Thursday, July 9, 2009 - Calgary

We got on the road at 4:00pm. Even though it was rush hour the highway wasn’t too bad as I think a lot of people were on vacation. Plus we were in the HOV lane. The traffic got backlogged in Surrey after crossing the Port Mann Bridge. A fire truck passed us and there was a semi that was in the process of being towed. Not sure what happened as there were no other vehicles involved. Once we passed that it was clear sailing. Once it got dark it was difficult for Ray to see a few times on the narrow single lanes when cars and semis came the other way and temporarily blinded him. But luckily that only happened a few times. When it was dark I saw a deer on the side of the road and the only other wildlife was something that looked like a fox with big ears. There were signs the size of the actual elk with antlers and many other signs along the way so we were lucky there wasn’t much traffic so that we could see.

We first stopped in Chiliwack and I got a chicken sub at Subway. This was my first time at Subway since being on the SureSlim diet. I also had my first banana, Cliff bar, and a few of Ray’s fries since being on the diet. I’m not too worried though as I’m on maintenance now as I’m pretty much at my goal weight. I dozed off a few times near the end of our trip although I wanted to stay awake to watch for wildlife. I think we stopped about 3 more times for bathroom/gas breaks and got to Nic’s place at 3am. She is an early bird so had been asleep for quite a few hours already. Thanks for letting us wake you up in the middle of the night! Good thing she lives on the NW side of Calgary as it’s pretty much the first exit in Calgary off the highway.


Friday, July 10, 2009 - Calgary


Went to bed about 6am and got up about 12:30. Nic had already gone out to do some errands and was preparing dinner when I got up. It’s now 3pm and Ray is still asleep. Nic just went downstairs to lie down for a bit. The reason I got up at 12:30 is that I had to get up to go to the washroom. My back and neck were too sore to go back to sleep and I didn’t want to take any Advil. Had Astro berry yogurt and vanilla yogurt with my ground flax seeds and almonds a short time ago. Was my first flavoured yogurt since being on the diet. Nic has invited a few of her friends over for dinner and has prepared rolled steak fluorentine and strawberry flan so far. Salad and corn are also on the menu.

Dinner was good. One of Nic’s friends, O is a mechanic so she, O and her other friend R went to the parkade to look at her car as there was a squeak in it. Ray and I went and saw the movie My Sister’s Keeper in Crowfoot. It was really good. It was quite a tear-jerker and I had to stifle sobbing but could hear others sniffling too. Ray wanted to go for Chinese food after the movie but the restaurants were closed. So we ended up at Denny’s. I just had 2 scrambled eggs as I ate some popcorn at the movie. Popcorn was another thing I hadn’t eaten since I’d been on the diet…I wonder how much weight I’ll gain from this trip J

Saturday, July 11, 2009 – Drumheller Reptile World

I went to bed last night about 2ish and since Ray wasn’t tired yet he did some work and ended up going to bed after 6am. I got up about 12:30 but Ray’s still sleeping and it’s now 1:40!! I’d better drag him out of bed soon so we can get to Reptile World in Drumheller in time for the 5:00 feeding.

We got to Reptile World just in time to see a smaller crocodile being fed 3 rats. That was really cool to see. We also saw lizards and snakes being fed rats. It was really neat to see snakes feeding as they opened their jaw so wide. Some of the snakes squished the rat a lot first before eating it.

It was neat to see the Red Slider turtles as they were a lot bigger than the ones I’ve seen in the pet stores which were a lot younger. There were some different types of tortoises too.

We spent 2 hours at Reptile World and then went to the World’s Largest Dinosaur which was at the tourist info centre. I paid the $3 and climbed the stairs to the top of the 82 foot dinosaur. There were murals inside on the way up. When I got to the top it was a great view from inside the mouth. Ray took photos of me from down below. He didn’t want to go up as he had sat down at Reptile World for about half an hour or more while I was still looking around because his legs and feet get tired fast.

Sunday, July 12, 2009 – Calgary Dinner with S

Ray went to play badminton at SAIT from 1:30 to 4:00. Nic and I stayed home and ate as she wanted to get rid of fruit and food since she was leaving for BC on Monday and then flying out to Ontario Tuesday. After I took a shower and ate we just went out and did some errands …dropped off recycling, dropped off library books and then went to Superstore. There were recycling bins at one of the malls but the items didn’t need to be separated. She said there’s a machine that separates everything and that before she had to separate the items.

We went to S’s place at 5:30 to pick her up for dinner. Ray was parking as we were coming down S’s street. S didn’t have E as she was with M until Tuesday. In a 2 week period S gets E 6 nights and M gets her 4 nights although I think M might want to increase the nights. Nic drove us to the restaurant S had picked to go to: Happy Hills Chinese restaurant. I had my first rice and fortune cookie since being on the diet for 3 months. I had half a bowl of rice. After dinner we went back to S’s place. Ray took a nap. S got us a chocolate mouse cake. Thanks S! I had my first chocolate since being on the diet…I had 2 pieces!

After dinner Nic went home as she was going to be on the road at 7am Monday. Ray and I went to see Ice Age # 3 3D. It was okay. Good animation with the dinosaurs.

Monday, July 13, 2009 - Calgary

When Nic left for the Coast at 7am it wasn’t raining. I had to take Advil again to fall back asleep as I was sooooo sore…much sorer than when I had to take Advil a few mornings ago so it wasn’t just the bed and pillow…it was the weather. By the afternoon we were socked in and it was pissing rain and there was thunder. Ray and I decided not to do any day trips. Instead we went out for lunch at Brewsters and then he went to play badminton at Bearpaw Centre which is by Nic’s. I was thinking of working out in the weightroom but was tired so just watched TV. Law and Order SVU is on at the same time here as at home – 7:00. Then I watched The Late Show with Conan O’Brien and then a 2 hour episode of the Bachelorette. Ray and I went to Denny’s after he came back from badminton. I had 2 scrambled eggs and my first oatmeal since being on the diet. It sure gets cold here after midnight.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009 – Drumheller Hoodoos and Royal Tyrrell Museum

I think I was up by 1:30pm on Tuesday. As usual Ray slept later and we finally got on the road to go to Drumheller again. I wasn’t too worried about leaving late as I knew the Royal Tyrrell Museum was opened until 9pm. We went and saw the hoodoos first which were rocks shaped like mushrooms basically made of sand but the tops were harder. The landscape was totally flat from Calgary to Drumheller but once by the hoodoos in Drumheller there were rolling hills and you could see the layers of rock from millions of years passing. We got to the museum after 7pm. Ray got in trouble for carrying his Coke out in the open so put it in his pocket J I had my water bottle in my backpack. The museum map said that no tripods were allowed but Ray used out little flexible gorilla one anyways as it was so dark in the museum. A lot of the exhibits had changed since I was there 10 years ago. On a side note there were more hoodoos 10 years ago so I guess a lot of them had disintegrated. It was cool to see real dinosaur fossils and to wonder what it was like millions of years ago here. So many fossils have been found in this area and more are being found all the time. We were the last ones in the museum. The same guy who told Ray not to have his Coke in the open at the beginning of the exhibits was now tailing us and told Ray that no tripods were allowed. Luckily we were near the end of the exhibits so it was okay. After we walked into the gift shop and the guy locked the gate behind us the 3 cashiers celebrated. I guess because their day was over and they could go home.

Since the Chinese restaurants by Nic’s close early we went to Chinatown again. The only restaurant that was still opened was the same one we had been to on Saturday night – Calgary Court so I had gailan and Agadashi tofu.

The weather was a lot cooler today and it was the first time I’ve worn short sleeves and my heavier jogging pants in months. I also had to wear my spring Taiga. Luckily we managed to avoid any of the rain clouds and it only slightly spitted on us on the way to Drumheller.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009 - Vulcan

I set my alarm for 11am but after snoozing it for an hour ended up falling back asleep and got up at 12:30. As usual Ray took a while to get up so we didn’t leave until after 3pm. We lucked out and the weather was nice and warm so I was able to wear sleeveless and shorts again. We got to Vulcan at about 5pm and looked around at the Vulcan Tourism and Trek Station. Apparently it was designed to look like a space station . There was lot of Trekkie stuff, way more than at the Hilton in Vegas. Ray doesn’t usually like shopping but he spent a lot of time looking around and picked up quite a few things such as light switch and electric socket covers, miniature shuttlecraft, triangle pin etc. There were life-size cut-outs of the Star Trek cast and you could take photos with them decked out in Star Trek clothes along with pointed ears. There was a 31 foot long, 9 foot long tall replica Star Ship outside so that was neat to see beside the road. On the wall of a pharmacy in downtown Vulcan there was a mural of the doctors of the various Star Trek series. When the wind picks up it sure gets cold but then gets hot again when it dies down. Vulcan was so small there wasn’t too much to see so we left Vulcan at 6pm and got back to Nic’s at 7:30. Ray wanted to be back in time to play badminton.

I’ve been catching up on Y&R the past few days while I wait for Ray to wake up as the earlier version is on from 12 to 1pm and the later version is on from 1pm to 2pm. What happened to the old Adam? And what is Philip’s story? I just found out that Ellen is here at 12 so caught the last few minutes of it today with John Travolta.

After Ray got back from badminton we went to Boston Pizza. I had their baked salmon with spinach salad and broccoli/yellow carrots. The salmon was really good. Ray had fettuccine alfredo and had vanilla ice cream for dessert. Since it was such a large portion of ice cream I had my first ice cream since being on the diet J I didn’t gain any weight from it though and have gained 3 pounds since leaving home but that hasn’t increased lately.