Yukon Jay - 小祥

Pictures, Trip, Military and Bears

This is the College of New Caledonia where I am staying. There's a connection Simon Fraser University, which as you know is where I go to school. New Caledonia, a Scottish name, was named by Simon Fraser, a British explore in the 19th century, because the area reminded him of Scotland.

The college residence. My room is about 4 doors from the right, 2nd floor.

I had my trip on Monday... it was nice to be home in my bed, see family and play with Nikki. A bit too much though... flew home Tuesday night, up at 5am for Vancouver-Victoria flight for 9:30am meeting, then back in Vancouver 3:30pm flight to Prince George. Vancouver-PG flight was overbooked and anyone who gave up their seat receives a $200 credit for next flight. I, of course, wanted to so I can go home again, but as a government employee that is not allowed. Stupid government policies...

That morning while driving to Vancouver airport, I heard on the radio the Americans, British and Canadians were conducting military exercises in Victoria that day. I thought cool... maybe I'll see something when I land. Sure enough... there 6 fighter jets on the tarmac of Victoria's airport when I landed. And in the afternoon, there were soldiers at the airport having lunch. Isn't there a base nearby?

The other day Bruce, Victor, Bob and I went on our coffee break and they asked me if I was bear smart. My response was not really, never had to worry about bears. So they took the opportunity to educate me on how to "escape" from bear attacks... When you come face to face... according to them you: 1) run at them head on, knock them to the ground - intimidation; 2) shove your fingers up their nostrils, make it unpleasant; 3) scream in fear as you do 1 & 2; and 4) be liberal with bear spray, especially their face. They laughed and joked, having a good time. In the end, I was more scared than when I sneaked into Burma in the night. Wrighte Lake sits at the base of a mountain and bears like to hang out there. Glen & Victor want me to scout for bears while they're fishing... Damn geologists...

That was last week and today we were talking about bears again. Bruce saw a grizzly bear yesterday, and Tom saw a few earlier this week. "Them grizzly bears look like they got plenty of food," he says.

I better see my bears when we drive up north next week for 3 days.

Posted by Jay at May 11, 2006 07:31 PM