Winter is dragging along as usual so I've been living vicariously through my vacation photos. While doing so it occurred to me that while I posted numerous photos of my most recent vacation to my photostream, I neglected to make any mention on it here. A travesty indeed.

Most people understand the difficulty that arises when trying to coordinate visits with one's entire family. This is especially true with my family, as there are 10 of us (not including spouses, significant others and offspring). As a result, my family assembles en masse only occasionally. If we're lucky we gather every two years over Christmas, that is, if we can all coordinate time off work, flights across the Pacific and sleeping arrangements for everyone involved. So when my oldest sister announced she was getting married in Mexico in November, all the siblings found a way to make it there for our first all family-vacation in years.

In the months leading up to the trip there were a lot of family conversations that went a little bit like this...



We are an overly enthusiastic bunch.

I had made my travel plans with Alessandra and we were amongst the first to arrive. My brother Renato, had traveled up from Japan two days earlier, and he met us at the Cancun airport where a shuttle was waiting for us to take us to our resort in Tulum.

We arrived at the resort compound as the sun was beginning to set. We ended up getting a room in the main building (very convenient because we didn't have to spend half an hour finding our room in the dark while trying to figure out the sort of confusing naming convention for the other buildings).



Apparently our resort was rather small in comparison to some of the other monster complexes that we passed on our drive. But small equals good. At the most you were only a ten minute walk from the restaurants, pool or beach. And that would have been a slow ten minute walk. The rooms were quite nice, our bathroom was pretty deluxe and other than some upgrades being done to one of the poolside bars, the resort was in great condition. At first it seemed a little odd to not venture exploring a new city, but we quickly adjusted to the ease of dropping in for the breakfast buffet, relaxing by the pool or the beach, and just generally hanging out. We had a large enough group that no one had to eat alone and no one had to eat with the same people every day. It was sort of an ideal place for a family of our size to gather. There were no fights about who wasn't helping in the kitchen or complaints about having to sleep on the floor. Everyone was happy.




We ventured outside of the resort a couple times. Most of the family (save for Noemi who was spending time with the in-laws) made the quick trip to the ruins at Tulum (maybe a 5 minute drive). The temperatures before that day had been pretty moderate (mid 20s), but on the day we visited Tulum it was sweltering. We were still adjusting to the glorious warmth of the Caribbean sun and the few degree difference from +25 to +34 was significant. In the photos taken at the ruins site we all look like uncomfortable tourists, tired and a little bit grouchy and dying for a breeze.






But then we discovered what was to be our saving grace... the beach at Tulum. Incredible views, warm waters, soft and forgiving sand and big enough waves to satisfy my siblings' body surfing requirements. I was completely unprepared for the beach. I knew there was one near the ruins, but I didn't quite get that the access was through the ruins site. I think I anticipated spending more time exploring the ruins site itself, but as it was, we walked through rather quickly and once we discovered the beach we spent most of our time in the water.





I was an idiot and wasn't wearing my bathing suit (nor did I even think to bring it along with me), so I ended up in the water looking like a bit of a fool wearing shorts and my blouse. It was so worth it though. The water was a perfect temperature and the beach area felt considerably cooler than the ruins up top. When we were walking about the ruins site I could feel a headache coming on and a refreshing swim helped to cool me down and give me a couple hours reprieve from a migraine. By the time I did get a migraine I was back at the resort and able to lie down in the cool room.

I was a bit apprehensive about whether or not I would enjoy staying at an all-inclusive resort. But once I sort of dealt with the feelings of first world guilt associated with staying in a locked-down compound where uniformed locals brought you drinks on the beach things improved. No one was under any delusions that our stay at the resort was giving us the real Mexican experience. We did our best to not seem like arrogant tourists and took a couple Spanish lessons so that at least we could make an effort to speak the local language. The staff were really friendly and always willing to have conversations with guests. And once we accepted the curated environment and what the artifice of the resort provided, it was a lot easier to enjoy ourselves.

There were still times when I had to try a little harder to let go of my inner cynic, particularly during the evenings when the scheduled entertainment had that element of camp about it. It's a performance like any other... the menu and the jokes are the same every week. But that doesn't mean that the food wasn't delicious or the jokes (sort of) funny. If you want a totally unique experience that has a little more element of spontaneity (and the added element of chaos) you should probably plan a different vacation. But with a group of our size, it was nice not to have to worry about all the details and just concentrate on the good company.





And then of course there was the wedding. There were a few rain showers the day of the ceremony, which I think was actually ideal because no one was squinty in photos and there was that added element of drama from the stormy clouds. The rain stopped just long enough for the ceremony, but picked up again almost immediately afterwards. The dinner and reception moved indoors to one of the restaurant spaces that was closed that evening, but no one minded.





We danced until quite late, but not before that final round of drinks before we all went home.



So in summary... Did we boys like Mexico?

Yes, yes we did. I still have the tanlines to prove it.

During all my time living in Edmonton I can think of only one trip that was made with the express purpose of visiting the mountains. That is not to say that I haven't visited mountain country on other occasions, but I was always just passing through on my way somewhere else. This past Valentine's weekend was another story. For months the gentleman and I were looking forward to the winter wedding of the gentleman's close family friends. I had been promised three days of photo opportunities, fresh mountain air and visits to the Banff Springs Hotel. Who could dislike such prospects?

We drove up to Canmore on Friday and arrived in time for the rehearsal dinner, a delicious feast of perogies and other Ukrainian delicacies prepared by the groom's mother and family. After a few hours of eating, drinking (and a few impromptu speeches) we headed back to our hotel and fell asleep after an episode or two of the Criminal Minds marathon on A&E. We really know how to keep things romantic.



While Friday had been a beautiful sunny day with blue skies and the mountains magnificently prominent wherever you might look, Saturday was grey and misty (but still beautiful). The ceremony wasn't scheduled until late in the afternoon. The gentleman and I had no responsibilities as guests, so we took advantage of the hours we had to ourselves and made the quick trip from Canmore to Banff for a decadent brunch at the Banff Springs Hotel.

The gentleman had made reservations for 11:30 and we arrived intentionally early so I could explore the hotel and take pictures.


The hotel is a castle. Winding staircases, stately halls, a maze of wings and hidden rooms... heavy tapestries, walls of windows with stained glass, beams, amazing detail work with curved ceilings and carved banisters and nary a burnt out light bulb in sight. Colour me impressed.





After wandering about inside, we stepped briefly to one of the many outdoor patios to enjoy the view (both towards the mountains and at the hotel) and take one of those rare portraits of the two of us together before we headed back in for brunch (which by the way was delicious... excellent buffet with incredible selection and a dedicated server who addressed us by name).



I would have loved to stay a bit longer in Banff to explore the town some more, but I didn't want to risk being late for the wedding. We returned to Canmore sated, but a little sad to be leaving Banff after such a short stay. But it's not exactly as if we had to leave the mountains. Our hotel room had a great view of the Three Sisters peaks.


And then there was the wedding. Short but meaningful ceremony, followed by a fun reception with much hilarity provided by the bride's brothers during the speeches. I took few photos of the evening though. It's so much more relaxing to be just a guest.





I tired out pretty early and took the shuttle back to the hotel, hoping that a short nap might invigorate me enough to make it to the after party. I crashed though and slept through till morning. We made a quick stop at the post-wedding brunch before heading back to Edmonton.

All together it was a lovely weekend. I'm already scheming up excuses to make another trip to the mountains.

When my photostream becomes over populated with images of my knitting projects I start to feel like my life has become a bit boring and that I am probably spending too much time indoors. This is very true of the past month so to remedy this my chum Tom and I ventured out for a quiet photo excursion to the UofA campus.

The last time we had sort of aimlessly wandered about campus had been in March of 2008. All of my platonic boyfriends had been present that day. We had found some open classrooms and played with the overhead projector, stumbled across a track meet, photographed the same building before finally ending in the Atrium Oasis in the Faculty of Agriculture building. Then we all went for brunch. It was a great day.




Tom and I had both been mutually lamenting our photographic funk, so to address this we decided on a reprise of our past campus adventure. Mostly I wanted to revisit the atrium for a brief escape from winter, but before getting there we made several stops. Campus was much quieter than I expected for a Saturday. What students we did see were crowded around tables in the Student's Union Building, but other than a few lone students who had sought out a hidden corner in which to study, Tom and I basically had the run of the place to ourselves.

This particular excursion ended up being a sort of travel through time as the architecture of different buildings revealed the changing tastes and popular finishes of the era in which they were built. We started with the Arts Building (1912), a neoclassical beauty that houses Convocation Hall.



Much to my dismay Con Hall was locked so we could only peek through the doors to get a look inside. However, I soon found solace photographing the pretty staircase landing between the third and fourth floors. The details of this building were charming. The wooden banister was comfortably worn and the grey trim on the underside of the staircase broke up an otherwise bland facade.



  

We left the Arts building to walk through the Quad. After trying a few different buildings but encountering locked doors, we managed to find one that gave us access to one of the newest buildings on campus, CCIS (Centennial Centre for Interdisciplinary Science). Although the building seemed bland in comparison to Arts, I could still appreciate the functionality of the new space (at least what was completed so far). I photographed very little in the building, save for a few shots of the empty lecture halls.



Leaving CCIS we somehow ended up in the basement of Faculty of Agricultural, Life & Environmental Sciences, representing another era with plenty of orange and wood paneling. The paneled stairwell reminded me of a sauna, fitting, since they led upstairs to the humid Atrium Oasis.

 

The atrium is an odd little space. It seems a bit haphazardly maintained and somewhat forgotten, as if it's a garden belonging to someone who prefers to let plants go a little wild. It also seems like this secret gardener doesn't really want you to hang around. There's no place to sit and there's always a threat that the little army of birds might shower presents from above.





While Tom was still photographing the dangerous little birds, I discovered the little patio that is just off to the side of the atrium. There were a few utilitarian picnic tables as well as a few cushionless Bertoia side chairs. Spottings like this are not uncommon around the university. The campus is strewn with mid-century modern pieces. I wish I could have just carried these two chairs home to put on my deck. To buy one of these new would easily cost around $500 each.



I returned home chairless but content with a day of successful shooting.

Winter continues and so does my winter knitting. Toques and hats have been my project of choice, because they are quick (finished after only a couple evenings of knitting) and they are great for stash busting.

I began the new year knitting a toque for the gentleman and another bobbly one that I hoped would be for me, but even after some vigorous wet blocking it was still a little too short to wear on days where it is really cold. It will be gifted to someone with a smaller head.