Tag: British Columbia

Caribou, Where Are You?

On By rrainefioreIn Beautiful Things, Travel, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Yesterday’s drive was great.  I only had a 4 hour drive, so I had looked up various places along the way to stop for beautiful views.  I was sure other stops would present themselves as well.

Because I wasn’t sure how often I would stop, I decided not to listen to the audio book.  It would be distracting to keep turning it on and off.  For the beginning of the ride, I was driving next to the Toad River.   It was that beautiful light arctic blue.  So, as I often do, I sang about it.  I can say it was one of my best songs. 

I do this all the time, especially at home.  I just make up songs about things going on around me.  At home, it’s mostly about our pets.  But there is also the Hot Tub Time song which hasn’t been heard all summer.  I predict it’s making a come back soon.  And the cheerful song I sing about how much I love grocery shopping.   I do not love grocery shopping, so the song helps me motivate.  I actually wonder how Richard is surviving without my daily songs.  I’m sure my pets are suffering.

All along the trip today were wildlife warning signs – Bison, Caribou, Sheep, Moose…..  Caribou?  I forgot Canada has caribou.  I want to see caribou.   The first sign was for sheep.  I saw no sheep.  I sang about it.  The next was for caribou.  No caribou.  I sang about that, too.  Bison – no bison – song.

A truck flashed it’s lights at me 4 times.  Warning! Something is coming.  There was no sign to tell me what it might be.  It was a mamma and baby moose on the road.  I just stopped in the middle of the highway until the baby decided to cross the road.  Then I drove slowly by mamma so I wouldn’t spook her.  She was not concerned.   No other cars came by or behind me while I was there.  A private audience with the moose. 

I drove by rivers and lakes and lakes that looked like rivers and rivers that looked like lakes.  I sang about them all.  After I passed the 5th or 6th bison sign, I thought, yea, no, there will be no bison.  By now, I decided the bison song would be best sung by a barber shop quartet.  Then…..bison……everywhere!  There was a huge herd flanking the highway.  Again, I sang.  Again, I stopped in the middle of the highway.  I rolled down the windows and had a chat with the bison.  I was probably there for 20 minutes and never saw another car.

Around lunchtime, I got to Liard River Hot Springs.  This was one of my planned stops as it got a thumbs up from my friend, Tim.  I drove up to what looked like a military grade electric gate, and it opened.  I paid $5 and heard the “rules”.  The area is fenced and gated with an electric fence.  I assume this is to protect us from bears.  Still, hot springs and electric fences seem at odds with each other.  I guess a run in with a bear and hot springs do too. I’m not complaining, though, because you had to walk about 5 minutes down a forest boardwalk to get from the parking to the hot springs.  The boardwalk turned out to be my favorite part of the hot springs.  The hot springs were lovely, warm, relaxing, and exactly what I expected.  The boardwalk surprised me.  It was quiet and looked like something you might see in a tropical place.  It was lush with water all around.   I saw a ton of dragon flies.  You could hear the trickle and drip of water as you walked.  I could hear little animals in the trees and the soft sound of leaves and pine needles dropping slowly through the trees.

Later, I stopped at a waterfall and a place in the river called whirlpool canyon.  Both were better than what I expected.  I took the obligatory photo and moved on. 

As I started pulling out of the mountains and entered more of a hilly area, I saw a bear silhouette.   It looked like a metal sculpture  you often see in Colorado.   It wasn’t a sculpture.   It was a real baby bear.  This time I pulled off the highway onto the shoulder.  I saw no mother.  Maybe this was a yearling newly on his own?  I rolled down the windows again and we had a chat.  It was a one way chat.  I told him how magnificent he was and kept eating flowers.  I was so close I could hear his munching.  He was enthusiastic about eating.  I hope he now knows how magnificent he is.  He probably already knew. 

I got to Watson Lake and checked into “A Nicer Motel”.  That was the name of my hotel.  From the look of the outside, I cried a little.  It looked worse than the Travelodge.  The inside was cute, clean and very very nice.  Relief.  Funny thing was the sign on the hotel next door.  It read “A Nice Hotel”.  I wonder if there was some neighbor rivalry going on here.

So far, this was my favorite day on the trip.    I am absolutely in love with myself.  I am funny and entertaining.  I sang, laughed, saw beautiful places, and talked to wild animals. And I think I created an entire album of new hits:

For a limited time only, for only $9.99, you too could own The Songs of British Columbia. With old-time favorites such as “The Bear Chant”, “Dude on a Bike”, and “Cheers Mother Nature”. Sure to become future hits are “Buffalo”, “Sheep no Sheep”, and “What the Fuck, Pebble”. And what album would be complete without “Blue Blue Toad River” and “Caribou, Where are You?”?

Invisible Moose

On By rrainefioreIn Beautiful Things, TravelLeave a comment

I was awake at 6:30 this morning.  For anyone that knows me, that is “roll over and go back to sleep” time.  I am not a morning person.  But, I had the thought that if I wanted to see animals, this might be a good time to get out of bed.  I peered out the window and instantly saw 4 moose on the other side of the lake.  They were standing in chest deep water just munching on water plants. 

One of the smaller moose started running (swimming fast?) creating a small white v of water around it as it picked up speed.  The moose behind him suddenly perked it’s head up and watched this with great interest.  I assumed this was the mother, thinking “Oh dear god, why is he running, where is he going now?”  He just kept going so soon the mother was running after him to close the gap between them.  They created ripples on the lake.  It wasn’t so much a wave or a change in the lake’s surface.  I was more like a subtle color change just below the lake’s surface.  The color change radiated out from them and swept across the lake toward me in the low morning light.

After they got closer to the other two moose, they slowed down.  But, wait, now I only see 3 moose.  Where did the fourth one go?  The trees come right down to the edge of the lake.  There doesn’t appear to be a shore.  The trees appear to be growing in the water and then continue up the hillside densely packed in.  It doesn’t look like anyone could walk in between the trees especially something as large as a moose.  But, he was gone.  I watched as one of the other moose walked closer to the trees.  In front of my eyes, his front legs and head went invisible.  Then the rest of him flickered out as well.  I strained to see if what I thought was a tree was indeed a moose leg.  No, just trees. 

I was so enthralled watching the moose disappear that I never saw the third moose go invisible, but he was now gone.  Only one moose remained.  Right on cue, he flickered and disappeared as well. 

What a show!  I went back in my room for coffee.  After pouring a cup of coffee, I looked out the window and saw something else thrashing about in the water.  Ooooohhhh, maybe this was a bear swimming in the water?  I rushed outside again.  It was hard to tell what it was.  I used my phone zoom to help me see, but that wasn’t helpful either.  The zoom just made it closer, but blurrier.  I know bear eat fish out of rivers.  Do they catch fish in lakes?  It looked like a bear with a fish in it’s mouth.  Does it count as having seen a bear if you can’t actually identify it as a bear?  Then I think, if that looked like a fish when I can’t tell if it’s being held by a bear, then that would be the largest lake fish known to man.  My mind is playing tricks on me.  After watching it some more, I think it was a moose swimming in deeper water.  As it swam closer to the invisibility trees, it of course, disappeared.

I went in and out of the room several times to warm up.  Each time I would look at the lake, the moose would be in a different location.  Sometimes there was just one, other times two.  Sometime it would look like a log, other times a moose.  The two white swans were still on the lake, but very calm this morning – nothing to honk about this morning.  Quite a few other water birds were floating about. 

Yes, the pictures are blurry. I have just my phone with me. The moose were way over there. That is often the case with moose. They are usually way over there. This is both good and not. It is good because way over there is safer for me. But, that means you get blurry pictures.