Travel – Page 9 – HIKES & HAMSTRINGS

Dublin and Belfast: Céad Míle Fáilte

It means “a hundred thousand welcomes” in Gaelic. And what a welcoming it has been! We’re a few days into the trip and Ireland is proving to be quite a gorgeous place. After picking up our car at the airport we drove into Dublin and checked in. The next two days were filled with exploration- St. Stephen’s Green, walking along Grafton Street, Christ Church Cathedral, and taking a tour of Trinity College to see the Book of Kells. I also had the opportunity to try blood pudding! It kind of tasted like spiced minced meat…

A trip to Dublin would not be complete without a visit to the Guiness Storehouse, where I learned to pour the perfect pint of Guiness and proudly finished an entire pint of Guiness in one sitting. (For those who know me, that’s an incredible feat!) To say that I felt barfy afterward is a bit of an understatement.

Then it was off to Belfast, stopping at Newgrange Neolithic burial site and Mellifont Abbey (both incredible sites) before crossing the border into Northern Ireland.

Today we took a black cab tour with “Paddy Campbell’s Belfast Famous Black Cab Tours” and it was amazing. I never knew anything about the civil unrest in Northern Ireland, so to hear all about the history of the IRA (Irish Republic Army) and the UDA (Ulster Defence Association) was pretty crazy. We ventured into West Belfast where the Peace Wall still exists and alarmed gates continue to close at night to prevent trouble between the Protestants and the Catholics around the wall. Peter, our tour guide, was absolutely great and provided an unbiased history of what has happened, despite being born on the Catholic side of the city. Then it was off to check out the Ulster Museum and Queen’s University, where there was an exhibit on the LHC particle collider. Cool! Later in the evening, we visiting Kelly’s Cellars, the oldest pub in Belfast, for drinks and some live Irish music. Listening to the fiddling and flute sounds throughout the pub was a wonderful experience, and I’m sure it won’t be our last in Ireland.

Alas, there’s always much more to do and see in the big cities, but tomorrow we venture to the coast and head into the countryside. And since I love the outdoors, I’m very much looking forward to it!

Ireland, Here We Come!

And today is the day for the next adventure! It’s off to Ireland for a two week driving vacation, filled with lots of greenery, music, food, drinks and relaxation. And castles. There will be castles! Although we’re not sure what’s on the agenda, there will be stops in Dublin, Belfast, Donegal, Mayo, Clare, Killarney, Kilkenny, Waterford, and then back to Dublin. I’m definitely starting to get excited… the flight is in an hour!

“Roadtrip 2013”, by Mumford and Sons

Every roadtrip begins with a box of timbits :) — Every roadtrip begins with a box of timbits 🙂

Almost 4 years ago, I packed up my Toyota Corolla and drove from Milton to Calgary with my mum and brother. I remember arriving in Calgary after four days thinking, ‘I will never do that drive again.” As amazing as the Canadian landscape is (especially Northern Ontario), it’s a long drive!

Fast forward to a few weeks ago. I was having lunch at the hospital with Paul and he says to me, “Want to drive to Ottawa with me and Charlie?” Charlie is his dog. You see, Paul decided to go east to complete a post-doctoral fellowship in Ottawa, which means he and his family were leaving for the next little while. What an exciting opportunity for them!

“Sure! Why not- it’ll be fun :)”

And that was that… ROADTRIP!

Yes, I have had quite a bit of time off lately, but in truth, I knew it would be a fun experience and I was happy to help out. Inevitably, there would be tons of laughter, and it would be great quality time spent. And let’s be honest, who wouldn’t want to be graced with my company for 5 consecutive days? 😉

So at 10:30 am on Saturday, Paul, Charlie and I were off. Of course, no road trip is complete without a Tim’s stop for timbits, and that’s exactly what we did. Then it was time to hit the TransCanada highway, eastbound. Two rules were established at the beginning: 1) silence was okay and didn’t need to be filled with talking at all times, and 2) farting in the car was to be followed immediately by opened windows. This pretty much set the stage for the epic roadtrip of 2013.

The drive began with much excitement and chatting; Charlie was trying to figure out what was going on, and energy levels were up. By the end of the trip, we were exhausted; Charlie stretched himself lazily over a pillow; and we were all eager to reach Ottawa. Overnight stops along the way included Regina, Dryden, Wawa, North Bay, and then Ottawa, and the journey ended up being about 3630 km.

There were monument stops as well: the largest teepee in Medicine Hat, Husky the Muskie in Kenora, the Terry Fox monument in Thunder Bay, a massive Canadian goose in Wawa, and the Big Nickel in Sudbury. And the trip had no shortage of wildlife- many deer, both alive and dead; moose; a weasel/mink/ferret; and a dead beaver.

I can’t even begin to write down everything, but lots of memories were made. To preserve for posterity, I offer the following list of inside jokes so that Paul and I don’t forget them. If there’s one thing between Paul and I (and Sony, of course), it’s that jokes never ever die.

You have pet? No.(Vietnamese accent)
Kid in background playing World of Warcraft
Driving J*w. You got driving j*wed.
Ratemyselfie.com
Paul attempts to murder me in my sleep
Floating deer head
Mill trolls of Dryden
Rebounding box of wipes: “Get that sh** out of my face!” (Slaps wipes away)
Typical Ron and his suggestion to drive through Winnipeg. Go through Winnipeg, he said. It’ll be faster, he said.
Walking Charlie in the petroleum fields
Free bread at East side Mario’s
Rick awakens. “So I was right?” (about the greenery of Northern Ontario)
Dr. Rick Chinstein
“What are you waiting for?” (from I Know What You Did Last Summer)
Charlie’s Wang Hair
“Why the hell is there a dancing weasel on the highway?”
“The ebb and flow of nutrition: We should wash our water down with a chubby chicken.”
Rick tells Paul bible story. Paul over-interprets – “Joseph got c**k-blocked by God.” Rick is offended.
That girl had crazy makeup. Let’s give her the benefit of the doubt and assume she goes to clown college. She could have been so pretty.
Rick continually sings “I Will Wait” by Mumford and Sons. Rick is Mumford. Paul and Charlie are the sons.
Flash headlights to warn car about cops. Car is a cop. Helping fail.
Chuckles Mcgee. Chuckles O’Flannigan. etc…
Totes so cash.

Jokes aside, Paul is a rockstar, and I have no doubt that he will do extremely well out in Ottawa. All the best, my friend. Soak up all the knowledge you can and come back an even stronger researcher. You’ve got this!

Charlie settling in to his new digs in Ottawa. It’s been a long few days!

Wandering Beautiful Halifax

Today I touched down in Halifax. My job is awesome in that it allows me to travel across the country every now and again to discuss drug studies (www.cnodes.ca). So I’m here in this great seaside city for a meeting and workshop tomorrow. It’s been a while since I’ve had the opportunity to wander a new city, so once I checked into the Marriott Harbourfront, I was off to explore.

I grabbed myself a coffee from Starbucks and then headed to the Halifax Citadel, onward to the Public Gardens, admired the Dalhousie campus (I love wandering university campuses!), bought apples at the Farmer’s Market and then walked along the Halifax Waterfront Boardwalk.

It was a lot of walking, but the weather was pleasant and the air had a scent of the ocean. I miss the ocean. A lot. I also realized that while I like to visit and wander cities on my own, it’s a much more enjoyable experience with someone. When my co-worker arrived, I met up with her and we wandered around for a bit more, chatting and laughing about this, that and the other.

Had to take a photo of this :) — Had to take a photo of this 🙂

We retired early since we were both exhausted and had some reading to do for work. But instead of reading, I indulged in room service while watching I Robot on TV. It seemed much more exciting than reading papers for the workshop entitled “Minimizing Confounding Bias in Observational Studies: Inverse Probability of Treatment Weighting (IPTW).”

Eating dinner at The Five Fishermen. Yum!

Relaxing in Invermere

So here’s a super short post :). This past weekend I was in Invermere, BC, which is approximately a 2 hour and 40 minute drive from Calgary. My thoughts on Invermere? It was very nice and quaint with a scenic lake! It has a great cafe called the Blue Dog Cafe. Every small town needs a great cafe! It was clear upon arrival that if one likes boating on the lake, golfing, or skiing, Invermere is a great place to visit! But it’s also a great escape from the bustle of Calgary where one can relax and be among the mountains. I certainly enjoyed the latter. Home for the weekend was the Copper Point Resort, one of Invermere’s newest resorts. Thank you, Groupon, for the great deal and the special weekend :). And how was the resort? It was lovely, and the dining credit was much appreciated. Also included? Passes to the Radium Hot Springs in Kootenay National Park. The hot springs pool was medium at best in my opinion, but appealing for those who like pools and hot springs! The End.