Life as an Artificial Lifeform

Jam Session with Jeremy and some musician friends to figure out if video can lead audio and how both can feed of each other. While it wasn´t perfect for the whole jam there were parts that were extremely tight and working beautifully - very nice.

Now some uncommented impressions from the valley, lake and drive to Nelson BC. The valley is btw the biggest source for a certain forbidden green crop. It makes the area very rich. Most people have this "second income". Some of the houses are just totally stunning.

Nelson BC - a very nice town again with a very very hippy vibe to it. I don´t know why I took so little pictures there - sometimes you just don´t feel it I guess. Here is a side alleyway.

The best (vegetarian organic) burrito ever. You put it together yourself. Choice of 6 organic selfmade sauces - that was ridiculously yummy.

Brian on Nelson Mainstreet.

Nelson Mainstreet - the photo doesn´t do the town justice - just for documentary purposes here.

On the way back in the middle of nowhere on a fallen down barn building on the side of the road this pretty stunning streetart - certain forbidden plants is all I am saying.

To call New Denver a town would be an insult to other towns - but they had great aspirations in former times, just silver price falling of a cliff some 80 years ago didn´t help the expansion much.

A(nother) walk along the lake shore third try to find some old mines (I like holes in the ground). Still totally stunning this lake. Mesmerizing. If you ever need a place to find total inner peace this is the most likely one.

Spring coming - things come alive. How they will survive there between the rocks is another matter I guess.

Balance.

I did mention that the water is as clear as it can get - for a lake this size unbelievable clear.

Ah there it is - a mine. We found many. and they are just that - holes in the ground. I would have loved to climb in but we didn´t have any rope or light with us - damn. One of the mines went in extremely deep. They are just left there open with a very old very rusty fence on top to stop people from intruding.

Forest.

On the walk back we came by an electrical switching station. This is the warning sign :)

Still have no idea what a Block Parents Community is, but the design could be from east germany.

New Denver has a bicycle hospital with emergency vehicle and all - just in case your bike ever gets sick.

uhm somebody forgot his toy - then went on to take the bigger toy apart.

Oh I would have so liked to ride with the cool bus - who wouldn´t.

Just a nice garden in New Denver. All gardens where nice in New Denver - people have a lot of time around these parts to tend their gardens.

just because its a nice framing.

I have a bathtub for growing in the garden as well - it makes a really good flower/vegi pot. I am missing out on the hanging bear :)

Thats right this way pointer was there at our final destination the top one says "Berlin 10280 km" yes thats how far I was a away from home.

New Denver Mainstreet - movie set.

Back at the house the forest just beaming with light -pretty pretty.

Posted by fALk at 20:45 | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Sorry for the lack of updates recently. Bit of city life got into the way and fatigue of selecting and post processing photos and I want to have fun doing it so I hope you still there looking cause there are is some crazy stuff coming up :) Three more entries to go hopefully in less then a week it should finish it all up.

So just to recap we just left Revelstoke and went on the ferry to that island towards New Denver/Silverton where we arrived at our final destination - a house from a guy called bryce that I haven´t meet yet but the house is totally beautiful inside out here is one view of it :)

Brian introduced me to Jeremy a phenomenal artist - audio and paintings - we had a jam session with him and went on some walks and stuff. On the first walk on the shore of the lake on an old railroad track we tried to find the old mines that are scattered everywhere around this region. Didn´t quite make it to the mines but lots of stuff in the forest telling stories of the past when this area was alive and buzzing with people digging up silver. Like this steelpress thing - no way to move that from where it is ever ;)

Chains.

Not so pleasant but realtiy - clear cuts. Why can´t humans leave the bit of untouched nature alone.

Jeremy and his daughter on the lake. Truly amazing alive nice people.

The forest up.

Green getting greener by the day :) Lush dreamy forest.

Forest. Yes lots of trees everywhere.

Panoramic lake. This lake is just stunning meditative clear nice relaxing - you gonna see more of it here sorry.

Then we went to a place called Sandon. Sandon is a ghost town. Formerly housing 15.000 people now there are maybe 30 people living there. Look at this video to see Sandon in its former glory. The silver mine that made that place big is back up and working. The town used to have a walkway on top of the creek. One day a flood came and destroyed half the town who depended on that walkway the rest burned down in two successive fires. Not much left now but you can see a bit of its former glory. Still spooky place - we didn´t see any people while we were there.

Trying to finally see a mine we made a small walk but the amount of snow made us turn back soon. It did snow the night before you can see the snowfall line in the trees.

Back in Sandon there was a steam locomotive - there is no traintrack going into this town and that adds to the mystery why that vehicle is there.

p

The few houses (10 maybe max) that are there are great looking.

Oh and I didn´t see a sidewalk but don´t spit on it alright!

No this is not a mistake. Explaination further down.

The only shop in town - but there were two museums (closed for the season).

You seen the detail above. There are about 25 electric busses in town coming from winnipeg. Like with the steam locomotive its a bit of a mystery why they are there (nice too look at but strange in that place). The story goes that there is a guy in town who has two woman and acts like he is the mayor of the town (but not official) and he brings in these old vehicles. Why and what he is going to do with them and stuff nobody knows.

The reopened Silver mine - run by one guy. It produces silver and goes almost 40km into the mountain :O

Going back to New Denver you come across these lodge houses - adorable.

New Denver mainstreet - buzzing with life.

The lake again - no ripples totally smooth.

And back to the house.

Posted by fALk at 20:08 | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Revelstoke by far the nicest of the skitowns we have visited and the ski resort just plainly rocks - while still pretty young there is so much backcountry to ski down ones you are up with the lift its crazy. Next time a bit more fresh powder and its heaven on snowboard earth. Anyway let me take you on a early evening stroll through the town.

Lovely houses again. The photos don´t do them full justice but you get the idea.

And powerlines :)

The highschool building - straight out of a western movie. Massive entrance.

A lot of attention to detail everywhere - the beautiful streetsigns.

Masterfull signage everywhere.

that chinese restaurant and its signage had some intense magic to it.

Mainstreet (not very long). Lots of organic bakeries and foodplaces - all in very lovely western styles - again movie set like but totally real.

The presentation center - former bankbuilding? Greek Columns FTW! ;)

Well…

Lower mainstreet.

A driving tired brian that was worn out on the mountain in Golden earlier in the day.

uhm. Pinging home.

Not high noon yet…

For my home possy a little inside joke.

An epic long train came along these lamps made beautiful sounds and we have this video of this girl on a really cool bicycle waiting to pass.

This was back at the Motel - I was told that these are very famous chairs that where every Motel back in the 70s - stylish.

Next morning sunrise. We are leaving to our final destination.

The trashcans all had funny shapes across the nation so I finally asked Brian if there is anything behind it - short answer: "Its against bears" - so they don´t like the shape? Anyway bears are a real problem in communities as they dig through trash destroy the trashcans in the process - yes there are lots of bears around - no sadly I have not seen one - they are coming out more in autumn.

Before reaching our destination one more obstacle to pass. A ferry would get us onto a peninsula behind one of the deepest lake in northern america. The lake was chrystal clear and it never freezes - the ferry is part of the road system and massive and free of charge. So we off into just after sunset - dreamlike landscape and just a hint of how nice it would become.

Off into the darkness for another 45 minutes and we will have reached Silverton, BC where the house we would stay is - the middle of a very dense very dark forest. up a very icy road behind a couple of bends - but thats for another entry :)

Posted by fALk at 16:02 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Leaving Wildwood the next day first next town we encountered was Edson. Unremarkable town in itself but a few things stuck out. First they seemed to have hired a very capable Corporate Identity Designer who made a logo for the town that actually stuck with me (one can debate if its nice or not - not too bad at least). The logo was put onto every lamppost - if you want to promote your town and your town is mostly a drive through town this is very very effective (if done nicely).

And Edson had a skatepark too - covered in snow still but quite massive. They have a mayor that understands a few things it seems.

The graffiti is not the most sophisticated in the world but humorous and playing on wild west themes and I like the stencil of the flower in the middle ;)

Just a tad out of Edson something appeared on the horizon that I was soooo looking forward too. The Rockies in all their glory and as with any other mountain range they changed my mood they made me a little kid wanting to play in the dirt and climb them board them hug them - just the mountain goat that I am accused of being coming through.

We drove into the mountains and came to Jasper - a touristy town with almost no native people to be found. Most people in the town where from the philipines. We stayed at the Atha-B - cheap but very nice hotel in town - boarded a bit next day under prestince conditions (and no photos from on the mountains - its my off time from pixels don´t want cameras around ;) slept another night in Jasper and then rocked on north to south inside the Rockies. Beautiful drive here some impressions.

Totem poles at last after I heard that they actually tell a story and I have never seen one in person I wanted to see one so badly. Really cool story telling tool they had if you ask me. So its a bit hard to see the story but let your imagination run wild and there are lots of stories in them.

Oh I forgot - in Jasper we left the camera in the hotelroom for a evening stroll - what a stupid mistake - we missed a picture of a lifetime with a caribou standing on the railway line while a lokomotive heading straight toward it making loud noise and all but the caribou (a huge deer like animal) wasn´t moving at all - just shortly before impact it very calmly and slowly marched off the track. The caribou had balls. Could still hate myself for not having the cam with me. The caribous we saw next day chilling out in middle of town - they are just not afraid of anything it seems. This is the closest I can give you for a picture of a caribou - a sign warning us that they are in the area - yes they are.

The "famous" icefields - a formerly huge glacier that the road went through and just as in the alps - the glacier is gone - receded so far that you had to guess where it is - just the gravel left behind gave you a glimpse of its former glory - but yeah global warming is surely a myth.

Avalanches are a bigger danger here then in the alps I would say - no matter where we looked a avalanche had come down - they are smaller then in the alps but surely not less deadly.

I call this mountain alien Mt Rushmore - I hope you can see why ;)

The frozen waterfalls where everywhere. A feature I have not seen like this in the alps either.

Yes thats champaign powder up there. :)

The deers are elegant around here.

Somewhere here we arrived in Banff - contrary to Jasper it was filled with australien people - and was bigger and even more touristy - didn´t like it at all - but the Banff University is quite a nice place. We stayed two nights boarded at Sunshine and drove to Golden and then onto Revelstoke - mostly boarding and little concentration for nice pictures.

Our Motel in Revelstoke and that was actually a real town - a town to like with a really nice spirit to it. So there are lots a pictures from this cute place in the next entry.

Posted by fALk at 16:29 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

So after a long long drive from Flin Flon through Edmonton we were tired enough not to push our way to the mountains but instead eyeing the best next motel. Just that there where none. One on the other side of the road we kinda missed because there was not an easy turnaround and generally turning around wasn´t really our style anyway so we drove and drove and then a town sign for "Wildwood" came up with the tiny icon representing an opportunity to sleep with a roof over our head - we took the exit and found ourselfs in front of this place - well it was weirdly inviting and as it was our only option anyway we went for it. What came up was probably the most surreal night we had on the whole trip - in a very good way. The Silver Spur Hotel and Salloon was like a cross mix between a classic oldschool western bar with a bit of studio 54 a modern disco and a casino mixed in. Really a film could not have build a more fun crazy set then this. There where only three people in the bar. The barkeeper whos name we forgot (and we appologize here), Chrystal the waitress and Justin the woodsplitter. I get ahead of myself.

The bar had this still live with two real stuffed bears and a stuffed owl in one corner.

The really dry and funny barkeeper.

Chrystal the waitress.

Justin the woodsplitter.

Who ordered us a B52 which the barkeeper mixed to perfection (after fact checking the recipe in a book ;) - with a loose tongue we came to a very interesting and open talk that blew me away. Forget stereotypes fALk really they don´t exist. The young chaps were happy where they lived. They don´t like cities - they like to have no concrete under their feet, they want to get energy independent, they grow their own food. They totally know that they are percieved as rednecks (that word was brought up by them) and to a degree
like that monicker as it gives them an identity but they are not the Sarah Palin kind of rednecks they just like to have fun in their own unique ways - like sitting on an old car hood thats tied to a car and running down a frozen river at 100km/h :) Chrystal is planning on getting solar panels they manage some forest etc etc. all that while they have oil pumps on their fields. And yes they all have internet - I think the main reason for their awareness.
(If any of you three are reading this - you rock! There is hope in the world :)

Me trying to hide as per usual especially after the B52 ;)

The Sivler Spur Saloon event schedule. Its usually more busy but there was a brithday party in the next town so most people went there.

Crazy idea worth having for the club - towel material in pink wrapped tablecloth. It would only work in pink and it needs to be washed after every night but it surely had style.

The hotel room was a timecapsule.

This is the Silver Spur Hotel and Saloon from the outside. There was also a chinese restaurant inside - contrast people is where its at :D

And two more (not so minor) inhabitants of this small village. Again - it was an experience of its own. The village is bleeding inhabitants as the main highway was moved about 300 meter away from the village so people do not stop anymore here. I don´t think this will be bad for them in the long run with such lovely people and a working community.

If you are ever near make sure you stop by there and have a drink its really an experience to be had.

Posted by fALk at 16:06 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)