Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Sleepless in Phoenix....

So....we were supposed to return home on Sunday. We get our bags packed, get to the airport in plenty of time and stand in line for about half an hour before we are told that our flight had been cancelled. :( Earliest fligthts getting into Chicago or DC was Wednesday. I could have had a flight leaving at 8:20PM today, that had us going into Denver and from there Washington, Chicago and home. This would get us there at the same time as our flight on Wednesday.....ummm.....no thank you.

We'll stay in the sunshine and warmth for another night if we have to.

I do apologize for all the meetings I've had to cancel as a result, but I will be rescheduling when I get home.

BB

PS - I'll be posting some wicked AZ pics shortly, along with a winter wedding I shot with Derrick Rice.


Sunday, February 11, 2007

Winterlude 2007!

Well, we can no longer deny the fact that winter is here! Mother Nature has gone on vacation and let Jack Frost take care of the weather for a while!

He's put the chill on, but it's good news for Ottawa. We boast the world's largest skating rink at 7km (5 miles). People come from all over the world to see it, whether they can skate or not. And it truly is a spectacle that you should see! Literally thousands of people flock to the Rideau canal to skate and see the sculptures!

We headed off to the canal today - the weather was perfect - sunny, bright and crisp!




Here is the parliament buildings at the end of the Rideau Canal.



Poutine.
A French Canadian delight.
The recipe:

1. French fries.
2. Cheese curds
3. Gravy

Does it get any better?!


A crisp winter sky!


Maple taffy on the snow! This is thickened maple syrup (from last year, the maple sap doesn't run until the early spring) poured onto snow to cool and form around a stick. Tres tasty!


Plenty of Roots gear to be seen.

An ice sculpture - master ice sculpturer's come from all around the world to carve these amazing forms out of ice!


A man with his hockey stick. Ottawa probably has 200 outdoor rinks that are maintained by it's residents.


An old pair of Bauer's! An older gentleman was just putting them as we were leaving.


A hole where the ice is flooded.


A view of the parliament buildings from under one of the bridges along the way.



Here we are at the 1.2 km mark! We started at 3.2, so our round trip was about 6 km. On skates you can do this in about half an hour.


The BeaverTails shack. They actually serve beaver tails here. They take the tail of a beaver that has been trapped by locals, deep fry it, top it with cinnamon and sugar. What a delicious and nutritious snack! I think people come just for them sometimes!

The BeaverTails servers working feverishly to feed the masses!


Here is what the beaver tail looks like after it is all cooked up! D-lish!!



My super sweet CCM tacks.

I love these bad boys. Feels like a hot knife through butter when I am out on the ice. Kidding. More like they keep my ankles from making contact with the frozen water...:) !



A fantastic day on the ice! I'm sure that we'll sleep well tonight after all this fresh winter air.

Have a great day!

Byron