Bragging about the Hometown

Western Canada has a uniquely beautiful and varied heritage, from the wide-open prairie skies to the savage landscape of the Badlands, from the cowboy to the sailing traditions. Some of us have lived in several places, some of us in one, all our lives. I know I have always managed to find something unique and wonderful about everywhere I've ever lived.

The purpose of this thread is to celebrate what we love about our relative places of residence. These can be little, a particularly amazing sunset, or some cool night sounds, to huge and wild, like a team winning (or coming close to) a championship, or some local kid makes good.

I hope this will build up our understanding of each other, why we live where we do, and what we have in common as well as what is unique to each area. Post in here as often as something grabs you about where you live.


*Derisa*

 

I walked home from work yesterday: took this neat trail, the Galloping Goose, that was built on the railbed of an old inter-urban railway that used to run between Sidney and Sooke, taking a short jaunt through Victoria proper.

The Goose is partially paved now, and a favourite route for cyclists, pedestrians and skaters, as well as some equestrians. (I'd ridden part of it earlier in the day, borrowed a friend's horse and another friend rode my pony: we had a good canter along one of the gravel stretches).

I had never walked this portion of the Goose though, and I was amazed to find this one spot, where the highway dips below view, and the Gorge Inlet just opens up into this incredible vista of blue water and rocky shoreline and all these little cottages along it. It was so gorgeous!

That view sustained me for the rest of the walk home. I may just have to do it again, just so I can see that. I wish I had a good camera to take a panorama shot of that. It was amazing!

Victoria does that to me regularly: surprises me with some hearty-expanding scenery or wide, cloud-scudded sky... for me to get wordless over something is almost miraculous.


*Derisa*

 

Wow that sounds nice.

Edmonton doesn't boast much spectacular scenery but we do have an enormous river valley parks system.

Yeah, I'd give my right arm to live in BC. It's beautiful there but the only problem is I don't know anybody and I doubt I could get a job there

 

I have had the good (bad) fortune of living in pretty much every major city in western Canada (and some minor ones) so it will be intersting to see what people remember about their towns, and see if it meshes with what I remember from when I lived there...

 

Ya, i used to live in B.C. and I loved it. I lived in Trail if you know where that is.

I have lots of relatives in Victoria so I've been there lots of times. And in my opinion, its the most beautiful city in Canada.

 

Next time you come, you have to give us a call! We'd love to throw you a party: we can be very welcoming folks!


*Derisa*

 

Picture this...
You are standing on a mountainside looking out over the valley. Everything around you is bathed in sunlight; the mountains across the valley are wrapped in shadow. The sun has just crested the ridge and the sky is void of clouds. The air is filled with the scent of fresh wildflowers. Surrounding you comes the twittering of small birds in the underbrush, with the underlying accompaniment of a stream gurgling over the rocks as it makes its way downhill. The valley itself is ladened with a patchwork of evergreen trees and marshy meadows. Winding its way from one end of the valley through to the other is a swift, salmon choked river. A silvery mist carpets the river and marsh, creeping its way around the trees. Small clusters of spruce and pine act as sentinels over the encroaching vapour. They are lone islands of green in a growing sea of white. From far overhead comes the cry of a hungry eagle as it hunts for food. The world is in harmony, there are no other humans in sight and everything is at peace...

At least that is what it was like up here in the Yukon last summer. I happened to have been at work at 05:00 and was able to watch as the sun rose over the mountains... It was a beautiful sight. (I should probably stop before I make everyone jealous... )

Yukon Tourism for those interested...

 

Wow! that sounds incredible, Darth Haggis. Where in the Yukon do you live? Have you always lived there, or have you travelled at all?

I've often thought about going up there... sometimes, when I really need to get away.


*Derisa*

 

Born and raised in the wonderful city of Edmonton. I've only lived in the Yukon for the last 3 summers (in Whitehorse) but it's amazing country up here. (North America's best kept secret.) Most people seem to have the stereotypical view that the Yukon is like the NorthWest Territories and is a frozen expanse of ice and snow. They're wrong. The mountains alone take care of that...

 

Well, stereotypes can be bad, so it's good you are here shattering them. Do you only live there in the summer?(I was confused by the mention of how long you'd been there: the last three summers.)

I had a friend who worked for a year in the Yukon (I don't recall where: I'll have to ask her.) Funny thing: she never tested for her BC Driver's license, because she had a learner's permit from YT, and it was just like a real license (this was in 1993, before BCs went the same route). So when she went in, she said I need to get one of these for BC, and the lady just took her picture and issued the license without her ever testing. Good thing she's a good driver!


*Derisa*

 

I love how changeable the weather is, here in Victoria. The morning started off with a harsh shower: just buckets pouring down, and now, it's sunny with clouds still scudding across the sky. It's gorgeous!

I'm a wind person, and there's almost always a breeze blowing here: very few of those still, stagnant air days that used to sock in over where I lived in Vancouver.


*Derisa*