Tau Zero's Journal: Good news - and sightseeing suggestions solicited

I feel good. I have finally caught up with all of SolemnDragon's journal entries. (Don't I wish that something as interesting as the Twins would happen to a major political convention...)

And I also have something beginning to gel relevant to vacation travel. I should be leaving greater Chicago on Sunday August 29. I intend to hit Minneapolis and Winnipeg over the next two days, which puts me at Tuesday. The following Sunday I need to be in Seattle, perhaps via Edmonton and Calgary.

That gives me about five days to cover 3-4 days worth of driving. I've already shot rolls of film in Banff, though only from the highway. What else should I try to see?

No sight seeing advice but.....

[TwilaForest]

I wanted to wish you a great trip! Lot's of relaxation should happen :)

okey dokey

[sillypixie]

Finally, 2 seconds to reply...

Ok, so if you are going through the 'peg, you're going to be yellowheading it all the way along, so check out the Yellowhead the yellowhead highway site [transcanad...owhead.com].

Now - there are a few things you can do along the way. An interesting (but slightly off-route) place to visit would be the Royal Tyrell Museum. If you like paleontology, it is supposedly a world-class museum. Also all the badlands & hoodoos around there are really interesting to drive through. This is south & east

Re:okey dokey

[ekuns]

So, if Tau Zero visits you, does he get to report back to Ethelred Unraed [slashdot.org]? (Not the rest of us, mind you, that would be rude.)

Uh oh, I tihnk I said something deserving of penance. Um, (shame facedly looking down at my feet) I'm sorry, I was trying to be funny. I'm ready for my smack on the wrist, Ms. Pixie.

I'd offer travel suggestions of my own, but I'm on the wrong end of Tau Zero's trip. I live in Chicagoland. I've been through Detroit, Windsor (south of Detroit), and the north shore of Lake Eri

Re:okey dokey

[sillypixie]

Nah, no penance for you, you didn't try nearly hard enough...

Unless you want me to tell you to smack yourself, and in that case please do be my guest, I wouldn't want to disappoint, hehehe..

TZ can write anything he wants, as long as it can't be used by a stalker to track me down (-: That's assuming that he even wants to get together, but I hope he does. It's a bit strange for me to think of starting to link the physical me with sillypixie, since the whole reason I came here in the first place was to fin

An image stuck in my mind

[Tau Zero]

the whole reason I came here in the first place was to find a place where I was judged purely on the strength of my brain.

<Tau imagines sillypixie standing in a gym with her arms crossed, but a 25-pound dumbbell going up and down on either side of her head as she shows the power of her gray matter>

<Tau's own brain hurts now>

Re:An image stuck in my mind

[sillypixie]

Exactly, because you see, there is no spoon.... or dumbbell for that matter...

la la la

Pixie

A note to be stuck in your mind

[Tau Zero]

And as long as you're here... check your mail.

stick stack stuck

[sillypixie]

Hah! I did even before I got this message... damn I'm good...

*grin*

Pixie

Haec hoc *hic*!

[Tau Zero]

And that's why we love you.

Nug Nog Nick

[sillypixie]

Aw shucks, go on. No really. Go on...

[grins maniacally, wiggles eyebrows]

Pixie

Buck Bock Bic

[Tau Zero]

Tau, hiding in the depths, notices something flashing as it moves slowly through the water above.

Food? He swims to investigate, ready to beat another predator for what may be lunch. Up he comes, sharp teeth ready, focussed on the thing swimming like a wounded minnow.

Just in time he notices the treble hooks! He flashes back down to the weeds, grateful at his escape.

Then again... if he wanted to be safe from people fishing, he wouldn't be lurking in the compliment patch.

Purple supple ripples

[sillypixie]

Pixie glanced down at the receding figure of Tau, and pulled her line back in slowly. So close! She sat down and thought for a moment. She was sure the wounded minnow thing was going to work! What kind of bait could she dangle that would bring Tau within reach of her hook?

Suddenly she jumped up, laughing with delight! She turned to her bag, and pulled out a bottle of single-malt scotch.
After filling the glass to the brim with scotch, she held the glass in the water so that the rim was just above the sur

Curried currant currents

[Tau Zero]

<Tau catches a whiff of something through the water. Is it... an Islay? He moves to see better.>

<Indeed, there is a shot glass up at the surface! This has never happened before here in the weeds, but is commonplace down by the docks. And what comes next...>

<Tau holds very still. Scotch now is good, but waiting is better. Where there is whisky there are soon to be barflies, slow, clumsy and tasty in a pickled sort of way. Let them come....>

<He thinks, "There is no such thing as a f

Re:Curried currant currents

[sillypixie]

Pixie sat there, holding the shot glass in the water and waited. And waited. Nothing much happened, and then she got thirsty... she looked around, seeing nobody, and quickly dashed the shot of scotch down the hatch, refilled the glass, and went back to waiting, with a warm tummy and a little grin.

This went on for quite some time, long periods of quiet followed by short gulps.

Suddenly Pixie noticed that the boat was rocking! She wasn't sure whether it was the waves or the scotch, but she was pretty sure

Rivers of riven rivulets

[Tau Zero]

<Tau waited. And waited. And waited. The shot glass disappeared and reappeared again and again, and the tantalizing taste of... was it Laphroaig?... became stronger and stronger in the water. But no barflies. Where were the barflies?>

<As the shot glass left the water once more, he decided that waiting would not be rewarded. "If there are barflies up there, they must be in that boat! Time to get a snort and take a look.">

<The shot glass came down again, but did not make it all the way int

Exciting Exultant Examples

[sillypixie]

As Pixie sailed through the air towards the water, she watched in amazement as Tau sailed through the air towards the boat, snapping up the scotch, shot glass and all! For a moment, they were eye to fish-eye, and then Pixie plunged into the water, gasping as the frigid temperatures chased the alcohol out of her system. As the water closed over her head, she thought she heard a low chuckle...

Fetching floating falling

[Tau Zero]

<As Tau floated to the peak of his trajectory, rolling the shot glass over in his mouth, he saw a remarkable sight. Falling into the water as he fell away from it was... something. Much smaller than a troll - wasn't behaving like a troll, it had been spin-casting instead - smaller than a typical human. It made a splash as he began his descent. Tau lost sight of it temporarily as he spun slowly toward the water, then he rejoined it with a smack.>

<Spitting out the empty shot glass, he turned to exa