Canadians again

Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Yes, we are back in Canada.  Edmonton to be more specific!

After an uneventful journey from El Salvador (taxi to San Salvador airport, fly to Huston, fly to Edmonton International, taxi to Sue's mother's house), we find ourselves once again in the beautiful, temperate climate of Alberta.  Mid-20 degree temperatures for the first week, followed by somewhat cooler (mid-teens) weather now.  Some rain, but really not a problem here in Edmonton, unlike Calgary and other communities in the southern half of the province, where they have been hit with very severe flooding over the last month.  All in all, we are quite enjoying the cooler, dryer weather after the heat and humidity at the marina in El Salvador.  One of the hardest things to get used to for us are the incredibly long days here - instead of getting dark at 6:30PM, it is still light at close to 11PM.

Really not a lot to report - no sailing at all!  Although that may change.  Some excellent friends of ours (Bruce and Gayle) have lent us a vehicle while they spend their time at their lakeside cottage in BC - we may just have to take the opportunity to visit them there and show them how to use their sailboat.

Meanwhile, for excitement, we have spent some of our time visiting our good friends Russ and Val at their home outside the city, making good use of their pool.  We are getting very good at taking advantage of everyone else's hospitality - something you learn to do when you are unemployed and live on a boat.

We did take in the opening game of our local football team (Go Esks!).  We watched as they went down in a humiliating defeat to rivals from Saskatchewan.  However it was a nice day for sitting outside and enjoying the great summer weather.

Other than that, we have been using our new-found freedom to visit all the usual local high points - doing a lot of shopping, although not much buying.  I have been spending some time working on putting together some long-overdue documentation of our previous travels.  Susanne has been really energetic and has been going swimming at one of the Edmonton public pools, early in the morning, five days a week - sort of puts me to shame.

As for the future, we have no definite plans, other than returning to the boat sometime in mid-October.  We will most likely take a road-trip to BC at some point.  Other than that - who knows?

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