The "Works" Please - and make them FIRE too!

So, on Tuesday night we went to the fireworks at Elliston Park. What an awesome show!! Those guys sure lit up the night sky. So before I get ahead of myself... a little background here. They are having an event here in Calgary called Global Fest and as part of the event Calgary hosts an International Fireworks competition . On alternate evenings different countries from around the world compete and put on a fireworks show. Only one country displays their stuff on their designated evening. At the end of the week after everyone has competed, they have a closing ceremony and announce the winner. Competing countries include, South Africa, Germany, Canada, and Hong Kong (returning champions). They are all given the same budget to work with and are tasked with putting on the best damn fireworks show you can squeeze into a 1/2 hour. 2 countries had competed earlier in the week and left us with Canada to watch on Tuesday night.

Let me tell you they kicked ass! It was a really good show. Of course the evening starts much earlier with a bus trip from a local mall to the park where the fireworks are being held. As nice as the park is, there is very little parking around the area.
Try to cram 25000 people or more into the park and you realize that there are few spaces for a vehicle to be safely stashed. So they have come up with a solution to the transportation woes. Buses leave from a nearby mall for a nominal 4 dollar charge (3 bucks last 2 years and - free the first year!) and shuttle you to the park. Then at the end of the night you have to fight with 15000 to 20000 other patrons to find an empty seat on the returning shuttles. The first couple of years they offered this service it was a real nightmare getting onto a bus and making it back to the mall. This year however, it seemed to go really smooth and we hardly waited at all for a bus and didn't have to compete with other traffic to get leave the area. I was impressed to say the least, despite my skepticism.

Once you make it into Elliston Park, there are a number of things to see and do while you wait for the show to start. We were at the park at about 7pm when the gates opened and the fireworks didn't light up till about 930-10pm. There was a beer gardens if you felt the need to imbibe, a burger and hotdog venue, and numerous other little snack and treat places. There were also a few special interest groups looking for support, handing out balloons, painting faces and selling tickets on raffles or draws they were having. I think the scouts had a little booth set up too.

If you are planning on attending the fireworks Tonight (Thurs) or on Saturday for the finale, then make your way to the south seating bowl. It is basically the southern most part of the park with a big hill facing the mainstage where all the music and entertainers perform. From there you have a perfect view of the fireworks and the small lake that they shoot them over. It is totally wicked to see these magical streams of light reflected in the water as well as the night sky. The south seating bowl is probably the best place in the park to watch from so don't share this tidbit with just anyone. We'd like to get a seat there again next year!! :)

Weekend Wonders

The long weekend in August has come and gone. I was able to chill out with some friends, enjoy some very beautiful mountain views, eat some great food, do a little trail walking and become even closer with my girlfriend. It was a great weekend despite the fact that we didn't play a single game of bocce ball. :) We did however manage to get in a great game of 10,000 and a good game of Wizard. I also understand that some crib, war, and taboo took place too. lol

The weather was really great too. We had about an hour and a half of rain and wind at the beginning of the weekend, but the rest of the weekend was great. Warm temperatures into the mid to high 20's (celsius). We managed to do a bunch of walking and went on a short hike around a small lake. Unfortunately there were a gaggle of trains running through the park nearby.
Day and Night we could hear them zipping along on the other side of the river, blowing their horns as they cruised over the bridge. Not so annoying during the day, but when you are trying to catch some z's at night, it is definitely a piss off.

The highlight of my weekend was definitely the time I spent with my girlfriend. I've never felt closer to her and I think she is really starting to fall for me too. We are starting to really connect and feel at ease with each other. I look forward to each time we get together and spend time with each other. Plus she is a really good kisser too! She is really special to me and I hope we can enjoy more weekends like these together!

Unfortunately there are not many weekends left in the year to do more camping. I'm looking forward to the September long weekend but I'm hoping there is a weekend here and there in between that I might be able to sneak away for a day or two. There are some really nice places fairly close to Calgary that should be easy to find a campsite in. A few friends from work are talking about picking a weekend and heading out for a couple of days. So I'm going to have to hang on to a vacation day to use for one of these camping trips.

Camping Toys

Tell me if this isn't the coolest little camping toy you've seen in a while. It's really amazing what they are doing with led lights these days. This camping light is designed to be used as a campsite latern/flood light which can wrap around a tree with the retractable wire tucked inside. The head adjusts up and down to provide light at different angles. It also has a magnetic back with a metal plate on it. This makes it handy to use inside your tent too so that you can have light shining down from your tent ceiling. I'm not sure how bright this little guy is, but it might just do as a replacement for a standard propane lantern. Plus the led's make it very battery friendly, so it won't use as much power to throw a lot of light. I'm sure there are better lights out there but this guy is so portable and compact that it looks like a winner in my book!