I have to say that our recent trip to Idaho was fantastic, but there were a few annoying encounters. Everyone was extremely nice, but Americans are a bit different. They aren’t a lot different, just a bit. At least, that was what I thought until one of our last days.

We camped along the Pend Oreille River which is part of the Columbia river system (which, you guessed, comes from the Columbia Ice Fields in Banff). Apparently, they have had a lot of trouble with flooding in recent years and so a long this river system they have a series of damns, hydro plants and levies. We camped at Albeni Cove which is directly across from the Albeni Falls Damn and Hydro plant. So, they control the water flow and they produce some green electricity. And they offer tours! I’ve never been in a hydro plant so this seemed like a great opportunity to see one up close. We went to the one o’clock tour.

We arrived early, so we watched a brief video and then we were off. Our guide, a 20 year old who kept referring to what we did in 1995 (when he was six), politely told me that I couldn’t bring my camera. Because of 9/11 and Homeland Security we can’t let you take pictures of the damn. Seriously? Fine, fine. I get it America. You don’t have to tell me twice.

I was annoyed, but it’s not necessarily my place to judge how America deals with tragedy. So, I was a bit quiet. The guide is telling us all about the damn and he keeps asking—Do you have any questions? Well, after the third or fourth time he asked, I felt bad for the kid. Throw the kid a bone, I thought. So what could I ask that he hasn’t covered, oh I know—how many people does it take to run this plant? It’s not a huge hydro plant. Only three turbines. But I didn’t see any people. Because of 9/11 and Homeland Security we can’t divulge that information, but I can tell you that between 100-200 people.

Now, I was just angry. I didn’t talk for the rest of the tour. But the kicker was once we got inside. The damn was built in 1955. All the technology was from 1955. The turbines and everything. All old panels, toggles and switches. Yes, yes, the terrorists have no working knowledge past 1955. They still use spears and arrows. I am so bloody sure that my camera would have revealed something sensitive.

America, because of 9/11, I don’t know if I can come visit you. We can still be friends, but I am not coming over to your house. Too many rules.

Oh and the other great thing. The States is just beginning to research, after seeing fish stocks decline, whether or not their damns affect the fish in the river. After 50 years, they just thought about it now.

Finally, because I started reading Diviner‘s again and I read this section maybe this is appropriate:

Morag read Pique’s letter again, made coffee and sat looking out at the river, which was moving quietly, its surface wrinkled by the breeze, each crease of water outlined by the sun. Naturally, the river wasn’t wrinkled or creased at all — wrong words, implying something unfluid like skin, something unenduring, prey to age. Left to itself, the river would probably go on like this, flowing deep, for another million or so years. That would not be allowed to happen. In bygone days, Morag had once believed that nothing could be worse than killing a person. Now she perceived river-slaying as something worse. No wonder the kids felt themselves to be children of the apocalypse.

The thing about bats is that they are amazing. They get a bad rap. But truly they are quite astounding creatures. When you consider how they see with echolocation and the precision of their movements, it totally blows my mind. They (generally) eat more mosquitoes than anything other creature and they have rabies. What could be more fun?

Okay, so there is the whole rabies thing, but the chances of being bit are extremely remote. Frankly, I would imagine you’d have a better chance of being attacked by birds. But, I would like to take you back, way back to when I first became fascinated with bats.

The year was 1994 and I was in grade 7. Curtis and I—along with some other smart students—got to become members of a new program called Junior Naturalists. We elite students would go out and learn about nature and animals. I can tell you that there are very few moments in my life where I was a bad student. I mean, I was never a great student. I just wasn’t a bad kid. However, for some reason, Curtis and I went a bit mental every time we left the school and we got ourselves into quite a bit of trouble. I can’t remember exactly what we did, except for make fun of one of the leaders for looking similar to an elephant, but I do recall getting sat down a couple of times for misbehaviour. Maybe Curtis can remember? Thinking back now, I think we may have actually been kicked out or they shut the program down.

In any case, I did take one thing from being a Junior Naturalist. For some reason, maybe they couldn’t afford multiple displays, we seemed to be constantly learning about bats. And that’s where all my information comes from today. Not only about echolocation and the eating mosquitoes and that they are the only flying mammal (I think?), but that you can build “bat houses” to encourage the population and get all the benefits of having bats including guano (their poop).

The next time, after 1994, that I would run into bats is at all the time I spent at summer camps (KBK) in the Qu’Appelle valley. There always seemed to be bats around. You could see them at night, flying around, eating mosquitoes. And we knew where they slept. Which also lead to some girls cabins having a visitor in the middle of the night (but I was never part of that). That just seemed cruel (to the bats).

Since my last time at KBK in probably 2002, I haven’t really thought about bats, until we went to Idaho on vacation. Every night, around dusk, strange birds came zipping around us and on the water. It occurred to me that they were flying very atypically for birds, making sharp turns and looping on a whim. And they were moving fast, really fast. But I had never seen bats fly with so much light. After the second night, I heard that undeniable screech and I knew that they weren’t birds, but bats eating mosquitoes. A couple times they whipped past our heads. Leah was scared, because she figured that they would get in her hair or something, but I wasn’t because I know about echolocation!

Which brings me to the point that we are one week away from owning a house. This house, I plan, is going to be the foundation to explore, learn and experiment. You might be wondering—what kind of experiments? Bat houses. Oh yes, I will invite my winged brethren to live with us and sooner or later I will become one of them.

I AM THE BAT!

Photo by Doug Bowman

So, I have finally found the time (or been forced to find the time) to start working on my professional site: soveran.ca. I went through several different themes until I could find what I was looking for and I finally found one that is pretty much perfect. Except that it’s sending a partial feed at the moment, but I think I fixed it.

Anyway, I said that I have been forced to find the time because someone approached me to do a little work for them and so I thought I should probably get my butt in gear and get a website. I am going to blog there as well, so that makes four blogs. On Soveran.ca I am only going to post when I have something worth saying. That’s just so that I don’t burn myself out and because I want it to be focused. And how often does that happen, honestly? But I will just be writing about ideas around working online, the work that I am doing online and potentially trying to grow a customer base. A small, manageable customer base for now.

Well, we are back. And it was great. I have a lot of different thoughts for you, some for this post and many for posts to come.

We Left at 9AM

But we were awake at 7 to pickup the rental from Budget. The great thing about waking up early is that you really can’t feel anything. So packing up felt easy. It’s sort of like being hungover. You can walk through a wall and not notice.

Albeni Cove Campground: 8 Hours, 1 Toothbrush, a case of Heineken and a bottle of Gin later

We arrived to a really crummy campsite that we had reserved online. There was no privacy, it was a highly trafficked areas and the site directly beside us had a child and a dog. But, we kept our spirits up and started to setup. Then Texas saved us. Or rather, two Texans. The campground attendants, a very cute older couple, told us we could easily move to another, more private site. The catch? It was a walk-in site. But a pretty easy walk. And it was beautiful. On the river, a friendly muskrat, secluded (somewhat) and just a great spot to call home for the week.

The Heat

It was hot. Pushing 100+ everyday. I don’t know what that is in Celcius, but it’s brain-melting hot. Luckily, the river was both cool to swim in and gave a nice cool breeze from time-to-time. It was really the best of two worlds: Alberta and Saskatchewan. It had the summer heat of Saskatchewan (which Alberta rarely gets) and the cool nights of Alberta (which Saskatchewan doesn’t get). That probably has a lot to do with being on the river. Nature’s air conditioning.

Leah love’s the sun or Methinks thou doth protest too much

Leah loves the beach and the sun. I like the shade and the cool. My dream spot to live would be somewhere I could wear sweaters year round. I think I look really good in sweaters. Leah looks good in a swimsuit. So, I whined a lot and Leah compromised a bit and we had a fairly good amount of time in the sun.

I hated switchbacks as a kid and I hate them now

We went on one hike and from the very first steps it was just one switchback after another in a treed area. We were moving at a good clip. After an hour of back and forth and no real sign of the top, we had enough. I peed, Leah peed and then we went back down. Got some pictures of pretty flowers and other things, but no payoff except some sore legs the next day.

Crib and Harry Potter

For the first portion of the week, we played a lot of crib. I don’t beat Leah too often, but when I do I usually skunk her. I guess, when it comes to crib, I am an all or nothing kind of guy. I attempted to read The Diviners for probably the tenth time. It’s not that it’s not a good book, but it’s just so good that I never seem to get anywhere. My mind always flit’s off to other places. Leah brought The Deathly Hallows to re-read. When she was about a quarter into the book I decided that I wanted to read it. So anytime she put it down, I picked it up. Then we began to fight over who got to read. By fight I mean that Leah told me she brought it and so she was reading it. So instead, Leah read the majority out loud to me. Nothing like a bedtime story that lasts two days.

The food, the delicious food

One of Leah’s greatest abilities is cooking. She is a fantastic cook. And when camping, for her, its the best time to eat great food. (It’s also a lot more work lugging around all the food.) It’s worth it the extra effort. We ate like champs. Bacon and eggs. Steak. Turkey burgers. Corn. Pastas. And so much more.

Spokane Falls or the Fourth of July

Being that the Albeni Campground is on the border (the road that takes you to the campground crosses back and forth onto the Idaho/Washington borders) we spent the fourth in Spokane (and a hotel). It is a really interesting town. I was surprised to find a waterfall in the middle of downtown. I had never seen that before. I don’t know what it was so surprising, but it just was. We even took a little gondola across the falls. Fortunately/unfortunately we were asked if three 14 year old girls could ride with us because they didn’t have an adult. That was interesting. In my earlier days, I was a camp counselor so I might say (crazy) teenage girls are not that shocking. However, I have never been locked in, what could only really be called a giant plastic bubble, suspended over waterfalls, with teenage girls. I wonder if that scenario makes teenage girls even more crazy. In any case, they were loud, hyper and liked to wave and yell at cute teenage boys. It was really something to behold. Oh and the fireworks were nice.

Check out all the pictures on Flickr.