Tracks of the StoneBear Odyssey ROF = Ring of Fire

Friday, September 2, 2016

Welland Canal 2 Thorold

Tracks of the StoneBear Copyright MCMLXIII Uncle Hargus ALL Rights reserved

ROF= Ring of fire Odyssey  MEF-H = Marine Expeditionary Force- Hargus 

NIA= Niagara Journey     

April 2009 

http://sbtnia.blogspot.com/2011/01/welland-canal-2-thorold.html

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Welland Canal 2 Thorold

Niagara Tracks of the StoneBear

You never drink twice from the same stream.

Niagara Tracks of the StoneBear

April 09

Ontario Province Canada

Niagara Tracks of the StoneBear

Niagara Tracks of the StoneBear

April 09

Ontario Province Canada

Welland Canal 1

Working in a shipyard as a teenager was one of the great learning experiences I cherish. Big ocean going ships are great! Not just in size... they are engineering at it's best. You put a high school kid in a shipyard for a couple years.... they can compete with college engineering degrees. No joke.

Up at Niagara... lake Erie ....has the falls on the Niagara river. Good for tourists. Let's go where the are no tourists... where Tracks of the StoneBear likes.

Ships can't pass on the river. On the Niagara peninsula ... almost 200 years ago, they started engineering this shipping canal. ... From Lake Erie to Lake Ontario,... and out onto the sea for international ports of the world. Everything,... every commodity, raw material that is shipped out of the industrial bastion around the great lakes.... comes through here. This is the slot.

I've always liked port towns. They were wide open social, dynamic phenomenon. There's always something going on in a port town.... the bad stuff too. It's not the small town mentality where the guys are sitting around at the seed and feed talking about if it's gonna rain. Shipping workers are hard, rugged guys.

There are 8 locks on this canal, this is #7 at Thorold, Ontario. This ship passing through was light, empty,... deadheading from emptying or to load up ahead and return or go on ahead. This ship clearing the #7 Lock is heading north onto Lake Ontario. I'd like to see the shipping manifest to see where it was headed; no telling. Northern direction would have gone up the St Laurence Seaway,... Through the Northumberland Straight, up around Cape Breton, and out into the North Sea past Newfoundland.

Was good to see this. Shipyard memories from 45 years back.

****

Now i've talked about this before.... T -bird has this uncanny knack of attracting "friends" that often turn out to be the beyond weird locals. Today, it was the Welland Canal strangler; the guy that knew way too much about what was going on around this place.

I asked "?you worked on the canal here"?

No

"?You worked on the ships and shipyards here?"

No. I just know a lot of what goes on around here.

Ooooooo K, time to go.

T- bird... he;s already staked out where he's going to hide my body... you were talking with the Welland Canal strangler.

You never drink twice from the same stream.

You never drink twice from the same stream. 

StoneBearTracks Copyright Uncle Hargus MCMLXIII ALL blog posts/photographs/video ALL Rights reserved

ALL Blog posts/photographs/video Copyright MCMLXIII ALL Rights Reserved

Welland Canal 1

Working in a shipyard as a teenager was one of the great learning experiences I cherish. Big ocean going ships are great! Not just in size... they are engineering at it's best. You put a high school kid in a shipyard for a couple years.... they can compete with college engineering degrees. No joke.

Up at Niagara... lake Erie ....has the falls on the Niagara river. Good for tourists. Let's go where the are no tourists... where Tracks of the StoneBear likes.

Ships can't pass on the river. On the Niagara peninsula ... almost 200 years ago, they started engineering this shipping canal. ... From Lake Erie to Lake Ontario,... and out onto the sea for international ports of the world. Everything,... every commodity, raw material that is shipped out of the industrial bastion around the great lakes.... comes through here. This is the slot.

I've always liked port towns. They were wide open social, dynamic phenomenon. There's always something going on in a port town.... the bad stuff too. It's not the small town mentality where the guys are sitting around at the seed and feed talking about if it's gonna rain. Shipping workers are hard, rugged guys.

There are 8 locks on this canal, this is #7 at Thorold, Ontario. This ship passing through was light, empty,... deadheading from emptying or to load up ahead and return or go on ahead. This ship clearing the #7 Lock is heading north onto Lake Ontario. I'd like to see the shipping manifest to see where it was headed; no telling. Northern direction would have gone up the St Laurence Seaway,... Through the Northumberland Straight, up around Cape Breton, and out into the North Sea past Newfoundland.

Was good to see this. Shipyard memories from 45 years back.

****

Now i've talked about this before.... T -bird has this uncanny knack of attracting "friends" that often turn out to be the beyond weird locals. Today, it was the Welland Canal strangler; the guy that knew way too much about what was going on around this place.

I asked "?you worked on the canal here"?

No

"?You worked on the ships and shipyards here?"

No. I just know a lot of what goes on around here.

Ooooooo K, time to go.

T- bird... he;s already staked out where he's going to hide my body... you were talking with the Welland Canal strangler.

Baker Creek 1

ROF= Ring of fire Odyssey  MEF-H = Marine Expeditionary Force- Hargus 

BNF= Banff Journey Canadian Rockies    

August 5, 2014

http://sbtrof.blogspot.com/2014/09/baker-creek-1.html

Sunday, September 21, 2014

Baker Creek 1

Tracks of the StoneBear BNF = Banff, BC/ Alberta journey

ROF = Ring of Fire journey

British Columbia/ Alberta, Canada

August 5, 2014  BNF 5

Baker Creek 1 

It took a lifetime to get to Lake Louise, Alberta, canada. It's quite a drive to get here... the view... once in a lifetime it's worth it. 

But now... lodging... where to stay.  

Walk into The Fairmont... walk in rate... around $750? a night. A little steep for my budget. 

I thought Lake Louise was a town; wrong! Lake Louise is a village, more like a couple of strip malls inside Banff National Park, Canadian Park service.

Lake Louise is actually a resort destination with a dozen upscale motel resort complexes and the rates start around $200+ a night.

Oh yeah... they are 99% booked up... so there are no vacancies except maybe cancellations that day.

The visitors center desk has a good line on any available openings and will assist in lodging. 

We're talking with a desk agent ranger and say we don't have to be right in the village... ?what is nearby?

There's a place kinda off the main drag... Baker Creek. and reasonable for our budget; we'll go see. 

Turns out... it's a GREAT place. And secluded away from all the touristy motels. 

Drive out of Lake Louise village, over bridge above the Trans-Can Hwy 1 for another mile, turn right on Bow River Parkway. 

 Bow River

Bow River Parkway is the local back road -- parallels Hwy 1-- from Lake Louise to Banff. There is no traffic on this road. No tourists. 

About 14 miles down this pristine Canadian forest road come to RED metal roof Log cabin structures. It's Baker Creek.

Go up to the office and notice the "NO Vacancy" sign.  T-bird goes in anyway to search for network leads for lodging... and there's a cancellation; we'll take it!

Turns out these are very nice chalet suites with kitchenettes and gas log fireplaces.    

Walk out back and Baker Creek is lined with round eroded river rock ... stream rushing down from the mountains and sounds wonderful. 

A bronze elk statue stands guard beside the creek. Canadian Rockies in the background... this place is good. 

Baker Creek runs down another 100 yards and there's a Canadian Pacific railway tracks, ... another 100 yards and the creek flows into the Bow River. Hey, I'll trout fish some here.

TJ was the ?owner/ manager? ... a really top notch guy. There wasn't one thing wrong at Baker Creek. Check that... a light bulb burned out. But everything worked well and updated maintenance was apparent. Later found out that TJ had worked for The Fairmont hotels for 20 years and retired and went out on his own management in lodging. It showed. 

Baker Creek was close enough, but far enough from Lake Louise. And the Bow River Parkway is a low traffic scenic parkway in the Canadian Rockies Bow River and the locals said it was a good place to see some wildlife at times. We did NOT see a bear, but did see a coyote. 

I don't do commercials on this blog but if TJ is still running Baker Creek... I don't thin you'll be disappointed. 

Also, there is a small bistro cafe there... a private contractor restaurant. We cooked in the kitchenette but the bistro is available.

Oh, one more thing... the tap water tastes GREAT. Good clear Canadian Rockies tap water tastes so refreshing and pure. Back home the water is good, but it doesn't taste this good!

You never drink twice from the same stream. 

StoneBearTracks Copyright Uncle Hargus MCMLXIII ALL blog posts/photographs/video ALL Rights reserved

ALL Blog posts/photographs/video Copyright MCMLXIII ALL Rights Reserved     

  
I don't do commercials or ads on this blog but occasionally we highlight and make note of exceptional artists, craftsmen, and unique people of character. No money or royalties are paid to this blog, or me. These photos and short clips of art, music, and craftsmanship are intended to be a gratis highlight of exceptional talent and a thank you to the artists.