Ottawa Grassroots Festival – 2013

Ottawa Grassroots Festival – 2013

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This weekend the Rideau Curling Club of Ottawa is home to the Ottawa Grassroots Festival (location), a two-day event featuring wonderful music, workshops and a kidzone with plenty of things to keep the kids interested (Festival Website). I was there because of my involvement with the Ottawa Folklore Center sponsored acapella community choir, Folka Voca, which was performing at 4:30PM. Continue reading

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Kanata Badminton Club – AGM – 2013

The Kanata Badminton Club operates in Kanata, Ontario. (Club website)

The club is a volunteer-run recreational badminton club which utilizes the gymnasiums in three Kanata schools to provide members with a place to play badminton up to five nights a week during the winter months.  Each Spring,  as another season draws to a close, one night is reserved for food, speeches, prizes and award presentation and the election of next year’s executive.  This year was no different except that I was lucky and happy to win the door prize of a free membership for 2014!

This year’s AGM was held at Tommy’s Restaurant and, since we have used this facility for the meeting before, some of the members arrived bright and early to claim their favorite seats (closer to the kitchen :-)). In fact, I was a bit lucky to find a seat at all! Continue reading

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Nevada Adventures

Graeme and I are now both back from our recent travels in the Southwest USA states of Nevada, Arizona and California. We encountered rain in Las Vegas, a snow storm on Mount Charleston, a sand storm in Death Valley, overcast skies in Phoenix and plenty of blue skies and balmy weather. As time permits we will be uploading more images from these travels on a retroactive basis by date. At the moment, my efforts are more focused on tracing the whereabouts of one of my parcels entrusted to UPS in Arizona but not quite trackable despite having paid extra $$$ for a tracking number. This current UPS incident makes the final image in today’s blog entry rather ironic but I’m hopeful that the missing item can be found and then I will be able to turn more of my attention back to the photo uploading process.

Graeme on his way through the underground tunnel in Detroit – the airport architects should be commended on the way in which they designed this tunnel and its lighting to add enjoyment to what could be a long boring, claustrophobic walk from terminal to terminal.
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Ron at NABShow, Las Vegas, NV

While Graeme started off the week at the NABshow, I headed off into the surrounding mountains to look for some insects and birds to photograph. Found myself a snow storm instead (photos to follow when back at my desk). The next day we decided that a trip to Death Valley might be a fun thing to do, so off we went. The wind was blowing hard enough that Graeme found himself in the center of a mini-sandstorm at the Death Valley sand dunes (his photos will follow when he’s back at his desk). With all of these potential photo files to store, it was off to the Drobo exhibit and a lively discussion of their storage options. Lots of other things to see so it will be a busy few hours.

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Hoover Dam

Today’s trek is the other direction from Red Rock Canyon, heading East through Boulder City to the Famous Hoover Dam!

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Nevada Adventures – Red Rock Canyon – Sandstone Quarry Trails – Calico Tanks

Nevada Adventures – Red Rock Canyon – Sandstone Quarry Trails – Calico Tanks

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There are a number of established trails in Red Rock Canyon that range from easy through to rather difficult. Continue reading

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Nevada Adventures – Red Rock Canyon – Calico Hills

Nevada Adventures – Red Rock Canyon – Calico Hills

DSC_9149-Red-Rock-CanyonAnyone who visits Red Rock Canyon will immediately fall in love with the colorful red sandstone outcropping known as Calico Hills. The Calico Hills were formed 180 million years ago when a very large area of sand dunes much like the sand dunes of the Sahara Desert of today were gradually infiltrated by water carrying calcium carbonate which fused with the sand granules to form the colourful sandstone hills visible today. The smooth lines and the multiple shapes reflect the movement of the sand in these ancient sands and many crossbeds can be seen throughout the sandstone structure reflecting the time when drifting sand being blown from different direction settled on top of older sand beds in the lee of towering hills of sand.

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Nevada Adventures – Red Rock Canyon

Retroactive Post – April 6th, 2013

When we arrived at our hotel (Stratosphere Hotel and Casino) the night before, we were told that we had arrived after 6PM so a Deluxe room had not been held for us. The staff at the registration counter apparently didn’t have any deluxe rooms available so we got a downgrade to a smaller room with a “limited” view of the mountains – not a great way to start off a six day relationship with a customer. The next day, they found us a better room for the rest of our stay, but that took time and time is not one of those commodities that a traveler wants to waste. Based on this initial night’s reception at the front desk, I would not add this hotel to my highly recommended list.

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Red Rock Canyon

First full day in Las Vegas and we decide to start off with a day trip to the Famous Red Rock Canyons!

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Absolutely stunning views and rock formations, its about a 10 minute drive out of Las Vegas (~30 minutes from the strip). Continue reading

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