Signs we see

I'm moving away from our road trip, for now. Whenever we take a trip, i always bring my camera. I use it to record our trip, the places we stay. I also like ot have some fun with it. Point, shoot, doesn't turn out, delete, start again. When we stay anywhere, we like to venture out, kind of get a feel for the place we are visiting. We did this in Missoula. Spent several hours in the downtown, with its many historic building. A watchful eye told me there we several points of interest and i noticed many signs. I like to look at them, read them and try to figure out what they really are saying, or maybe just put a far side twist on them. So in our walk about i took some pictures of signs in Missoula. The first one i came across was in a parking lot, next to a bar. Kind of funny, but what are they really saying? The sign was put up by the bar, so, if you come in here, we'll serve you until your falling down drug. Is that what its saying? If that were the case, then the owners are irresponsible. I like fun, have a sense of humour, but have some concerns about this sign.

I took the picture and looked across the street, another sign. Wordens, another bar, and they always have a beer on sale. Fitting you could get fallen down drug, crawl across the street to wordens, and buy a beer on sale. Perhaps I'm seeing this all wrong but i often wonder, how much thought is ever given to signs.

The other day i was driving down the road. We have a lot of the sandwich type billboards cluttering our boulevards. Many businesses use these as direct marketing, especially to let everyone know they are hiring. The sign i saw the other day was in front of a furniture store advertising for a store manager. I wondered, did they have an assistant manager now. If so, i tried to imagine how they felt coming to work everyday seeing the "wanted store manager" sign. What about the assistant, was he not promotable, if so, why wouldn't they give them a shot at store manager. And if that assistant was not offered a shot, what are they telling he, his career really isn't one in their business?

Just some thoughts i have as i look at signs, trying to figure out their real meaning...

Second leg of the road trip

We left Calgary, heading for Vancouver. Our trip took us through or should i say our first side trip was into Banff. A beautiful resort town nestled in the Rockies. This side trip was necessary for two reasons: we needed a pit stop, we needed a coffee. We accomplished both tasks by stopping into...Starbucks. Grande house blend, grand pit stop. Back on the road it was through the Rockies we went. We were fooled though. We searched in vain for wild life, hoping to see an elk, maybe a mountain goat, anything. We obeyed the signs on the road..."wild life for 3kms, 10kms, looked left and right, scanned the river beds, the mountains. The only thing moving was the odd car in front of us. The Rockies are absolutely fabulous. As we cruised down the road i wondered what it was like for the explorers, coming across these mountains.How did they manage or better yet survive. I'm grateful to those who built this highway for it gave me great pleasure enjoying the scenery and snapping more pictures. Our second stop on this leg was at Field, where of course we needed another pit stop. Thank-you Starbucks. Field is a connect point for the C.P.R., not much in the town and we felt it wasn't worth a drive through. I had been there before, like 50 years ago, when i was a kid. My uncle was a superintendent with the C.P.R. and i had the privilege of going there with him, by rail, in his private coach. Now that was a road trip. Imagine, being in your own private rail car, with your own waiters, personal cook, silver service...life back then was good. In any event, Field is Field, and we continued towards Vancouver, continued looking for wild life and there it was.Approaching Golden, as we turned a corner...WILDLIFE!!...some mountain goats on the side hill. I'm glad i wasn't driving, for when I'm a passenger, i have my camera ready for action and just in time, got a shot of a mountain goat, or is it a ram, standing guard atop the hill. Awesome!! Wild life at last. Our next stop would be Revelstoke, just in time for lunch...

First leg of our road trip

We've completed our road trip, arriving home on November 12th. Now the recording of the adventure begins. Our original plan was to leave October 23rd, run through the states of Montana, Idaho, Washington, ending up in Vancouver to visit our family. Like many of our trips we were delayed by a week, this not because we got lost or had a misstart, but because our plans kept changing. With some debate we managed to get our plans jelled and decided that, due to a 60th birthday party in Calgary, we would head there first, then to Vancouver, THEN through the states. Communications played a part in our road trip. I understood we would spend two days in Calgary only to arrive there finding we were going to be three days. I suppose when one has time on their hands they are expected to be flexible, so, three days it was. Two days of visiting and the third day exploring. While my better half decided to check out linen and things, their going out of business and she was looking for "deals", I ventured out of Calgary, heading south and ending up at Bragg Creek. With camera in hand, it was time to have some fun with photography. Capture anything, look for something different, point, shoot. I came across a river and decided to follow. I found some interesting river rock, multi colors, and pointed and shot. I followed a path into the woods and captured reflections upon water, fallen trees ,moss covered trees and a lone purple daisy embedded in the river bed. Lots of pictures, lots of fun. This would be our final day in Calgary, the next day heading to Vancouver.