Climbing a Mountian

So I did it! I summited a mountain and did my first ridge walk all in one day. I went with my roommate and her boyfriend. It was a blast!! Talk about an incredible view!! I must admit though that there were some scary moments. But Jodi and Jorde talked me though. They were the best! There were also some pretty funny moments like when we ran into the chickens up near the top of the mountain. The thing well two things that I found incredible was the fact that I did it. I mean there were a few moments were I was considering how I could manage to get magically and instantly get down. But I kept pushing myself and Jorde and Jodi kept patiently encouraging me. I don't think I have ever talked to myself so much. It was pretty funny!! The second thing that I really enjoyed was just the beauty! The flowers in the alpine meadow were stunning, I had never seen such a collection neat flowers! It took us 6 1/2 hours and we summited the north peak and then walked to the south peak before descending! It was incredible. I can't wait for my next mountain.

The details:
Mount Indefatigable, with a height gain of 1000m, summit height of 2670m

The Difference!

Yesterday was my first day in the new Children's hospital. Wow. It is pretty amazing, it is one of the few hospitals that I have walked into and felt like healing can occur here. It is clean, bright, friendly, colourful, kid friendly, and did I mention clean? It is everything they say it is. Therapeutic clowns wander the hallways trying to help sick kids smile. The pt rooms are pretty much all private and there a kid resources every where you look, toys, videos, DVDs, games (including videos). In every pt. room there is a window bed which fit an adult to make it possible, in fact it is encourage for a parent to stay with the child during their stay. It is an incredible feat and I am pretty excited about having the opportunity to get to work there. You really don't realize the unfortunate state of a lot of hospitals until you get to walk into a brand new one. This hospital tries its VERY best to help a child and family through a illness experience, by facilitating WHOLE healing! Now if only we could create a similar environment for adults!

Alberta Children's Hospital

Calgary Stampede 2007

So This is Canada's ancient history. Unlike Europe, and other countries. Canada's ancient people did not build great stone buildings or leave behind impressive pyramids. Canada's first people were travelers, who left a small carbon footprint on the great world of ours. Now we the newer Canadians are trying to forget them and push them to one side. But they have a beauty of culture and tradition that I had an amazing opportunity witness at the 2007 Calgary Stampede And for all of you out there who wonder about the ancient history of Canada this is as close to a stone building that you could observe. Watch as young first people celebrate their culture in dance.

Happy Canada Day (okay so it is belated)

So Happy Belated Canada Day. There were lots of interesting celebrations around town that I wanted to go and see. BUT unfortunately there wasn't enough hours in the day. I had to work from 3pm til 11pm and so had kind of decided ahead of time that chances were slim that I would even get to see fireworks--one of my favorite things. SO imagine my happiness when I got off work, took the long way home and over the edge of a hill I could see that the Calgary tower was ignited (with the old Olympic flame) and the fireworks were still going off. They were pretty incredible and the only things that was negative was the fact that I didn't have any bug spray on. WOW I was nearly carried away. Sorry this picture is a bit blurry but it was the best I could do under the circumstances.