Hi Tom Koenig

You're right - we were starting to spin off topic in the "Number Crunching" thread. So I thought I'd reply to you here.

Yes, I'm a canuck and in Western Canada too. I've spent my time throughout Alberta and B.C. and now am settled down in Red Deer, Alberta. It's much smaller than I'm used to, but it's home.

And I was envious of where you live (where exactly I don't know), I've visited your part of the world many times - we used to go almost every year during my later childhood.

There seems to be quite a bond between Hawaii and western Canada, it's only natural that so many western Canadians like to winter there, but what has always surprised me is just how many Hawaiians there are living here.

So where did you visit, I'm glad to hear you enjoyed your stay.

Bill Farrant

Well, that's not too rushed, but I think that's about as much driving as you would want to do in that time frame.

I'm with your wife when it comes to cold weather. But I live in the wrong place to be fussy about the weather - and besides, my wife would probably divorce me if I suggested we move to Hawaii - she can't stand the heat. Don't we make a nice pair?

I lived in Vancouver for about 13 years, and I honestly can't think of a better place weather wise. Your wife would still find it cold, but at least the ocean keeps it warm enough that most of the plant life stays green through the winter and there is rarely snow on the ground, and then only for a day or two. If you like skiing it's a short drive up the mountains (15 mins) in North Vancouver, or a scenic jaunt up the highway to Whistler.
Enough boring you, I could rave about Vancouver for hours, I'd love to move back there.

Thanks again for your voice of reason in the other threads.

Bill Farrant

Oops, forgot that you asked about Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

Well, Saskatchewan in particular has a different kind of charm that many people might describe more as a lack of charm. For me, I'm quite a history nut these days, and although I find farmland boring, Saskatchewan has many areas where the original untouched prairie still exists as it was when my great grandparents migrated to this country. I find original untouched prairie to be beautiful and I enjoy looking at it and wondering about what it has seen in the past. There are places where you can still see the scars left in the land by the original wagon trails of the first settlers and trading traffic, and many places where circles left in the ground tell of a long ago Indian camp and the location of it's teepees.

One area of particular fascination to me is the Cypress Hills on the borders of Saskatchewan, Alberta and the U.S.A.. It has so many interesting features. The land is high enough that it was largely unaffected by the last ice age, so there are many species of plant and animal life there that exist nowhere else here now, things you wouldn't expect to see. And fascinating history, from whiskey and trading forts to the N.W.M.P. (now the R.C.M.P.) fort, Fort Walsh, where Sitting Bull and his followers settled after their run-in with Custer, and the friendship that developed between Sitting Bull and Colonel Walsh - whose advice was largely instrumental in Sitting Bulls decision to return to America. There are still fort remains to be seen, and Fort Walsh has been rebuilt, the teepee circles of Sitting Bull and his people are still visible on the hills around the fort.

But otherwise Saskatchewan is largely just lots of stretching flat land and sky, with not much in the way of trees and water until you get in to the northern parts of the province. Manitoba I know not much about, having only quickly driven through it a few times. Again lots of prairie land, but also a much wider degree of forest and lake land.

Have a good night