And just like that, my adventuring continues.
This time, dear readers, I have booked myself a trip to the west coast city of Victoria, British Columbia. Why Victoria? Well, as I had mentioned in a previous post, I have been invited to the GeoMED conference to give a talk about some of my nerdly research. I’m pretty stoked about it because I’ve never been to Victoria, and because there will be a large number of rock star statisticians in attendance.
Given that I will want to make the best impression that I can, I’m flying out a day early to deal with any potential jet lag. The bonus to this is that Dr. Beth is going to try to join me for the day – and since my flight takes me through Vancouver, she’s going to join me on the plane in Vancouver – which means I can check off item #144 from my Not-So-Bucket-List list. Which also means the two of us will be wandering Victoria for an entire day, taking in all that it has to offer. And I assume that it will offer beautiful scenery, great food, and tasty beverages.
Since the conference runs for only 3 days, and I figured that the cost of flying out there wasn’t worth only a 4 day visit, I’ve decided to use the trip to stop in Calgary to visit Mr. Rick. This makes up for the Calgary-trip-that-wasn’t that was supposed to have occurred in September if my silly hernia hadn’t changed those plans.
Weather permitting we’ll be able to get in some hikes, and possibly some mountain climbing (although winter is setting in to the mountains already, so that’s probably a long shot). We are also going to go spelunking. W00t!
Say what? Spelunking.
For those unfamiliar with the term, it means we are going to go explore some caves. Rick just so happened to stumble on a spelunking adventure and it really seemed like something that we had to do. The following is an excerpt from the website that describes the adventure:
“Along the trail, your guide will explain the geology of the area; how caves are formed; show you fossils to examine up close; look for bighorn sheep; maybe spot a bear or a cougar. Inside the cave, you’ll get to climb, crawl, slither and get muddy. Soon after entering the cave you’ll rappel 18 m on a rope (with safety line backup) then on to the Five Way Chamber, Laundry Chute, Grand Gallery and finally to the Grotto, a chamber full of stalactites and stalagmites with a crystal clear pool at the bottom of the cave. Return is via the Box.” (visit www.canmorecavetours.com for more details)
Not only will we see fossils (which makes me happy in that zone of my brain that is still a kid and giddy every time I learn about dinosaurs), but we might also run into a bear or cougar. That is amazing. I’m also super excited about the 18m rappel into the cave, and the thought that we are going to have to crawl, slither, and get muddy.
Clearly this trip has the makings of an awesome adventure; fun times with Beth in a new city; presenting an invited talk to a bunch of rock star statisticians; fun times with Rick in Calgary; and spelunking. Spelunking I says!
consumedbywanderlust 
Best. Ever.
“The Inspiration” is either the coolest nickname or the latest cast member of Jersey Shore. Maybe both.
Definitely the coolest nickname… 🙂
You will also be running into a cougar at the Vancouver airport. Zing!
Sounds like a wonderful trip, though I prefer to do my caving in warmer climes. Oh and American cave explorers tend to avoid the use of the word spelunker or spelunking these days. It’s a long story but suffice to say caver and caving are the terms used mostly now 🙂
I’d much prefer a warmer adventure too, but I’ll take what I can get for now “)
Also, thanks for the info regarding the spelunker/caver. Hopefully I won’t look like too much of a twit.