March 22. 2014

What a month...so far. sadly we had to make a difficult decision and said good bye to Stewie, our little Yorkie cross. Unfortunately he developed kidney disease at an early age and it didn't reveal itself until his last few weeks of his life. You will be missed but never forgotten.

On the bright side, we were blessed to have Y.I. come and visit us for a couple weeks. Y.I. came and stayed with us for her grade 11 year a few years ago. It was wonderful to have her here even for a short time. She went skating on Lake Louise and made a road trip to Vancouver BC and Victoria BC to visit her Canadian friends. She was indeed, a ray of sunshine at a rather bleak time in our home.

Since it is March, and it has been a rather brutal winter here in Alberta, it was time for a re-set. We flew into L.A. and after a brutal 2 hour wait for a rental car, and a short sleep at the hotel we left the hustle of L.A. for the calm of the Coachella Valley, collectively referred to Palm Springs. Of course the valley has many communities including Palm Desert, Cathedral City, Indian Springs, La Quinta, Indio etc. 

We spent the few days we had touring Joshua Tree National Park, golfing and walking around San Jacinto Mtn.  We were fortunate to see Ocatillo trees in bloom as well as other cactus starting to bloom.

A quick drive around 29 Palms, revealed a character...I'm not sure how to describe its character actually. It is a place where, to the new, uninitiated visitor, it appears the tattoo parlors out-number restaurants. Seriously, it is like Starbucks in Seattle. There is one on just about every corner. My guess is the members of the  Marine base keep the ink artists in business. If you're looking for more of a western flair, Joshua Tree, Ca. is a short drive west of 29 Palms.

The next day was reserved for a day of golf in Borrego Springs. Since my father in law had not been to the Salton Sea, I took a quick side trip to show him the community of Salton Sea Beach. Now I admit, I have a bit of a fascination of the history and the plight of the communities on the banks of the Salton Sea. I've spent some time reading about it on the web. But he had not seen it and was surprised to see a beach community in such decline. Hopefully more intelligent people than I can figure a good way to save the sea. Most certainly a challenge given it has no out flow and is reportedly 25% more salty than the ocean.

I also took the opportunity to show my father in law Fonts Point near Borrego Springs. A 4 mile drive up a sandy wash takes you to what could be described as a moonscape.

Fonts Point

Bottom of Fonts Point, very dry.

I'm sure E wondered if we were going to get out let alone get in to the viewpoint. However, the rented Camry handled the off highway excursion just fine.

A nice visit with my parents and a relaxing round of golf at Borrego Springs...yes golf can be relaxing if you put away the score card. Some great shots were made like the one that landed 8" from the water hazard, or a fantastic 40' putt by yours truly, and some not so great shots like the one that went 50 yards up and 50 yards to the right and about 25 yards out. All in all, it was a fun day for me.

In the right light, a golfer appears on the mountain.

So, what to do the next day?

How about the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway? This little gem of a tourist attraction carries you from the valley to 8,100' above sea level on San Jacinto Mtn. The cars hold up to 60 people, carry water in the belly tanks, food and supplies up the mountain to the station on top. A cool feature of the half million dollar cars is the floor rotates as the car moves. Everyone gets to enjoy the views during the ascent and descent. And the views on the way up and from the top are amazing.

Johnson Falls

Local Resident

Going up, towers and footings installed with aid of helicopters

Tree Hugger

Salton Sea in the distance

Coachella Valley

Somewhere out there in the haze is Mt Charleston, Las Vegas

Palm Springs

All in all a great way to re-set for the spring season in Alberta. Unfortunately spring is looking a heck of a lot like winter did. Perhaps, a return trip is necessary?

Dateline Silver Star BC, March 3, 2014
...no byline...

Frostbike 2014.
Well the season has begun...sort of. A road trip to Silver Star Mountain Resort in the beautiful Okanagan Valley BC for the 2nd Annual Frostbike DH MB Race. Whilst the skis and snowboards chill in the garage, the DH bike is getting its excercise. Seems rather odd to many in the Silver Star Village that these crazy persons are riding their bicycles down the mountain. Me? I'd say I came to terms with the idea when it was first mentioned. Besides it meant a road trip to one of my favourite places in Canada. The Okanagan valley is as beautiful in the winter as it is in Summer. Add to that the fact that the scenery on Trans Canada Hwy through the mountains is 2nd to none, how could one say no to it? Besides, I've spent many hours on Hwy 1 in the winter and can say the BC Highways crews do a first rate job at keeping the road open. The city of Calgary could learn from them.

So whats it like racing on the snow? I can't say. I haven't done it. But from what I witnessed it looks like a lot of crazy fun. From the Gingersnap's coach who couldn't hide the ear to ear grin he carried all weekend to the entertaining stops at the finish line, it was clean, cold, freezing, fun. It should be noted that the racers, female and male, were required to run on normal mountain bike tyres. Studded tyres were not allowed. Training runs were a challenge with the icy conditions but come race day, Mother Nature graced Silver Star with enough snow to make the boarders and skiers drool over the prospect of a day of fresh powder snow.
From an inexperienced witness' perspective of the Frostbike race, I thought the snow made the course not necessarily a challenge to get down unhurt, but more a challenge just to get down. An aspect of winter racing not considered by a virgin observer such as me, is the equipment freezing up. I grew up in a winter climate but I can't say I ever rode my bike in the winter. Dirt bike...yes, bicycle...no. And even if I did, my bicycles didn't have hydraulic brakes. However with the extra snow on the course, the problem for the racers wasn't so much the thickened brake fluid, but the ice building up on the brake discs, chains, sprockets etc. Most racers talked about losing their brakes at some point on the course.

Bikes parked outside at Long Johns, Silver Star Resort

Getting ready for training.

Gingersnap finishing his run

Crazy rider coming in fast...

and finishing in style...

If I'm going to be honest, I have to admit I found the to be finish extremely entertaining in the snow. The racers came it at full speed and would careen through the snow and, in some cases, cartwheel through the snow. With all the fresh snow, it was good to know that the likelihood of getting hurt was diminished.
Some didn't quite make it:

Others made it with a thrilling finish:

Coach Rhys coming in

Coach Rhys, winding up the event.