty, she proceeds to shove it in my pants so I can smuggle out a chunk.. I washed it !!



Day 2


We ended up walking about 20 miles this day... lost we got.
We saw and took pictures of:
- Villa Celinontana
- walked past Circus Maximas - massive military manouvers in there.. no pictures taken
- Paletine Hill .. lots in here
- various pics. of the street person who tailed us, the Colosseum again, old homes and buildings on the way to the hotel
Never follow the tree line in Rome.. I got lost because of those "fucking" trees.

We were stopped by a fellow in a car coming from a fashion show, he knew we were tourist and wanted to see where we were from. He then spins a tale of how he is this fashion designer representative and he was going to a local fashion show.. he showed us the catalog and where the show was happening. As a gift he offered us 2 leatherette jackets, they were nice too. But the catch was he needed some euros for fuel.. we gave him 10 or 15 euros.. he was pissed !! HAHAHA  coats were gifts to the girls when we got home.

Day 3


The Vatican
St. Peters Basilica-Climbed to the top of the dome and took lots of pics
Vatican museum
Sistine Chapel
Trevi Fountain
Tritone Fountain
some smaller fountain and \sites in Barberini neighborhood.
Plazza Baberini
San Carlo Quattro Fontane



Okay on day 3 we got into some trouble, we went into St. Peters and spent hours walking about.. we wandered downstairs into the burial chambers below. I, yes you will see a theme.. its always Me!!, say a kewl headstone and had to look at it. Beside this headstone was an opened door and stairs leading up, so I lead the way. This took us back into the main section of the Basilica.. we thought it odd though that the door we exited from was into a small enclosure that was gated off and people were looking at us, taking pictures. Suddenly two very well dressed and heavily armed men ran up to us and were a bit excited, they opened the locked gate and let us out. Little did we know I lead us up to a burial monument for some Saint!!  Oops! So thankfully they did not shoot us!!

Next we wanted to go to the top of the Basilica... the elevator was busy and was several euros so we opted for the stairs.. umm.. 15000 steps later and a climb of over 300 feet.. I was pooped. The view was amazing!!!

Day 4


Spanish Steps - if they give your wife a rose they expect you to give them money. Say no ..haha
Castle of Angels
Piazza di Spagna
Ponte San Angelo
Ponte Vittro Emanuele II
Piazza Chiesa Nuova
Quirinale


Just up from the Spanish Steps is the most over kill McDonalds I have ever seen! Marble floors, bronzed statues, TV screens on the tops of the urinals.. marble toilet seats.. Almost felt bad stinking up the place!



Day 5 


Pantheon
Trevi Fountain
Plazzia Bamberini
Spanish Steps - Bathroom time again.. also no matter what we always ended up here???
Piazza Navona
Piazza Del Rotonda
Monument A Vittorio Emanuele
Hard Rock Cafe Roma - great food!!

Day 6

We walked about went to all the street fairs, bought loads of knock offs and a sword. Went to a laundry matt and got our clothes washed up. Went out for a fantastic meal and they served up the neatest drink.. 2 shots got me gooned!

Day 7

The whole day in the zoo.. the pygmy hippos ruled !!

















Day 8

We travelled to the shady part of Rome to go to the Protestant cemetery. Took a whack o pics there and played with all the cats. Cats everywhere in Rome. 







Day 9

Another day of shopping and walking around

Day 10
Homeward Bound !!

What an amazing time that was.. will be going back soon.









Travel safe and silly friends
~Wombats